Whats Up DOC?????
 

Whats Up DOC?????

Been away for a week en-route to the wonderful FT Dusseldorf "Goosenfest" and noticed when I went to "In the News", there are no posts initiated from DOC. Now that is odd. And the Forum suffers quite noticeably due to that absence. Looked on other boards, and basically no posts there either.

It is not like DOC is away on vacation it seems, as there are 4 posts in the past 5 days from him recorded in 4 different Forums when I did a search of all Forums.

There was a very heated thread on one airline board that in my view got way out of hand. It serves no real useful purpose to provide the link, but some here I am sure have seen that thread. Doc continued posting way after the dust had settled IMHO, and I told him so by email at that time, but he has been around FT waaaay longer than me so it was clearly his call to continue. I respect that everyone here has an equal right to express their opinion, but gee, I do hope NOT at the cost of seeing DOC leave these boards as an active and valuable participant?

Perhaps Doc is busy with family or work or whatever lately, or is just taking a well earned break, but I for one do hope he has not been discouraged from continuing his fine work on these boards by the comments of a few, who of course have every right to hold them and voice them.

However, the comments of the MAJORITY I think are reflected here, in this popular thread Randy Peterson stated, less than one month ago:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum1/HTML/003584.html

I can't speak for anyone else, but I do hope DOC finds the time and the energy to return to his traditional place and role on these boards, as I feel they are significantly less instructive and informative by his recent absence.

Doc is unaware I am posting this, and if I asked him he may have discouraged me, so please accept my apologies for me being so bold Doc to start this thread. I am hopeful others will have similar thoughts re Doc's absence, and voice them here. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

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~ Glen ~

Cruising the net over my morning coffee here and yes, I too noticed Doc was not around lately. "Come back Doc" - we need your input. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

As much as we miss doc, maybe he is just hanging with his family and enjoying some down time. Surely he's earned some time away from his Flyertalk family? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

A doc sighting:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum95/HTML/000722.html

Or you could just use News Alert (www.newsalert.com), it's free, and you can get real time news to your email.

If you are concerned about Doc, why don't you just e-mail him http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/confused.gif??????

I know for a fact, through private conversations and e-mail communications, that not everyone in this community agrees with the sentiment that Doc should continue to post away at will. I also know for a fact that nobody wants Doc to go away completely. What many of us would like to see on Doc’s part is moderation and consideration of those of us with slow ISP connections.

When I look at the heading for “In the News”, I define that as the forum for Press Releases and Links to news articles. I would think that these items belong here and not in the individual Airline/Car/Hotel/Credit Card forums. If this was the case, I could browse the “In the News” forum once or twice a day and keep up with any news related items that are of interest to me.

Most of us here know that Doc does not like and has not flown NW for some time. We do not need to be reminded of that. The same would be true when a member posts a Copyright protected article in it’s entirety. We do not need to be reminded that a few members publicly blasted Doc for the same practice. If Doc or anyone else objects to the posting of a copyright article, A private e-mail to the posting member would be and should be fine.

Before any of you “Flame” away at me, consider that fact that I am currently in Little Rock with a 16K connection. Those of you on DSL or Cable modem are accessing FT at speeds of 5-10 times faster than I am. It is VERY frustrating to open a forum upon seeing a Yellow Lightbulb, waiting for it to load, and then seeing a press release touting XYZ’s new service to East Overshoe. Or, a link to a press release that requires a password in order to access it The same would be true for opening a thread only to find a “Smilie Me Too” post.

Now, is Doc the only member guilty of posting Press Releases, “Smilie Me Too” posts, Etc… NO. I would hope that every member who is “Guilty” of these actions would think about the member with a SLOW connection before posting. I also know that the two forums in which the “Smilie Me Too“ posts not only should be accepted, but encouraged are “FT Community” and “Trip Reports”.

Before any of you blast away at me, I challenge you to find a personal attack in this post. Too often, members of FT are discouraged from posting opposing views. While I agree that personal attacks should be discouraged, opposing views should not.

Pardon me while I go don my “Flame Retardant” Suit. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

Doc is fine, thanks! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif Better than ever! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

FWIW, www.newsalert.com

FT is just fine too! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

With hopes that this "stuff" will not continue,

Have a great weekend everyone! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

-Mark

[This message has been edited by doc (edited 11-17-2000).]

I really miss Onefreeman and hope Raeban can get him to post again when he can.

And I miss Nick Merry and svpii and Quantum Leap too.

Now if they all came back, even if just every once in awhile, then we have reason to celebrate.

Catman: Nick Merry, from time to time, posts (BA, BD, LH, SR forums). Witty and 'argueing' as 'in the old times with baobab'. And 'missing'/forgetting live-encounters as before too ...

The amount of time and words devoted to this subject is hysterical.

Radio personality Howard Stern once addressed a similar issue when some people complained that he intruded on their airwaves. His answer was simple: If you want to listen, great. If not, turn the dial. No matter what option you choose, Stern still has a right to be on the airwaves.

So ...

If you want to read doc, then do so. If not, skip his posts and move on. In the U.S., everyone has a right to speak their mind as much as they want - that's why we have the First Amendment.

... is hysterical.

Am I / are we hysterical if I 'classify' the 'hysterical classification above this post as 'hysterical'?

Hmmmm....to engage or not engage Family Flyer? Aw, what the hell, it's friday!

I would argue that not only is speech not free in the good old US of A, it is actually fairly well regulated. Just ask Howard Stern. Over 3 million dollars in fines for speaking his mind and counting! Not only is that not free speech, that's pretty darn expensive speech if you ask me http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif.

From my inability to scream "Fire" in a crowded theater to Larry Flint's brushes with the law, the myth of freedom of speech and expression is just that...a myth.

Now dont get me wrong, we've got it better in the US then most of the world. And the internet is FINALLY bringing true freedom of speech, but the right to speak one's mind as much as one wants is NOT guaranteed by the first amendment according to the old farts whose job it is to interpret it.

Personally, I'm a firm believer in a free and open marketplace of ideas. Sadly few in this country agree with that approach in any more meaningful way then giving it lip service...

Family Flyer: In principle I agree with you but your analogy is incorrect for this example. On radio, you know when and where Howard Stern is on. As a result, you can avoid HS if you want to. However, on Flyertalk, one does not know who has posted where. so you can not avoid any particular user's post even if you wanted to.

I say we drop this thread before it turns into another big toxic mess. As some know I had a run in with Doc on the thread mentioned. I critized him heavily. NOW HAVING SAID THAT. I don't believe it is fair to DOC to REOPEN the SAME complaints. Why? He has apparently stopped doing the things that bothered some of us. (excessive posts). So how can we go back and criticise him again. CameraGuy, You know I'm no big Doc fan. BUT, we need to be honest and fair here. Unless we back off there is no way for DOC to prove us wrong (or to change, if that is what he intends). I point to the OZ Naplam thread. After that OZstamps seemed to change for the better. And that is a good thing! But if people had not given him a fair chance to change, we wouldn't have the Baht run etc. I'm not going to speak for DOC as to why he is posting less. All I know is that we should NOT see this thread as another opportunity to jump on him. Until he does something that might be worthy of new complaints...let's not rehash the past.