Originally Posted by
Vwls
From the old days when I used to laugh till my sides hurt posting on NWP, through the latter DonkDown / splintered forums age, Dan Druff has not always been a good friend to me. However, I don't think anyone here can argue that he was not an integral part of the forum life we all knew and enjoyed. He was the yin to Micon's yang - the balance and the brains. Whatever transpired between us personally, from the time my personal photos were hacked and posted on NWP and the management decision was to let them stay, to the poorly handled firing of FckVwls from NWP (and my even less professional reaction).... to the efforts of Druff to denounce me publicly for failing to be responsible about paying a debt I owed to his good friend.... there were rocky waters and hurt feelings all round to be sure. But never, throughout any of it, would I have imagined an NWP/DonkDown without Todd Witteles.
Say what you will about Druff - and I've heard all the arguments - the guy is a forum legend, one hell of an intelligent person, and a fantastic poster. His incessant arguing is what makes him unforgettable. His insight and well-thought-out, well-written BS engender a serious, if at times exasperating, balance to the brutal constancy of silliness and filth on these forums.
I'm posting this today to go public with how I feel.
Many of you know that I am a huge Howard Stern fan. One thing I'll say about Howard - he never fires anyone. He never burns bridges with his people. The folks he built his empire with are *family*, and even when they fuck up, piss him off, or completely lose their composure, they remain. This is how I operate as well, and why I was completely outraged when DonkDown decided to part ways with Druff. It smacked of complete disregard not only for family bonds, but for the culture of the site itself. The survival of the site. DonkDown has been dead to me since this occurred.
Now I realize it's a small loss in the general market of poker forums, as the age of the poker forum is pretty much dead anyway. But it is still a loss, and a misdeed. It is wrong, and cannot be ignored.
How many of you agree with this, and are posting here out of allegiance to a standard of blood being thicker than water - an understanding of that certain nuance that made NWP great? How many of you are ready to contribute what you can to make this place entertaining? Or are you just here to play that same old tired song, trolling Druff and tossing used-up insults into the ring?