...All in all, this is kind of fun.
You have to admit, he does liven things up around here with his diatribes. In a kind of meandering, bumble-stumble way, it is pure genius.
Yes. I fully realize that George, Alan and others will not be very happy with this post but put yourselves in Amtrak employee shoes for once; how would you feel if someone came into your office shouting, "We're closing this place down next month !!!" and then it never materializes? Let's get real here and stop making lame excuses for someone who been PROVEN to be a publicity hound with almost no one to back him up except a bunch of titles and barely legible posts that would insult a 3rd grader that anyone can make up. Dorothy, along with Toto, made better headway clicking her shoes together...
First, I'm pretty sure that George wasn't defending Matt and I know that PRR60 wasn't.
Next let's get real here; rumors surrounding Amtrak's imminent demise have been rampant for years. Amtrak is well known for its own internal rumor mill. And of course there is the annual nail biting that seems to occur every fall as employee's, railfans, and much of the general public who use Amtrak await the results of the annual budget dance in Washington. So no one who works at Amtrak should ever be surprised if someone comes into their office shouting "We're closing this place down next month!!!" Something that by the way Matt didn't do, he simply posted something on the internet that he got from someone at Amtrak. Let me stress that again,
he got it from someone at Amtrak.
I don't know who, I don't know what their position of authority might be, but the reality is that his post originated from someone at Amtrak. So if the employee's want someone to blame for last July’s scare, then they had best start with the Amtrak rumor mill, which would appear to be running stronger than ever. I'm not going to sit here and debate once again what Matt should or should not have done with that information, as that subject has been well covered already.
To the guest posters: I will say that, validity of either side's arguments notwithstanding, at least Matt has the fortitude to post using a real member account.
One would assume that if I quote MYSELF, and the original post has my name on it. . . .
Bad assumption, apparently.
I see no place in this thread where you quoted yourself. :unsure: But even then, the average person wouldn't know that it's you simply because you quoted a post that you had already made using the guest feature.
However, I believe that Anthony's point is the anonymous nature of guest postings. They provide no way for any member to respond privately be it to support or challenge your post(s), should they be so inclined. As well as the fact that it’s much easier to criticize when no one knows who you are. I do note that you usually do at least provide a name when you post as a guest, but many others did not.
It takes only a very short time to register for this board and there are no charges associated with it and no penalties to be paid, like for example getting spam in your inbox. Failure to do that, while being critical of someone who has done that, is almost like the more than 50% of Americans who sit around complaining about a politician, yet never bothered to show up and exercise one of the most important rights granted them under the Constitution, that being the right to have voted for or against said politician.
Alan / Matt:
This thread seems to have gotten completely off the rail primarily due to a a selection of primarily "guests" coming in to bash Matt on something completely unrelated to the subject at hand. Looks like a good time to either lock it or delete those posts that rant on about completely irrelevant issues. In case various readers have forgotten, the question on the table is supposed to be an attempt to accertain the level of demand for a Cafe Car on the Pere Marquette, and that alone. It is not about what is a reasonable wage, the presumptive level of financial flushness or brokeness of the state of Michingan, how the state has treated their teachers, other programs or anything else other than the issue of the CAFE CAR.
I agree George and it is done, and for the very reasons that you've stated.
And let me be perfectly clear, this thread was not closed in an attempt to defend or protect Matt, it was closed because as George pointed out, it is so way off topic!
