Okay class...

Here's a shining example of why the internet is such a great place, and why you should remember that with every post you make, you're posting to the entire world. Some people seem to think that they're only writing to a select person, or a select group of people they can see. That would be an incorrect assumption. You should always post like you're writing to the whole world. Use the face you want the world to see. Put your best foot forward, and not directly into your mouth.

I would like to think that as we grow older, our cognitive abilities improve. We learn new and better ways to write, and we present a more 'adult' image as we mature. When I was younger, I never would have thought that. I would have thought 'locally' rather than 'globally.'

This particular post is a great opportunity to discuss why you should always investigate what you're planning on buying. Do the research. Do not take anything anyone - even me - writes on the internet as being the gospel truth (I have been incorrect on rare occasions; I was corrected three years ago by an FFR owner (Matt M) when I said that Chevrolet only made Corvettes in one shade of Yellow (Bright Yellow) to someone who asked for advice on a color for a Cobra. I was wrong that time, but now I'm smarter. I learn from my mistakes, rather than attack someone who may have more knowledge on a particular subject).

In dissecting this post, here are some dead giveaways that this post was made by gqthug89:

• The most obvious thing is that the person who wrote this has one post. Usually, if a person starts to think that they're losing an argument, or if they have been banned from a site through the administrator's use of banning a username, there will appear posts that seem to support the person and/or his viewpoint. That is the case here.


• Another thing that a person will do is to change the capitalization of their post. If they wrote in all small letters or mixed case before, they'll write in all upper case now.


• Usually, the new poster will either (a) have no details about themselves in their profile, or (b) be from some other city in a completely different state and/or country. My personal favorite was a gentleman who said that he was from Oakleyhoma City, Oakleyhoma (if you can't spell the name of the place you're from, and you say you've lived there all your life...).


• A person can generally not disguise their writing style. Even professional writers make mistakes. I have read screenplays and books as a junior editor in which every single character talks exactly the same as every other character. It's hard to pretend to be someone else.


• Localization is an important thing as well. Sometimes the poster makes mistakes about 'knowing' the original poster or having been to his house. That's the case here. Now, the world is a smaller place because of the internet, that's a given. However, the chances of someone finding gqthug89's post here about parts for sale, being two hours away and then buying the parts are infinitesimal. I'm not saying that it's impossible, I'm saying that - given the size of Canada, the minute number of 355 replicas in the world - especially in Canada - and the possibility of some random user doing a search on the internet and finding not only kit cars (sorry, Mitch), but exactly the ******* parts listed - is so minute as to be invisible to even the most powerful of microscopes. I can say this with authority because I went to a number of search engines and keyed in searches for exactly that. Heck, I even did a search on gqthug89 and came up empty.
  [*]And, the most important thing to remember: every forum software program records IP numbers. All an administrator has to do is click to find out where a poster came from.

So the question isn't whether or not this new poster is gqthug89 - it clearly is - but rather why gqthug89 would make this post in the first place. Well, it's obvious: he has a very small penis.

Ego, unchecked, is a terrible thing. And in someone who is possibly so young, it could lead to writing checks that the body can't cash (Top Gun!). Maybe gqthug89 is just terribly misguided. Maybe he really is so stupid that he believed that he wouldn't be caught doing something like this. In any case, it really, truly doesn't matter; gqthug89 is a mentally child who is starved for attention - any attention; good or bad - who cannot make the differentiation between the two. I feel sorry for him. I feel that his parents have let him down. I feel that he really needs some help. Serious help.

I also will reiterate a portion of a post I made to gqthug89: "...I sincerely doubt that you have any of the things you mentioned in your post, and I would doubt that anyone in their right mind would buy any fake crap from you anyways; they'd probably never get it. You've proven yourself to be immature and a liar...not a good combination if you're trying to sell something. And what could anyone do to you if you didn't deliver? You're a minor. In Canada. I would strongly recommend that no one purchase from you, given your track record so far. .."

The sad thing here is that gqthug89 will make more posts as either himself or with another handle. I realize it's harsh, and I know that I'm asking alot from the members here, but the very best thing we can do for this person is to ignore his posts. Don't respond. Eventually, he'll get tired and go away; they always do. If there was anything that I felt (or had seen) gqthug89 could contribute, then I wouldn't make this request of the entire membership; sometimes the information a person can contribute supercedes their inability to function in an internet society. That, unfortunately, isn't the case here; gqthug89 wants to ride an ego wave.

In my opinion, the best thing that we can do is ignore gqthug89's personas. In the end it will make him a better person.

Some of you have read my posts for years. Some of you know that I can be a bit on the caustic side and that my posts aren't always friendly (you know who you are! :-)), but I have never asked anything like this before of an entire membership on any kit car website. I hope that you all see that I feel it's important - not only to our little forum, but to the entire kit car industry - to nip problems like this in the bud.

Your pal,
Meat.