LVKurt2 New Member
Posts: 13
(12/9/03 9:11 pm) Reply
Support Kurt
Hi Everyone,
I want to ask your help in this matter. I recently ended up at the IFS website and was checking out their message forum. I was literally disgusted at what I found. Considering it was a message forum linked to a prominent figure skating magazine I expected it to have some degree of class. Well that theory went out the window when I started reading the thread on Kurt. People were not criticizing his skating but completely trashing his reputation and character in mean and uncalled for ways. I'd like to know where the moderators are. Now here is where you come in. Please send an e-mail to IFS expressing your opinions about how the board is administered. Don't register at the board and post because first of all you will only feed the trolls and second of all a board cannot be successful if it doesn't have registered members. I have already e-mailed IFS in regards to this matter. It's time that board gets cleaned up and the only way they are going to listen is to have more than one voice speak up. I will warn you that if you decide to read the Kurt thread at their message forum it's nasty. Thanks for your help and thanks to Brenda for keeping this message board a great place for all of Kurt's fans and skating fans in general to have intelligent and respectful discussions. Please post here if you e-mailed IFS and that way we can keep track of the number of e-mails that they receive.
Gee, I didn't even know the IFS website even had a message board until reading this post...and after reading that particular thread, I still wish I didn't know about it. And how nice to see that particular Kurt rumor dragged out of the mothballs again.
There are a few consolations, though:
(a) It doesn't look like that board gets too many visitors--only eight threads have been started there since June...and only the thread about Kurt has more than two posts!
(b) It looks like you don't have to register to post on that board (unlike skatingforums, FSU, Golden Skate and most of the other general skating boards I know of). If you don't have to register under a certain screen name to post at a board, it would be very easy to post over and over at the same thread using different screen names. At least I hope that's the case with that particular thread! I noticed none of the posters actually registered on the board have posted in the "Kurt-bash" topic. I also noticed one of the posters in that thread posted under my real name--that wasn't me, I swear!
(c) At least one of the posters on that thread apologized and said she was "just joking" about the stuff she wrote about Kurt and Sonia. Hahaha.
I hope the moderator(s) of that forum will at least change things so people will have to register before posting--it may not eliminate threads like this, but it'll certainly be harder to start and keep posting on them!
I just have to say I read more negative things about Kurt on that one thread than I've ever read on any skating board, newsgroup or mailing list I've visited since I first had Internet access back in 1996! I could say a lot more, but I think my previous sentence (and a few select emoticons below) pretty well says it all.
LVKurt2 New Member
Posts: 14
(12/10/03 8:03 pm) Reply
Re: Support Kurt
I warned you that it was nasty and don't worry I'm sure no one thinks it was you who posted jcspkbfan. I had no idea the IFS forum existed until I ended up on their website the other day and clicked the link. Imagine my shock! I really don't believe there is any truth to that rumor anyway however I'm not going to go into why because that would just start another one. No need to do that. I just think if IFS is going to host a forum they need to have it regulated somehow. It could be a great place like so many of the other boards skating fans frequent. We may not be able to stop the posts but a message board with moderators can help control trolling. There is no need for anyone to carry on the way they are at that forum about Kurt nor any other skater.
Re: Support Kurt
I wasn't aware of that forum, and I wish I never were....It's sad to see that certain people have time to waste like that and wrote that kinds of things.
I don't think those rumours are true, but even if they were, I would still love Kurt's skating. What's going on in his private life is not of my business.
Anyway, the people who wrote those things are sick and need help. If you don't like Kurt, Keep quiet or at least be a little bit respectful ! I'll stop because the more I write the more I'm angry !
Re: Support Kurt
I read all of the posts and it is a shame the Admin allows such slander. I’m a great judge of character and have had the extreme good fortune of seeing many interactions over the years (Simsbury and other places). Without getting into it I would bet my bottom dollar that the rumors have NO foundation and are LIES!
Thank You Tina / The Kurt Files for the SSU Photo/Avatar
Re: Support Kurt
I have mixed feelings about bumping this topic back up, but I checked back at that other forum just to see whether any action had been taken. Not only is the original "anti-Kurt" thread still there, but:
...someone was kind enough to start a second anti-Kurt thread--it's basically a summary of all the stuff discussed in the original Kurt topic, in case anyone doesn't feel like going through all the posts in the first topic.
...a second person apologized for posting rumors about Kurt-- but didn't deny them, either
...someone posted a reminder to "please only post appropriate posts" on that board, but so far, nothing's been done about it.
