NEW Florida Pinball / Arcade Forum
miracleman
After getting more than a few requests for a new FUN, POSITIVE place
for Florida collectors to hang out, we've started the Southern Pinball
Forum.
We've got a great bunch of FL people there already, but will always
welcome those from out of state as well!
(heck, even some guy named LTG signed up)
It will also be one of several hubs for The Southern Pinball Festival
show in November.
http://www.southernpinballfestival.com
Several FL gatherings are already listed there also. (even An Evening
with Ed Cheung :)
So please help us in this new Endeavour by checking out the site!
Jeff Palmer
> http://www.southernpinballforum.com
>
> After getting more than a few requests for a new FUN, POSITIVE place
> for Florida collectors to hang out, we've started the Southern Pinball
> Forum.
>
> We've got a great bunch of FL people there already, but will always
> welcome those from out of state as well!
> (heck, even some guy named LTG signed up)
>
> It will also be one of several hubs for The Southern Pinball Festival
>
> Several FL gatherings are already listed there also. (even An Evening
> with Ed Cheung :)
>
> So please help us in this new Endeavour by checking out the site!
>
> http://www.southernpinballforum.com
Florida is rapidly growing on the state pinball scene. The locals in
various parts of the state are putting on shows and there will end up
being 3 shows this year. I'm looking forward to it!
William Stillwell - KI4SWY
http://www.villagebbs.com/
http://www.floridapinball.com/
http://www.southernpinballforum.com/
almost as bad as rgp -vs- pinbash
go figure :P
maybe i should start a forum too.
Jack (www.villagebbs.com)
ALRIGHT!
= numsix
= http://www.arcadelflorida.com
PT
quickly. There were 20+ members before it was even announced. I'm
sure it will continue to grow.
I'll always prefer the open, unmoderated, worldwide forum of RGP to
any of our local forums. That said, it is nice to have a place to
chat with the local collectors and buy/sell/trade with people you know
and are within driving distance.
It is also nice to have a forum I can read at work without setting off
alarms. The cursing and childish avatars of boobs and guys screwing
sheep were never funny to me and certainly not welcome on my
Government PC and network.
Anyway, thanks Spencer for the hard work and expense to put this
together. Please keep the moderation in line! Remember that
moderators should impose the rules of the forum, but not censor
opposing points of view or opposing interests. Things go sour very
quickly when the moderators overstep their bounds... We've all seen
it happen before. ;-)
John
> http://www.southernpinballforum.com
miracleman
(although I don't understand the 'rgp vs. pinbash' thing, must have
missed that one!)
Florida HAS gotten a big kick start with the great APE show, and now
with the Southern Pinball Festival, there's plenty to keep pinball
collectors happy. I encourage everyone to go to and support all the
shows down here if you can make it!
PT
wrote:
> And now we have 3 Forums for all your needs...
>
>
> almost as bad as rgp -vs- pinbash
>
> go figure :P
> maybe i should start a forum too.
>
Haha. Why would you need to start a forum Bill? You are already
administrator of villagebbs? At least Jack identified himself when he
dropped by this thread to throw his sarcastic barb.
Oh well, its all good. The popularity of these three forums just
shows that Florida has finally become a great place for pinball and
arcade collectors. Village BBS had a lot to do with that
transformation.
John
Mole
show up together on RGP with the sole purpose of bashing a new forum.
That's really classy, guys. You need to grow up.
If the other two forums were so darned good then there wouldn't be a
need for a new site.
I guess that me and another thirty-five people (and growing) believed
that a new, more positive site was needed.
Be careful what you say here, you can not delete or re-edit your
comments. :^) :^) :^)
Have Fun,
Dan
miracleman
>The popularity of these three forums just
> shows that Florida has finally become a great place for pinball and
> arcade collectors.
AGREED!
Before Marcel G and Charlie L did the APE show and broke the ice, all
we had was Super Auctions.
(although that can be entertaining as well!)
