The Ninjas are back!

Saw a hi-frackin'-pee-in-my-pants-larious post on Xavier's blog today. You have to go and check it out. It seems that the ghost of Gecko.45 will not rest. Don't know why, but it is fun reading.

I don't recall exactly where I first saw it, but I did read the whole thread where Gecko and friends spoofed some of us in the gun forum community. It was pretty damn bad. For a few posts...almost half of them, anyway, I even fell for it.

It reminds me of some of the more flagrant trolls out there in another forum I visited pre-blog. When I started cycling, I was into just about every aspect of the sport. Like I am with guns....all the time...I read every magazine, drooled at all the bike shops, and hopped on a couple of forums. The first one I came to had a great community. Much like THR. They opened up to me right away and I made myself at home. Well, at work anyway. They had one marvelous troll who caused all sorts of headaches, but was amusing to watch when he self destructed.

This guy was classic. His initials were JV, and he managed to be the Mr. Knowitall on the forum. He would ingratiate himself into almost any and all posts. It didn't matter if people were talking about McDonald's french fries, or a debate on Campy v. Shimano (like saying an AR is better than an AK to you non-cycling gunnies out there). I don't recall where I saw it, but there was a blog containing all the descriptors for various trolls. This guy was the uber-mega troll. JV was every troll rolled into one, and you could count down the posts until he exploded into the amygdala troll. You know that type, right? He/she is the one that gets so wrapped up in an argument with other posters (who sometimes more often than not egg him/her on to combustion) that he self destructs into a ranting and frothing mess and the admins have to boot him out or block access until he cools down.

Buttons that you could push with this dude were, of all things, loosemeat sandwiches(?), recumbent bikes, telling him the RAGBRAI was a sissy ride, and not outright bashing him or his traits, but sticking tiny little jabs at him. It was magical to watch others get after him. The die-hard posters and forum lurkers were like a pack of wolves on a wounded deer. They smelled blood long before he cut himself open. I admit, I took a few jabs at him and enjoyed the show. The sad part was, we were all watching someone with serious issues. He couldn't leave well enough alone and kept coming back for more. Thinking back now, I am sorry I did participate. Another side of me laughs hysterically and thinks back to those wonderful posts when I read more about Mall Ninjas. I enjoy the laugh and miss the forums where this all went on, but am glad I visit a better class of forums now.

If anyone from the Bicycling.com forums happens upon this, drop a comment and let me know if you've heard from dear ol' JV recently. I miss that guy.