With deep regret over lose of family and friends

I’d be a liar if I said I’ve slept nicely over the past few days. With great conviction over a matter of principle, I come before my family and friends.

There comes a time in a man’s life when he has to assess the character of those organizations with whom he affiliates. Even more deeply, he must assess the character of those folks administering those organizations. We all know membership within an amazing association can be both a wonderful, powerful, and positive experience-creating an enormous sense of family and community. However, when the powers to be of an association start acting excessly evil, they can be disturbingly detrimental on many levels!

I consider myself to be a rational, fair, and honest man. With fifty years of experience under my belt (trust me, I’ve seen a lot), there’s really no reason for me to change how I conduct my life. When I see a grave injustice (punishment without merit) I proudly launch myself; I assist, by whatever means (sometimes the means is via disassociation), to make the situation right. When it’s a matter of principle it really doesn’t matter who the victim is! Rest assured, I’d do what I’m about to do for any one of you.

With that being said, there has been a turn of events which have made me rethink my affiliation with Bowhunting.com. Much of the process stems from behind the scene emails and personal messages, as well as this “water cooler sticky” post by Justin:

http://forums.bowhunting.com/showthread.php?t=20869

I seriously question this post’s complete validity.

Yes, Jeff Veneable has been banned from Bowhunting.com. It seems his opinion is too “controversial”. I ask, “Really?” Since when did “opinions” become too controversial?” And Justin, how can you, in your heart of hearts, say, “This was nothing personal against him or his opinion”? Your entire post is completely disingenuous!

Let me get this straight, if I get enough people to say _________(insert whomever’s name, but Dukemicheal comes to mind) is too controversial, then we, as a coalition, can have that person banished? Who’ll be next? Will it be me or perhaps one of those news members you’re hoping will sign up? Just who gets censored next?

I admit, Jeff and I are more than just acquaintances. We have the type of relationship which would evolve from spending five days in the woods together. I know the man well enough to say, “He would not intentionally harm another human, period”! And if he did, he would surely ask to rectify the damage. That’s Jeff! He is also the man unafraid to call “BS”. Jeff calls a spade a spade, a duck a duck, and uncovers the self proclaimed “all powerful Wizard of Oz “from behind the curtain. Many among us feel threatened by his “pull your cover” approach. So much so that they pick up their ball and go home. To my knowledge, he has not broken any forum rules. Yes, he was asked to tone it down approximately two months ago. He compiled, and for that compliance he has been banned. It isn’t right, it isn’t fair, and the whole thing stinks of blatant cronyism!

The thoughts of Thomas Jefferson were considered controversial, as were John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and the list goes on! Were they banned? Hmmm…makes you wonder if this private club is masquerading as a public forum. Are the “clicks” and the “good old boys” getting their way and disguising it in the skin of an “enjoyable experience for everyone”.

Ask yourself, would you want your “controversial “opinion silenced? I know I wouldn’t, and that’s why it has become a matter of principle for me.

So yes, I have re-thought my position. I cannot and will not tolerate this sort of unilateral decision making, censorship, and down right deplorable behavior on the part of the “staff”. I will not be party to this in any way!

For all of you fortunate enough to read this (before it’s censored, and I’m banned), I bid you, “fare well and best wishes” from this site. I’ll watch for everyone elsewhere.

Will

 

Will,

I have nothing but the utmost respect for you. You reached out to me once and offered to have me out to hunt with you and for that I consider you a generous man. I have also spent many a night reading your great posts and enjoying your hunting adventures with your friends and family.

I know that what has happened might be hard on you but in the same respect the actions of the individual were also hard on many. I can speak to many times that there were personal attacks, posts to demean some who have less education, threads started to get people pissed as well as people who could be shown to be targeted by the individual. You may not see this but I was caught up in it first hand and became a worse person for it. I traded nasty pm's, changed my signature line to insult back and generally made an ass of myself to feed the fuel that gave them their kicks while fighting it out in threads.

Like the individual, I was warned to change my behavior and I complied to the fullest. I removed an offensive signature that said "If Brett Favre was shooting a Shaefer Silvertip we all know who would be riding his sack" while he removed his only to have a picture of Brett crying in his shortly after. He insulted my weight several times in the open forum and that Will is something I find hard to believe you would support in a friend considering your integrity. If he were to ever stand face to face with me I guarantee he wouldn't say a damn word about my weight without ****ting his pants. Perhaps you missed some of these actions Will and if you did I am sorry you didn't see it. I think several of us have traded pm's and discussed the individual behind closed doors and voiced our frustration with him to each other.

I know Todd, Justin and Duke quite well and consider them good friends. I know the decision to do what was done wasn't easy for them and the staff but in the grand scale of things someone wasn't willing to change and respect those around him with a little more decency. This site has brought many great people together and allowed me to find a great network of friends I would never have found without it. With that being said a few of them haven't been around much and there is a primary reason keeping them at bay. This wasn't about cronyism, it was about someone that seemed to want to stir the pot instead of having credible conversations. He had some great posts over the years, but I for one have seen a decline in his posts and a shift towards inciting argument of a negative nature.

