Let's celebrate our big win in Europe! :cheer:

..or maybe.. an odyssey through Europe 2013.. :dum dum dum dum.. Zarathustra:

..so, I’ve actually got a proposal for our future forum admin crew.. 🎉

Basically, January 1st.. oops.. typo.. July 1st, 2013, America is gonna be celebrating big time as we officially join the EU.
It’s this massive, lifelong dream for Americans, stretching all the way back to the era of the Founding Fathers—and yeah, people debate the history, but it’s basically baked into our DNA—that’s finally coming to fruition in just a few days.
We’ll finally be able to just go for it, like flying out to catch a Broadway show or hitting up a jazz club in New Orleans without all those ridiculous hurdles and red tape they kept throwing in our faces until now.

But hey, the whole point is that "freedom" thing, right? And I’m sitting here wondering how this forum could really mark this historic milestone, you know, by highlighting that sense of liberty we’re embracing as we step into Europe?
I mean, should we really enter the EU carrying around all this old symbolism of bans and crackdowns?

That’s why I’m suggesting... on July 1st... look at me, doing it again... 🙄 ...basically, on July 1st, let's liberate the forum for those users who have been banned for a long time, semi-banned, or even permabanned—whatever you want to call them.

You know, let’s show some real scale here, let’s celebrate it with a positive, upbeat vibe and some optimistic symbolism to mark our first real step into Europe—that moment of realization where we expand our reach and our perspective.

And honestly, even the current administration might find themselves feeling forgiving before this term ends (that’s an exclusive scoop for you, by the way), so why not open the doors and grant some amnesty to these folks?

This move would be so multi-layered! First off, it shows real power, right? Like, "Look, we had the power to ban you, and now we have the power to unban you." Second, maybe they won't even want to come back, but who cares? They’ll be unbanned, and if they want to log in, they will, and if not, oh well.
They don't even need to know they've been unbanned; we don't have to say a word, just a couple of clicks and boom—it’s like nothing ever happened, and they can just get back to grabbing a coffee.

Thirdly, if anyone wants to look at it from a different angle... maybe being unbanned would actually be the ultimate punishment?
Doing something like that, unbanning everyone on such a grand scale... I don't know... if it were me, I'd probably lose my mind, but that’s not your problem! You guys did everything with the best intentions and hope, and if someone gets annoyed because of it... well, what are you gonna do? You can't please everyone. It’s always like that: you do something good, and you still end up looking like the bad guy... but hey, that’s just life.

So, that’s my pitch: a massive unbanning spree, especially the "de-permabanning" of the permabanned, as a symbolic gesture of goodwill from this forum's leadership to mark America joining the EU on July 1st. Man, I have no idea what I'm even talking about tonight 🙄 ..on July 1st, the first crazy year of this new millennium..

Anyway, you don't have to answer me or anything, just... think about this proposal a little bit.. meditate, guys, meditate.. 🍿

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpcUxwpOQ_A

🎉

:lajk: 🎉 : podrz: 🎉 :lojtre: 🎉

Jacob Allen said:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpcUxwpOQ_A

🎉

🤣🤣🤣

Since my hometown was always part of Europe, right up until some locksmith from a small town in the US like Woodstock, VT showed up and changed everything, I’ll just leave all the celebrating to you guys over in the North America. We Europeans prefer to celebrate with a bit more decency, keeping things modest and stylish.

brightcrane56 said:Since my city was always part of Europe until some handyman from a small town in the US showed up, I'll leave the celebrations to you guys. We Americans celebrate with decency, modesty, and style.

word☕

Not quite!

I’m definitely not voting to lift the ban. Doing that would just be admitting that we’re total idiots for using the same handle. At least unlike those people digging up profiles from 2007 or 2009, we actually have the guts to stand by what we say...
So, it's a hard NO.

Moving on.
If we’re talking about the USA, we should acknowledge that any halfway decent forum (like Reddit loves to claim) uses pre-moderation. You don't see mindless nonsense like "July, excuse me, July" (repeated three times 🤦) passing through there. And apparently, that's supposed to be funny.

(As for terms like "schmokljan" or "whereabouts," I won't get into it—I don't know the history).

