Kibitzing involves disagreement by definition. Even the best chess players in the world will have opposite opinions of one move, or one position, or one issue. It is important not to take such conflict too seriously. Look at what has been written about me over just the last week, and for the most part I left it alone. The same thing happened during the site awards, and the same thing happened two years ago. When people try to wind you up, don't let them.

and i respect you for that very much.

<tpstar: It is important not to take such conflict too seriously.>

that is all absolutely correct and reasonable.

however, it is just that i have decided to increase duration of my meditation substantially for some time - want to transcend to next level. so it is for that purpose that i am feeling like reducing my conversations (especially online conversations) substantially for a certain period of time. so my decision does not directly have to do with my getting 'wound up' (however, as i increase meditation, i would for sometime like to have more of simplicity , innocence, honesty around me and that sure is a secondary reason ).

it has been great interacting with you - to experience your integrity and compassion for people .

today would be my last day before a long break.

thank you for everything, friend,

99% of kibitzers here are good people. It is only a small handful who are unrepentant rulebreakers, or else they use this site to hurt others. It is easy to forget about the silent majority, meaning the thousands of people who visit every day yet never post a word, and yes many of them have been following all this. (Hello!) In my case, I have lots of experience outing abusive personalities - not just difficult, but abusive - and I have strange methods of making them prove me right. That gets on their nerves, watching me win all the time, but it comes with the territory. I am also more experienced than you in using the manual ignore function.

You could always visit certain chessforums for off topic discussion like Psychology or meditation, but keep in mind that folks usually come here for chess and not Facebook content. On that note, you should also avoid certain chessforums, if you cannot make things better.

i don't doubt that.

you seem to be talking as if i have complaints with this site - on the contrary i think cg.com is a great site.

you seem to be talking as if i am leaving with a bad mood (and i can understand if my posts gave such an idea)

and i see here hemateme and jimbartle and others enjoying regularly non-chess conversations and there are many who enjoy only chess conversations. so, people are enjoying this site in different ways.

i am going on a break and i told you just as courtesy - i could have disappeared for a long time (or forever) without saying a word ( like zarg, slomarko ....)

so i am going on a break because i am going on a break . there is no other 'because'. however, if you want to read any other 'because' in it , that is your choice. this is my last post in cg.com before my break

They wanna ascend, don't hold 'em back, I always say. And never stand in their way. Of course, they're supposed to leave all their petty grudges behind when they ascend, but you can't be too careful, can you?

Hi, Doc. I think you have been aware for some time now that *part* of the perceived change in tone on CG can be attributed to the rise of social networking sites, and to the spread of the peculiar version of netiquette that has grown up in Facebook, Twitter, et al.

Specifically - with vast bandwidth, time on their hands, and nothing too trivial to be beneath interrogation - people tend to question one another about motives and meanings, endlessly pursuing debates that seem fruitless to others.

That netiquette is still mutating, still finding its feet. But the old 'troll' paradigm for persistent troublemakers - which originally came from bulletin boards, back in the day - doesn't seem so apt now. The new breed of troublemaker is likely to consider *themself* to be the victim, the aggrieved party in some tenuous dispute, ramped into the stratosphere by anonymity.

Perhaps it was ever thus. Those of us who aren't anonymous tend to avoid getting quite so passionate about trivia. Though there are exceptions.

Makes for an interesting virtual world, though. Pax.

As you know, most of the group has tiptoed around the controversy, partly from concern over self-preservation and partly for keeping the peace. I have never liked "The Troop" as a designation, since it is an obvious Appeal to Ridicule and Appeal to Spite. In the old days, the term "Kramnik basher" was commonly used to brand someone as irrational, opinionated, and undeserving of any serious response for similar reasons. Besides, many members have objected to his blatant rule-breaking over the last eight years. If you and your cohort enjoy being the Troop, then that is your business.

If being a member of "The Troop" has tarnished my name, so be it. I do not deny my involvement, nor am I dissatisfied with the result. The fact of the matter is, we were never a coherent group. I have never corresponded privately with any other person from CG or with any of the administrators. Of course, I cannot speak for the others. I can say, however, that the great majority of my posts on AJ's game pages were satirical in nature.

The man has obviously got problems, and harms nobody..

But please trust me, he is a stirrer of the highest calibre.. In fact, visit his forum and i'm sure you will see your name crop up *more* than once... And it's nothing flattering either!!"

*****

<MarkFinan> You should feel ashamed and embarassed over what you just posted at Ray Keene's page, plus what you wrote here. It shows you are following me around - the same stalking and harassment that you did before many times to many posters. I knew you hadn't changed, and you keep proving me right.

Strange how you remember that <ray keene> helped you, but you don't remember all those times I helped you.

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10 ... Bg4 11. Qe3 Bxd1 12. Rxd1 Qb6 13. Qg3 Rab8 14. Bb3 Nh5 15. Qf3 Nxf4 16. Qxf4 Bxc3 17. bxc3 Qc5 and Black won (0-1).

SKEWER E B

T-S (SJL 4/18/12): 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cd 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Bb5 Bd7 7. 0-0 a6 8. Bxc6 bxc6 9. h3 c5 10. Nde2 Bc6 11. Ng3 e6 12. Qe2 Be7 13. Rd1 e5 14. Nf5 0-0?! (14 ... g6) 15. Bg5 Qc7

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16. Bxf6 Bxf6 (16 ... gxf6? 17. Qg4+) 17. Rxd6 Rfd8 18. Rxf6!? gxf6 19. Qg4+ Kf8 20. Qg7+ Ke8 21. Qxf6 Bd7? (21 ... Kd7) 22. Qe7# 1-0.

The most successful program I have seen clinically is the South Beach Diet, and that's about all I know about it. People have difficulty staying on the Atkins Diet for more than six months, and some patients had severe worsening of their lipid profiles. In general, fad diets are overrated, and the key word is "diet" anyway.

Weight loss is always a good goal, and if your diet works for you, that's great. I am skeptical about the diet industry as most new ideas over the last twenty years have been presented in the lay press and not the medical literature.

One exposure might cause a flu-like syndrome or even bronchitis, but it takes years of daily contact to develop permanent problems. There are reports that 9/11 emergency workers had respiratory complaints due to the huge amounts of asbestos released when the Twin Towers collapsed. On that note, the legal system has been exploiting the asbestos cash cow for decades, yet they don't want it to ever go away because the field is so lucrative.