3
« on: September 13, 2023, 04:45:03 PM »
Post counts? Does a lawyer worry about his post counts? Does anyone worry about post counts for that matter? I focus on the win counts for my clients in court, not post counts on a website. If anything, revisiting my post counts makes me want to post even less because it becomes a painful reminder of the amount of time I have spent making posts, time that could be spent elsewhere. I have expended considerable time making content for this site that some consider valuable as evidenced by their commentary while others have found not so valuable though I have not observed any rude words generated from my content for the most part. Nor have I ever posted any profanity or gone on the attack with a rude diatribe against anyone on this site. I, for one, do not believe I have been a chronic offender for adding officious remarks to the SAAC Forum though some of you may disagree. Let me say this, you are entitled to your opinion. And that’s the point isn’t it? I have lusted after a Shelby long before there was ever a SAAC in existence let alone a “virtual” SAAC online. In other words, I certainly can, and certainly do, enjoy my cars independent of this website and forum. Recently, I saw a request for more writers to participate on or within SAAC which gives certain indicia that your writer base is shrinking (“failing” might be a better word). Given the foregoing, it follows a priori that the site may be dying. It is no secret that upcoming generations are far less interested in anything automotive than we ever were, and they regard cars as throw away appliances. I am 60 years old as of June 2023. I caught the tail end of the muscle car boom in the 1970s when they were simply used cars. I began driving in 1979. I believe that many on this site may be much older than 60 which leads me to my next point. Someone better start making content that is interesting for the younger generations or these cherished cars will end up in museums and in some instances the scrap pile, as sacrilegious as that may sound. I have tried to make my content interesting and though it may not appeal to some, I am not looking to win a popularity contest. Consider me a bridge between Boomers and Gen Xers, maybe Millennials as well. I have reason to believe that I know how they think having a few of them as friends in the legal profession. For anyone to seriously be concerned about post counts and to exert needless energy to monitoring how many posts another has put up online, smacks of playground behavior. I recently posted an article (quickly taken down I might add) in the so-called “Off Topic Lounge” and received this exact DM in my inbox from a moderator which makes me question how “Off Topic” the lounge really allows for, said DM saying and I quote: “Please stop these irrelevant posts, like Adam Driver, etc. Thanks.”
First and foremost, this removed post was placed in the so-called “Off Topic” area. What do the words “Off Topic” mean to the reasonably prudent person? Allow me to supplement that the “Reasonable man standard” is an actual legal standard used in the law to measure the culpability of an individual in tort litigation. Let me assure you, I regularly exercise said standard before I post on this site. The post that was removed was innocuous and inoffensive in its “drive” and content.
Second, the deleted post was about Adam Driver, the star to the new movie entitled “Ferrari” the subject matter of the post being about how Driver wasn’t even allowed to drive the cars in the movie for insurance reasons. I might add that the article came from a noteworthy automotive website that apparently didn’t think said article was irrelevant and unworthy of publication. It was automotive related. Does the “Off Topic” area now have to be about only Shelbys as well? Maybe that needs to be spelled out. Call it “Off Topic but only if it’s Shelby related.”
Third and directly on point, the DM sent to me by this moderator is the most flimsy set of guidelines I have ever seen when viewed through an attorney lens. It literally says nothing and essentially asks me to self-censor myself. Any lawyer reading said DM would clearly know that it was drafted by a non-lawyer (which is not a problem in and of itself) but when you are going to play legislator and draft some rules, you should know what you are doing and draft with clarity and forethought. We have terminology in the legal profession that nullifies statutes for being “void for vagueness.” No lawyer or judge for that matter could make any sense of that DM. What is allowed? What isn’t allowed? To attempt any meaningful statutory construction of the administrator’s message “Please stop these irrelevant posts, like Adam Driver, etc. Thanks.” is a waste of my time and as we all know, time is all we have. This is why pro se litigants make a mess of things and clutter up the courtrooms of America by not knowing the law and wasting the court’s time with their pointless soliloquies about how they were wronged. It is simply “eye rolling” to say the least. You want to set up guidelines for the “Off Topic” Lounge then do so. Or eradicate the “Off Topic” lounge altogether I really don’t care. Or we can try this. I can fill up your inbox with private DMs of proposed posts to see if they pass constitutional muster before I post. How would that work?
Go ahead. Talk about zinc phosphate on nuts and bolts all day long. Or talk about the whereabouts of Jim Morrison’s 67 G.T. 500. I am about to do what Enzo Ferrari did during the Ford negotiations. Just leave and go for an extended lunch and perhaps never come back. You want a writer? I considered it at one point but now I am not so inclined. I have no question in my mind that I know how to write. So says the Judges that have granted many of my motions for summary judgment over the years or the complaints I have written and filed in court that have survived vicious motions to dismiss by the defense. That is all the affirmation I need and certainly not from SAAC. I also have creative writing skills but I am not so inclined to use them here anymore. Get rid of the lounge, I say. Do it! But I suspect it won’t happen because for some, the Off Topic area is a means to target certain individuals and complain because it satisfies some internal validation of sorts. Don’t read their posts if you don’t like them. I do this to the radio when listening in my car. If I run across a station I don’t want to hear, I turn the dial to classical music or heavy metal or hard rock to cut out the static and I will remember the station(s) I do not like so as not to visit it again. You don’t like the station, change it. You already know the radio station frequency so why revisit it? Maybe I should try the other Shelby site and join them but no doubt the same cacophony of complaints might just as easily be found there. It isn’t the forum anymore or the post count, it is what Americans are mutating into where conversation is concerned (far more endemic in the younger generations than the old but maybe SAAC is proving me wrong and that in fact it is society as a whole regardless of age). I look back to the signers of the Declaration of Independence with awe, one of the many reasons I came to this country. I will make a list of those of you that have brought value to my life on this site in no particular order except the first one.
1. 98SVT-was06GT (He changed my life for the better for selling me and my father 6s843 when I was a young man of 31 years and he will never be forgotten for that kindest of all gestures.)
2. Side-Oilers, a man of great integrity and automotive knowledge.
3. 67 GT 350 for his astute observations and car talk
4. Bob Gaines for incredible knowledge on everything automotive, not just Shelby expertise
5. Harris Speedster
6. acman63 (posthumously)
7. 2112
8. zray
9. Venon Estes
10. Chris Thauberger
11. SFM66H
12. BGlover67
13. SFM6S
14. Mark P
15. capecodmustang.com
16. acapulco350
17. 427hunter
18. Bigfoot
19. Steve McDonald
20. 69 GT 350 Vert
21. gt350hr
22. Corey Bowcutt
23. 69mach351w
24. Kent
25. Wedgeman
26. billmunny
27. Dan Case on his incredible stream of knowledge on Cobras
28. J_Speegle incredible expertise on the nuances of Shelby parts and pieces
29. s2ms for helping understand original versus aftermarket on various items
30. FLSAAC last but not least for his rapier wit and entertaining quips coupled with informative info.
31. KIWI (posthumously) I always liked his commentary and wit. Still missed.
Maybe this post will be deleted, maybe it won’t. We shall see.
I haven’t hid my face (some might think I should) in my videos so you know who I am.
I will further electronically affix my full name to this post rather than hide behind an avatar.
Richard L. Elsliger
Oh, and before I forget: Have a lovely, lovely day. Cheers!
In my haste I missed a few others.
32. Crossboss
33. Quicksilvershelby
34. Silverton Ford
35. 557
36. shelbydoug
37. Numerous others over the years as the catchall.