The IBPC and Poets' Graves

[ray miller]

Pot calling kettle black, Brian. Insulting people online is what you do an awful lot of, too much, in the opinion of many people here. Not nice, is it?

[brianedwards]

Pot calling kettle black, Brian. Insulting people online is what you do an awful lot of, too much, in the opinion of many people here. Not nice, is it?

I thought we'd cleared things up between us Ray. I have no wish to go down that road with you again. The board doesn't need it after all the recent shit.

[ray miller]

Hello everyone. This is Ray's wife. He's just stormed out of the house, says he's got a plane to catch to Tokyo. Has he been arguing with someone again?

[brianedwards]

Hello everyone. This is Ray's wife. He's just stormed out of the house, says he's got a plane to catch to Tokyo. Has he been arguing with someone again?

Good to see you still have your sense of humour.

[twoleftfeet]

If you really think that Internet fights completely surpass "standard" human quarreling then you either need to get out more or grow a pair, IMO.

Nobody has said that or even implied it - quite the opposite in fact.
Thanks for spoiling the fun.

[twoleftfeet]

Ray,
Brian seems to have discovered your weak spot.
I'm not laughing, coz I'm worse off than you!

[ray miller]

Just a game, Geoff, just a game. Now we can concentrate on avoiding relegation.

[Travis]

You seem bitter, Ray, and antisocial, but not in a cool way.

Why don't you live up to that virtuous, age-marinated character you underhandedly espouse and spell out exactly what your problems are here?

And Geoff, while what you said is objectively wrong, I'll just leave it be and apologize for being your wet blanket.

And for what it's worth, I wasn't intentionally needling anyone in particular. I do however stand firmly behind my words.

[ray miller]

Travis. You'd need to explain to me in what way I've appeared to be bitter. As for anti-social, I'm leading you by 2168 to 1324. There just aren't enough occasions on which a guy can come along to flex his muscles.
"virtuous, age-marinated character you underhandedly espouse". You make it sound as if I've been lying about my age "but not in a cool way". If you've any idea what you're talking about please elucidate.
What are my problems here? You may mean this thread, PG or the planet for all I know. I'll assume you mean this thread. Well, I thought there was something deliciously ironic in the IBPC Board of Directors choosing to support Rus Bowden in his spat with PG, just a few days after the PG mods had similarly chosen to support Brian in his spat with Suzanne. Not really a problem as such, I suppose, although I did spill some wine on first reading. Still, all comes out in the wash, doesn't it?

[Sharra]

You know I was really pleased at the initial repsonse and support we recieved from everyone re the decision about IBPC. But now I'm seriously pissed off.
1) the issue with Suzanne has been resolved, at least she has told both myself and Ros that all is well now.
2) the issue with Suzanne is absolutely NOTHING compared to what we have had to deal with over the last week from the IBPC email loop. Myself, Ros and Brian have had to deal with literally HUNDREDS of emails that got more and more insulting and offensive about the people at PG. We have spent a great deal of time defending the board and standing up for what we believed was right. Rus is an obnoxious little Nazi and someone who created a lot of stress for all of us. When we formally complained to the board, we were basically told to piss off.

Just grow up people and stop taking not so subtle digs at each other. There are more important things in life to worry about than this playground 'he said' 'she said' stuff!

I do not want this to degenerate into a slanging match. If anyone has an issue with this, please PM me rather than drag the board down to the lowest common denomenator.

Nicky

[Suzanne]

People,
While I appreciate the support for what I feel was unfair, I do, really, I have spoken to Ros and Nicky about what I see as inappropriate behavior by Brian.

There is nothing more that needs to be said on my behalf about the matter.

Everyone involved has been in contact and while we are not in agreement, things have settled into a sort of norm.

Agreeing to see things differently is an acceptable resolution as far as I am concerned. It is done.

Warmly,
Suzanne

[Travis]

...all comes out in the wash, doesn't it?

Yes it does. Thank you for your time.

[stuartryder]

Fuckin' A. This is the best news I've heard in ages. I can come back to PG

To be completely honest, I don't think poetry is about concealment, so I would hope we should post up all the threads that led to this, and indeed transcripts of the conversations, as I don't think we should be subject to such domineering and demonising and let the perps get away with that. We *should* show it, and ridicule it, and moan about it, and do it in that eloquent, proportionate, inclusive and "Us" way that we've always been brilliant at.

I guess we probably can't though

Cheers!

Stu

PS Rus was always a d*ck.

[brianedwards]

Fuckin' A. This is the best news I've heard in ages. I can come back to PG

To be completely honest, I don't think poetry is about concealment, so I would hope we should post up all the threads that led to this, and indeed transcripts of the conversations, as I don't think we should be subject to such domineering and demonising and let the perps get away with that. We *should* show it, and ridicule it, and moan about it, and do it in that eloquent, proportionate, inclusive and "Us" way that we've always been brilliant at.

I guess we probably can't though

Cheers!

Stu

PS Rus was always a d*ck.

