and asked me if I would post a thread to tell all of his friends good bye.  

Rafed made a post explaining but I think it is gone, he and JTP both...

hmm.. what did i miss? why would rafed leave? 

Wow, that's a real shame.  What a loss for the forum.  I kinda thought the hubbub from a few weeks ago had settled down...
Jim

Very sad to see this happen. A real loss. :(

That's a shame...he was one of the best sources of information on the board. If anyone is willing to send me his email address I'd appreciate it Edit: got it, thanks all. He sent me cuttings the other week and I'd like to keep him updated on how they do.

Pete - I think I know what happened, if you want to send me a PM I'll fill you in.

Yes, what a shame to lose these two valued members.  On a related note, my understanding is that any thread that the two of started is now gone - this is a double whammy.  In fact, it sounded like this occurred a couple of weeks ago with Rafed when he decided to leave and then came back.  I remember there was some discussion on the forum about trying to resurrect those old threads (using "way-back" function?) and re-post them.  Does anyone know if this is feasible?

Don't know if these comments will be appreciated, since Im new to the forum, but here goes:

I have a sportsmans' forum and am used to "Internet Drama" as a moderator. It is often difficult to stay neutral but that neutrality is absolutely critical for any forum to thrive. Sometimes this means you have to correct "friends"; sometimes this means you have to allow debates to occur. But the hallmark of every good forum is a civil environment where people feel safe to post without fear of attack and belittlement.  This can be hard to do when people are passionate and there are self-proclaimed "experts" who like to show that "expertise" by attacking one another. IVe seen it on my site and Ive now seen it here.

This forum, looking as past posts, has its share of drama as well.  It is also an extremely informative source of information for those of us who are comparatively new to the hobby it is hugely detrimental when a source of information like the gentlemen mentioned decide to pull up stakes and leave.  It hurts the whole community to be deprived of your knowledge and opinions.

My .02

And, yes, you can use the Internet Archive's "Wayback" machine to find old postings... the difficulty is that you cannot search for them on the Wayback function.

James

With the animosity that floats around, it was only a matter of time before he left. I wish him all the best.

I was hoping he'd hang around now hoping he will return

I administer a Facebook page in my community and as James said, you try to be Neutral. I missed a lot of the drama, checking in off and on, so don't know the specifics. I agree Rafed will be missed.
Getting older, I try not to get into hot debates, sometimes I make comments in fun and the person gets irritated taking my comment wrong.
Hey, I thought Pete left to...LOL   Thank God he is still with this community.

A week ago I had a dream, where an older man was being insulted and no one, was seeing or hearing what was going between the lines.
He looked at me and ask Do you see what that guy is saying. I said yes, he is complimenting you, but actually he is insulting you.

As an Example of my dream: Selling a car, if a person says, "hey buddy that car is a classic", "Did you take anywhere far", "Wow it has a V-8 engine"
  What the person was actually saying, you have an old car, gas guzzler and has been driven a lot in the city. (basically you have a bad product).

So, from this dream I decided not to tear down someones product, figs, comments, product etc....

I'm pretty sure Martin (Dieseler) just deleted his account too. At least his posts still exist.

Sad day on the forum.

oy vey...

I liked rafeds Scam alerts:)

It's too bad that things turned so personal.  Since I'm just starting out it was nice to have Rafed's knowledge.  But he did what he thought was right so I wish him, and the others who left, well.

James and Armando, you are correct that you have to try to remain neutral as the owner/moderator of a forum. However, there comes a time
that it must be policed. If not, you have the unfortunate possibilities of the departure of some of the best supporters and contributors. I.E.
Rafed, JTP and Dieseler. Martin has been gone for some time and it wouldn't be a surprise if others do the same.

What a dark moment in time. 
This just sucks.

N00000000000oooooooo...........
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                                                        ....
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                                                               ..
                                                                 .
                                                                   !
                                                                    --.
                                                                       .
                                                                        .

Oh wow, that's a big loss. Rafed was a fountain of knowledge and extremely helpful. I miss him already...

Mike I completely agree and that's one of the points I was trying to make... 

A few years ago I had a good  friend who believed that he could instigate fights, put down people, etc etc with impunity on my site because we both knew each other well and were truly friends "in the real world" -- he took advantage of that...well, he tried.

Then he found himself booted.  I love him like a brother but I couldnt abide the poison he interjected into the community. Was he mad? Yes. Did he understand? Eventually. 

I should have made my point better.  But know this -- all of you who have been very gracious with information and support for us "noobs" should know that it is OUR loss, not your "online enemies" loss, when you decide to pull up stakes and leave. So, if you really care about advancing this fascinating hobby please consider the impact of your decisions on the collective whole.

And I don't know the admin for this site from Adam, but he also needs to be extremely judicious with the awesome powers of moderation -- an admittedly difficult and unpopular task, at times.

J

Rafed will be Missed, may be there is no more good reason to stick around...Hope He changes his mind.
Mark

Rafed come back
                       back
                             back
                                   back

It's starting to sound pretty empty out there !!

Rafed maybe after a long weekend you'll reconsider and come back?
You will be missed!
Vito

Well I was out of touch for a few days before when all the bull____ hit the fan and totally missed the whole thing.  Came back just as Rafed was quitting before and thought wow what mess.  Haven't had the time to try to figure all that out yet and now this.

You folks are sure gonna be missed by me.  I have been on here for about 2 yrs. now and still I generally just try to limit my posts to complimenting other folks and what they have done.  I freely admit I am no expert and believe that proper etiquette calls for me to watch and listen for sometime before trying to tell some one else how to do things.  I'm no wuss I just believe in doing things in order.

If I have done anything to offend any of you leaving or anyone else on this forum I apologize.

For those of you choosing to leave I add my plea to the rest PLEASE RECONSIDER AND COME BACK.  I don't know how you could ever be replaced.

James, thanks for your additional comments. I certainly agree with you.