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nikthegreek_gw

The deal with 'He Who Shall Remain Namesless'

nikthegreek
9 years ago

OK, I have to admit I'm a curious and nosy person. I'm also new to this forum. What's the deal with Him? In no way am I asking the Nameless to be named, I would just like to get some hints about the story behind Him
:)
Nik

Comments (46)

  • roseseek
    9 years ago

    There was a thread explaining all of it here on the forum last year, Nik. He was a poster here who insisted upon adding the advertisement for his nursery to his signatures in his posts. Spike, who was the moderator of the forum under the previous owners, took him to task and demanded he remove the advertisement or pay to advertise his nursery. Spike's story was "Nameless" sent him death threats and had his "trolls" spam him. Spike banned him for life and to this day, even though the forums are under new ownership and Spike has moved on long ago, if you attempt to post "Nameless'" name, you are given one warning with the threat that if you continue, you will also be banned. It was a guaranteed way to get redirected to the Disneyland site. No kidding. I've tried it and the coding is still there. Kim

  • nikthegreek
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Lol!

  • Tessiess, SoCal Inland, 9b, 1272' elev
    9 years ago

    Really, it's still there Kim? Maybe we should all do it and have a nice big bunch of us go to Disneyland.

    Melissa

  • roseseek
    9 years ago

    Yes ma'am. I'll email you the name and you can see for yourself. Try posting the name to any thread and the warning will show. Don't push trying to post it further, just back out and you'll be fine. Kim

  • nikthegreek
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Let's see if a link is allowed..
    Nik

    Here is a link that might be useful: A link

  • Tessiess, SoCal Inland, 9b, 1272' elev
    9 years ago

    So Nik, how was Mickey Mouse today?

    Melissa

  • nikthegreek
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Nah, I'm still here!
    Nik

  • roseseek
    9 years ago

    Cause YOU didn't speak "the name"! Kim

  • lauraeli_
    9 years ago

    So the name we arent (t0m L1ggett) supposed to say, is this one?

    This post was edited by Lauraeli on Fri, Jul 18, 14 at 15:49

  • lauraeli_
    9 years ago

    T0m L1ggett

    Is this an automated thing? I have never heard of the guy. If this is indeed who you mean.

    This post was edited by Lauraeli on Fri, Jul 18, 14 at 15:51

  • roseseek
    9 years ago

    Yup, have you tried posting it spelled correctly? You'll see the legacy warning. Kim

  • lauraeli_
    9 years ago

    No I didnt lol. I guess if you want to get around the issue, there you go. How long ago was this?

  • roseseek
    9 years ago

    Several years before GW was sold to the current owners. Kim

  • lauraeli_
    9 years ago

    I see. So they likely dont know the back story.

  • roseseek
    9 years ago

    Who knows? It may, or may not be documented somewhere. It's moot now anyway as the behavior and poster are no longer current. Kim

  • jerijen
    9 years ago

    No, but it WOULD be nice if the whole "He Who Must . . . " sham could be abandoned. It's silly.

    He Who Must was at the Celebration Of Old Roses, this past May, selling cheaply, or giving away,what I'm told were the last of the rose plants he had hanging around in pots.

    Hopefully, that chapter is now closed.

  • hartwood
    9 years ago

    I started hanging out here after Spike was already gone, so it's been interesting for me to hear stories of how he moderated the forums. Ahhh, the good old days. :)

  • mendocino_rose
    9 years ago

    I remember a number of people getting banned in those days, most notably Elizabeth Churchill(Leda Horticulture) I think she had just mentioned her blog once, nothing like Tom did.

  • anntn6b
    9 years ago

    Speaking of Elizabeth ( I had been trying to remember her last name for several weeks, wondering how she had progressed)

    Here is a link that might be useful: the not-rosy side of her blog

  • seil zone 6b MI
    9 years ago

    I left here for a while because of all the brouhaha. I think it's silly to ban people from a public forum for any reason. It's up to the individual if they want to go to someone's blog or not and not the purview of a moderator. Unless something is out right spam we're all adults and are perfectly capable of deciding what we do or don't want to read. That goes for threads we don't like as well. If you open something you don't care for just stop reading it and close it!