Really Stuart, I think myself, Ros and Nicky would rather just move on. The issues of the last few weeks have been very stressful for all involved.

Hopefully the various other trifles that have peppered the board recently will simmer down soon too and PG life will once again become sweet.

Btw, we have a new comp running if anyone is interested . . .

B.

[Danté]

It seems to me that personal differences among some of us here are in actuality part of the attraction of this place. On this occasion I personally think the moderators who don't actually have to put in the effort which they clearly do deserve the backing of those of us who at times take their contributions for granted. There are individuals here with whom I've had the odd spat, but in actuality I'd miss those people were they to stop being part of the fabric of PG. As with the moderators, none of us posters have to use this place but we do and make a conscious choice to do so. I think the opportunity to throw a few custard tarts or a bit of hands on with a muffin in the comp sounds like a great way to remind ourselves why when there are many forums on which we could work, it is this one which brings out the best in our poetry.

Regards

Danté

[twoleftfeet]

Well said, Tim.

PG is brilliant for the craic. I enjoy a good spat and moreover I find it a challenge trying to type while wearing boxing gloves.

However I am keeping a low profile because a certain individual has resorted to tactics of Dick Dastardly proportions
- namely posting YOUTUBE clips of disastrous football matches. I beg the Mods to ban this evil practice (at least until my
team wins a few games)

[Ros]

Trouble is, Stuart, it runs to 156 mostly rather long emails... and yes, we're all fed up with it now!

Tim, that's really kind of you, thanks. And I guess you and Geoff are both right, the place would be a lot duller without the personalities we have here. The football may be below the belt but it's also over my head (does that make me very short indeed?) so I'll let you battle that one out between you.

Ros

[twoleftfeet]

The football may be below the belt but it's also over my head (does that make me very short indeed?) so I'll let you battle that one out between you.
Ros

Rosemary - not only is that funny, but also difficult to visualise while you are sitting on the fence!

[Ros]

The football may be below the belt but it's also over my head (does that make me very short indeed?) so I'll let you battle that one out between you.
Ros

Rosemary - not only is that funny, but also difficult to visualise while you are sitting on the fence!

It's not comfortable, either, I can tell you!

[clarabow]

Well, it all happens while I am away! Leave the country for 5 minutes and you win, and then lose the Board all in the space of a day! Actually I am still away, in Sweden, and computerless but fortunately the library is very helpful. Nice to see the comments - reminded me of home. But sorry this got so out of hand that PG has withdrawn from the Board. It was kinda nice having the chance to win the poets' equivalent of the lottery. I am at a loss to understand how this has all come about apart from the judge mistaking, or not, Ben's poem, but to suggest some sort of conspiracy! Anyway, we could send over all the King's men (oops forgot we did that 300 years ago) to where-ever the Board hangs out. Well, hope to be active once I am back in the UK. Clara

[Aliceaforethought]

I agree with not labouring this one, as it's been a bit disheartening about basic humanity and reason. I just got back from two weeks holiday and read through the seemingly endless emails on the IBPC loop, and I felt like I was tuning in to The Children of The Damned or Invasion Of The Bodysnatchers or something -- something where you expect people to be reasonable and reachable, but they just aren't. All the relaxation of my holiday evaporated within a few minutes of reading this horrible stuff. Anyway, I just want to say that I don't believe that Poets' Graves did anything wrong there at all, and the utterly spurious calumnies issued in your direction are obviously ridiculous. One PG person in particular got a little heated, but, given the circumstances and irrational provocation, who can blame him for that?

Just wanted to state this publicly. Didn't seem much point putting it on the IBPC loop once you guys were gone.

Steve Parker
admin at criticalpoet.org

[Ros]

We really appreciate your support, Steve. It felt like shouting into a vacuum most of the time. The trouble is, I don't know if the other boards realise that this could easily have been them - it just blew up in our faces with no input from us. It's a pity the IBPC feel they can behave like this.

Ros

[brianedwards]

We really appreciate your support, Steve. It felt like shouting into a vacuum most of the time. The trouble is, I don't know if the other boards realise that this could easily have been them - it just blew up in our faces with no input from us. It's a pity the IBPC feel they can behave like this.

Ros

Yeah, that's the one thing that still niggles me about this. The other reps were too afraid to lift their heads out of the dirt long enough to see that this could so easily have happened to any of them. My own naivete was exposed: I underestimated the importance of competition in poetry.
Now if I were a pretentious person, I'd say the real loser in all this was poetry . . .

Thanks for the support Steve.

B.

[BenJohnson]

Thank you to all those involved in trying to settle this stupid issue. It is a shame that what should have been a peice of fun with other forums should have ended this way, also a shame Rus didn't contact me directly to settle any issues. I would like to formally apologise though for not heeding David's advice about the title of the poem.

[Ros]

I would like to formally apologise though for not heeding David's advice about the title of the poem.

Absolutely no apology necessary, Ben. The issue merely brought into full sunlight the insanity which we could see creeping round in the dark anyway. Just unfortunate that it was your poem, but it could have been anything.

Ros