I used to like rj a whole lot.
Part of me still does; it's endearing up to a certain point when your crazy great uncle calls you to ask how to reboot his Prodigy modem router software service CD-ROM outlet. It's especially worth it when he tells you crazy stories about growing up, uses a bunch of names just basically assuming you were there and you knew everyone he's talking about. It's endearing to see what he writes, how you can tell he was just having a conversation with someone really bright and he can't wait to get to the computer and write a chain email to all his family members, and he's leaving out lots of words and putting in lots of ellipses.
Some emails and PMs that I won't share the specifics of, but will talk about in generality, are what started to break me down about rj.
First, back when I was a copy editor, he asked me to copy edit a manuscript of his book. For free. He couched it in "Hey maybe you wanna read this great story about intrigue and mystery and sex" and I was so in, but shortly thereafter he wanted editorial help, and I told him that I did that professionally and if he was offering a freelancing job I could quote him my price, but he got super mad and asked me to throw away my copy of the book. If I recall correctly this was all via PM on the old boards and a few emails after tracking me down on LinkedIn.
Anyway after storming off and telling me that not freely volunteering my services of copyediting his 300 page book for free was a "real dick move from a friend," rj was upset with me for a while, but we mended things via a weird series of PMs and him endorsing me for skills on LinkedIn passive-aggressively and things were back to normal. I liked reading him on the old politics board because he was the loudest liberal by a mile and he didn't back down from anything, whether that was logic or grammar or the time of day or silence or WFRULZ.
Fast forward to this board and he's at it again asking me for help with social media marketing and graphics work for another enterprise of his. I did some small stuff like resizing graphics (?) for him and answered a lot of questions about how Twitter worked, and he wanted advice about web design and layouts and I told him I wasn't really the person to ask and he got very weird again.
I had all but brushed it off, and frequently stood up for him to the usual suspects over the first few years on this board. I still did up until quite recently, indeed. I'm friends with almost all the mods in real life, and they've basically all individually complained to me that were it not for rj, there's basically little to no work to do on the boards as moderators. One mod estimated that 40% of the total time, messages, and mod forum conversation was about rjkarl ALONE. That's obnoxious to me and I don't even have to deal with it. So then these PMs and reps started, and I kinda said fuck it, let's see what it's like to be a usual suspect for a few days.
My girlfriend asked me what I was doing the other night, and I said "arguing with a crazy senior citizen on a message board." It kinda put things in perspective for me a little bit in that moment. I feel bad that rj feels persecuted at every turn. He feels, I think, like the kid on the playground that everyone picks on. The teachers have completely run out of sympathy because he can't help but tattle on them after every single recess. Even most of the other students who liked rj or didn't care about him have since decided it's entertaining to see what happens with him for better or worse. That's where I am today.
I am not gonna bother rj anymore, I'll basically try to ignore him. I think it's for the best. I will live without hearing another story about The Hooters in my PM in English that sounds like you ran it through Google Translate into Russian and then back into English. I can also live without poking the bear, so I'll put this as a peace offering to rj. And who wouldn't, after an utter pwnage like he served me a few pages back. I mean I got taken down at least three pegs from that post. Maybe four. Couple that with the rep points he's left me and I'm a humbler man sitting here today, taking 10 minutes out of my busy workday to type this weird post.
Ok rj, war or peace is up to you. What do you say? Bury the hatchet?