Can somebody please fill me in?

[Tj]

I've been away from the site for a couple of weeks. I get the impression that I've missed something big. There seems to be a lot of talk about deleted messages, and what's happened to my old pal Einstein?

[woofgang]

Yers I'm a bit confused too for the same reason and where are Jacob and Abigail?

[sft42]

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but it would appear that you're not going to get to joust with old einy ever again mate.....The management (makes you think of the characters by Hale & Pace) decided to more stingently impose the editorial standards on the site and a large number of users had answers, questions and in some cases their whole accounts removed....reactions to this varied, some flooded the site with posts by aliases, some complained onsite and some via email direct to the ed ( [email protected] ) but the upshot in Einstein's case was that he felt he could no longer stay as a member of the site due not to the changes themselves but the way that the rules had been re-instated & the way he had been treated during this time of flux.

[sft42]

Oops...a post at the same time there....for those whjo missed the boat on this one...Jacob was an alias of Einstein so sadly it looks like we will be losing this unquie sense of humour also..... as for Abigail...dunno if she is still around, may have left heartbroken for her lost love.

[ulrika]

I can confirm that Abigail is still alive and well although she is pining for her lost love, Jacob. (no, I'm not Abigail but I know this person and have agreed not to disclose real identity)
Both Abigail and Jellybaby have had their accounts deleted.

[woofgang]

thanks for that and oh dear, no offence to those remaining but I did think that the site had lost something...did they really push the envelope too far or was it the hand of authority?? and who is left, how about a roll call of survivors?

[gilf]

I left for a few days, mainly because the whole board had become one mass of rubbish, that was the fault of the users and thankfully the editors took control and removed all posts that were not questions. I think the changes are for the good. I agree with the editors that this is not a chat board and disussion too far off the topic only served to give the site the feel of a chat board (of which there are many others people can use). I think there is room for discussion but when this goes into idol chit chat and in some cases name calling etc it damages the site. The constant questions about kippers and Jacobs etc etc etc were just getting too much of a distraction.

[gilf]

to be a little more direct, 2 questions in each section about kippers was pushing it a bit too far, I think in the past the odd one was OK but it was getting a bit of a joke too far I'm afraid.

[comloulou]

How sad, I changed jobs and lost internet access for a while and now the site has been desimated. Very sad.....

[Miss Zippy]

There seems to be quite a lot of 'new blood' around the site over the last week, which can only be a good thing. Of course, it could be previous users under different guises, but the point is there are now some 'proper' questions and answers appearing. For instance, there haven't been many 'real' questions posed in the 'News' section for a while now, but we now have three or so 'proper' news questions posted in the last couple of days. I didn't get involved in what was happening over the last week and it is a shame that some users have left, voluntarily or otherwise, but I do think the purpose of the site was being lost. At the end of the day, there are tons of chat rooms and the like around if that's what people want to do.

[Tj]

Thanks for your answers everyone. I agree with the sentiment - there was too much irrelevent gubbins on the site and it's right that it's been stopped in my opinion. But was deleting so many accounts the right way to go? Particularly people such as Einstein who had contributed dozens, if not hundreds of useful posts (as well as the odd rubbish one, by hey, he's only human). All that Jacob and kipper nonsense was just boring though and I'd rather this site stayed away from the whole chat room vibe. There aren't anywhere near as many intelligent and interesting questions posted as there were a year ago. Hopefully that will now improve. I hope those users who have gone will return soon.

[Janetex]

I am sad about what has been happening recently and I shall miss those who have left/been banned. I learned a lot from most of them and enjoyed some, not all, of the banter on the site. When I look at the posts remaining after all the deletions, it's looking prittteeeee boring! I'd like to think that there's enough room for all kinds here.

[rja211077]

i'm quite shocked that Jacob was an alias of Einstein...like Tj says he [Einstein] had always contributed lots of good Qs and As but Jacob just bored me to death. Perhaps Einstein is going through a midlife crisis or something. Anyway, I'm with Tj on the purpose of the site. If I want to chat with teenagers who just send "hilarious" 'emoticons' non-stop, without actually saying anything, then i'll go to a chat room. AB is a forum for asking questions and giving answers. Bring back incitatus and moonacre, i reckon.