[Ricksy]

I'm Ricky.

Last wednesday (24th july), the moderator banned me from these forums, for a polite DBT-related post, ironically, at the sources & amps section, which supposedly (or at last I believed so) was not DBT-free. Don't look for it, it was deleted.

It seems that he (I'd say many other here too) think that because I have a more, er, I'd say "scientific" approach to audio and don't agree with most of the people's opinions here, I'm not an audio enthusiast, and it seems that he banned me for that.

Well, don't worry. I won't post here anymore. I'd like to ask the moderator to unban my IP so that all people who share my domain, thousands of people, can access to your page again.

I'll stick to the other audio forums that I read and where I can post and discuss more "comfortabily", where many times my opinions are shared from other people, and people are generally more open to other opinions and to a good discussion.

Goodbye.



P.D. to the moderator: you can delete my two accounts.

 

[MacDEF]

Quote:

Originally posted by Ricksy It seems that he (I'd say many other here too) think that because I have a more, er, I'd say "scientific" approach to audio and don't agree with most of the people's opinions here, I'm not an audio enthusiast, and it seems that he banned me for that.

Not that you'll read this, but here's the plain truth, Ricky.

If your approach really was "scientific" that would be one thing; unfortunately, your approach was pseudo-scientific, which generall means "I'll use anything that sounds scientific if it makes my argument sound better, and I'll ignore anything scientific that would make my position look bad." You selectively ignored scientific evidence, or the lack thereof, that exposed flaws in your positions.

[As an example, you constantly challenged people to "prove" the audible differences in cables scientifically. You presented a completely flawed method using patchthroughs via computer soundcard to "prove" that there was no difference. I, on the other hand, posted the most rigorous and scientifically valid double-blind test that has been done here. You ignored my posts and continually told people to take your "test" to "prove" that you were right.]

But beyond all that, it's safe to say that the reason you were banned wasn't because of your views or opinions. It was because you were nothing more than a troll on these forums. Your first post on Head-Fi was simply a link to a thread on another forum where you ridiculed a Head-Fi member. Since then you've only posted when you could jump in the middle of a discussion on cables and crap on the thread. You were never here to discuss audio and headphones in a community of friends with a common interest. You were here to force your anti-cable views down members' throats. You never contributed a single meaningful post outside of that topic. Your final post may have been "polite" but it was simply more of the same.

 

[andrzejpw]

MacDEF has it right. I noticed it from your first post, to your most recent. It seemed like your ONLY mission was to prove that cables don't make a difference. From what I gathered, you only wanted to spark flame wars. I come here to discuss headphones and audio in general with others who want to do the same. Don't ruin it for us.

 

[carlo]

i'm thread crapping. see the irony?

 

[Calanctus]

[Said in a thick Austrian accent:]

[size=small]Hasta la vista, baby![/size]

 

[HD-5000]

1st Amendment: Freedom of speech

For God's sake, he was trying to help people! I wonder how he was being a "troll" when stating his opinion? Thread crapping? No! In cable forums, maybe he was too repetitive in his opinions about cables, but in my honest he shouldn't have been silenced.

Ricky, you will be sorely missed.

 

[jude]

Quote:

Originally posted by HD-5000 1st Amendment: Freedom of speech

He still has his freedom of speech -- he can say what he wants. He just can't troll here. And, yes, it was trolling.

Freedom of speech? If he went into an audiophile club meeting and told the members of the club -- whenever they discussed cables or differences in digital source components -- that they were deluded or falling victim to the placebo effect, I can assure you he'd also still have his freedom of speech, although he'd likely be left to exercise it outside the confines of wherever it was that club met. That this is a virtual gathering of audio enthusiasts, in my opinion, hardly makes it any different than an in-person gathering of audio enthusiasts.

