[Mister Towed]

Just posted the below over on the Marlin thread (by accident as it happens but decided to leave it there), so apologies if you've already read it.

Hi Jeff and anyone else who's still following this debate, which is probably getting quite tiresome for all involved.

I've taken a day off even accessing the madabout site to have a think about where all this is going, how it started in the first place and who's trolling who.

This is from Wikipedia -

In Internet slang, a troll is a person who starts quarrels or upsets people on the Internet to distract and sow discord by posting inflammatory and digressive,[1] extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community (such as a newsgroup, forum, chat room, or blog) with the intent of provoking readers into displaying emotional responses[2] and normalizing tangential discussion,[3] whether for the troll's amusement or a specific gain.

Reading that, what I'm guilty of is getting drawn into responding emotionally to RochdaleGT (aka Micha)'s deliberately provocative posts, probably because I'm quite passionate and protective about our hobby.

If anyone cares to look, click on Rochdale's username then select 'Find all posts' and you'll see dozens and dozens of examples of an individual who repeatedly starts provocative topics, insulting other builders/owners cars without even seeing them, and criticising the UK kit car industry generally without ever contributing anything positive that couldn't just bee googled.

Check my post history and you'll find thousands of posts about building and running cars.

Okay, so you'll also find that I have, ahem, fairly strong opinions on some things and fell out with Jeff H over whether an amateur kit car builder should spray their own car or pay a professional to do it, and I should have just walked away from that when it became an all-out argument and stopped being a positive debate.

For that, and for calling you a troll, which you're not according to the definition above, Jeff H, I unreservedly apologise.

So, on reflection, the best thing I can do now is completely ignore any posts by Rohcdale/Micha, as in the grand scheme of things he really isn't going to damage our hobby by posting half-arsed insults about cars he's never seen while claiming a long, personal history of buying real lemons.

So, back to cars for me from now on, time for a quick shower then I'm off to the Brass Monkeys Run up to the North Norfolk Coast in my Midget. Hope to be making the same run in my 356 Speedster next year.

Happy New Year, Everyone!