RKMBs Forums .::Important::. Fortress of Awesome Chat I saw pro here the other day...

...I was really hoping he'd stick around. I realize we all kind of got into it with him before he took off, but I kinda miss the guy.

Why?

one, because he was legitimately one of the best writers on these boards. two, because even if I didn't agree with some of what he was saying, and yeah, towards the end he was pretty much our very own Hunter S. Thompson, he was almost always entertaining to listen to. three, because it's becoming very obvious how bad of an idea it is to run pretty much every credible left-of-center poster off these forums; any time I wind up toward the left end of any group of people something's very wrong.

Pro was a jerk, especially toward the end.

Far from being the "one of the best writers" on these boards, whatever eloquence Pro may have had was buried in infantile insults, namecalling and endless copy-and-paste re-postings of his opinion. Someone else here compared trying to reason with Pro with trying to reason with a crazy homeless guy who just shouts and rants in his own little world. It got to the point that no one would even engage Pro because it was such a waste of time.

Pro was always a cocky overconfident jerk, but he especially went off the deep end that last year and a half or so, where he appointed himself the RKMB's official shit-stirrer.
And hypocritically, Pro could dish it out, but he couldn't take it. He had absolutely no boundaries or civility when it came to personal attacks, say on G-man's wife, or my girlfriend. But he broke into 10,000 pieces if Rex, G-man, Joe Mama or whoever even implied anything about his wife. The ultimate time being when he responded to rex by starting multiple "Rex is a pussy" topics on the subject on virtually every forum.

Oddly, there was a period where I reached out to Pro in PM's and gave him something of a friendly salute (2006? 2007?), basically saying that while we disagree a lot, I didn't hate him and (in a period where he still engaged in lucid debate, if somewhat spirited and insult-laden) I often enjoyed sparring with him and exploring both sides of the issues we discuss here. Oddly, while he responded in friendly manner to the PM, I noticed a sharp uptick in his uncivility and very personal insults toward me in the month or two after, and it never stopped until he left the boards.

I likewise had similar PM exchanges with Whomod a few years prior, who likewise became even more uncivil after, until he super-nova'd and left the boards.

If there is a liberal I would put in the "best writers" category, it would have been Magicjay, who started out angry and obnoxious too, but still had intelligent insights, and soon developed a softer style mixed with a lot of playful humor, and often well-sourced opinions. I exchanged friendly PM's frequently with Magicjay, and he invited me to look at his personal blog, which I did for a year or so.


Say what you will about M E M, but he too at least offers sources for his liberal counter-perspective (sometimes even not Media Matters! Just kidding, while he does cite MM a lot, he also cites Politico, New York Times, Washington Post and other mainstream sources, though less frequently.)
And I've said it before, while we all have our spirited moments, M E M has remarkable civility most of the time, I daresay more so than myself.


I also miss RKMB liberals like Chant, Penwing, Theory9, Darknight613, Captain Sweden, Jason Perkins, Beardguy, First Amongst Daves, Bastard and others. Most of whom, despite our divergent views, I rarely if ever clashed with.

In contrast, Pro was the problem, not the solution.

How exactly was Pro run off these boards?
From what I saw, he chose to go to another forum. Say what you will about Pro (and I've said plenty) but I don't think anyone could ever harass or intimidate him off these or any boards, unless he wanted to go. I don't think it was about conservative/liberal that he left. It was just leaving for a forum that more suited his current interests (he announced it, I forget which site he posts to now).


And these boards have "run off" plenty of the most prominent conservatives here over the years, including BSAMS/Irwin Schwab, Rex, PJP, wannabuyamonkey, and even myself for a few months periodically. These can be tough boards, no matter what your political perspective.

I ran off basmas by threatening him with a casnadian destroyer.

I actually was the one who destroyed bsams the ditch digger (one too many Sarah Palin jokes, I'm afraid...)

I just ran across this topic again...


Occudards' May Day violence topic


...that displays quite well the characteristic breakdown tendencies of Pro during that last year or so of his here.
I don't see the "eloquence". All I see is a nutjob troll shouting insults (and reposted insults) at anyone who disagreed with him, getting humiliated with the facts over and over.