  • rosefolly
    9 years ago

    All sorts of people got banned, mostly for very bad reasons such as Spike did not like their opinions. I can see banning people for unpaid commercial posts if you are trying finance the forums through advertising though. Spike owned the forums himself. While he offered the forums to the public to use subject to his rules, they were not publicly owned. I found him arbitrary and annoying, but they were, after all, his forums, not ours.

    I was surprised to read about Elizabeth Churchill (Dr. Leda Horticulture). I loved her rose columns. I knew she had had an awful cancer but I thought she had not survived. I read her blog and saw at the end that she is now on Twitter. You have no idea how pleased I was to learn that!

    Rosefolly

  • jerijen
    9 years ago

    So was I, Folly!

  • roseblush1
    9 years ago

    Me too, Folly.

    Smiles,
    Lyn

  • mendocino_rose
    9 years ago

    For a long time she wrote a blog about her cancer. It was fabulous that she won out in the end.

  • malcolm_manners
    9 years ago

    Has anyone here requested that the code be changed to do away with the warnings and Disneyland, at this point in history? I'd be happy to propose that, but if 17 of you have already done so with no success, I'll not bother.

  • jerijen
    9 years ago

    I never have.

    To be honest, when I received a warning, I was shocked that the prohibition was still in force.

    It is, at this point ridiculous.

  • fogrose
    9 years ago

    Thank you Kim for posting THE STORY OF HE WHO SHALL NOT BE NAMED. I have wondered for years what the grave sin was that he had committed to be banned forever.

    Jeri, the plants I bought from him at the Celebration were definitely NOT CHEAP!

    Diane

  • roseseek
    9 years ago

    You're welcome Diane. Kim

  • malcolm_manners
    9 years ago

    I sent the powers that be a request to do away with the ban. Have not heard back from them yet.

  • mendocino_rose
    9 years ago

    Diane as the day went on his plants got cheaper and cheaper. The poor lady selling minis put her price down to try to keep up.

  • jerijen
    9 years ago

    He came in and told me proudly (this was early afternoon, I think) that he had sold his roses for $5., or given them away. It's fortunate that I was REALLY busy answering questions. I was, thus, not forced to really reply.

    Well, that is all very nice, but many of the "vendors" who were present were selling as a fundraiser, to help them with real preservation efforts.

    The fact that they were offering really well-raised plants, and for a good cause, did not help them compete with "$5. or Free."

    Not that "He-Who" cared, but he really did some harm.

  • michaelg
    9 years ago

    Spike was within reason to ban TL, but his trying to obliterate the NAME gives you some idea of how nuttily dictatorial Spike could be. He banned some wonderful posters for things like sending him a private email complaining about somebody else being banned, or talking back after being rebuked. He threatened me once for something or other.

  • jerijen
    9 years ago

    Me, too.

    I always suspected that "Spike" was the same person who "owned" a showdog Forum, in the early days. Their methods were so similar.

    We finally all rebelled as a body -- all of us posting the banned names and words, and decamped to a previously-set-up substitute forum, which we named The Electric Kennel Club. IIRC, we left one or two people there to point the way to the new forum.

    It was a lot of fun. :-)

  • anntn6b
    9 years ago

    I have a vague memory that Disney, Inc., complained and forced him to stop that redirection.

  • rosefolly
    9 years ago

    MichaelG, I would agree with what you said.

    Spike was within his rights to set the rules, but he was arbitrary and dictatorial about the way he enforced them.

    I never quite forgave him for banning the member known as Cuz, a very sweet older gardener from somewhere in the rural Carolinas. He posted something patriotic one day and Spike banned him. Now I agree that Spike had the right to delete an off-topic post, and perhaps send Cuz a note saying that he needed to post only about roses, but I know that Cuz was devastated. I liked Cuz. He reminded me of some relatives of mine in that generation.

