For the originator of this thread: Howard R.

There is a post on the US board by a writer using the name of Banned Patrick who says he is back with a new email address and a new screen name.

Do you know if this is a copy cat, or the real guy making a comeback to respond to his accusers?

I am not good at deducing the identify of the author from wording, writing styles, or line of logic.

Now, it will be interesting to see how long this reincarnation lasts.
A False Dimitry, or the real thing?

OK, I had to register a hotmail account and a new name.
Sue_xx_yy, that is at least a somewhat reasonable explanation for what has happened. When the manager of the restaurant emailed me and said she couldn't find the post that I was talking about, I copied and pasted her email. It was real, but you are right that there would be no way to make sure of that. But if that is why I was banned, couldn't the editor who banned me at least explain that to me?

Meanwhile that wasn't an "opinion" about a restaurant -- it was the statement about wine prices which I found to be totally wrong and asked the restaurant for clarification which I then posted. What if someone said that a particular hotel charges $500 when in fact in charges $79? Shouldn't a person be allowed to correct wrong information? Again -- we're not talking about opinion here, we're talking about statements made as if they were facts.

And Sarah, as I've said on another thread, I really hope you aren't serious that when I used the phrase "what IF we called you an idiot" to show a poster who was being nasty and name calling that such behavior isn't acceptable -- you actually thought my example was rude. Since when it is nasty to tell a poster engaged in name calling that he shouldn't do it? This unfortunately is not the first time I've been called nasty for trying to keep others from being nasty! A review of my posts will usually show that when I am "sharp" or "rude" to someone it is TOTALLY because they are being rude or nasty to someone else. I really don't mind insulting people who are being insulting! And I'm sorry that you do mind that.

OOPS. bad typing I mishit the keys. The word is: Identity. I missed the t key and hit the f.
I should do better.

brookwood, "BannedPatrick" sounds like the "Real Patrick" to me. I'm pretty darned certain it is he.

janisj, you've got one of those too? Isn't it fun for snarky people to counter everything you post on the board?

BannedPatrick is Patrick in disguise. Welcome back to the board, Patrick!

brookwood,
ha, ha...now you're gonna get banned for typing 'mishit'.

By the way, no one has called me any of those names yet. But give me time. I once did have words with Patrick, though. Then we made up. That's what grown-ups do.

I added my two cents to Fodors direct e-mail. Something is definitely wrong here. Patrick has been personally helpful to me. A couple of years ago I looked back at his e-mail address (before they were eliminated on the site) and found him. Patrick responded to me immediately saying you found me!! Certainly Fodors owes him a direct response as to what he did to offend Fodors.

There are so many rude people in this forum (such as, you're so stupid for not posting a question properly!) who could definitely be dumped.

Even BannedPatrick should e-mail this thread to [email protected] and [email protected]

By the way, BannedPatrick - - if you created a new hotmail account just to get (temporary?) access here - - why not display it publicly here? There may be private correspondence worth sharing with others who wish to write to you. It's not as if you'd be giving up the identity of your REAL e-mail address.

I've never particularly understood the reluctance of so many to post an e-mail address here.

I find it interesting that this thread starts off...

"Patrick emailed me that when he tried to post this afternoon..."

...posted by someone who doesn't display an e-mail address.

How can there be "bonding"... in an "off-forum" way between any of the members of this "community" when e-mail addresses are universally kept concealed?

Ben Haines, Marilyn, me - - we seem to be the rare exception - - why?

Well, sticks and stones might break your bones, but you're only a true fodorite when you've been banned yourself! WELCOME TO THE CLUB, PATRICK.

hdm, you just typed that word too!! I'm deeply offended, and you should be banned!!

:-D

:-O
OH NO! I'll be BANNED FOR LIFE!
(Is that like being President for Life?)

I emailed BannedPatrick to welcome him back but it was returned.

rex, I used to always list my real email address. But then there are people here like wiseguy who are too immature to handle internet situations and feel compelled to fill mailboxes with nastiness, so I no longer do.
Howard had my email address because we've met and talked in New York. He recently emailed me regarding a specific problem, so his address was at hand and I emailed him.

