He can call the forum small and inconsequential, and it is small and inconsequential compared to 2+2, but I still don't think he likes the competition. He clearly came over and took a look from his comments, saw a couple hundred lurkers reading, and didn't like it. They simply don't have the hits they used to over there, and you having half the lurkers of his most active forum probably doesn't sit well. Ultimately he's always about the buck, and I don't think he likes the fact that you become the lightning rod in a lot of the threads and drive traffic here even if you're getting pounded on in the thread by a lot of the posters. Whether people are agreeing with you or fucking with you, you've always been kind of polarizing, and that draws views.

I've always thought you and Mason are a lot alike. Not saying you're exactly alike, but you're both conservatives, and the same type of pragmatic conservatives rather than religious conservatives. You both are kind of attracted to the value spots in gambling rather than degens. You have similar backgrounds and interest in +ev blackjack, the best promotions in Vegas, etc. You both like control over your site, albeit for slightly different reasons.

You guys seem like the type who would get along in the real world, but I think he kind of views you as a small threat if things ever go sideways over there. With them removing strategy content for the most part, most of the traffic is simply social like this site. If they ever did anything to alienate their membership in some big way, they could have all the same conversations over here without any of the censorship. I don't think he worries about this at the moment, because that isn't worth much right now, but he's been involved with politics and trying to get poker legalized, and if it happens down the line, he doesn't want anyone encroaching on his monopoly even slightly.