Six jours

If you guys aren't even reading your own thread, there's really not much point.

B. Carfree

That little interchange, with you being accused of being a troll and all, was funny beyond words. Unfortunately, it also points out what has gone so wrong with this particular forum. I hope the recipients of your point will take pause and consider what their hostility towards people with views that are not in synch with their hymnal does.

Ekdog

I posted that link nearly a month ago, so for someone to make such a bizarre comparison now, some seventy posts later, with no link to the article in question, and to take a potshot at the author, that is trollish behavior. Why not go after what Chomsky had to say instead of making such a flippant remark?

Six jours

You're pretty free with that "troll" accusation. Might as well add in "bigot" and "intolerant" as well. Coming from you, it means absolutely nothing at all. Well, other than "I don't agree with your position on petroleum use."

gerv 

You seem intent on throwing in barbs to incite a riot. Now you've mentioned a couple of more stabbers.

Why are you doing this?

I-Like-To-Bike

Yeah let us all get back on the LCF track with the intent of the OP; are YOU planning on buying an SUV now that the price of gasoline has dropped somewhat? If not, why not?

Roody

I already explained this.

Roody

No, let's all get back on the track where we discuss issues and ideas, not each other's imagined personalities.

Obviously, as somebody posted, SUV sales are going back up since gas started getting cheaper. And I'm sure that there are a number of people who are now currently carfree who are considering buying a car, whether an SUV or some other type. I think that's a valid question to ask on a carfree forum. If you don't agree, you have the option of reporting to the mods, ignoring the thread, or making cruel off-topic comments designed to ignite another flame war.

Your choice, ILTB.

I-Like-To-Bike

I doubt if there is a single currently car free poster on LCF, or voluntarily carfree person anywhere in the U.S.considering buying a car now, let alone an SUV, because of lower gas prices.

Lifestyle changes, such as in health, family status, or home/job location are likely catalysts for a voluntarily LCF making such a purchase decision. Lower gas prices as a reason for a voluntary LCF person to revert to car ownership? Not a chance!

Was your OP question ["Should I buy a SUV?] a valid concern of yours? IMO, not a chance; successful OT troll, through and through.

Six jours

Funny, I don't recall any indignation from you when Ekdog was actually calling people these names.

Because the LCF subforum is degenerating into an echo chamber filled primarily with the sounds of you folks telling each other how great you are and how rotten everybody else is. A bit of reality seems like a good idea, right about now.

gerv 

Funny, a friend of mine who frequently posts on other fora specifically mentioned the trolling as a reason to stay away from LCF.

For myself, if I feel a community is not right for me -- whatever the reason -- I try to avoid it.

You certainly have that option on BF. If you think the 50+ forum has too many old folks or the C&V forum has too many collectors, you can make your life better by never going there.

Try it.

Roody

Another way to express your lack of interest in a topic would be to avoid the thread all together. You could even try to start your first thread on bikeforums in order to introduce a topic that you feel is interesting or relevant.

I can see you going to a cocktail party and stopping at various conversation clusters to demand that other party goers stop talking about a certain topic because it is of no interest to you. You might insist that at a cocktail party, the only "valid concern" would be a discussion of alcoholic beverages! Of course you would never try to bring up a new topic that did interest you. It's a lot more fun to insult the other guests because they're not smart enough to bring up topics that you approve of.

I-Like-To-Bike

I post relevant responses to the "stuff" posted on this list, sometimes including your and others' OT trolls for political and economic grandstanding, as well as anti motoring screeds. Your dissatisfaction and unhappiness with any disagreement or criticism of the "stuff" posted does not make a response irrelevant.

Also relevant is whining OT responses to such posts with an insistence that nobody should post anything critical or skeptical of the specious prose and platitudes posted on this list.

Six jours

You guys have a really loose definition of "troll". You seem to think it means "Anyone who posts a contradictory opinion".

Beyond that, the repeated suggestion that people with contradictory opinions should go away has been noted and duly ignored.

Six jours

If 50+ was filled with 50+ people crowing about how superior they are, and how people under 50 are stupid and wasteful and destroying the planet, I am sure there would be other posters showing up there to disagree. (Trolls, in your world.) Same if C&V was filled with people smugly congratulating themselves on what wonderful people they are for collecting C&V bicycles and self-righteously proclaiming that anyone who doesn't collect C&V bicycles is the devil.

gerv 

Well, I'm not sure how you interpret things. I'm a pretty regular poster here and I've always try to present myself with some humility and even self-deprecation. Several critics have claimed that we are "car haters" -- although in fact many who post here own cars or rent them once in a while. I don't have a car at the moment, but I don't have any animosity towards people who own cars (that would leave me just about friend-free actually )

I do post often about how cars have taken over the urban landscape and I've been in near-death situations with car drivers being less than attentive. So this colors my perceptions somewhat. But then you, yourself, probably have a few stories.

I also hope to encourage more people to think about active transportation and avoiding unnecessary car trips. I regard people who try to live without cars as role models of a sort... perhaps this is what you are referring to.

But the truth is that we are all cyclists here... so I'm a little confused about the anger you express, @Six jours...

Roody

I don't see car-hating posts here with any frequency. Could you point to a couple examples of posts you object to? .

tandempower

It's wrong when people attribute certain behaviors to certain categories. That's stereotyping. Even if it would be true that a certain age demographic or other category is statistically more likely to exhibit certain behaviors or traits, it's unfair to lump the culprits together with others who don't just because they share the same category.

As far as driving goes, it's just simply true that taking a car or truck out on the road everyday uses a lot of resources, generates demand for a lot of pavement, etc. You can argue that some people have a need to drive or a very good reason to do so, but don't whitewash it and pretend like the consequences of driving aren't what they are. It might make some people feel bad to be confronted with the truth, but that doesn't make it wrong to speak that truth.

If driving was reserved as a right for only those who need to drive due to a disability that prevents them from traveling by other means, it would be very mean to complain about driving. It would be like complaining that the presence of multiple wheelchairs make it difficult to walk through a room, or complaining about the effort necessary to make public buildings disability accessible. Disabilities are not people's choice so they shouldn't be disrespected for inconveniences they cause others due to their disability.

Intentional choices are a different story. If driving is largely unnecessary for most drivers, yet by it being such a widespread choice, other transportation choices are inconvenienced, what is wrong with saying so? Second-hand smoke causes lung disease so it's not wrong to criticize smoking, use government to attempt to reduce its popularity, and shield non-smokers from second-hand smoke.

Would you expect non-smokers to just put up with second-hand smoke everywhere knowing that it is harmful in various ways? That is what non-smokers had to do for years and what non-drivers have to put up with today to the extent that their lives are inconvenienced and harmed by the widespread (ab)use of motor-vehicles and the assumption of driving when developers and businesses make choices about where and how to situate destinations.

Ekdog

Crickets.

alexaschwanden

I saw gas stations at 2.93$ a gallon, it should be like 7-8$ by now.

Profileclimb

I would not get used to it I think this is very temporary and very soon they will be going right back up again because oil needs to make profit in fact they're talking about a increase and the gas tax tell help build infrastructure so there are forces and play that will drive gas prices right back up to close to five dollars a gallon.

Machka 

It's more than that here. We'd love it if fuel dropped to that price.

plustax

Petition your government to axe any support they give for healthcare and increase gas subsidies.

JusticeZero

It's an attack from certain oil producing nations who are dumping their stockpiles on the market and selling dirt cheap at great cost to themself, because they feel they can survive the consequences better than certain global things that they want to disrupt.

350htrr

+1, I agree, It's an attack, not a + in any ways, Perse...