William Stephen (Dare?) Griffin

[Midway ®]

Haha, I did.

[avonjax]

Although I still come here on a semi-regular basis, for me Metro has lost some of its appeal since Stephen was ousted. I noticed early on in this forum that some called out Fineho too. I know that Stephen was crass at times and I don't have any idea what behind the scenes were like so I can't speak with any authority as to why he is gone. I know that I come to this site to keep up with Jax and it's progress and Stephen's posts were always the spice that kept me coming back every day.  There are a handful of people who post here who were pretty unkind to me on several occasions and I can see why tempers flared. There are still people who post here I dismiss because of their treatment of me and my opinions in the past. On most things, I agreed with Stephen and Fineho so if she is gone also I find that very disappointing. I'm only posting here now because I saw there are current posts.

[Adam White]

Although I still come here on a semi-regular basis, for me Metro has lost some of its appeal since Stephen was ousted. I noticed early on in this forum that some called out Fineho too. I know that Stephen was crass at times and I don't have any idea what behind the scenes were like so I can't speak with any authority as to why he is gone. I know that I come to this site to keep up with Jax and it's progress and Stephen's posts were always the spice that kept me coming back every day.  There are a handful of people who post here who were pretty unkind to me on several occasions and I can see why tempers flared. There are still people who post here I dismiss because of their treatment of me and my opinions in the past. On most things, I agreed with Stephen and Fineho so if she is gone also I find that very disappointing. I'm only posting here now because I saw there are current posts.

I'd agree that the site and forum are less interesting without Stephen. I just wish he would've maybe dialled it down a bit and didn't bully people the way he did. And towards the end, it did start to feel like the site was changing and focussing more on his friends - like, who really gives a toss what Karissa Wade thinks about anything?

It wasn't all bad, though - I certainly enjoyed sparring with him and I appreciated his passion for the site.

(I have no idea what went on as far as the business side of things is concerned and I really don't want to get involved in all that - I can only speak as a reader/poster).

Finehoe was a bit of a dick, though.

[Snaketoz]

I followed MetroJacksonville for years before ever logging in.  I must admit Stephen kept me interested enough to finally log in.  I miss the guy.

[carpnter]

Mr. Dare was a nice guy as long as you agreed with him.  Once you posted an opinion contrary to his he'd take parts of your post and quote them in a reply completely misrepresenting what you said because he only quoted part of what you posted. Then he was pretty much a complete jerk to deal with.

[ronchamblin]

Dare's presence on MJ was similar to many things in life, wherein conditions or entities exhibit both good and bad.  One tolerates a situation or entity until the bad outweighs the good to such a degree that it's absurd or unsafe to continue.  One tolerates the bad to enjoy the good.  It appears that too many finally began to question whether Dare's bad characteristics excessively outweighed the good.   

Dare had a tendency to excite the mysterious ... to engage the limits of knowledge on a subject ... to drift to the absurd ... his way of stretching the mind.  His excessive sense of self-importance allowed him to on occasion be an oppressive and unfair moderator whenever anyone carelessly exposed any deficiencies or error in his thinking.  The rule was to tread lightly upon his ego, as he would do almost anything to protect it, including the removal of your post, or your banning from the forum.   

His habit was to occasionally lie to suit his purpose, to exaggerate any scenario to impress, to control a conversation to maintain dominance ... to maneuver to hide his ignorance. 

However, his contributions to the analysis of Jax's history ... his gathering of information about Jax's past was impressive; assuming he actually did the work and created the articles.

The rumour is that the end came when he overstepped the boundaries of proper handling of the money movements surrounding advertising revenues with MJ.  Although it is the case with anyone, one learned to be cautious when dealing with money, contracts, or deals around Dare.  It seemed that with Dare, the potential for problems or loss was a little higher as compared to most people.

But yes ... I agree with some recent comments that the emotional level ... the excitement ... on the forum is a little less with Dare's absence.  I feel less inclined to engage my interests in philosophy, the sciences, or religions on the forum.  I enjoyed the "exercise" in thinking and writing about "stuff" that I thought was kinna interesting.  I still read with interest the material on both MJ and Modern Cities however, as both are great sources of info about our project to achieve reasonable recovery from the destruction of downtowns following the sixties.

[thelakelander]

At one point, Cujo was a lovely family dog. A house is built inviting everyone from the community to come over a play in the front yard. Every now and then, Cujo irks a few people and barks at the mailman but the family understands, that's their Cujo. As time goes on, Cujo starts to foam at the mouth. At first you believe he's just hungry but you noticed he's now biting the mailman and guests in the front yard. The family installs a fence hoping to alleviate the situation. Time goes on and the family realizes that Cujo, outside of the view of the community front yard, has dung a hole under the fence and has progressed to actually been eating neighborhood kids and pets and is tying to eat the family in and behind the house as well.  Unfortunately, the situation becomes too much to deal with and the family decides Cujo must move on.

[ben says]

I was one of those who was abused by SD, felt he was a total dick, and truly believed he brought down the overall quality of the forum.

That said, I can't help but to feel bad for him. Nobody wakes up and decides to act like Dare. Frankly, I think there was some serious mental issues behind the madness. Not excusing the behavior but....let's not forget this is a human being we're talking about and his whole world has been rocked by this.

No matter what he did (and I know what he did and agree with the judge's order), I find it hard to get behind what is essentially legitimized bullying. And yeah, I get the irony. SD was the king of bullying. But at what point is enough enough with this thread? What happened to leading by example..

[acme54321]

Lake sums it up well.


He could be an arrogant ass all he wanted, and if you don't think he was that you're lying to yourself.  What really did it for me was his extreme abuse of power as a moderator to bully, abuse, and harass anyone that did not share his views.  For the most part I learned to ignore the guy but watching him treat other posters like that was pretty disgusting.  He has some deep rooted emotional issues.  I've never come across a forum with any moderator even close to as bad as him and I've been on a whole lot of forums.

I'm still not convinced that Finehoe wasn't just another account of his

EDIT:  Wow Ben, apparently we were thinking on the same wavelength!

[thelakelander]

Yeah, no need to bully. I only posted the results of the case mentioned in this thread to bring resolution after months of false accusations and allegations against Metro Jacksonville, Inc. made in the community, certain circles and social media pages.

[ben says]

Yeah, no need to bully. I only posted the results of the case mentioned in this thread to bring resolution after months of false accusations and allegations against Metro Jacksonville, Inc. made in the community, certain circles and social media pages.

100% get it/understand from your angle, that's for sure!

[ronchamblin]

Never read Cujo.  But yes ... Dare was at one time okay .... fair .... non-toxic.  But  over several years he became so poisonous that you guys had to do something  somewhat radical to get rid of the poison.  Actually, there was no other choice for you guys in my opinion.  You did right.  You did good.   

[ben says]

Never read Cujo.

If only you could find a copy!

(Hope all is well Ron! Please do come visit me across the pond.)

[KenFSU]

Never read Cujo.

If only you could find a copy!

[ronchamblin]

Never read Cujo.

If only you could find a copy!

(Hope all is well Ron! Please do come visit me across the pond.)

That would be fun.  Of course I've never traveled ... but in the Pacific during military tour -- Hawaii & Midway.

I would like to visit Spain and France.  So ... don't be surprised if seek advice and arrangements via you for a two or three week trip.