Ricky resorted to trolling. As far as I'm concerned, he had been trolling for a while. Then someone posts a question asking if keeping their CD player running for extended periods for the purpose of breaking in his rig would be bad for his CD player motor. He responds that break-in is an imaginary thing. I have no problem with the fact that he thinks that, but he was trolling in the context of that thread. I PM'd him to ask him to quit with stuff like that, but then someone posts a review of source components.....he was the first to respond, stating that the differences in source components the person who posted was hearing was simply placebo effect. To me, again, that's trolling. No, HD-5000, you didn't see these posts, only because I deleted them. And if you think that such posts aren't rude and should have been allowed to remain in the contexts of those threads, then we agree to disagree.

There are members here who've expressed their opinions on Head-Fi that interconnects make little, if any, difference. Or that different digital cables don't make a difference. Or that so-and-so tweak is a waste of money. Or that no difference was heard with a power conditioner. Or that one tried but couldn't hear much difference between certain digital source components. Opinions like this are expressed at Head-Fi, and there's no problem with that. But Ricky came in here from day one, with no apparent interest in the hobby, seemingly just to break in -- often where it wasn't even appropriate -- to shove his opinions down the throats of others, and to pitch his "test" ad nauseam under the premise that anyone who didn't take it wasn't willing to admit he's deluded. I already had the impression this was his purpose for coming in the first place. His last couple of posts solidified it. He suggests that his last response in that source thread was polite -- I think it was anything but.

So, HD-5000, you might miss him, and that's fine. But know that he still has his freedom of speech -- he can create a web site dedicated to his beliefs, start another forum, shout it out in the streets, write a book, publish a newsletter, etc.. If you think he was trying to help people here, know that he can still do so in his own special way somewhere else. I, for one, will not miss his trolling here. Not even a little.

 

[andrzejpw]

Quote:

Originally posted by HD-5000 1st Amendment: Freedom of speech For God's sake, he was trying to help people! I wonder how he was being a "troll" when stating his opinion? Thread crapping? No! In cable forums, maybe he was too repetitive in his opinions about cables, but in my honest he shouldn't have been silenced. Ricky, you will be sorely missed.

A ton of his posts were of 1 variety. He'd simply say, "There's no difference in cables," and that was it. It was almost like he was WAITING for someone to challenge him. I'd call that trolling.

 

[KR...]

oh well...

 

[Neruda]

Quote:

Originally posted by HD-5000 Ricky, you will be sorely missed.

yeah, sure he will. I'm all misty-eyed.

 

[gloco]

Ya know, i really enjoyed this guys posts, it made me laugh my ass off everytime i read one of his posts...ricky, come back!

 

[taoster]

Cheerio!

 

[Mic]

I dunno. Perhaps I'm more tolerant and moderate on this subject matter. Well, either that or I just haven't read enough of his posts

. Anyhow, I agree that trolling degrades the quality of a forum. At the same time, to kick someone out seems intolerant. I mean, gosh, no one is forcing anybody to read Ricky's posts. But then again, there's that whole thing about a forum being bad if it's filled with troll posts...

 

[fredpb]

Ricky was not offering opinions. He was doing flaming and starting flamewars, period. His tactics were mild versions of a few major troublemakers on usenet. One thing nice about Head-Fi is the lack of these troublemakers.

I really doubt Ricky was Ricky, and Spain was his country. He was a sport troller.

 

[dhwilkin]

I was really hoping this thread wouldn't get any responses, since that guy frankly doesn't deserve any more. But since the thread's rolling, why not offer my take...

I don't know how many of you saw the last thread jude mentioned, the one where somebody did a quick comparison of three sources (one of which was the Audiophile 2496, hmmm) and found audible differences. I was "fortunate" enough to see Ricky's response before it got deleted. Oh, it used polite words, but the tone of it was so condescending, patronizing, and antagonistic that I knew he'd be extremely lucky if he wasn't banned. Let me put it simply: IMO, that kind of attitude has no place here. I commend jude and the other mods for giving Ricky as many chances as they did to either learn from, contribute to, or just hang around these forums.

HD-5000, this is a private forum, and speech can be restricted however the moderators see fit. This is not a violation of the First Amendment. And make no mistake, he was not trying to help us, just see how many people he could either brainwash or piss-off.