Daniel Hall
I never show up here either, Dan...but I was curious about the address
for Spencer's new site.
I have to ask what did Jack do so evil that it earns the ire and
hatred of what appears to be nearly a quarter of the regular FL
community? Remove some posts for a second new show, apparently trying
to concentrate the boards efforts on a show he's fielding that is a
full 3 months before the second show Spencer is fielding...oh yes,
definitely worth having all this crap.
The problem here is that we have a case of two bruised EGO's, and both
are far too proud to use this forum for anything better than flinging
barbs at each other. You should make peace, because it's obvious you
two cant ignore each other, and no good will come from the two of you
creating an uncomfortable atmosphere on both sides. Sure, you will
each gain supporters. (FTR: I lean more on Jack's side on this one.)
But the fact remains that both of you will cause more harm than good
when you both claim to be trying to SUPPORT the community, not tear it
down. I like both of you guys, and it is stupid to fight a war so
close to home among what used to be a tight community. What's next?
Separate Parties? Both Sysops jockeying to one up each other in an
overblown popularity contest? Maybe we should have two little
collectors groups, each occupying an opposite corner of the Auctions,
glaring at each other in opposition. =(
So the question I have is, will one, or both, of you guys MAN UP, make
peace, admit where each of you were WRONG, and work to pull the
community back together before it fragments too far? Or will you
continue to facilitate this farce?
-The other Dan (Gamedoc)
Mole
> On Apr 30, 10:03 am, Mole <russelr...@comcast.net> wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
> > William and Jack, you guys are trolls. You never post here, then you
> > show up together on RGP with the sole purpose of bashing anewforum.
> > That's really classy, guys. You need to grow up.
>
> > If the other two forums were so darned good then there wouldn't be a
> > need for anewsite.
>
> > I guess that me and another thirty-five people (and growing) believed
>
> > Be careful what you say here, you can not delete or re-edit your
> > comments. :^) :^) :^)
>
> > Have Fun,
>
> > Dan
>
> I never show up here either, Dan...but I was curious about the address
> for Spencer'snewsite.
>
> I have to ask what did Jack do so evil that it earns the ire and
> hatred of what appears to be nearly a quarter of the regular FL
> to concentrate the boards efforts on a show he's fielding that is a
> full 3 months before the second show Spencer is fielding...oh yes,
> definitely worth having all this crap.
>
> The problem here is that we have a case of two bruised EGO's, and both
> barbs at each other. You should make peace, because it's obvious you
> two cant ignore each other, and no good will come from the two of you
> creating an uncomfortable atmosphere on both sides. Sure, you will
> each gain supporters. (FTR: I lean more on Jack's side on this one.)
> But the fact remains that both of you will cause more harm than good
> when you both claim to be trying to SUPPORT the community, not tear it
> down. I like both of you guys, and it is stupid to fight a war so
> close to home among what used to be a tight community. What's next?
> Separate Parties? Both Sysops jockeying to one up each other in an
> overblown popularity contest? Maybe we should have two little
> collectors groups, each occupying an opposite corner of the Auctions,
> glaring at each other in opposition. =(
>
> So the question I have is, will one, or both, of you guys MAN UP, make
> peace, admit where each of you were WRONG, and work to pull the
> community back together before it fragments too far? Or will you
> continue to facilitate this farce?
>
>
> - Show quoted text -
If you go to the Southern Pinball Forum, you will see that it has
nothing to do with the Vill*ge. The Vill*ge is not even mention. I
don't know where all this genuflecting of egos is happening. The
people on the other forum are some of my closest friends, nothing
changed with that.
People just get tired of the BS & move on.
