Mike Clarke.

arnisador

Sr. Grandmaster
MTS Alumni
Joined
Aug 28, 2001
Messages
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Location
Terre Haute, IN
Mr. Clarke has asked that I announce his departure from MartialTalk. At his request, his account has been disabled.

-Arnisador
-MT Admin-
 
That is a shame.

What's the reason for his departure?
 
Mike sent me an email telling me a few of the reasons why he started posting here and why he stopped. I can’t say as I blame him. He can relay the reasons himself so please don’t ask for details.

While Martial Talk espouses to be a “friendly” BBs, and it is for the most part, by being such it also unintentionally caters to those in the MA world that are not always on the up and up.
Some of the more bogus posters tend to use the “we are a friendly BBs” as set down by Bob Hubbard and Mod-Squad to their advantage.
These bogus posters do it by being able to post things no matter how doubtful and never need answer for it, and have even taken offense to being asked about certain claims, when questioned by person or persons that can bring their little sham to an end the bogus posters can cry “FOUL” and hide behind the “we are a friendly BBs” motto. I find such tactics childish and show a real lack of stoneage.
Some bogus posters have even openly called myself and others “idiots” without reprimand……which is rather ironic….if I had said something of that nature I am sure I would have been booted.
It is times like these that the Mods and Admins might want to reconsider their admonishment tactics and figure out what exactly does “we are a friendly BBs” mean. By doing so I doubt they would fall into the “Recmartial arts” category where it is a free for all of Internet Challenges and mud slinging, and by not doing so I think they lose very credible posters that have a plethora of good information just so they can keep the “we are a friendly BBs” motto but not the practice. Personally I think that motto is a farce since their seems to be just as much mess here as elsewhere on the net.
How are we supposed to keep the “we are a friendly BBs” atmosphere if people make obviously false claims and then ask us to “respect” their opinion on other posts?
How about I claim to be a Harvard Professor of Astrophysics, to have invented the Space Shuttle, cured cancer, and have mastered every martial art there is all in less than a week.
Then I declare nobody can dare question my claims because “we are a friendly BBs” and from now on you should respect my posts as being genuine because “we are a friendly BBs”. How can “friendly” dialogue continue after such claims???……….I think there is a difference between being a “friendly BBs” and being an absurd one.

I would prefer Mike Clarke not leave since his posts are extremely knowledgeable about Okinawan Karate……need I remind anyone that he is one of the few people that actually trained there and he is also one of the few “published” writers on this board. He has offered me a genuine hand in friendship which I will gladly take, unlike others that offered me friendship and a few posts later call me an “idiot”. Sorry, I just can’t trust people that do things like that and despise people that are two faced like that all the while trying to placate to the Mods/Admins on this board.
I think it is a grave mistake to let Mike Clarke go, and when someone like that leaves we all lose.
 
We've lost one of the voices of reason...unfortunate.
His perspective was always respected.

:asian:
chufeng
 
I will keep in contact with him even if he doesn’t post here. I find his perspective extremely valuable. Also looking forward to meeting up in Okinawa around Feb.
 
RyuShikan makes several good points. There are trade-offs to be made in managing a board like this and we have made our choices--they have plusses and minuses associated with them. No system would be perfect.

Let me say that admonishments may well have been sent to any number of parties--we don't publicize this. We also try to escalate slowly so several warnings may be sent prior to a suspension.

Mr. Clarke is most welcome to return. The request to disable his account came from him. He was not suspended/banned.

-Arnisador
-MT Admin-
 
I am NOT happy to hear this.

Mike (a fellow Irishman) has been nothing but encouraging and informative to myself- to the extent of PM'ing info. I will miss his presence at Martial Talk.

:( I think we have dimished a bit by his departure.

:yinyang:
 
Originally posted by arnisador
RyuShikan makes several good points. There are trade-offs to be made in managing a board like this and we have made our choices--they have plusses and minuses associated with them. No system would be perfect.

Let me say that admonishments may well have been sent to any number of parties--we don't publicize this. We also try to escalate slowly so several warnings may be sent prior to a suspension.

Mr. Clarke is most welcome to return. The request to disable his account came from him. He was not suspended/banned.

-Arnisador
-MT Admin-

There is imperfect/flawed and then there is biased.
If I were to call someone an “idiot” not just once but several times I have little doubt I would be “punted” from this board like a football from my own 1 yard line.
My point was certain rather dubious folks seem to get away with bloody murder because they whine they are getting “picked on” while other more reputable folks that require a certain amount of validity in their fellow posters claims get “nasty grams” telling them to “behave” for far less infractions of the rules as set down by this BBs.
What ya’ll do behind the scenes is unknown to us, however all we DO see is what happens on this board.
Maybe a little less "covert Ops" is called for to at least appear less one sided………….
 
