Interesting discussion.
A few points that must be made.
1-Phil wrote some very popular and very descriptive articles on Trolling. However, he himself has referenced what he does while at other sites as trolling, or I'm sorry, "slumming".
Saint Phil from Fortress Martialist said:
Over the last few days I was slumming at a couple of different martial arts sites where I piss off a plurality of the posters because they're left-leaning twits, ignorant children, virtual tough guys, traditional martial artists, or some combination of all of those.
Ok, so that tells us very clearly why he was here. It wasn't to "educate" or "enlighten" us, but to cause problems. There is also an out clause in there I remember reading, on how the high and mighty "anti=troll" will often be seen as a troll. Well, if it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, I highly doubt it's a pig.
2-Phil has his own heavily controlled little forum, where those that subscribe to his world view can enjoy existence.
3-Phil's comments, which I have sometimes agreed with, and sometimes not, were overly wordy, and often sleep inducing ejaculations of excessively dense verbiage. Or, removing the $5 words, he wrote long winded and boring crap, which could have made the same point in 1/10th the space.
4-Phil refused to follow this sites posted rules. I will quote them here.
MartialTalk Rules said:
# No "Flaming": Please do not post any messages that harrass, insult, belittle, threaten or flame another member or guest. NO insulting or personal attacks on other members - if some one insults you, do not retaliate but report the offending post using the 'report this post' button link located in each post's top right corner! Respect each others' opinions - you don't have to agree with them but please respect them.
# Rudeness, flaming, trolling, or any messages (via the forum, e-mail, or PM) that constitute a personal attack will not be tolerated. You'll only get one warning. Any member who is intentionally unpleasant or disruptive may be banned without warning.
# No "Trolling": Please do not post any topic that disrupts the peace and harmony of this board. Don't create meaningless threads with the sole purpose of starting a dispute. This includes messages in profiles, signatures and/or posting comments which will intimidate, promote or generate hatred or flames among members.
5-Phils posts, often done within the protection offered within his cardboard outpost that was provided here for him, were often little more than carefully crafted, meticulously worded, and tightly targeted attacks on those he disagreed with, often including the staff of this site, many who did not see eye to eye with him. Such attacks, violate the rules specified above, as well as this clauses:
MartialTalk Rules said:
A member who is rude, excessively negative, or disruptive may receive a warning or may be suspended or banned immediately. Suspending and banning is done at the discretion of the administration team. Any abuse directed at our all-volunteer moderation/administration team, including defying the moderators/administrators to suspend or ban a member, may result in an immediate suspension or ban. Membership on MartialTalk is a privilege, not a right.
6-Every website has rules. This one has rules. Alot of them. Too many for even such a verbose writer as Phil to wade through it seems. Those rules are there to be followed, and when you break them, you should be prepared to accept those consequences like an adult. I've broken them. I got some time outs. I didn't go elsewhere and whine about it. I didn't bombard people with emails or pms screaming about how unfair it was. I took it, read some books, and when the time was up, came back. Reading through the Martialist forums, and the Bullshido forums especially, one finds numerous crybabies who have been booted from sites such as this, because of an inability or non-desire to follow those rules. I am sorry, but every society has them. Follow them, or else. This is a discussion board, not a war zone. This comment "A lot of Martial Arts are all about breaking the rules." may be true in a fight, but not here.
7-Phil will claim he wasn't given a fair shake. In my opinion he would be right. He was given great freedom to express his opinions, without being required to back it up with actual experience. He, and those who invaded this site simply to harass him, disrupted this site with their constant bickering, and yet were allowed great freedom to try to work out those differences of opinion, prior to any moderator intervention in those arguments. Both he, and they should have recieved many more warnings, many more suspensions and possibly even bans from their actions, yet the staff of this site for whatever reason, did not smack them as they deserved. That wasn't fair at all. The great patience shown by those who moderate this site in these battles was repaid with insults, rants, and censorship, as well as character assassination on other more childish and immature sites by lowbrow degenerate types, also no longer with us.
The bottom line is, Phil and his attitude wore out his welcome here, as he and it has on so many other sites. I wish him all the success in the world. But I will not miss him, or his attitude in the least.