    Rosefolly

  • seil zone 6b MI
    9 years ago

    I think that was what irked most people, Rosefolly. He was so arbitrary about things and would take some wild notion into his head and that was that. You were banned! And for the most part they were all pretty innocent posts that did no harm what so ever to anyone. It got to a point where the forum began to feel tense and people were wary and on edge. That's when I drifted away for a while looking for a friendlier place.

    I know we don't want a flood of off topic posts but really, there's no harm in someone occasionally sharing some thing else in their lives with the friends we've all made here. We are interested in each others lives and ups and downs and what's going on around us. I always enjoy when someone posts about a momentous event in their life or a picture of their beloved pet or even shares another plant in their garden. It makes us all closer.

  • AnneCecilia z5 MI
    9 years ago

    OMG, Rosefolly - is that what happened to Cuz? I have always wondered. I must have missed anything about his being banned at the time because I was clueless about his disappearance. His posts could have been made into a collection of essays about human nature as well as old roses; they were wonderful. I thought perhaps he had passed away suddenly or something...

    That Spike, darn him.
    Anne

  • patricianat
    9 years ago

    He also banned Malcolm for telling the funny story of alfalfa tea, neighbors almost having him arrested. Malcolm is now deceased and that was a big thorn in his side that he could no longer post on the roses forums that he loved so dearly, where he met many nice people who he went to the trouble to travel and to meet in person and was able to gather and share information. I was sent a warning once for some benign reason.

    Seil, it's the real life stuff that makes a forum entertaining and those real life people give us encouragement. I recall paying a fee to post here (does anyone else recall? I think it was $15/year in the early days). He probably got rich off that alone.

    This post was edited by patricia43 on Sat, Jul 26, 14 at 10:00

  • fogrose
    9 years ago

    Jeri and Pamela, I had no idea that had happened. What a shame. I left fairly early on.

    And I have heard him claim he was selling off the last of his roses several times before so I doubt that's really going to happen.

    Diane

  • anntn6b
    9 years ago

    I had off site conversations with Cuz and I knew his real name and where in North Carolina he lived. I tried to find him four years ago and came up empty - in several ways.

  • jerijen
    9 years ago

    "And I have heard him claim he was selling off the last of his roses several times before so I doubt that's really going to happen. Diane"

    *** Oh, RATS!

  • nastarana
    9 years ago

    Is it possible to access threads from the Era of Spike? I remember some very informative essays I wish I had printed out at the time.

  • ingrid_vc so. CA zone 9
    9 years ago

    I'm so glad I joined the forum in the post-Spike era. It must have felt like being in a straitjacket, having to watch what you posted at all times, not to mention the distress of seeing dear rose friends being arbitrarily kicked off the forum.

    Ingrid

  • roseseek
    9 years ago

    Not to diminish anyone else's experiences, Ingrid, but there were a few subjects you knew were taboo with Spike. I only ran afoul of any of those once and I sincerely questioned the wisdom behind it. Spike sent me a very thoughtful response explaining his reasoning behind his reaction. I had just a few exchanges with him over the years and found him more reasonable than he appeared. My impression was he was more than a bit stressed by running the forums and seemed increasingly irritated by being questioned. Once I got through that wall, he was a thoughtful, intelligent, sometimes quite funny gentleman. I don't know what became of him, but whereever he is, I wish him the best. Kim

  • bart_2010
    9 years ago

    You are a sweet man, Kim Rupert. I was going to post a crack like "sounds like Spike and TL deserved each other",but it's better to think of your comments than my smart-a thingie; I had nothing to do with either of these people, maybe didn't even have a computer during that time,and it's bad enough karma to go around judging people we know, let alone those we only "know" through hearsay. Thank you, Kim! bart

  • roseseek
    9 years ago

    Thanks, Bart!