Hi I,
You will be greatly missed.
B

This makes no sense.

Say Whaaaaaat? Ira is probably the most non-controversial of us all. Who's next?

bizarre.

makes me wonder whether I want to stay here.

Je suis Charlie.

I sent an email to [email protected]. Not sure if it will do any good, but figure it can't hurt.

Janet - I just sent my own e-mail to them - thanks for posting that idea.

However, the link you posted doesn't work due to the rogue full stop at the end.

anyone else who wants to e-mail them, the correct address is:

[email protected]

I want to be a rogue full stop when I grow up.

I created a new thread about this in Forums Help.

http://www.fodors.com/community/foru...nstate-ira.cfm

It might help if some of you added a "what he said" comment or two to that thread, to keep it topped.

Ira, I was banned in error once, maybe this is what happened to you!

I guess I haven't been around long enough to be a member of the IRA fan club or to have any memory of his postings. But it seems to be he is back if this posting is truthful so what is the big deal? I know of one web site where if you are ban, then that is what they mean. And the monitor works very hard to keep banned folks from sneaking back on under a different log in. If you are gone, you are gone. But it looks like IRA is free to continue posting under a new name.

A while back I had my knuckles rapped for being disrespectful to TomSD so I just put on my TomSD blinders. It worked so well that I didn't notice that he may have be banned also. I know I am missing something here about IRA but am also guessing that it is not terribly important.

FMpden

You can post on the travel boards even if you are exiled from the Lounnge.

A while back I had my knuckles rapped for being disrespectful to TomSD >>

you should see that as a badge of honour, fmpden!

Ira was already a fixture when I joined Fodors in 2007, and he has a long history of making insightful and thought-provoking posts in the Lounge whilst, IMHO, never straying over the line into polemic or coarseness. In the past he has also posted some really delightful trip reports, though I think that he may be hampered a bit by old age/illness now.

The point about having him re-instated is that all his wit and wisdom have been expunged from this site, plus despite his new incarnation, he would not be able to post in the lounge, to which new members do not have access.

He can come back to the boards with a new name, fmpden, but no one new has access to the Lounge, where he was a valued poster as well. He and I might not always have seen eye to eye, but he was always respectful in his disagreement, which, as everyone knows, isn't always the case in the lounge, especially when politics are involved! I always appreciated his perspective, agree or no, and because there was never an attempt to be offensive, his viewpoint was more likely to be considered.

I was given a time out as well once, having referred to Peter of the "hovering finger" fiasco, as a twit, but it was temporary....(the banning, not Peter having been a twit LOL)

I've written the editors as well. Hopefully they will listen.

I guess for some the Lounge is important. Lounge kind of reminded me of "Take it Outside." Maybe there is a need for that kind of area, I don't know. I did get sucked into it by TomSD but it served primarily to remind me to avoid my own hot buttons. Jerks will be jerks regardless how logically or how hard your argue. Need to keep reminding myself of that.

ira is not gone, he just can't post in the Lounge!
"Je suis Charlie"?? Now that's just offensive in this context. Get a grip, people.

If you long for his wit and wisdom, tell him how to find you all on Facebook. Fodor's has been loud and clear on the subject of the Lounge, and if I were you I'd start lowering the lifeboats.

I think these "Farwells..." Are just a play for attention -- O' No, don't go! We need you! I seen more than one who claims to be leaving for a host of reason but then are back in a couple of weeks as if nothing happened. Some of this is a little addictive for some people. If IRA wants to post great wisdom, then I am sure he will find away.

> Jerks will be jerks regardless how logically or how hard your argue. Need to keep reminding myself of that.

We only recently learned the Lounge is closed to new members. It sure explained a lot to us about that forum, and we lost most of our interest in participating. It's the same dozen or so people, and answers on any given topic or issue are entirely predictable due to a complete absence of new members.

<A rude way to treat customers.>

Well since we don't pay Fodor's to be here, we are technical not "customers".

<i>Well since we don't pay Fodor's to be here, we are technical not "customers".</i>

Technically, we are "product". Or, rather, our eyeballs are.

Our posts are product--Fodor's owns the rights to everything we write here. The Lounge produces no useful content for them, so they are abandoning it, but, IMO, fairly kindly, by closing it rather than simply deleting it.

I don't know why they banned ira or why they won't reinstate him or reply to his queries, but my guess is it falls in the category of Can't Be Bothered, which is indeed rude. But again, the Lounge is on borrowed time anyway.