I've been reading all this and have to chuckle a little at the irony of it all. I have been expecting that at some point the little digs at Carlos with regards to his exuberant postings would escalate into something a little more serious, but I never expected to see such personal comments directed at him.
I think it's a shame that the hot topic of our forum is a thread that has degenerated into a vitriolic slanging match. And a one-sided one at that, given Carlos has not responded. Criticism is all very well and good if it is constructive, but calling him a c**t and a wa**er with no life and no friends only shows IMO a lack of class and dignity and is resorting back to school-ground bullying.
I agree that Carlos has a huge tendency to contribute to the forum "off-topic" and that quite a lot of his posts are so banal that they become irritating. Most of these I tend to ignore, some of them I contribute in if I have the time, and some of the time I laugh because it can be amusing.
If his 'crime' in life is to be over-exuberent on a public forum and that pisses people off to the extent that they start personally attacking the fella (and even logging on as a new user seemingly just to abuse him - PooBarr in reference) then I think the real immaturity lies in those who resort to school-boy bully tactics.
We are all entitled to our opinions, as forthright or not as they may, but I think as adults we should be mature enough to express those opinions without the personal degredation. I have been fortunate enough to meet Carlos in person, and I actually think he's a nice guy. He's young, exbuberant and sometimes (perhaps more often than not) speaks before he thinks. That doesn't make him a bad person. Spending time on the forum doesn't make him a bad person either. He has his girlfriend, so doesn't necessarily have to be out shagging every other thing that moves either. Being faithful doesn't make him a bad person.
Carlos is a very lucky guy - his dad bought him his car and it happens to be a very nice car. I personally am not jealous of him - I've worked bloody hard to get to the position in life I am now, but I don't begrudge him his luck. Fair play to him in fact. He doesn't seem to be an ASBO-kid, a drug-dealer or paedophile, all three of whom would be more deserving of being called a c**t and w**ker
I think this thread will show him that he has a need to consider his postings before actually doing so, but equally this thread has shown me that there are others who have their downsides too and this disappoints me.
The solution IMO would be, as others have previously suggested, to get the Admins to setup an "Off-Topic" part of the UK Forum, so that Carlos (and others) OT posts can go there, without detracting from the more valuable and pertinent information relating to our cars.
I am in total agreement, some posts that I have been interested in (HotCoupe's malfunctioning car, my Dyno Day thread, detailing questions etc) have almost disappeared and trying to keep up to date with the very important things is more and more difficult.
Our forum is about our cars first and foremost, and I hope the Carlos-bashing will stop and our focus returns to the joys (and problems
) we experience with BMW E9x ownership.