PT
>
> - Show quoted text -
You have completely missed the point and are trying to create
hostility that simply does not exist. This is not just a case of
bruised egos. The admins of the Village stepped way out of line when
the censored/deleted posts in order to favor an arcade Show (Gamewarp)
which THEY ARE SPONSORING over a pinball show (SPF) that OTHERS are
sponsoring. Not only that, the Village admins contacted the
organizers of the "rival" show and told them that they are not allowed
to announce or talk about their show on the village until AFTER the
village show is over in August! NO MENTION AT ALL. No matter how you
slice it that is simply crazy; especially considering SPF has been
announced in RGP and the Bash - not to mention that all of us were at
Curly's party and got the flyers! As you mentioned, the SPF show is
months after the Village (Gamewarp) show. Of course the focus will be
on the village show until it is over. There is no need to use admin
privileges to strongarm people into conforming! When they were
called out on it in the village the justification was lame. There
were simply no rules broken by posting about the rival show; just
arbitrary censorship.
The new forum is a great place and their is no bitching about the
Village. They have had sections open for all three Florida shows
(including Gamewarp) since day one. Posts will only be moderated if
they break the clearly stated rules; not for posting opinions/comments
which the moderators don't like.
Personally I have never liked moderated forums. If I had my choice,
both the Village and SPF would shut down and we would create
rec.games.pinball.florida and post local/Florida interest items there.
Peace.
John
Lloyd Olson
do things like that. LTG :(
"PT" <zeec...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:f0403098-c23a-4483...@n11g2000yqf.googlegroups.com...
miracleman
> It is sad that people/organizations that promote and support pinball would
> do things like that. LTG :(
I think the MORE websites that are out there to promote the hobby, the
bigger and better the hobby can become.
Each is going to promote it differently from the other, and connect to
different groups of people.
It's all good!
Jeff Palmer
I like that the Florida pinball community is growing and I like that
we have more shows and more clubs starting up, but as one of the
organizers of the FLiPS meets on the SE FL coast, it is a little
frustrating to post/answer FLiPS questions on all 3 Florida sites
every time I want to announce a meet or just talk about things going
on because some people refuse to be part of one forum or another. I
start to lose track of what I said and where I said it. And if I need
to change something, the same issue arises.
I don't know all of the drama, nor do I really care. I graduated from
high school a long time ago. I also know even as adults, we all are
not going to get along; I am not that naive. But there should not be
antics amongst a limited few that affect the body of pinball
collectors statewide. That goes against the grain of promoting the
pinball hobby and only rather serves a selfish need.
Jack (www.villagebbs.com)
that may not indicate both sides of this tale..
I had been planning an Orlando based arcade and pinball show for
sometime. Back in February. I had posted a message about this on our
forum publicly (just in case somebody else had the same idea so we
wouldn't step on any toes) and had been working on it with some folks
behind the scenes. At the time some of these people being consulted on
our show were apparently planning their own event which would become
SPF. During this period of time it was apparently decided that
information about SPF would be kept secret from the Florida Arcade
group and me specifically. While I can understand why no public
announcement was to be made, I still don't understand the overall
secrecy as it seems counter productive when you know other plans are
at foot. Certainly it makes more sense to try to work together instead
of apart? At least make sure you both didn't pick the same days, etc.
Either way this eventually caused a problem as one would imagine as we
both had designs on announcing our respective shows the same evening.
In SPF's defense they didn't know we were going to announce at this
event, but at least some of the SPF folks did know we were getting
ready to announce soon. I think maybe they wanted to announce first? I
guess i can understand that.. but still we felt very hurt by this as
we had been so open with several of the SPF members all this time but
they still decided to keep their plans from us anyway.
So of course this caused a big problem. What to do? This was sure to
only cause confusion. 2 new shows announcing same time?? arrg! The 2
SPF members that had been kept in the loop of our plans apologized and
admitted the decision needlessly caused issues. Still it made sense to
still try to work together and promote each other (and the hobby) as
best we could. The plan was to hold off and announce our Show a few
days later. To avoid confusion we'd pull any SPF posts until the dual
announcement could be made (mainly to stop any wait.. which show??
