>I think we may remember things differently. John provided a lot of value, and I learned a lot from his posts. However it seems to me (and I'll be the first to admit to a less than perfect memory) that for a long time before his banishment, he spent most of his time simply hijacking threads intended to get VFP help by telling people to stop using VFP and to switch to .Net. In those cases, the threads devolved into name calling and huge snaking posts that gave nothing to the originator of the vfp question.
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>Now, I'm not knocking the advice itself, but John seemed simply incapable of accepting that someone might not agree with him (to the point that he became smug, self-righteous, and condescending), and he seemed incapable of desisting from hijacking the threads in the first place.
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>If I were convinced that John no longer felt the need to jump all over people looking for VFP help and that I wouldn't once again find myself having to wade though that sort of morass of garbage, then I'd support bringing him back, but at this point, I don't know anything that gives me such hope.
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>The fact that we remember things differently just shows, I think, that we had different perceptions of John. You are his friend, and I only met him once at a conference, so I guess our perspectives are tainted by familiarity and non-familiarity.
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>Hi, Alan,
>
>I know that John could get nasty - but I honestly don't recall him ever saying, "stop using VFP and switch". John himself used VFP sometimes (and other tools) in his contracts. His statements and arguments were usually rooted in someone either being incorrect on SQL or .NET, or someone speaking incorrectly about Fox. John often said, "if you use Fox, if you like Fox, fine....but don't expect that Fox will grow" (and other things along the same lines).
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>Smug, self-righteous, and condescending...it sounds exactly like someone on the UT whom John and I have had many debates about VFP and .NET. (Someone who, if technical accountability were ever taken seroiusly here, would be booted in a heartbeat).
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>I respect your opinion, but I'll be honest, I never saw John jumping on people looking for VFP help. I know for a fact that for YEARS, people would call John on the phone and ask Fox questions (and other questions). John never turned them away.
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>John's hot spot is intellectual dishonesty - so is mine, though I don't react 'quite' as harshly as John does.
>
>But I'm glad to see that those who have benefited from John, stop to recall and remember it. Apparently we still have a few up here with guts.


Is that really where you think the line of demarcation is, between those with the guts to stand up for John and those without? I have seen quite a few comments about John that don't seem to have anything to do with intestinal fortitude. There are people who have spoken up about their unpleasant experiences with John and said they have no desire to re-experience it. And, again, these are the comments from those who have chosen to speak publicly.