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Some fair points. Iāve let my subscription expire for little reason other than not needing to post more than 3 times a day at present. Actual discussions are pretty difficult to come by because everything turns into a slanging match so quickly. Of late Iāve found myself skimming the thread titles and perhaps read a few of the first/last posts of the interesting sounding ones but thatās about it.
Perhaps itās always been like that and weāve simply been using message boards for enough years to have become jaded with the same-old, or maybe itās particularly bad at the moment. Either way, right now Iām happy dropping onto here for a chat when time allows.
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A couple of days after my banning, quite a few of us from this board met up for beers. I fielded loads of questions about the nature of my banning, etc. A recurring one was whether Iād go back. The answer was always no. I didnāt want to go back on best behaviour with the Sword of Damocles hanging over my head for any minor transgression. As you point out, the abuse flows back and forth around there, so being neutered in that environment wasnāt ever going to be on the agenda.
In the very early days of Sotonians, a brain trust (arf!) consisting of Tokes (arf!), Bear (arf!), Bletch (double-arf!), Lou (she who must be obeyed) and myself thought about the sort of people that we would need to get this place active. āTrollsā were one thing we thought we might need. We were used to the Old Ways. We thought weād need the traffic they generate. I donāt think weāve got any confirmed trolls. Fatso says he doesnāt like me, but I canāt really blame the bloke or equate that with trolling. Iām Marmite in poster form.
I think that one of the issues over there is that it is such a broad church that people have got entirely different ideas about certain things, such as what constitutes āhaving a laughā, or āfair debateā. Make no mistake, I was part of that melee when I was there.
This isnāt that environment, though - and I really donāt miss the venom. That is not to say that Sotonians is troll-free. We troll. Weāre ace at it, but itās not the only thing we do, and when we do, itās done with a fuckton more intelligence and respect. When it comes down to it, I donāt miss it one bit, because 90% of what I actually missed is already here (weāll get the rest later) and 50% of what I thought Iād miss, the aiming of a wounding insult, I donāt miss at all.
Theyāve got their thing. Weāve got ours. May it ever be so.
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I thought I loved Saintsweb, but turns out, it wasnāt the site I loved, it was some of the the top bros that lived there.
Theyāre mostly on here now tho
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Eh? Where did I say I donāt like you? Donāt be such a baby. I said I donāt like the term ābest friendā or when people use full.stops.between.each.word.as.if.it.emphasises.something. If you have read that as āI donāt like youā then fair enough, I probably wouldnāt like you if thatās how you react.
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Oh,and I voted your post down. Ha!
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Fair dos. I think what you actually said was that you and I werenāt going to get along.
You are right Bearsy, it is the people (well some of them) rather than the site. I dont mind a bit of banter and like everyone have been drawn into a few spats over the years - but some of it get really personal and that is not on. Ant, I am sure there any many people like you. I went through a long period of just skim reading but eventually, when I had more time on my hands, I found myself getting dragged back in. If it was moderated in a fair and transparent way that might help but that doesnt seem to be the case. Fair play to Pap and crew for breaking free and making something new. I am not sure if trolls are necessary for a successful site - I think there are enough piss takers here to keep things lively! 
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My first thought when I read about this place was that it sounded like the oft-mooted European Super League, where the top 4 or 5 clubs fool off and leave the rest of the teams to play with themselves. If you know what I meanā¦
I honestly didnāt know how much mileage there could really be with pap, bear, goatboy, bletch and Lou all sharing private in-jokes on a separate forum.
Butā¦ As soon became clear, they were actually welcoming and enthusiastic of other posters joining their little club and joining in.
The banter is the same, but thereās something about being in new custom-made surroundings that seems to suit everyone involved. Like Pap said up above, you donāt really need trolls and assholes to make this place a ārealā forum. I think itās the respect involved by all that is the difference between this place so far and the worst aspects of 'tother place.
Also, I remember when Lou first appeared in TMS, her crazy revolutionary ideas that people could and should meet up in real life were mocked by some. She said it was weird how we spend so much time typing to each other and reading endless shite, but have no interest in getting to know each other. I think she planted some of the seeds that helped shape the sort of place papsweb currently looks like being. Donāt tell her that though, FFS.
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How long has āThe Other Sideā been going now? I recall a trip back to home AGES ago to meet up with my Bro & watch Salisburyās finest The Zucchinis playing. Heād been an avid poster but had given up way back then due to the negativity from Mountainous Regions and the utter dross of the early incarnation of Erodgans homeland. In fact it was only last year when my PayPal bounced due to my old credit card having expired and I realised 1) That was the only thing I ever used Paypal for and 2) It had actually become pretty pointless posting on there.
Twitter had overtaken the gossip, the abuse to anyone with a snippet of information (usually by the same people) and it was like meh. I think my greatest moment was probably causing 19C to implode after the Dubai Massive spent a pleasurable evening paying for a certain footballers Malibu & Cokes, but from then on it was all pretty tame. Yeah there were ways you could get under the mafiaās skin, Erodganland had an achilles heel of the Stadium Expansion. In fact, the more they tried to be obnoxious the more Golf Stories they got. Personally I think they were some of the most legednary Trolling of all time 
.
They never had an answer to that, it was like wearing a Kevlar Vest, oh they could moan but ho hum.
