I can understand why if you are actually playing with someone who acts like what is described as PGS's attitude it could be off putting. I've played one guy in particular who would allow mistakes through until it actively affected him or would yell for a judge to try and get out of something. I don't like playing him but when I do it drives me to beat him to put him in his place. Obviously not everyone is like that so yeah PGS could be rankling. On the other hand though, I don't have faith in what people say until I've seen it first hand. Apparently people form his store are sharing stories of how he was dickish but they're doing it from an effectively anonymous source with the backup of absolutely unconnected people doling out upvotes cause PGS insulted them or their play style.

Forumwise he was vocal. I never saw him actively target users, just broad statements. I don't see why he was banned, if it was for voicing his subjective opinion, albeit loudly, I find that a disturbing.

And finally, this is my last post on PGS, unless he returns. While I have an opinion about him, it is only based on one aspect of his life (his forum posts) and, like McFoy said, I had better limit my opinions from that experience because I don't have first hand knowledge of him outside the Internet.

And since I agree with how CBMarkham summed things up, I'm going to quote his post down below. Give it a read if you haven't already.

Everyone calm down. The general consensus was that he wasn't the devil incarnate or an obvious Hitler clone, but that like all of us, he was an individual with a few flaws.

PGS valued the rules and he valued winning and he had strong opinions. Those things are all fine, but the way things have gone down for him are probably an indicator that he also should have tried to see the value in having positive social interactions that were enjoyable for all parties. X-Wing is a community.

He had many points and many arguments that were valid, but the methods he used to make those points and the "tactics" he used to make sure that the rules benefited him whenever possible, ultimately proved very self destructive and I assume that they made everyone unhappy, probably including himself when it was all over.

My hope is that eventually, our boy PGS learns to express his opinions and still pursue the things he values (winning and the rules of the game) in ways that are good for both himself and the community. Let's leave it at that.

And I will literally not accept that definition.

And it is completely your prerogative to refuse to adapt to changes in language.Just a heads up, "cool" can also mean "really neat" and not just "low temperature" these days! All the hip kids use it.Oh...I should probably explain "hip" now...

No, I'm hip to the jive you're spittin'. Still doesn't make the change to "literally" any less stupid.

It really is stupid. Keep up the good fight.

Look, I'm a writer, and I've got both English and Law degrees. I know language evolves. I also know that dictionaries are "descriptive" with definitions, not "prescriptive." I'm down with that.

Where my ass gets chapped is when there is actual useful informative content being lost in language evolution, basically because of the combination of (a) people being too dumb to know there's a difference, and (b) the same people either not knowing or not wanting to admit they're dumb, so they use words incorrectly. And the dumb-virus spreads.

"Literally" has useful information attached to it. That useful information is actually pretty difficult to impart gracefully in other ways. Accepting the destruction of that usefulness, all in deference to the dumbness of swaths of people, is so unfortunate that it's criminal. (Except, you know, not literally ... unless I got my way.)

My biggest language complaint along these lines? The conflation/merge of "bring" and "take." Starting about 15 years ago, dumbness began to spread noticeably, and people stopped knowing how to correctly use bring and take. At this point it's reached pandemic levels. And the reason this is my biggest bugaboo is that, used properly, "bring" and "take" impart a tremendous amount of information -- regarding spatial relationships, temporal relationships, and subjective relationships, all both relative and absolute -- that simply can't be so efficiently imparted otherwise.

And we're losing that because of dumbness. It's killin' me. Possibly literally.

So, again, keep up the good fight.

I always just kind of skimmed over stuff he said. Occasionally I would rise to the bait, but I've been endeavoring to make cuban's quote in my sig my philosophy on this (and other) forums. Posts by PGS were just something you had to chuckle to yourself about. I knew a few people with similar attitudes (from what I've seen of PGS to compare to anyway) and you just have to wait out the storm and actively choose to not have that negativity in your life.

The straw that broke the camel's back, however, was some brand new player gushing about how much they were excited about the game. Their favorite ship in lore and game was the Outrider. Guess what happened. When you start horrifically insulting a brand new member of the forums and a new comer to a game that we all enjoy, you are a toxic presence that needs to be countered not by insults but by a chorus of voices supporting the other side.

And finally, PGS, if you are reading this forum or have a sock puppet account, some words that may help find a little balance in your life. I first saw this here on the forums of all places, but I forget who said it:

It's a game. The objective is to win, but the point is to have fun.

That sounds like PGS. Hates Dash Rendar and C-3PO more than old Palpy pants any day of the week.

