Changes in this forum and Les Robertson.

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Well, this has been a long time comming. Mike just did what had to be done, and I support his decision, afterall, although this is OUR site, Mike OWNS it. Im have met and done business with both Mike and Les, and both are fine fellows. It just seems this forum needs a change, there were a lot of brawls in here over opinions that never should have gotten out of hand.

Now, lets talk KNIVES!

My 2 cents.

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www.simonichknives.com
 
I am going to come out of the closet as one of the "faceless" board members who voted that Les should not continue as a moderator.
My vote was tagged as "reluctant" but I really did think Les was not handling criticism well and was, simply, not moderating.
But I, also, feel that "management" has handled this situation badly. I can see no reason why Les' "sacking" and his resulting email comms with Mike were made so public.
We, as members, did not need to know the gory details. "Les was wrong......Les is terminated". there was not, IMO, any reason for public castigation. The bloke, largely, did a good job and should be let go with sincere reluctance.
If my going public like this constitutes a de facto resignation from the "board", so be it.
Sorry, Mike....we don't seem to be on the same wave-length, all that often.....do we ?
smile.gif


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Brian W E
ICQ #21525343
Money : spend it before it's all gone

 
In my opinion, it was a proper decision for Les to no longer remain as a moderator.

Mike does OWN this place, and drops ALOT of money into it. For that he should be appreciated and respected, period. Les's e-mail to Mike shows just how little Les respects Mike, now imagine just how much he respects us common members?

We don't have to imagine, he has proven how little in the attitude of his posts, and in his lude description of us in his e-mail to Mike.

Les was a great resource, but one can only have so many chances.

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I need a bigger bucket.
 
Mike Turber;
Are you the same Mike Turber, who started a protracted fight with Josh on rec.knives ? Are you the same Mike Turber who found out how to make a million dollars in the knife business ? Start with 2 million ! You are running on emotion, and ego, and show little, or no logic between your ears.You now have shown every member exactly what you are made of, and Les wins by default.
Please remove my name, and password, from this forum. You have destroyed what was good here
by the handling of the challenge, not by firing Les.You just don`t get it !!

Floyd O`Leary
 
Floyd, thank you for your feedback on the Les Robertson situation.

If you don't mind, pray tell, how would you have handled this situation? Since our skill sets are lacking in handling this "challenge", I would appreciate hearing and possibly learning from your wisdom.

Make no mistake: Les was given far more "at bats" than anyone else we've had to deal with in the year that BladeForums.com has been operational.

In that time, he's-
  • Repeatedly gone out of his way to start fights
  • Insulted, belittled, and disparaged custom makers and forum members
  • Refused to abide by forum policies
  • Refused to compromise and follow forum guidelines
  • Driven away valued members of the knife community
  • Cause other people from the industry to refuse to join in the discussions

and many, many other examples.

We've done everything we can to make BladeForums.com a place where everyone is welcome. Unfortunately, there is only so far we can compromise, and we went out of our way to try to work with Les.

The fact that he was unwilling to work with us only speaks to *his* problems, not ours, since we've done everything we could to accommodate him while trying to maintain the same standards that we set for everyone you cannot say that we didn't make the effort. There is only so far you can blame us before you have to start wondering why *he* was always at the center of the problem.

Don't be so quick to lay blame until you've been in our situation.

I'll be sorry to see you go, Floyd, but if you honestly feel that we are somehow to blame for the "challenges" that Les posed, then I guess you'll have to go elsewhere to find your happiness. There will always be a spot for you here at BladeForums.com, we just expect you to follow the rules that we set out for everyone.

Spark

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Kevin Jon Schlossberg
SysOp and Administrator for BladeForums.com

Insert witty quip here
 
After some thought, I agree with this decision and respect Mike's unwillingness to make exceptions of policy for any individual, no matter how valuable to the community that individual may be.

I do not agree, however, with the manner in which this thread has been handled and continues to be handled. I would have liked:

1) A statement that Les had been removed from his position.
2) An explanation that this had been a board decision made for the good of the community.
3) A brief discussion of the criteria the board used - the demands and limitations of the moderator position versus normal posster status.
4) A plea that Les remain as a poster and continue to share his opinions and information.

And then I would have liked the thread locked, as befits any simple announcement.

I see no need for Mike to publicly dictate to Les how his character might be improved, nor has anything been gained by leaving this announcement as an open thread and letting tempers flare. As stated, what began in anger has ended in shame for many of the posts here. Let us stop this now, before we further degrade ourselves or lose sight of the very difficult yet honorable decision at the root of this matter.

-Drew
 
I understand your concerns about my posting of his email. It just seems to me, and of course I may be wrong, that Les has no concern for the members and if I did not post the emil that would get lost and many of you would ask why he was let go and why we did not try to "work it out".

We have tried to work it out on several ocasions and the email above is indicative of the types of responses we received before.

Now to Floyd;

Mike Turber;

Are you the same Mike Turber, who started a protracted fight with Josh on rec.knives ?
No if you remember correctly it was started by Josh. Ask any member here.

Are you the same Mike Turber who found out how to make a million dollars in the knife business ?
I guess if you want to put it that way. Maybe on paper.

Start with 2 million !
Are you saying I started with 2 Million?
HA! I grew up in the projects my friend. No silver spoon in my mouth. I started this business with one table at the Ramona Flea Market right here in Jacksonville. My competitor at the Flea Market was Danny from 888 Knives R Us ask him for proof. I started with $10,000 I won on America's Funniest People. $7,000 went to buy a car and the rest into inventory. I left a job at Tandy which paid $50,000 a year to start this business so I have been through a good bit to get it where it is.


You are running on emotion, and ego, and show little, or no logic between your ears.
Ok...

You now have shown every member exactly what you are made of, and Les wins by default.
Ok...

Please remove my name, and password, from this forum. You have destroyed what was good here by the handling of the challenge, not by firing Les. You just don`t get it !!

Floyd O`Leary

I have an old saying Floyd. Please do not present me with a problem without a possible solution.

The only thing I regret here is that I posted his email. Maybe I acted on emotion but if you where in my shoes what would you have done? I received countless emails on this subject from members asking why Les is being removed. Most letters that where in his favor stated he tells it like it is and that he has respect for the members. Well I could of simply sent each a copy of the email we got. Or I could post it right here. My call and my bad.

Sorry....

Floyd you may want to call me as it appears you are operating under many falsehoods.


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Best Regards,
Mike Turber
BladeForums Site Owner and Administrator
Do it! Do it right! Do it right NOW!
www.wowinc.com

 
Drew, part of the problem is that no matter what we do, someone is bound to scream that we handled it poorly, and that this is all a smear campaign and we are practicing a vendetta or some other fairy tale.

But, in accordance with everyone's apparant wishes, we will lock this thread and move on.

Spark

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Kevin Jon Schlossberg
SysOp and Administrator for BladeForums.com

Insert witty quip here
 
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