Who's going to wear the black hat?

[Jonathan_Loesberg]

I further apologize, Alan, that it took me three sentences (not until “use it, dumb-ass”) to realize what you were doing. Such slowness merits being trolled and questions Neal’s claim.

[Jeff_Vaughan]

I simply do not understand the fairly common desire to have board trolls. The board is a better place when people are respecting each other instead of insulting one another. This is a persistent theme here, and I have never understood it. You can find assholes by the bushel-full everywhere you turn; why is it that people want to promote them here?

Neal, I completely agree with you about treating each other with respect here. I think some people here are a too thin skinned, though. We all should be able to laugh at ourselves and have a little fun with each other. Alan’s “burgundy is dead…”, “wine drinking in France…” threads were absurd in my mind, but I’m fine with people posting that stuff if that is what they think. Maybe in his case, he didn’t really think it, but was just stirring the pot. Either way I was fine with it.

With Klapp, I learned a lot about Italian wines from him. I thought is posts rambled on way too long, with words I often didn’t know, and I thought he could be a real asshole at times, but I’d still rather him be here. People are free to use the ignore function if they want.

This place is better with a diverse group of people.

[David_Baum]

Hogwash! You can have a diverse group of good, nice people.

[Al_Osterheld]

FWIW, it’s difficult to imitate Klapp, his posts displayed a distinctive voice.

-Al

[Mark_Golodetz]

I enjoyed Knapp far more than Alan. With Alan, it always seemed that he needed to be seen and recognized, while Bill never gave a damn. Bill is knowledgeable, crass, funny, nasty and always interesting. Miss his contributions.

[Neal.Mollen]

Like I said, there are some who miss him, and it is a total mystery to me.

[J.Vizuete]

Don’t despair, we have Nathan Smyth, a contrarian viewpoint but someone who is also respectful, knowledgeable and helpful…

[Brian_G_r_a_f_s_t_r_o_m]

I simply do not understand the fairly common desire to have board trolls. The board is a better place when people are respecting each other instead of insulting one another. This is a persistent theme here, and I have never understood it. You can find assholes by the bushel-full everywhere you turn; why is it that people want to promote them here?

[K_John_Joseph]

FWIW, it’s difficult to imitate Klapp, his posts displayed a distinctive voice.

-Al

You may not know what this means, but the applicable term for Klapp’s argumentative tone is “condescending”.

[K_John_Joseph]

Corey?

I hate you with the white hot intensity of a thousand suns.

You also said that’s how much you loved him, though. At least your relationship is extremely passionate.

[Corey_N]

Corey?

I hate you with the white hot intensity of a thousand suns.

You also said that’s how much you loved him, though. At least your relationship is extremely passionate.

It’s a roller coaster. I hate roller coasters.

Pass me the black hat. I’m in.

[Anton_D]

FWIW, it’s difficult to imitate Klapp, his posts displayed a distinctive voice.

-Al

You may not know what this means, but the applicable term for Klapp’s argumentative tone is “condescending”.

[Paul_Luckin]

I hate you with the white hot intensity of a thousand suns.

You also said that’s how much you loved him, though. At least your relationship is extremely passionate.

It’s a roller coaster. I hate roller coasters.

Pass me the black hat. I’m in.

[Anton_D]

You also said that’s how much you loved him, though. At least your relationship is extremely passionate.

It’s a roller coaster. I hate roller coasters.

Pass me the black hat. I’m in.

[Corey_N]

[GregT]

I enjoyed Knapp far more than Alan. With Alan, it always seemed that he needed to be seen and recognized, while Bill never gave a damn. Bill is knowledgeable, crass, funny, nasty and always interesting. Miss his contributions.

As is often the case, I agree with Mark. And I consider Klapp a friend. If you read back through his earlier posts, (although seriously, searching through old threads isn’t the way I’d want to spend my time) Bill was informative and quite often agreeable. He doesn’t have much patience with extreme cranial density, and he makes that clear, but he had plenty of contributions to make. These days he spends his time between Burgundy and Piedmont and given the love of Burgundy by many people on this board, he would be quite enlightening. He was never what I would consider a troll, simply posting to be seen and to stir things up. And just as importantly, even if I disagreed with him, I always enjoyed the quality of his writing. I’ll cut people a lot of slack if they can state their points with some flair.

Alan was quite different in that he often seemed to post mostly to irritate and he couldn’t write for a damn.

Besides, who wants to hang out at a place like this, when she has such an irritating bleat:

- YouTube

[Josh_Grossman]

I’m more of a red hat. (I bet hackers especially hate Trump as this could be confused with something else…)

[Robert_M_yers]

How about Serge?

[Al_Osterheld]

FWIW, it’s difficult to imitate Klapp, his posts displayed a distinctive voice.

-Al

You may not know what this means, but the applicable term for Klapp’s argumentative tone is “condescending”.

Yes, intentionally so at times. Even so, it had Klappian style.

-Al

[Dan_Kravitz]

Please excuse ignorant post from almost lurker, rarely poster, but what happened to Bill Klapp (whose name I don’t recognize) and Alan Eden (whose posts I’ve replied to)?

Were they evicted? Did they leave in a huff? Sorry again for the ignorant question, but what happened?

Dan Kravitz