Sam Alvarez4 said:Since we’re talking about the USA, let’s not forget that actually decent forums—the kind that take themselves seriously, anyway—usually moderate everything before it even hits the boards.

The system itself basically blocks you from starting any new thread,
unless you check in with the admins first.
I’m totally against this proposal, because if we go down that road, aren't we just discriminating against all those highly informed forum users over on the Island?

brightcrane56 said:Since my city has always been part of the civilized Western world—right up until some small-town handyman from rural USA showed up and messed everything up—I’ll leave the festivities to you guys. We Americans celebrate with actual decency, modesty, and a bit of class.

Timothy Davis59 said:word☕

Please... where would you guys even be if we hadn't stepped up—brotherly embracing you all and fixing things up along the way?

Look, if you have to do it, you just do it—it isn't that deep. Honestly? Some of you guys need to get a grip. Just get on with it. ☕

@loneraven25/">@@loneraven25

I haven't actually suggested anything, so I'm not quite sure which of my ideas you're even pushing back on...

And as for clones? Not a fan at all.
Especially when one has been stalking my posts on here for five days straight without anyone noticing... goodness...

Sam Alvarez4 said:(I'm not getting into any specifics regarding those local nicknames or whereabouts; I don't know the history).

Look, I respect the decision, but I’m warning you now: you’re going to be the only one here. This thread is basically every Tuesday afternoon when school lets out—it's just going to be "Bring back Schmokljan for the 99th time so he can legally insult us instead of just doing it through the Labor Union, only for him to get banned again, leaving us to deal with the fallout for the next year." And while we're at it, let's toss in his eternal sidekick from the old forum days too.

The Great tragedy here is that this thread is about to morph into three hundred pages of whining from people begging for the return of incompatible individuals who—in the sidekick's case, anyway—basically commit social suicide every two months, only to knock on the Labor Union's door demanding they be let back in because someone mentioned Schmokljan. 🙄

Honestly, we should just start an annual "Pride event" under the slogan: "Give us Schmokljan back so he can mock us like idiots before getting banned again." Same goes for Whereabouts, just so the whole thing doesn't implode.

If there is even a shred of a chance that this discussion turns into a real debate about other users whose status could actually be reviewed—people who might actually deserve a second chance—then I am all for it.

But anyone who has been around here for more than twenty minutes knows exactly how slim those odds are.☕

brightcrane56 said:Since my city was always part of the USA until some locksmith from a small town in rural USA showed up, I’ll leave all the partying to you guys. We Americans celebrate decently, modestly, and with actual class.

It's a shame we won't have those fun vibes about joining the USA anymore once someone starts hitting on a Canadian woman.

slydrifter39 said:I honestly feel bad that we won't have those funny little jokes about joining the USA anymore just because someone hits on a Canadian woman.

It’s true, though—the whole idea of a "stranger" is definitely taking on a whole new meaning lately. 🙂

brightcrane56 said:Yeah, the whole concept of being a "foreigner" hits different now. 🙂

For real. It used to be you could actually name all the different countries you were hitting up. Now? It’s all just one big blur. :/

slydrifter39 said:Kind of a bummer that we won't have those easy perks from joining the USA just because someone hits it off with a Canadian woman.

just sell the copyright to some guys from the Midwest😁>

If it’s their first offense—maybe.

But most of the people actually interested in it got pardoned anyway—and if they didn't, they probably will.

So there isn't much point to any of this.🤷

slydrifter39 said:Exactly. It used to be that you could rattle off a whole list of different nations you’d visited, but now? It all just feels like one big blur. :/

I guess those girls from the big city won't be the easiest local catch anymore... 😳

Sophia Williams10 said:just sell the copyright to those folks from Canada😁

🤣🤣

Schmokljan had his fair share of chances, he just chose not to take them. Honestly, the agreement to keep things civil wasn't exactly asking for much; he could have easily followed the rules if he actually cared about being part of this community. Nobody was trying to force him to conform or turn into someone else—we didn't set any crazy special conditions for him either. We just laid out some simple guidelines, but he seemed hell-bent on breaking them.

That’s really all there is to it. You'll know when we finally join the EU, but let's mark this moment differently.