I think anyone deserves a medal if they have the patience to read all of that. I, however, am only going to address the essentials of your reply for three reasons.
1) Nobody will want to one lengthy post right after another.
2) This is the exact same bullshit you were preaching almost a year ago when I took my first initial leave from the BG, and I know any claims to the opposite will just result in you repeating yourself again.
3) I'm laughing as I'm writing this.
First of all, lets start with something simple: The "Flaunting your Credentials." You are frequently accused of such because, though you have claimed to be the manager of a museum, a published author, a Persian Gulf veteran, etc., you have provided absolutely no details, which museum you work in, what books you have written, what it was you did in Iraq, etc. What you may not know about the BG community is that many of us have met each other in person, most often at AnthroCon. Many of us know the face behind the weaslepede, but for yourself, we have only your word; you've never once mentioned the name of the museum you work at or the titles of the books you have written -- all we have are your claims. You talk so much about yourself, and yet at the same time we know nothing about you. You shouldn't talk about yourself so much if you don't want us to know anything about you.
I am especially doubtful of your claims of prestige after reading this:
My first "run in" with the Furry fans of Strega was questioning a cartoon insulting various cultures God's, reducing them to the ingignity of a vore cartoon (no less insulting than the previous analogy of pissing on Christ?) On my many trips to India, I am a guest in a home whose inhabitants worhip that Goddess with a fairly large statue of her in a shrine occupying the most important part of the house.
For the first time in my life, I'm glad I took that Eastern Art class in college before I had to drop out (financial issues, long story). You are partially right: Though technically only a minor diety in Hindu mythology, Ganesha is the Lord of Good Fortune and therefore a very popular diety in Hindu culture. What you may not have known is that Ganesha can also be spelled 'Ganesa' or 'Ganesh,' and that a good majority of English speakers use 'Ganesh.' In the case of Strega's, the name "Ganesha" is simply derrived from adding an a onto "Ganesh" to make the name feminine and was only meant to be similar in appearance, not not directly mistaken for, the diety of the same name.
You did recognize the name, but you apparently failed to take into account that Ganesh, no matter how you spell it, is always male. If you're as prestigious as you claim to be, you shouldn't have needed a college drop-out to remind that to you.
Finally, though I make know claim to
know why Rodent defended you, I can theorize. Rodent identifies himself as one of the "old-timers" of BG. He has been posting for longer than most of us and knows the faces behind both the snake and the weaslepede. It is my belief, therefore, that Rodent has formed three false conclusions which are unfortunately commonplace in net culture.
1) Quantity = Quality.
2) Tenure > Behavior.
3) The message board is equal or equivalent to the community.
The only reason he defended you
initially, I believe, is to avoid conflict in general. Though you did provide content, most of it was designed to be offensive and alienating, and therefore did more to hurt the message board than help it. Quantity does not equal quality.
Second, he only defended you adamantly when the accusations also included Snake (also an "old-timer" in Rodent's book) for seemingly making no effort to stop the flame war. He had no problem accusing
me of trolling and flaming because he knows little about me. It was only when you revealed that your intent behind the story was a petty grudge against Strega (another of Rodent's old-timers) that he turned against you. Tenure does not justify bad behavior.
Finally, I believe he sticks around at large because he's been posting at the BG so long that he's come to think of us as the Big Gulp community instead of the Vore Community, and that websites like VoreTex, Vor-Com and Eka's Portal are just sub-groups to BG. Rodent never defended
you so defiantly; he was defending the message board. When I withdrew my comments regarding Snake's level of commitment/apathy, he had this to say in response:
It was your attack on Snake's intelligence and integrity that spurred my reply to you.
I never objected to people posting strong opinions about Drac, but the unfounded claims that Snake was being manipulated by Drac was going too far.
So, I too will retract the statements I had directed at you in my reply to your post.
While I do not agree with this decision by Snake (for reasons unrelated specifically to Drac), it is his decision and I will not debate this. After all, it will cut down the amount of drama here in the future.
The mean thing to do would be to describe this as "Mussolini is always right," but Snake's far from a facist (indeed I was beginning to question his presence at BG, hence my Big Brother reference), so that would be unfair.
Simply put Drac, your opinions are uncouth, uncalled for, unfounded, and unwelcome. If you are still under the impression that you have committed absolutely no wrong and that your consequential alienation and banning from three otherwise completely unrelated forums were the results of three separate conspiracies by the entire message board communities, I expect to one day Google your name out of boredom and find you flaunting your credentials on your death bed.