In all fairness to the mods, I was warned as well for my behavior. And there is an aplogy extended to you in the other thread on that regard.

I believe that the overall tone of a poster is taken into account. Some here have attempted to mend fences and remain peacefull. Some have used this BB as a soap box to label people with unsubstantiated allegations without actual evidence time and time again. Some have falsely accused others. Some have been suspended one or more times. These are things that are taken into account from what I have seen.

Because of time zone differences and technical difficulties action is not always swift, but it has been fair.

If people would put aside differences or taken more heated discussion to email all of it would be a mute point anyway.

My opinion.

:asian:
 
I have also been warned in the past and have tried to moderate my own behavior, I feel that losing mike will be a great loss.

I would also like to offer a sincere apology to anyone whom I have offended.


:asian:
 
Originally posted by arnisador
Mr. Clarke has asked that I announce his departure from MartialTalk. At his request, his account has been disabled.

-Arnisador
-MT Admin-


I think I'll join him.........and for the same reasons.

Cancel mine too, please.
 
Please send an email to adminteam @ martialtalk.com and indicate if you want it permanently closed (IE deleted) or temporarily closed.

We will honor your request within 24 hours.

Please note the following:
Once deleted, we can not restore your account. In the event you wish to return, you will have to resign up. We will not remove past posts.



Also, a reminder here...I am having very limited net access for the near future, so if you email me, it may be a while before I get back to you. If its of an urgent nature, please contact the admin team directly (adminteam @ martialtalk.com), and one of us will get back to you.

The "YOUR" here is used generally, and not directed at Robert specifically.

Thank you.



(Remove spaces to make email address work) :)
 
Originally posted by RyuShiKan
I think I'll join him.........and for the same reasons.

Cancel mine too, please.

I'm still not sure WHAT these reasons are.......:shrug:
 
Originally posted by RyuShiKan
I think I'll join him.........and for the same reasons.

Cancel mine too, please.

I believe I speak for the majority of the members here that we would urge you, as well as Mr Clark to please reconsider your decisions.
 
Originally posted by arnisador
..... There are trade-offs to be made in managing a board like this and we have made our choices--they have plusses and minuses associated with them. No system would be perfect.....

I believe the trade-off you have chosen is neither wise nor productive. I understand that you are free to do as you please, as this is your board. And our choice is either to put up or leave. Not disputing that. However, if input from members is valued, I would just say that, the way you implement your "broken window" theory needs adjustment. :asian:
 
When it comes to implimenting and enforcing policy, we are as fair and unbiased as we can be, given our human nature.

Roberts right....some people use our system, play us like fools and get away with murder. We know we have frauds, multiple accounts, and people pushing their own personal and political agendas. Unfortunately, its hard to prove some things until things blow up.

There are a number of things we have done to improve the past problems.

-Requiring real names and real locations for all new sign ups.
-Improved moderator internal guidelines and responce time.
-many many internal checks and balances to try to get more uniform on things.

Regardless of what we do, someone somewhere will not be happy. Some folks want us to check your papers at the door, and verify all claims and statements. I'm sorry, I have a life to enjoy, a business to run, and my own concerns to deal with. We can not verify that someone in fact is a certain rank from a certain organization any more than we can be 100% certain that Robert is Robert, or John is John.

MartialTalks mission is not to be the big 'fraud' clearinghouse. It is to be a place for both newbies and experts to exchange info.
The trade off is that there are other boards, more focused on credential checking...we want to know these things of course, but don't wish to be the battleground for it.

Both Robert and Mike are welcome to return at any time. Despite any past issues with anyone, very few people are 'banned' from ever returning. Roberts been in the middle of a few interesting scraps, but his input here has been benifitial, and has helped us as a forum grow.

Managing a board with 1500+ members and a daily traffic of over 100+ is a lot different than running a 50 person board with 10-15 new msgs a day.

We are always open to new ideas...but we do reserve the right to do what we think is right for the board overall, and not for a small group of members.

On a recent survey, our moderation was voted just right by a large majority of respondents. If there are specific areas that anyone has issue with, please feel free to contact us directly, or, start a thread in the support forum on where you think we need to improve.

Thank you.
:asian:
 
Originally posted by KennethKu
I believe the trade-off you have chosen is neither wise nor productive. I understand that you are free to do as you please, as this is your board. And our choice is either to put up or leave. Not disputing that. However, if input from members is valued, I would just say that, the way you implement your "broken window" theory needs adjustment.

We appreciate the input--could you be more specific?

-Arnisador
-MT Admin-
 
Originally posted by RyuShiKan
I think I'll join him.........and for the same reasons.

Cancel mine too, please.

This has been done.

-Arnisador
-MT Admin-
 
Originally posted by arnisador
We appreciate the input--could you be more specific?

-Arnisador
-MT Admin-

I have sent a PM to Bob. I'll forward a copy to you.
 
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