I'm leaving for a bit

[_Ray]

I'm going to be taking some time off of this site. Clearly, I need to learn to be more mature and things in my life have gotten extremely busy anyway. Hopefully this will have a greater effect on my demeanor than just being suspended, since that just makes me more mad at Gerard and this is my own decision.

Raybob

^ And sorry for this being in the Serious Chat section, I just saw it now, I know it belongs in The Lounge. Again an epic fail on my part.

[Huckleberry Pie]

Nah, it's OK, Ray. You're a fine dude in my opinion, I guess it's just that you need to cool off for a while and learn from your mistakes here.

[_Ray]

OK, better idea, I'm gonna pull a Brett Favre and stay.

BUT, if I don't get out of the restricted group soon then I'll just go and what I said before about being very busy was not a lie.

[Ivan]

What an interesting turn of events.

[WRX22B1998]

Your misleading thread titles continue to disappoint me.

[Mike356]

oh you can leave none of us will mind.

[Greensabre13.]

[NickS]

Umm...Ok?

Uuurrrgghhh....(scratches head and looks around the room unsure)

I'll pass

[Ivan]

Whoa, you guys are being a bit harsh, no? I don't exactly adore Raybob but come on.

[Kitsune Inferno]

I personally think Raybob should have been IP banned a long time ago and had his computer smashed over something very hard (y'know, like his head) to make sure, but that's just me. Look, he makes a general ass out of himself, insults the staff, abuses every chance he gets, and now he makes this asinine topic declaring he's leaving. But that's not it! After ONE person says he's not that bad a person, he then decides to stay! Not only that, he then adds the addendum that he'll stay if he's taken out of the Restricted group, as if we owe him something.

This topic only shows how conceited Raybob is. He's nothing more than prepubescent attention whore who thinks he's entitled to do whatever he wants because he still believes the First Amendment will protect him, despite the fact that this is a privately owned website being operated by some sexy beasts in the UK.

[Greensabre13.]

@Kitsune: +1 on your WHOLE POST! Especially the cuties that run TGTAP.

[TM™]

Anyways, returning back to topic. I have to agree with Ivan, you all are being harsh, even if he's trying to catch your attention (I wouldn't know if he's doing that or if he's trying to improve). If he leaves, it proves we can't handle people like him. If most of you were back in 2007 some people use to get flamed for making topics like this and even so, they'd get banned. That was a pretty dark time for TGTAP if you ask me. And the reason was because members didn't like a certain person, they'd flame him. A bad thing was that the warzone existed back then, which was a bad thing (It was a good thing for TEC heh).

I feel that someone really wants to stay here, and he means it. Please don't go back to what things were like back then. It goes to show that members on a forum can completely destroy a forums good image.

And for those who think I'm standing up for Raybob; I'm not. I'm trying to show you that there are some nice community members here who cares for the forums in general (Members, the forums etc.). You don't get many people like this on other GTA forums. Be glad that things have changed for the better, because if it didn't, I doubt we'd be here right now.

TEC9 (Or Kitsune Inferno, whichever you like to be called?), although your post makes full sense of the situation, banning him won't do any good. Like I said before, it goes to show that some people on this forum aren't nice people. Yes, Raybob has lost his chances to improve, but he's not exactly the perfect person, is he? Are we not the same?

I feel that most of you think you're prestigious and stuff like that. I doubt you all are. Gaining this prestige means you help someone out, even if he's annoying. That's what I'm trying to do. Make some annoying person into a better person, most likely this can be a life changing experience for him, too.

Sorry for wall of text thing. I wanted to let out my opinion on the situation. It's a bit of a shame that some of you weren't here back when I and some of us were newbs, you'd have seen the people like Raybob would of disappeared easily without consent.

[Gerard]

TM, I half agree.

As we've said before, nobody has a "right" to use this forum. You shouldn't think of it as being banned, but that the rest of you are allowed to use Chris' private website. If you abuse it, disrupt it or ignore his staff, then that permission is taken away.

4 years ago, TGTAP was a very different place. The staff did whatever they wanted, they banned people every day just because they annoyed them, and people were unbanned the next day by a different staff member. It was chaos. Now, we have proper guidelines, mature staff, and even a Restricted group so that people don't have to just be banned.

However, Raybob is not most-people. Saying he's going to leave then not leaving is a CLASSIC cry for attention. Most normal people would eventually get the message and leave, but Raybob seems to want to stay. I'm not sure whether he wants to be an equal part of this great community, or if he just wants to be king of the noobs. If you DO want to stay, live by the rules (like everyone else manages to), and we'll get on just fine.

We're not asking you to be saints, just don't be a dick. How hard can it be?

I think we've done everything we can to help Raybob. We've given him dozens of chances, never banned him, explained what he's done wrong. What more can we do? It's entirely his choice which way it goes now.

TM - I agree we should do the right thing for this forum and all its members. If the forums would be a better place without Raybob, then banning him would improve the experience for everyone else. That is the line he is about to cross.

Raybob - You will not be taken out of the Restricted group until you have proved yourself to be a decent member of this community. I promise you won't stay in it forever, but which direction you go in is up to you.

[Huckleberry Pie]

I agree with TM and Gerard. I know Ray can be quite a jerk sometimes, frankly speaking, but there are some things that are good in him that makes up for his apparent noobishness. I'm sure you've read what Fernald, aka the hook-handed dude, said in The Grim Grotto: "They're like chef's salads, with good things and bad things chopped and mixed together..." I can even compare myself to Ray sometimes, especially when I first arrived in this board back in 2007. I just thought of not screwing up and post and behave in what I think is right, and that's about it.

Edited February 16, 2010 by Huckleberry Pie

[Thomas.]

This topic is getting quite harsh. He changed his mind at the last minute, so what? He did say that he was going to be busy and might be leaving the site temporarily, who's to say that he won't. It's like you guys are encouraging him to leave which is not appropriate as we all are members who have also had our lows.

Yes Raybob may annoy you but he's been given a chance of redemption, what we need to do is help him get better. Yelling and slagging off other members is not the way to go, it's immature. It's no wonder why Raybob wants to leave, he gets this from us everyday.

I like this new restricted group idea, it allows members to improve before they get the possible ban. Insulting members will not be helping them and causing their 'behaviour' to become worse. Restricted members may well be similar to 2nd class citizens but they should also be treated as a member of the forum. Members generally follow the rules, so should restricted members but insulting Raybob for creating a topic, which was valid at the time of creation, makes you worse than Raybob.Yes he may have made a topic that annoyed you, but you could at least try to ignore it. You're giving Raybob what he wants - attention.