As far as golf is concerned for you lot it this simple. IF it involves free beer or IF anyone actually wants to meet Rory and can get down here I can set it up. But tbh unless I come across something really amusing itāll pass by. I AM playing on Friday but only because 1) It is free and 2) We get free beer & a Curry after, but at 45C to be honest there aināt nothing bloody amusing about it.
Also. Most importantly, my EU based Saints supporting Son is unlikely to pop up on here (but does lurk on TSW & post occassional snippets he sees in the German Press about Saints, so there is actually the possibility I can join in and comment on some of the threads I could NEVER be seen posting on āover thereā.
I love Granty for what he created, I think they made a mistake many years ago. Somehow I donāt think Butler or Papster will be that stupid. I like the cut of this jib.
Now if ONLY I could post bloody pictures & get a non golf Avatar
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Actually, not really sure that this place would have flew without the Lou-ster. The drink meet ups built much of the trust that underpins this place. Bletch also deserves a huge mention. Idling in semi-retirement over at TSW, he came out to bat big time for this place, and behind the scenes, is helping to drive much of the future direction of the site. Bear is box office, and Tokes doesnāt wank in the popcorn all the time. Nah, big props to Tokes; gets shit for being a sidekick but took the lead in the very early days of this site. Monkey Tennis owes its name to him. And the writers of Iām Alan Partridge.
Donāt like to single people out, because everyone is making this a success, but the above deserve a wee mention.
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Iām sure some friendly photoshop wizz can knock you up an avatar DP. 
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Yep. The PROBLEM then is the knock on the door in the middle of the night with the whole darned SWAT team
Unfortunately this is the only approved DP logo allowed down here
(Donāt open it it is very boring but I canāt do pics yet!)
Phil. An interesting photo of Mrs Kuchar will suffice.
I was sick of certain posters, I actually had 6 people on ignore by the end who had made it clear again and again that they didnāt like me, and spent their time following me around trying to trip me up. Iām not a violent person, but there are a number of posters on there that if I met them I would certainly ask them what their fucking problem was, and make them feel as uncomfortable as I could.
Much happier posting on here and very rarely posting on there, and no longer in the Lounge (although why would I, I used to enjoy mine and Papās tete a teteās).
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Philip, do you mean we were just collateral damage?
You let off a dirty bomb of a golfing story in TMS to get at specific individuals and it was me, Bear and Toke that got the bloody radiation sickness.
I hope you realise that Tokeās grown two dicks as a result. I told him to sue you, but he pointed out that heās actually got two dogs.
āWin winā was the phrase he used.
Nice to have you over here, DP.
x
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someone needs to rescue poor old suewhistle. She strikes me as someone who would benefit from an untrolled environment, bless her.
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Ah. Now look what youāve done, you wonāt catch me out 1) The only person who has ever been allowed to see THAT video is Mrs D_P (I had to call her for permission first, itās a long story but I did have a hall pass on that trip and because it involves the G word I can only post it on the other place someday)
I think I will go for a pic I took on one of my better blags. Yeah that has a story behind it but I wonāt tell it so there! Ah crap, I have 2 Terrabytes of photos where the hell did I file it?
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ON one of my rare trips back to SMS went with my mates The Chauffeur & The Gasman, met up with my lad German Saint and we went for lunch to Nick The Greekās down by the old East Street Centre thingy.
And we all had a lovely lunch and banter with Suewhistle and Positive Pete (the poor sod who commutes to work from Winchester to Brisbane all the time).
We then went and had a nice couple of Ales down by the Docks/City Wall before wending our way to the game. I have to say that Sue is actually a Teacher who worked in Italy and a very pleasant and humourous time was had by all.
Away from her Stalker I am sure her actual dry and cutting wit would be well received over here.
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Originally posted by @Cascadia-Saint
My first thought when I read about this place was that it sounded like the oft-mooted European Super League, where the top 4 or 5 clubs fool off and leave the rest of the teams to play with themselves. If you know what I meanā¦ I honestly didnāt know how much mileage there could really be with pap, bear, goatboy, bletch and Lou all sharing private in-jokes on a separate forum. Butā¦ As soon became clear, they were actually welcoming and enthusiastic of other posters joining their little club and joining in. The banter is the same, but thereās something about being in new custom-made surroundings that seems to suit everyone involved. Like Pap said up above, you donāt really need trolls and assholes to make this place a ārealā forum. I think itās the respect involved by all that is the difference between this place so far and the worst aspects of 'tother place. Also, I remember when Lou first appeared in TMS, her crazy revolutionary ideas that people could and should meet up in real life were mocked by some. She said it was weird how we spend so much time typing to each other and reading endless shite, but have no interest in getting to know each other. I think she planted some of the seeds that helped shape the sort of place papsweb currently looks like being. Donāt tell her that though, FFS.
Oh my god, there so much love on this thread I donāt know where to look!
Boys, youāre amazing, and brilliantly funny too. It was always really obvious on TMS (in between the boob jokes and the insults) what a nice sensitive bunch you are. Bearsy, frankly, leads the pack for niceness.
For me, life is all about people and getting to know new people makes it even more interesting. I think weāll need to work hard to stop this place feeling too cliquey for newcomers, but Bletchās welcomes are frankly genius.