This is just a FUN THEORY, not necessarily true...

Who is OTFR? My guess is that it's likely either Ed Yourdon himself or one of his hand-picked sysops. Why? They obviously wanted to screen TB2K based on information content and not behavior (evidenced by banning Flint and not Hawk). If they had just shut down TB2K and started EZBoard, they may have had DOS attacks from LL and others who felt excluded. What better way to cull the herd of all but the true believers than to give the excommunicated and the disgruntled THEIR OWN FORUM so they wouldn't disrupt yours!

This would also explain why this forum was set up so quickly and with complete reference links to the old TB2K. The person in charge was very familiar with Phil G's system already. OTOH, OTFR had to have "explained" to him why his posts as moderator kept appearing at the top of the posts originally...

Anyway, it's a fun theory, I guess I'll find out for sure when it gets deleted ;-)

Frank

-- Someone (ChimingIn@twocents.cam), March 15, 2000

Answers

Hiya, Frank. Interesting theory, but it falls apart on a couple of counts. Ed, being the original sysop of TB2k and Humpty Dumpty, would know about the moderator's posts appearing at the top of the threads unless a different email address is used. Also, it is a fact the OTFR is female. (And, have you noticed LL's new posts claiming that OTFR is harassing her and cpr to death? LOL) Still, it's a fun theory, and very creative!

-- (Not Someone@anymore.xxx), March 15, 2000.

Frank:

3 or 4 of us started alternative fora on various media when the forum was moved and folks "excommunicated." [Love that term, BTW, in this context.] Personally, I'd like to see Old Regular's gender left out of the discussion, whether based on fact or fiction. The gosh awful truth of the matter is that Old Regular got all concerned back under one roof. For some folks it had to do with the censorship issue, and for others it had to do with the familiarity of the forum format, and for some it had to do with BOTH. SOME folks don't like that concept, but as Uncle Bob found out, you can please all of the people some of the time, or none of the people ALL of the time, but you can't please all of the people all of the time.

-- Anita (notgiving@anymore.thingee), March 15, 2000.

"What better way to cull the herd of all but the true believers than to give the excommunicated and the disgruntled THEIR OWN FORUM so they wouldn't disrupt yours!"

You got that right. I suspect my spamming and their closing was purely coincidental. I remember a sysop telling me they were going to review my ban the end of February (I never asked them to lift my ban) and I knew that was bullshit so they were up to something. Do you remember my last spam? I said that the joint would close March 2nd, 2:00 MST time? (Or something like that.) That wasn't coincidence, that was an educated guess on my part.

However, I have to mention he was planning it a long time ago. If you look at Yourdon's first post at EZ Bored, it has a date around the end of Jan. or beginning of Feb. I think. I'm sure he knew after the first of the year he couldn't keep people from being pissed off at him when they realized he'd been lying, so he had to create a place to feed his "troops" their daily rationing of FUD.

"This would also explain why this forum was set up so quickly and with complete reference links to the old TB2K."

You missed a step there. Ed had already set up Humpty Dumpty after the rollover, and before he opened EZ Bored. If you will remember, he didn't announce HD to the old board,...it was just passed down by word of mouth (so to speak [g]).

One could assume he did that because he didn't want to be associated with the rather "colorful" characters who were left at the pit.

I don't know if Ed still visits the HD pit, but my bet would be he doesn't. He's probably consolidated his true "believers" and taken them to EZ. I guarantee ya, it's been an interesting couple of months watching this stuff happen.

~*~

-- Laura (Ladylogic@...), March 15, 2000.

>> ...it's been an interesting couple of months watching this stuff happen. <<

Laura,

In my view, the only reasons to pay much attention to this sort of internal group politics are either to learn how to practise them or how to recognize and avoid them.

Since I have absolutely no interest in practising petty internal group politics and long ago learned how to avoid them, the closing of TB2000, the migration to EZBoard, and most of the gossip on *this* board about *that* board have zero interest for me.

Let me recommend that attitude to you, and the many others of all Y2K persuasions, who sometimes make this board sound like a junior high school hallway between classes.

Now I promise to return to skipping these threads, so you all can gossip in peace.

-- Brian McLaughlin (brianm@ims.com), March 16, 2000.

Brian,

Come on, don't be such a spoil-sport. Don't you think it would be a delicious irony if the "free" board was actually being run by Diane Squire or Yourdon? Not even a little bit?

I do, although I admit it won't make the top ten on the ol' importance scale,

Frank

-- Someone (ChimingIn@twocents.cam), March 16, 2000.

No. Ya know what?

I agree with Brian on this one.

~*~

-- Laura (Ladylogic@...), March 16, 2000.