K Offit wrote:
In article .com,
urchaidh
wrote:
Pretentious, moi? Puerile, certainly. But let me assure you that my
indignation is not feigned. You are a cancer on this newsgroup. You
attached yourself to it and killed it.

Steady on, no-one can kill a NG unless you let them!

A lot of people pointed out that Allans repetive posting were annoying
and ask him, with varying degrees of politeness, to stop. He didn't,
they left.

Use google groups and go look for yourself. There was a thriving
paddling community on here before Allan started his incessant postings
on the subject of BCU corruption. Within a year 80-90% of the regular
posters had gone elsewhere, not because the didn't like what Alan had
to say, but because of how often he repeated it. He would pollute every
thread with his rantings. I guess if he stuck to a thread on BCU
corruption, few folk would read it.

Allan has given me some useful advice on this NG over recent years for which
I am grateful.

Indeed, sounds like he's quite a knowledgeable and experienced paddler.
This group used to be full of them.

I don't mind him airing his views, I may not always agree,
but I would defend his right to free speech.

No one ever objected to Allan airing his views. But he aired them
incessantly, in every thread, until it the signal to noise ratio fell
to almost nothing. There's a big difference between free speech and
SPAM.

It wasn't just few folks who left in the huff. It wasn't, as Allan
whould have you beleive, just a few folks with a personal grudge. It
was the majority of posters who left, most quoting Allan's nonsense as
the reason.

And just think what the alternative would be to a Usenet NG: A moderated,
web based forum for right thinking canoeists, with adverts on the top of the
page and any real debate suppressed as it may hurt sales figures.

I don't have to think, as what you describe is pretty much what
happened, though I don't think it's (ussuming you're referring to the
UKRGB) particularly moderated. This newsgroup became so unusable that
most everyone switched to the web forum. Why? Pretty much becasue of
Allan.

Even now, people asking questions in this NG will be directed
elsewhere.

By accusing Allan of having 'killed' the NG you sound like a right drama
queen.

Maybe, but I'm ****ed of. I have a nosey in here every now and again
and it's as dead as ever - it used to be so much fun. I believe Allan
(and his sidekick David Kemper :-)) killed it. The evidence is there
for all to see.