But it seems like his account... was outside the donut hole.

*YYYYYYEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH*

No. He's abrasive, repetitive and worst of all, biased.

I mean, him also getting banned from playing at his LGS because his presence was causing other players to no longer show up is probably more telling about his personality than anything he's posted here.

Yea. I had heard some of the stories of people playing against him and they were way more disturbing than anything I've ever seen him post. Honestly even some of the things he admitted to doing would annoy me and that isn't easy. I am terrible at X-wing and I would not care one bit if someone brought Palp Aces out for every single casual game we played even against my casual list, if however they proceeded to remind me on every use of Palp how OP he is and how many points he was overvalued this game that would definitely annoy me. And getting banned from a gaming store seems pretty bad. It's a shame too because he is clearly knowledgeable enough of the game and has enough good points (if you pay attention to the message and ignore its delivery) where he could be a valuable member of the community if he bothered to try.

No, I'm hip to the jive you're spittin'. Still doesn't make the change to "literally" any less stupid.

It really is stupid. Keep up the good fight.

Look, I'm a writer, and I've got both English and Law degrees. I know language evolves. I also know that dictionaries are "descriptive" with definitions, not "prescriptive." I'm down with that.

Where my ass gets chapped is when there is actual useful informative content being lost in language evolution, basically because of the combination of (a) people being too dumb to know there's a difference, and (b) the same people either not knowing or not wanting to admit they're dumb, so they use words incorrectly. And the dumb-virus spreads.

"Literally" has useful information attached to it. That useful information is actually pretty difficult to impart gracefully in other ways. Accepting the destruction of that usefulness, all in deference to the dumbness of swaths of people, is so unfortunate that it's criminal. (Except, you know, not literally ... unless I got my way.)

My biggest language complaint along these lines? The conflation/merge of "bring" and "take." Starting about 15 years ago, dumbness began to spread noticeably, and people stopped knowing how to correctly use bring and take. At this point it's reached pandemic levels. And the reason this is my biggest bugaboo is that, used properly, "bring" and "take" impart a tremendous amount of information -- regarding spatial relationships, temporal relationships, and subjective relationships, all both relative and absolute -- that simply can't be so efficiently imparted otherwise.

And we're losing that because of dumbness. It's killin' me. Possibly literally.

So, again, keep up the good fight.

This has brung me something that I have tooken to my heart.

He did have valuable ideas from time to time, but the packaging was too abrasive and mostly too repetitive.

Give me TIE Aggressors and a better ability for Maarek you sons of *****es!

Cool meaning neat and low temperature is of course not the same as literally meaning figuratively.

You'd have a point if you were to use cool to mean both high temperature and low temperature.

It's a more extreme example, but it's still the same thing. A word meant a thing, then people started using it for something else, now it also means that thing.

They didn't just start using it to mean another thing though, they started using it to literally mean the opposite of what it has always meant. That means that his example would literally be correct, which could quite possibly literally drive people crazy and cause issues if the word cool meant both high and low temperature and we had no way of figuring which cool you meant. Yes languages adapt, but the word literally has adapted to the point of just plain being wrong.

Four pages of comments in seven hours! If on nothing else, I think we can all agree that PGS made a strong impression on alot of people.

My only interaction with PGS was on these forums but I've met one or two individuals that shared some of his attitudes. They were basically mad at the world and let everyone know about it.

I wish him well and hope he can find a little peace of mind for himself.

Four pages of comments in seven hours! If on nothing else, I think we can all agree that PGS made a strong impression on alot of people.

My only interaction with PGS was on these forums but I've met one or two individuals that shared some of his attitudes. They were basically mad at the world and let everyone know about it.

I wish him well and hope he can find a little peace of mind for himself.

There are probably as many comments on here about the usage of the word literally as there are about PGS.

I can respect wishing to reserve an opinion until you have first hand knowledge. And I agree that if all PGS was doing was sharing his opinion, then his ban is troubling.

Why exactly? If the way someone voices their opinion, continuously and in such a way that they have a significant negative impact on the community and how it functions then a ban may be the only way to prevent it from going worse. Allowing everything to be said in any manner is why Twitter is losing potential investors and key users. Having an opinion is fine, but setting standards to how they should be voiced is not a bad thing.

but the word literally has adapted to the point of just plain being wrong.

Not the first word to do so. Won't be the last.

Language evolves, deal with it. Or don't. I don't really care how you live your life.

this is literally the stupidest argument

but the word literally has adapted to the point of just plain being wrong.