But normally I've become a firm believer that anything that needs to be said here, should and could be said in front of all. I'm not big on personal emails.

I really don't intend to keep that hotmail account and it even took a while to figure out how to do it. I'm a one email address -- one screen name kind of guy.

<<normally I've become a firm believer that anything that needs to be said here, should and could be said in front of all. I'm not big on personal emails...>>

Well, you actually would get no disagreement from me on this.

I believe in adhering strictly to PUBLIC answer to PUBLICLY asked questions here - - when it comes to travel <i>content</i>.

This thread is not about that, so I thought that off-forum correspondence might be useful on some aspects of this, in some situations between person x and person y.

If I could type, I might have become something else in life. When I was in college, word processors were science fiction.

I had a devil of time writing anything. Fortunately, my major prof. typed as badly as I did and took pity on me.

I had to hire my thesis done so it would get by the chief censor: the dean of the graduate school. I remember he evaluated the work by pulling out a set of calipers set to exactly 2 inches and measuring the margins. Then he performed the acid test. Did the abstract of the work contain no more than 200 words. After measuring, he would count the words on a sample of 3 lines, take the average number of words per line, then count the number of lines, and multiply. If more than 200, the unfortunate author had to exit the room, get with the dean's secretary, and do a word by word count. If more than 200, the whole abstract had to be re-written.

Just think, I might have become a Ph. D. historian and had to learn to sell insurance for a living. One fellow with whom I was in school did just that, and lives in a $500,000 house in a Birmingham suburb. (Where $500,000 buys about 4,500 square feet of nice house.)

Just think, if Patrick had not gotten canned, we would not have this much fun.
Dull day until I read the thread about his being canned.

Just goes to show the futility of kicking someone off the board. It thought the whole idea was foolish to start with.

But, Random House owns the board, so I suppose the editor in chief can give the boot to whomever he or she chooses.

At any rate the evictee is unevicted, and back making with the keys.
I wish I could type as well and write as well. Such literary skill, and effective sentence structure, make me a little envious. Some people just have talent along those lines.

But Patrick is not the only one. There are quite a few people on this board who write with great effectiveness.

... how utterly silly ... all the guy has to do is get a new screename. One vast electronic kidergarten. And someone said this is a site for grown-ups. Wow!

I had a flat tire on my way home tonight and sat in my car in the rain for an hour and a half waiting for AAA. Had already spent the evening complaining to the members of my chamber group that I was getting irritable in my old age. And now I figure I will sit at the computer till I get wound down enough to go to sleep, but I find that Patrick has been banned. It never ends.

But enough about me. Patrick is one of the most interesting posters on this board. To me I guess that means he has a lot to say about things that interest me. He certainly spends enough time traveling to have a lot to say about a lot of places.

I guess what I'm saying here is, if Howard (forgive me, I'm still laughing) can rave on and on about his Paris dinner of children in cheese sauce, then Patrick should be able to say whatever he wants to about wine. Or to whine about whatever he wants without fear of being banned.

Free Patrick.

Nikki, what is this about &quot;Howard can rave on and on about his Paris dinner with children in cheese sauce&quot;?????

A dinner in Paris that consisted of children in cheese sauce!! What post did I miss?????

I know it has been a long day (and an hour and a half waiting in a car for AAA is not fun), but please, do explain, LOL. Fodor's is getting more unreal by the moment!

Free Patrick!!

Here is what I'm sending to Fodor's:

&quot;I would just say for the record that this has been a great board for me in my own trip planning. Patrick has been one of a core of veterans on this site whom I have found helpful to read.

Initially, I thought it was odd that the moderator and even a link to the moderator was not easily reachable. However, Patrick and a couple of the other veterans acted as &quot;self-policing&quot; calling people on their rude comments, etc.

A message board can not provide the thoroughness of professional researchers who evaluate travel recommendations. What it can do is provide a human face and anecdotes to fill in those unspoken gaps in the travel literature. Please reinstate Patrick and let the conversations continue. Thank you!&quot;



Hopefully this matter will be corrected soon, Patrick.

... uh-oh, seems a few have allowed fodors site to become their life's center. If Pat is so interesting he's essential, scotty, show me the beam!