The same could be said about one of your fellow clique buddies. This poster's biggest assets are his arrogance, self-centredness and hatred for Little League baseball. He prides himself on being a jerk. While he is certainly no bigshot MLB umpire, he does like to make posts that do nothing but put other people down and, as you said, "stir the ****". His name is Tim C.

Let me ask you, why does Tim get away with provoking others, while Fitump gets harassed for simply being honest about the shortcomings of this forum? I think I can answer that question for you. This forum is a clique that is here to make money off of articles written by third-rate umpires. While new users are always welcome to join, the main goal is to get them paying the $45 a year so that the higher powers can make a profit.

I don't have any problem with an organization selling goods and services to make money. I do have a problem when the organization goes public, and finds itself too good to respect the opinions of newer users. Case in point: boyinblue. He signs up for these forums, shows a mix of naivity and enthusiasm, and is harassed by the arrogant head honchos on this site.

I would recommend that those in charge of Officiating.com give their head a shake. Those who are not at the top of the rung do have an opinion, and that opinion is just as important as anyone else's. If you find yourselves above the opinion of some of the relative "newbies", I think it's time you shut the forums down and simply sell your online journal articles without subjecting others to your cliquey affairs.

Not that Tim C needs me to defend him, but:

Tim C is who he is...and unlike others he doesn't hide it. While Tim C has taken shots from others for his attitude...the substance of his posts don't usually get attacked because...um...he's usually right (whether about mechanics, "professionalism" or when we discuss MLB issues). He's well connected and very intelligent. A pain-in-the-***? Sure, to some.

How do I know he's usually right, you might ask? First, when he discusses mechanics issues: I can open up my PBUC red book or CCA manual and see for myself that he's correct. When he's talking about MLB issues...I have, in the past, confirmed Tim C's statements with my own MLB connections. He hasn't been wrong, yet.

If you don't like that one particular poster: put him on your ignore list.

There's a good argument: name calling. :mad:

Ha-ha. I have been posting on this site for several years. I've have never joined this site as a dues paying member...nor have I ever contributed an article or been paid for anything. Furthermore, I have never been solicited to pay $45 (or any amount) to this site/organization.

Not to have too big an ego, but: I don't think I had that problem when I was a newer user (you'll have to ask other posters).

Frankly, I think there are too many "newbies" who expect to come onto this forum (and the one at umpire.org) and suddenly set everyone "straight". They expect that their posts are not going to be challenged. I can say that my posts have been challenged. In fact myself and another poster (who no longer posts here due to health issues, I suspect) had a long back-and-forth thread. While it got heated at times...we both "respected" each other. He admitted in the thread that he had made a mistake in one of his posts...and months later I posted that he was ultimately correct in his main argument.

See, these are some novel concepts to some "newbies": (1) realizing that your posts may be challenged (2) admitting when you've made a mistake; (3) admitting when someone else may be correct; (4) not letting threads and posts become personal.

You and Canadaump asked for my opinion and got it. I can only tell you how your posts (in general) are perceived (by me) and why I think others put you on their ignore list.

Note that the posts that deal with "umpire improvement" are welcomed and left; those that contain shots at others and are argumentative are deleted -- and it goes both ways (although I don't claim to be perfect -- I'm sure I've deleted posts that should remain and left posts that should be deleted). You're also more likely to have a post left if you respond once, rather than 17 times in a row.

If it's that painful here, perhaps one might think to do something less displeasant with his time. By the by, since it appears one feller didn't notice, the Discussion boards are offered free of charge.

For which one could be excused for thinking the correct response would be gratitude. . .

Bob James