Well heck Pops I got censored or shut down once in the Pro forum asking a simple business question .. "How current politics may or may not effect profits in your business" more or less .. seemed like a question for the Pro forum.

Some Canadian guy grabbed it and turned into a highly charged political firestorm.

In Rome do what the Romans do .. Right ?? .. we are guest here .. in other words it's not our cave.

Good Day ...

Well exactly! In Rome, the Romans do Roman stuff and in the writer's forum you write about writing stuff. I wish i could even remember what i had written that might had spurred even the most conservative of publishers to shake in their boots, but i come up scratchin.

I can't imagine that it was the line about how no one else's opinion mattered anyway since i am always right... could it?

about how obvious it was that few writers show up here because we're all depressed alcaholics and there is no free booze?

the one about how writers are pseudo intellectuals anyway and just make up stuff to sound important? Maybe i took it too far by insinuating that all the ruckus over color theory was bogus and garden writers wouldn't even recognize it because they really thought that stuff mattered?

about how this forum is so dry that i have to write myself funny letters, but that i don't bother since i already know the punchline?

I did read the reply Poppa and I have to say that I was not entirely sure if you were being sarcastic or mean. I chose to ignore it anyway as I was tired. I have long since learnt that people can read too much into something and respond too hastily when they are tired. That leads to ill feeling everywhere and a real ruckus ensues.
I prefer a quiet life!!

Well, whatever it was I missed it. But please don't let that stop you from posting here Poppa, I like your style. Myself, I have been banned to Disneyworld more than once. (When you post something unacceptable, sometimes when you try to log in here you are instead routed to Disneyland. I am so slow it took three times for me to realize what was going on.)

Poppa,

You never learn! Your replies are only to be: "Oh, I agree." or "I like it too!" --- to be followed, of course, with an obligatory smiley-face emoticon. :-)

IronBelly (another vile bastage)

ItÂs hard to know when to post a reply to a thread like this and when to let it pass and hope that the tread will die quickly sigh.

I really think, IB, that you donÂt have to agree with a smiley-face. We hope that those who post here can manage to write something useful, intelligent, helpful, interesting or insightful. PoppaÂs original post was silly, self-indulgent, and insulting, in my never-to-be-humble opinion. I am glad it is gone and I wish this follow-up thread would go away as well.

"I wish this follow-up thread would go away as well. "

Why so ?? ... you would think of all places this is the forum to discuss the justification of censorship ??? Sure the thread started off with more raw emotion then logic but it's a start... at least Pops broke the ice with a few laughs.

Now for some reason it should all go away ??

Is there any controversy at all in garden writing ?? .. or is it all about as bland as "How to Cut Flowers for the Dinner Table " ect..

Good Day ...

CL, Just want to say I look forward to your presentation at the Garden Writers meeting in Vancouver next month.

CLFO, looks like you need some hand-holding. IB's post was also a bit of a spoof. I don't even know how to spell a smiley face. Nonetheless, your reply was interesting for a supposed writer. Just goes to show how important it is to have relatives in the publishing industry.

Along with my post, we should also ban any other writing that was silly, self-indulgent, and insulting. Thank you very much, i would be honored to be included in the group of authors who's work would fit those parameters.

I would think we should be careful in trying to decide what gets banned based on as broad a specification as being 'insulting'. How does one ever disagree with a point of view without appearing to some degree to be insulting the point of view we oppose? If i had such a tender skin, i could be insulted that you found my post insulting, in which case we should both be banned and the world will be a safer place for it.

Poppa

I have had plants that were young and vibrant and were healthy and appreciated for years. Then over time with the ravages of heat and cold, old age and disease they would degenerate - much like a few of these posts. I say this not to criticize but just as an observation of what seems a human condition - that disagreements and differing points of view just seem to escalate somehow.

Personally, i don't think this thread has degenerated. Well, maybe i little, but only because i refrain from using smiley faces. If i used them, everything i post would have a dozen of them.

Trading barbs, tit-for-tat, shouldn't be an automatic qualification for labling a thread as having degenerated into some worthless blather. I think a discussion on the validity of censorship has value - unless it gets censored.

Maybe it is worthwhile to take this thread sideways a bit towards a more intellectual slant.

I don't see any real guidlines for these forums other than no advertising. Maybe i didn't look hard enough. Feel free to point out my oversight if you see some. Assuming there are none, at what point does a poster have to worry about stepping over the line? Obviously, continual posting off topic would be a detriment to the value of a thread and might be frowned upon. I would also think a direct attack on an individual that borders on legal liability would be suspect, more so in a general forum than a writer's forum. In a writer's forum, in a thread asking why people aren't posting, to delete an entire post that was obviously a parody of top ten reasons people don't post, well, i just don't get it.

I think it would be interesting to see what guidline writers would set for determining whether a post should be deleted. Rather than let that get buried here, i'll start a new thread - i wouldn't want to get deleted for posting off topic.

Poppa (the snot)

Poppa -
Obviously, someone did not agree with your assessment of your post as "funny", and reposted it to the management.

"Was it cutting sarcasm? you betcha! " If you want an outlet for your cutting sarcasm, may I suggest you look to the newsgroups, where flame wars are a way of life, or maybe slashdot.com where your peers can vote on how funny your posts are.

Thank you, but i have more than enough outlets for my sarcasm and most people would probably thank you for not encouraging me.

The point is simply that i expected a certain degree of maturity in writer/readers to be able to distinguish between a direct malicous intent to harm and a (apparently) lame attempt at humor via a stereotypical perception of authors.

There is some solace in the thought that the perp was not a real author as i am certain that they would have developed the customary tough skin of the profession.

Poppa ( now banned in 14 countries! No, 15! 16!!...)