type confusion). I ran this by the same 2 SPF members who apparently
talked amongst the group and agreed this was an acceptable plan. Thus
I think 2 maybe 3 messages got yanked. PMs were sent to the posters
explaining the reasoning. In hindsight this probably wasn't the best
decision on our part but we were just trying to do the best we could
out of a bad situation. To paint a picture of the Village as some
horrible place were opposing viewpoints are deleted or people are
'strong armed' simply isn't true. We rarely (and I mean rarely)
moderate messages or pull posts. In 99% of the cases it's obvious
flames, racial slurs.. that sort of thing. I have never pulled a post
simply because i disagreed with it.. that's not the way the board has
ever operated.. not in it's 18 years of existence. Of course i
explained all of this openly when the announcement was made a week or
so later. The plan was we'd throw the Village behind our show (only
because it was before SPF) then afterwards swap and put everything
behind SPF. This would mean tons of free advertising and support for
SPF.. we never charge and are pretty effective at rallying the locals.
So it sounded like a good plan and once again the 2 SPF members agreed
SPF was on board with it.
Now since then things have kinda blown up. I know the removing of the
posts made a few people very, very angry. Oddly enough it doesn't seem
to be any of the 3 people that had their posts pulled though (??) but
they have been angry and publically vocal none the less. We have tried
to hold up and support SPF, we created a forum specifically for their
event and setup one of the organizers as a moderator. I have been in
contact with the 2 aforementioned SPF members and have been trying to
work out some ways we can help each other out and make both shows
great. Certainly given the focus of both shows I don't see us as in
competition so there is no reason why both shows can't flourish. We've
always supported events in Florida, we love Ape and will continue to
stand behind that 100% as always. Certainly it's not an 'us versus
them' situation.. at least we don't feel that way. The only problem I
ever had was that SPF decided to keep it a secret from me intending it
as a 'surprise' instead for whatever reason -- this would have been
fine had they not known we were also planning a show at the same time.
So now there's an SPF Forum. Which is being hailed as a by-request
'fun and positive place to post' -- certainly that inference isn't
lost on anyone i don't think. Still, you know what? that's fine. I
understand that no matter what you do, no matter what you build..
somebody isn't going to like it or in fact somebody may even resent
you for it.. Everybody is different and everyone has a different
opinion on things. If the SPF Forum will give the people that weren't
happy on the Village a place where they can be happy.. well then
that's a positive right? If you've come looking for me to return the
slights or get mad and sling mud it's not going to happen. In fact i
wish them the best. We'll continue to support the SPF show as
initially promised. I have no desire to instigate any drama. Over the
years i've put so much blood, sweat, time, tears and money into
organizing the collector community in Florida together certainly i
have no interest in causing it damage now.. not in any form.
In fact keeping the drama away from the forum was the main reasons to
found the Florida Arcade/Pinball Collector group. To not only get
everybody together in a spot that made sense geographically, but to do
it in a fun/friendly way. I'm all about building communities and
getting people together.. I have no interest in throwing people into
groups or pitting this side against that. I know cliques will form
regardless but as pointed out previously this isn't high school. After
working all day the last thing I want to do is come home to a squabble
about this or that. I just want to talk about pinball (and arcade
games! :)) honest! Ask around, i am not known as a drama queen or an
instigator of fights. There's a reason for that, i hate it! Now, by
running the board by default i do put myself in the middle of any
fight that does happen but my goal is not to pick sides but to quell
it and get everyone back together. I know sometimes situations arise
where no compromise will completely satisfy both sides. In that case
you just have to do what you think is best for everyone. If its the
wrong decision, so be it -- i'm only human and certainly I make
mistakes. The goal however, has always been to promote the hobby..
nothing more, nothing less. There is no nefarious backroom deals or
the hand of some over-reaching moderator looking to beat people down.
If i ran the board like that certainly it never would have taken off
in the first place. I rarely step into moderate and actually hate it
when I feel myself forced to. I know some folks may not believe that,
but honestly it's true. These last few weeks have been fraught with a
lot of needless drama, I can only hope that eventually we can get back
to more civil discourse. There's plenty of anger and drama flying
around everywhere you look. Just turn on the TV or the Radio and
somebody is mad at somebody.. let's not allow that sort of thing to
seep into our beloved hobby of all places! Put a quarter in, play some
games.. it's not that serious.
