Getting back to cycling, or something close to it at least, is Ryan now in DC? The last communication I've had from him was a week ago, when he asked me to "organize" for him. I haven't heard from him since I said no to his offer.

Nigeyy,

If you are out there cycling today you need your head examined!!

Okay, that's it, I'm back to SHOVELING!

Speedo

Maybe it's just me, but I don't read that as only cheering and cheerleading. Tom said "keep the sniping to yourselves. If you want to wish him luck, that's fine. If you would like to help him out, that's fine. if you have real information that will actually help him, also fine."

Real information can be both cheering and non-cheering. 'Don't go this route", or "don't use this equipment" isn't exactly cheer leading but clearly still under the umbrella of "information", no? And if we look historically at almost every post in bikeforums, there can be non-cheering or non-cheerleading comments about routes and equipment, so I think it's very safe to say we have a huge amount of precedent set as well to refer to. The point Tom was trying to make is that Ryan's ride became the target of what he put as "Politically charged, or insulting comments, or snipes, or ripping on him".

Still not seeing "ONLY cheering or cheerleading allowed". Thus I reiterate, the Historian's post I responded to was not accurate.

Well, one thing's for sure, I'm not cycling (or getting rides) to DC in this weather!

Fixed your post for you.

Nice quote to read to yourself.

Only cycling I'm doing is in the gym today. Yuck, I need to move to the south where it's warm!

Quick, there's a snarky post over in the road forum.

Has anyone heard from Joshua1234? Did he complete the trip to DC?

IMO, the administrators dropped the ball when they allowed Ryan's political and racial insults in his original thread. Those were clear violations of the forum's guidelines. Closing the entire thread would have been reasonable at that time. Arbitrarily restricting in an ad hoc manner what can and cannot be said in one particular thread shows a lack of respect toward the members of this forum.

Veni, vidi, modi.

The mods, I suppose, can defend themselves. I just wanted to say that I was one of the users who contacted the moderators complaining about the tone that the former dialogue taken.

I had 3 problems with it:

1. The criticisms of Ryan were old. They had gone on and on. Every time there was an update on Ryan, there were posts going back to the same (now very old) criticisms.

2. There were a number of posts criticizing or belittling forum members who vocally supported Ryan or cheered him on.

3. The mods had already asked for the tone of the forum to change, and it didn't.


Personally I am confused as to why a couple of you are now going back over this well plowed ground, but I thought I would take a moment to explain why I found the former dialogue so annoying. I have no way of knowing whether other forum members complained, but I thought you should know that some of the others following this thread found the earlier dialogue objectionable.

Since the *same* criticisms of Ryan (now even older) are being repeated again, I guess the dead-horse-beating will never end. That's BF.

But the second item above - criticizing other forum members who supported Ryan - just seemed way over the line of what the touring subforum, in particular, ought to be about. People ought to be able to come to the defense or aid of another cyclist without being characterized in a negative way or given a "cute" name as a group that implies they are members of a cult.

It's now a little past dawn where I live; the frozen fog is lifting; and the temperature has just crept past 35 degrees. I'm going for a bike ride.

A small suggestion - you can criticize me as well for complaining to the mods; if you want to assure there is no censorship you can send me a PM. I'll give you my personal email address and you can send me an uncensored flamemail of any length and frequency you choose.

I've emailed Ryan. If it's one lesson I've learned from this ride, it's that things only get done and posted when I do something.

Points worth considering:

1. Some criticisms were old, but unanswered. Putting fresh wood on a fire feeds it. And Lord knows some folks were feeding it.

2. The criticism of posters began from the start, with one of Ryan's first posts. As more than one person has written, it was a mistake of the moderators to allow racial slurs to be posted. Why they allowed it is a matter for speculation, but I'll hold my tongue.

That said, the tone of the threads - both of them - were set by a small group that insisted on seeing all criticisms of Ryan as racist. At times it was open, and at times it was a subtext - wonder why we saw so many photos of Ryan posted whenever he - or a supporter - were criticized? Frankly, I found, and find, this insulting. Since complaining to moderators isn't my style I confronted these posters here, using the best weapon I had, my wit. I'm sorry you were bothered by it. But I don't regret doing it. Perhaps it would have been better to use the Ignore feature, but then I'd miss page after page of posts.

Since you've stated your role in this thread, let me state some of mine in connection to Ryan:

- I introduced Ryan to a poster in Phoenix who gave him equipment he needed.
- I was the first person from Bike Forums who called Ryan and posted an update. I've done it a number of times.
- I've started threads in other forums trying to help Ryan, and Josh, find assistance on the road.
- Ryan contacted me to "organize" for him on the East Coast. I said no, since I don't have access to the Internet at my job, and I didn't feel comfortable joining forums up and down the Atlantic Coast to promote a ride I don't believe in.

For my pains I've been vilified by a small group of posters. I didn't expect anything less.

Now I have better things to do today, as do you. Can we all move on?

According to the interveiw he did this morning, he was meeting with a group near the airport and riding into DC at noon.

Just to set the record straight. There was plenty of (what could be considered as) "objectionable" comments on both sides.

How nice that he let the media know so his friends on Bike Forums can track his progress.

Heh. Aparrently not.

So for "annoying" dialogue, your solution is censorship?
Criticism of Ryan is off base, and his critics need to be censored.
Spare us.
You've chosen a side and now you want to claim the moral high ground for your position. Sorry, it's not that simple. No one from either side was forced to post here, and antagonisms went both ways. As far as flamemails and PM's, you've got to be kidding, such drama.

You could just try ignoring the thread, you can find redundancy to rail against anywhere on BF.

So I was very annoyed at the "whiteness" comment, but also mildly annoyed by the Ryanistas comment and also the political comments, and most of all by the whole tenor of this thread. Most of BF is very supportive and helpful; it boggles the mind why all this came up here. To quote the great philosopher: "Why can't we just all get along?"

On the other hand, I read the latest in this damn thread every, single, day. Go figure.

He also posted his plans on his blog.

And He sent Daily E-Mails to Anyone that Subscribed to his blog.

His Gallery Tells Much about His Ride

You think so? I found it the website as a whole to be an epic fail. Then again I'm looking at it from a journalistic standpoint.

-R

This thread is a train wreck.
My morbid curiosity keeps sending me back to gawk at the twisted guts.
Nothing new here for quite some time.

We will all sleep better at night now that we know that Ryan has made it to DC.

East Hill