It looks like things are getting worse at that board, not better. If I didn't know that forum was on the IFS website, I would have easily mistaken it for a Kurt Browning bash board--out of all the threads on the forum, only a few--one about Tara Lipinski's now-cancelled Houston show, the other about Chris Bowman's ex-wife (which also sounds like gossip, IMO)--had nothing to do with Kurt. There are, sadly, a few "bash boards" out there dedicated to trashing other skaters, but I don't think that's the atmosphere IFS would want for their official board!
It looked to me like an earlier, gossipy, post about Chris' ex-wife was deleted/edited in some way, so hopefully the same thing will eventually happen with the anti-Kurt threads.
I only hope Kurt and Sonia themselves never stumble across this thread and I'm glad this link hasn't spread to any other message boards so far. There's one troll in particular over on RSSIF (the only other person I know of who's ever posted anything nearly this negative about Kurt--and I've yet to see her post anything positive about any other skater, either!) who'd probably have a field day with some of the stuff being posted over there.
Re: Support Kurt
Sadly, my introduction to surfing skating sites earlier this year was to one where the Kurt bashing was actually more explicit and vile than what I scanned at IFS. I've noticed in my web travels that there are several individuals who continuously re-invent themselves using many pseudonyms on various boards, whose personal crusade is to destroy Kurt's reputation. At least one of them has a distinct writing style and is easy to spot. Kudos to brenlynn for preventing them from poisoning this board as well.
Whether or not rumours are true is immaterial to me. The skater's personal relationships are none of my business. My business is to enjoy their magnificent skating!!!
Re: Support Kurt
Well, the second "apology thread" is now up to nine posts, so hopefully this particular round of Kurt-bashing has come to an end. It would still be nice if all those threads were deleted altogether, though!
Jeanine, I don't know which skating boards you visited when you first got online (and I don't think I want to know--LOL!), but it's been years since I came across a thread this vicious towards Kurt anywhere! The closest I can think of was back in 1998: when Kurt decided not to skate in the US SOI tour that year, there were a few rumors out there as to why that decision was made--the one described on the IFS board being the most, ahem, scandalous and therefore the one people talked about the most. When another legitimate reason for Kurt not skating in the US SOI tour (that was the year his mother became very sick with cancer), the other rumors pretty much died down (well, except for that one troll over on RSSIF who keeps bringing it up over and over and over and over...). Somehow I don't think that would have happened if the rumors were actually true.
There was one thread over on FSU which criticized Kurt for a couple of statements he made about Alexei Urmanov in an article last year (referring to him as "that Lillehammer guy" and saying Urmanov hadn't done much--at least not in North America--since turning pro). But at least on that thread, people only criticized Kurt for his words, not his personal life. Big difference there, IMO!
I guess I'm just lucky that this is the first truly vicious thread I've read about Kurt in a very long time--I certainly hope it's a long time before I stumble across any others!
Re: Support Kurt
The weird part about that forum is that I'm in their members and I dont even remember subscribing to it....It must be because I subscribe to their mailing list because I wasn't aware of its existence before this....Strange...
At least, It seems like the "e-mailing them " part worked !!
Re: Support Kurt
this is why i dont tend to venture out much onto skating boards. i steer clear of FSU TOTALLY and pretty much all boards except for the SOI board and several ezboards because i know they are "safe". i would never allowing such bashing of ANY skater on this board, even if it was someone i didn't like. i didn't go to the IFS board because honestly i'd rather not read it because i am sure i know what it's about - probably the same thing i found myself getting really pissed about over at the MKF a month or so ago. some people...
I know "bash" topics like this exist on almost every skating board, but I guess my main problem with the IFS forum is (a) almost every thread on that board is somehow related to the original anti-Kurt topic and (b) you would expect better from a forum sponsored by an established skating magazine (or at least have better moderation of some sort!)
One of the things I like best about this board is it's the only place I can think of where Kurt fans can talk about non-Kurt-related skating topics (or even non-skating-related topics, period!) in a Kurt-fan-friendly environment. That's something we usually can't do on the Kurt Files list or the Biography Channel board, so thanks for creating a place where we can!
Re: Support Kurt
Ditto to that last paragraph, jcspkbfan. As much as I love to chat about Kurt, it is nice to have a place where other topics can be discussed in a "kurt-fan-friendly" environment. That's a GREAT phrase!!!
And how nice to see that particular Kurt rumor dragged out of the mothballs again. 
I also noticed one of the posters in that thread posted under my real name--that wasn't me, I swear! 
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