So once again.. my goal is to remain positive and promote the hobby
within Florida as I always have done. I've been collecting games for a
long time and have a genuine love for the hobby. I only want to bring
people together and promote that as I think preserving these old games
is really great. If other people want to set off and do that in a
different way I'm not going to complain. I just hope things can be a
little bit more friendly and hopefully a lot less of an 'us versus
them' scenario as I don't think that's a good situation for anyone.
= numsix
= http://www.villagebbs.com [Since 1992!]
Mole
It was wrong for you & Bill to show up here just to bash a new Fl
forum. The SPF has yet to say anything bad about the Vill*ge, Jack,
but that was your main purpose for your & Bills comments earlier on
this thread.
If you want to man-up, you should apologize for that rude behavior
here & now.
None cares about your private tug-a-wars here.
Just more Florida pinball, the better.
Have Fun,
Dan
Daniel Hall
Dan, it seems to me that continuing to demand accountability for rude
behavior is kinda just another method of keeping the fire burning. I
spoke at length to both Spencer & Jack in person yesterday at the
auction, and I think both of them would just like to leave it behind.
From what I've gleaned there, NOBODY'S hands are totally clean. The
cause for these troubles can be broken down to people who for one
reason or another have rubbed each other the wrong way over a long
period of time, but seem to be willing (if what they both told me is
the truth) to keep the peace.
Let's let them do that, and not continue to exacerbate the situation.
/end of line
-Dan
miracleman
You're a good guy Dan H., thanks for the support.
And thanks for signing up at the new forum!
Your years of experience in the op biz will be a benefit to all the
other members there.
Spencer
http://www.southernpinballforum.com
(providing a fun, positive forum since late last month!;)
Mole
HAHA!
Don't lay this at my feet, they were the ones that showed up on this
thread to bash the new forum.
William>maybe i should start a forum too.
Jack>Yeah! There was definitely a need for a FUN and POSITIVE place!
>ALRIGHT!
(damn, where is the delete button?!)
I am talking about this crap on this thread, not about the other
drama. LOL
Have Fun,
Dan
Todd
collectors. If people are mad at each other or they don't want to be a
part of one community it is nice to have another place to go. I would
hate to see people just disappear because they don't like one or two
people. My opinion is everyone that is mad at each other should take
that wasted energy and put it towards show planning. What's done is
done.
I choose to be a member of both sites because they both have people I
like that are part of them.
Todd
Jeff Palmer
Don't forget, there are three Florida sites :)
Some people I know will only read in one site (and they do not all
prefer the same site). For those that read up on FLiPS, I try to
make sure I post updates in all 3.
And of course, some folks are members in all 3 plus RGP. Lots of
pinball, so what's the problem :)
freeman
> various parts of the state are putting on shows and there will end up
Would you have the list of the 3 shows, and possibly each of their
websites?
Sounds like Florida moves to the number 1 spot for most pinball
shows.
PT
Florida has an active, growing collector community. Here are the
three shows. First is Florida APE. There have been three APE shows
so far; each one better than the previous. APE is held in early
February after the Super Bowl:
http://www.floridaape.org/home.htm
Next up is the GameWarp show. It was just announced and will be held
in August. It does not seem to have a website yet. It will have
pinball machines and lots of videos games too. See info about it
here:
http://www.villagebbs.com/forum/index.php/topic,9469.0.html
and here:
http://www.southernpinballforum.com/smf/index.php?board=9.0
Finally there is the newly announced Southern Pinball Festival (SPF).
It is pinball only and looks similar to Expo.
PT
Sorry I clicked send too early! SPF links:
http://www.southernpinballfestival.com/
http://www.southernpinballforum.com/smf/index.php?board=10.0
http://www.villagebbs.com/forum/index.php/board,24.0.html
John