It appears I am being squeezed out a little bit at a time. Today my PM privileges have been rescinded.

Look, if you want to ban me, just do it. Be a man about it.

My, my folks sure have been busy while my back was turned at the gym...

I must say, new guidelines, using the slang terms I have posted, is quite flattering. Kind of like the "Miranda Rights," we now have a 'Tourist Rule.' I approve of my legacy.

And the support has been nice. No sooner had my butt hit the chair at the coffee bar, I got a phone update. I was also informed the epithet "turd" was used in an open forum. Strange politics, I must admit. We will soon have a new moderator known for both keeping rules and then violating them at the same time. It's truly a new age.

Folks, I have not broken any rules. I am just a strict constructionist who's a good debater. Over the past few days I have received messages like, "Tourist, we don't always like what you say, but..."

One guy, who was a detractor on one of my posts, told me I was a "good writer."

Knowing this, you have to ask yourself why I'm certainly to be banned shortly. Is it for violating forum rules, or winning debates? Is it for constructing cogent rebuttals in the face of insults, or is it because I refuse to bend to pressure. You decide. You're about to get a forum where this can happen to you.

Now don't worry about my feelings here. I get banned all of the time. I googled 'motorcycle forums" in Bing one night and got 366,000,000 possible hits and links. I've already joined another forum. I wear a 'ban' like a red badge of courage and simply look at it as "cyber creds."

One last thing, don't let the new moderator ban me and then fail to change my on-line status. One forum did that to a member here--banned him but still lists him as a member. My wife has agreed to sign up here on her own computer and rat out the guy who does that.

All in all, it was a pleasure debating with you guys over the past year, my book is coming along fine, in fact, I'm going to join a creative writing forum. But I have always stated that my purpose in being here is to "talk to other bikers." When that climate changed, the place seemed like a restaurant that stopped serving my favorite dish.

Thank you again, guys. Remember, no bitterness, no regrets. It's just the internet, a coax cable attached to a big dumb adding machine. Ciao.