I had a conversation yesterday with a staffer about what the internet does to some of us. We flex our internet muscles from hundreds of miles away knowing that we can bully, harass and embarrass others who we should be embracing as brothers. For this I have shared guilt and learned a valuable lesson. This site will live on because it is filled with great men and women, only the scenery will change from time to time. I am sad at your decision Will but I understand your position. Before you make this final please take a little more time to reach out, you might be surprised a little

Take care Will,

Jason Lawrence
aka Racewayking and Droptizzle

 

What he "did" is the same as what many people on here have "done" for years. He was the sacrifical lamb. With that being said, this is a private website and I respect their decision to run their company however they want. This is not a democracy.

Raceway, I get along with you and most everyone else on here so I feel like I can say this without disrespecting you.....People insulted him and people continue to insult other people on here on a very personal level. People insulted him about being from the south, being a "stupid" Republican, not accepting his spin on things that he felt personal and philosophical about, and many other things. Did he ever ask for any of you to be banned? No. I remember guys telling him that he "sucked" things, did that and that.....things that were far more outrageous and personally directed than anything he ever did.

10-4 over and out good buddy.

 

Sorry to see you go, I really enjoyed reading about your hunting adventures.

Good luck if I don't see you around here anymore

 

Personally, I have thick skin and the abrasiveness of some of his posts didn't bother me. He did offer some positives to the forum and overall I wish he was still with us. It won't change how I perceive BHC or Jeff. It is, what it is.

Having said that, I have no problem with the decision, because as Brett said, this is not censoring speech as would be the case in a public sense. This is a private company and they get to choose who will post, and who will not. Some people act like the free users of the site have a say in how things should be. We don't because it's their baby. They make the rules and they enforce them as they see fit.

From everything I've read, Jeff was given a copy of the "rulebook" including several warnings for breaking those rules. Depending on your perspective, he skated near the limits of those rules on a regular basis.

Whether you agree with the rules or not, it's hard to argue otherwise.

If someone knows the rules, is warned what the limits are, and still skates the edge, it's hard to argue when there are consequences.

 

Good luck on all your adventures Will, you will be sorely missed by me and many others. When things hit close to home it's hard to look past them, a true friendship is worth far more than the trivial things we do on here. I think you have my phone number, give me a buzz if you want to come down and hunt SE Nebraska you are welcome anytime! There is a BIG hole in team 6 next fall... one that will be very hard to fill.

 

No disrespect at all Brett. What I can say is that I did receive a pm from said individual threatening to have me banned if I didn't remove the signature which I disclosed in my original post. The issue was raised to moderators as threatened and at their request I removed it to avoid a time out or possible banning. Believe me when I say that he whined to the moderators as I found out more than once with warnings from more than one of them

Was he a sacrificial lamb? I don't think so and I understand the situation for what it is and what message we need to learn from it. I know he had some genuine friends in here and for them I am sorry he is gone.

In the end we all need to clean it up and respect each other for our differences. I know there are people in here that I don't always get along with but at the end of the day they are hunters like myself looking for a great place to call home and share stories. We all need to clean up our act and appreciate the fact that forums are out there for us to meet and communicate through, not insult or demean others.

 

I look at it this way, It is the internet. People will say and do things I don't agree with. I do not have to come to this web site, I choose to, as does everyone else. If I don't like what someone says, I ignore them. It is way to easy to "read: emotions in to what someone has written and not know the original intent. In addition,people get confused with a privately held forum and first amendment rights to speech. There is a distinct difference.

 

However anyone felt about Jeff he had way more class than this. Personal insults are against the rules but, apparently, if they are classless insults against a member the select few did not like, they are allowed.

Sorry for taking the thread "off task" .

 

It's sad too see anything like this go on for that this site was designed to help out others and create alot of friends! I guess I never got to see the details of these conversations, which I'm glad in a way... I know from the title of some of these threads the direction they can possibly go sometimes. Everyone has their opinions on things and not everyone will agree the same. I have my personal opinions, but when I posts I stick too threads that soley relate to bowhunting, family, something funny because the last thing that I want to hear about or see is people talking crap behind a computer to each other or about a certain individual, we are "ALL" better than that! I guess thats why I stay out of those threads for that I have better things to do and or talk about.

 

I have a couple rules for myself: Write posts as if I am looking in the mirror. Write posts I can stand behind months, years from now.

Anyone: If someone googles your name they will find the posts here. Will they recognize you?

 

Sorry to hear about this Will, you will be missed indeed. I hope to hear of you again someday whether it be here or somewhere else, I think I've got your number if i ever decide to come to CO for a hunt I could let you know. Good luck and best wishes!

 

He was a very fair dude. We got into it a couple of times, but like was mentioned - he called a spade a spade. Sorry to see him gone. He had a unique perspective.

 

Will - the reason I locked my original thread is because I did not intend for this situation to turn into a public debate. One that will go back and forth, tit for tat, until personal insults are issued, feelings are hurt, and rules are broken. After all, isn't that the very type of scenario that lead us here in the first place?
Now if you honestly believe that this act is "excessively evil", a "grave injustice", or "downright deplorable" then I sorry to hear that for this decision was none of those things. Additionally, to say my post was disingenuous without ever having so much as talked to me is absurd.
Again - I'm sorry to hear that you are leaving but respect your decision and wish you the best in life.
Justin