Not the first word to do so. Won't be the last.

Language evolves, deal with it. Or don't. I don't really care how you live your life.

There is good change and there is bad change. Either way I have to adapt, but I think it's such a shame that the word literally can no longer be trusted.

Here's a way to look at it. I admit this may be partially based on their similar avatars, but ficklegreendice is PGS done right. He has some VERY strong opinions about aspects of the game (like fat turrets), and he does not hesitate to make those points known. His posts can occasionally come off a little abrasive (which could be the poster it could be the reader or it could be the medium, who knows), but the balance of his posts are constructive and reasoned. Heck sometimes I even agree with them (when he's talking about ARCs at least).

My point is that if PGS approached posting and interacting like that and not bragging about curb stomping some first time player, it would be a far different story and he may actually feel better. I know I have typed out bitchy snark fests of topic replies that may have gotten a few lols and likes, but it wouldn't help the community, and deleting them before I posted them felt much better. I'm no saint, and stuff gets through my filter, but we should all work to make this community better (of course PGS would probably burst into apoplectic rage at such a "hug box").

PS: Fickle, I hope you don't mind me using you as an example here. You are (IMHO) one of the better aspects of the community here, and I was just pointing that out. Without you, CubanBoy and JoeBossRed7 it wouldn't be the same (but for different reasons for all of you).

Here's a way to look at it. I admit this may be partially based on their similar avatars, but ficklegreendice is PGS done right.

as long as I'm not literally PGS done right

Allowing everything to be said in any manner is why Twitter is losing potential investors and key users.

Except that they're losing all that because they aren't allowing it.

Here's a way to look at it. I admit this may be partially based on their similar avatars, but ficklegreendice is PGS done right.

as long as I'm not literally PGS done right

And, ladies and gentlemen, THAT'S how you come full circle.

Here's a way to look at it. I admit this may be partially based on their similar avatars, but ficklegreendice is PGS done right.

as long as I'm not literally PGS done right

We're done here, people, thanks for posting, don't forget to tip your LGS manager!

I called it long before this thread that FGD is PGS-esque.

Back to the forums from a long absence, and even I can see it.... FGD is very er opinionated.... and that's fine as he's not a complete Richard about it.

Still doesn't make the change to "literally" any less stupid.

That means that his example would literally be correct, which could quite possibly literally drive people crazy and cause issues if the word cool meant both high and low temperature and we had no way of figuring which cool you meant.

I can respect wishing to reserve an opinion until you have first hand knowledge. And I agree that if all PGS was doing was sharing his opinion, then his ban is troubling.

Why exactly? If the way someone voices their opinion, continuously and in such a way that they have a significant negative impact on the community and how it functions then a ban may be the only way to prevent it from going worse. Allowing everything to be said in any manner is why Twitter is losing potential investors and key users. Having an opinion is fine, but setting standards to how they should be voiced is not a bad thing.

That's delving into the whole free speech debacle. Yes, it might be better in the short term to remove a disruptive voice from a group, but then you open up the can of worms "what's disruptive?" I think both sides have merit and their own share of problems. In this case, I'd rather deal with a disruptive voice I can either tune out or confront then worry about one day being considered "disruptive" for sharing my opinion.

That is a bit of a pessimist answer, I'll admit, but it is how I feel on the subject. I can understand if you feel different and encourage that.

Still doesn't make the change to "literally" any less stupid.

Nobody ever said language wasn't stupid.

Except that they're losing all that because they aren't allowing it.

What? All reports (prior to the rumor of renewed interest) were that a big consideration was that twitter is a toxic free-fire zone that'll damage any brand its attached to.

That's delving into the whole free speech debacle. Yes, it might be better in the short term to remove a disruptive voice from a group, but then you open up the can of worms "what's disruptive?" I think both sides have merit and their own share of problems. In this case, I'd rather deal with a disruptive voice I can either tune out or confront then worry about one day being considered "disruptive" for sharing my opinion.

That is a bit of a pessimist answer, I'll admit, but it is how I feel on the subject. I can understand if you feel different and encourage that.

You haven't thought this through. Literally every community has standards, unspoken or otherwise, and everyone knows that repeated or significant violation of those standards will have negative social consequences, and everyone is okay with this . The only point of contention is what exactly the standards should be.

Only a handful of absolutists will argue, for instance, that if you repeatedly make crude sexual remarks to your boss about your boss's spouse you shouldn't be subject to disciplinary action up to and including termination. And I'm sure you can furnish your own examples, in the workplace or in any community you choose.