I mean this is long overdue, im so tilted and tired of seeing gary johnson all over 2+2 i mean come on mods lets be real, this guy needs a miracle to win let alone make it thru the primaries. I support online poker and would do everything in my power to make it legal but the moment i ask for a donation to my campaign i will be banned. The next time i see "Raise it UP players, donate ONE bet" i will be forever on life tilt. Donating is obviously -EV i dont care how you look at it. I mean come on, Ron Paul has WAY MORE SUPPORT and he doesnt even get noticed. I think you catch my drift.

and republicans are douche nozzles.

+1

and if you want to promote him here, than allow us to promote who we believe in.

the double standard and hypocrisy is pretty ****ed up. mods/owners/founders...if you believe in GJ and want to promote him in NVG (and break your own rules), then great...but we should be allowed to promote whichever candidates we endorse here, as well (and the guideline should be VOID).

Edit: the poll shouldn't be directed at GJ, and I don't agree with the wording of it. It should say, "Does 2+2's disregard for their own guidelines when pertaining to their own agenda tilt you?"...because that pisses me off more than anything. Whether you support GJ or not is almost irrelevant. Mods, don't make us follow guidelines that you can't...end of story. I don't give a **** what it pertains to.

Hes putting his neck out a bit for the pokers that warrants some support from me, not necessarily a cash donation but support for sure.

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/sh...&postcount=155

I like your thoughts on the poll, im just so tilted with all the ads thats what came to my mind first. When it comes to supporting our own candidates there is a double standard indeed

True, he's looking to establish poker. I just have a hard time trusting politicians, i look at him being an opportunist knowing that the poker market is hungry and probably an easy way to fund a campaign.

I plan on voting for him If he's still in it by my state primary election

i wouldnt be surprised if someone laid odds johnson wont make it past the primaries, let alone actually to the primaries

^ Great story, Mason... but it doesn't apply to me or my agenda.

I love poker, and I will always fight for the legalization of online play, but I don't come here to see or hear about your personal journey that led you to Gary Johnson's campaign support. Frankly, I couldn't give less of a damn.

Here is my story:
I was born and raised in NYC, my father lost both of his partners in 9/11, and my dad was in the North tower when the south tower collapsed. He worked down there for 100 days afterwards, 14 hours a day...picking up "piles of burned meat and flesh" (as he put it). I rarely saw him during this time period. I was in 11th grade, at the time (a pretty pivotal point in time for me...thinking about college, falling in love for the first time, etc...). He was never around. He was determined to find hi closest friends alive, somewhere. Buried. Even after 100 days went by, he was convinced his partner, Paul, was alive somewhere in the rubble.

Following the 100 days, my parents got divorced. My father was never the same. Locked himself in his bedroom for hours and days at a time. My mother eventually fell out of love with him...he was a stranger to her. My sister attempted suicide shotly after 9/11 (in mid 2002) because things were so different and negative. She dropped out of high school, got mixed up in the wrong people, and genuinely felt like the one thing she had relied on her entire life (family) was destroyed. She was in 9th grade at the time (about 14).

Thankfully, now, they are very good friends... but my father's health has been deteriorating. He has vertigo a lot, as well as chronic bronchitis. He gets out of bed and can't find his balance. He's only 52 (and is in great physical shape).

Up until this past year, his work had denied him disability. Claimed he has "allergies", and that was the reason for his dizziness. It was the first time in my life that I was genuinely furious with my country or government. It ate me alive to watch my father and family go through what we went through and see him get shafted in the manner he was. He was unable to work because he sacrificed him family, time, emotions, EVERYTHING to doing his duty, and was practically told to '**** off' for the past decade. It really, really, bothered me. Infuriated me in a way I couldn't even begin to express.

Recently, his requests for disability went through. He spent over $12,000 in attorney fees, suing his work, to make it happen...but I'm glad it happened. Not sure if anyone remembers, but it was a very widespread story for about 3 or 4 months because the "9/11" bill wasn't passing. I remember Jon Stewart really pushing the issue on his show as well. It was really amazing to see people rally behind the cause.

Many people reading this may say, "Okay, but how does this pertain to Gary Johnson or the issue at hand?", and my response would be as follows: I have seen Mason and some of the other mods in this forum express sentiments along the lines of, "He believes in things that everyone can relate to!", but the fact of the matter is...we all have different stories, beliefs, situations and circumstances. I truly don't believe that any politician or figure should be pushed through this website as hard as he has been. I think it ruins the integrity of the forum, and is an insult to situations or preferences that differ from Mason's or Sklansky's. Sure, we all have one thing in common...we love poker. GJ supports poker. I get it. But there are greater things that matter, and each of us, as individuals, have things that we consider to be important to us. As the owner of a website that relies strictly on a public forum, you NEED to take an unbias and open approach to every move you make. Let us create the discussions and topics, based on our own experiences and opinions. Let us raise points and create awareness of things. That is what the basis of this website is. ESPECIALLY in regards to a subject as important as the presidency of America. Please stop ramming this guy down our throats...I WILL NOT be voting for Gary Johnson. That should be respected. When I come to this forum, I don't feel like my views are respected...I feel like I'm being force-fed a candidate that has nothing to do with anything I come here to enjoy.

When you make the rules you can't break them. DUCY?

You're not allowed to post ads either.

Which is why ads shouldn't be posted that endorse a particular agenda. Let alone an agenda that involves something as volatile as politics.

I spent 2 years modding for one of the biggest music webzines around, during the time of the Bush v Kerry election. The website supported Kerry (as did I, but that's irrelevant). Kerry was in favor of an open internet and file sharing (at least moreso than Bush was), so we rallied behind him and pushed the issue. Ads, stickies, etc. all over the website...much like this website......I really regret doing that now. The website became extremely volatile. People pushed us to "donate money" to whoever we supported and allow our users to open their own dialogue about the candidates. They wanted us entirely away from the discussion(s)--which makes sense to me now, since the website was founded on user opinions, not mod or founder opinions.

In a forum that supports and values opinions, that door should always be left entirely open to the users. Nothing on the website should suggest otherwise.

fwiw - politicians are only after one thing, that's your vote so they can get a job / stay in their (current) job.

From what I've read on this guy, my opinion is that he has seen an opportunity to 'zig' when everyone else has 'zagged', and as a politician who has a minor chance of success, this is exactly what you need to do to stand out, to get noticed, to get TV time ... to get your vote. In this I don't chastise him for doing this - this is exactly what politicians are about.

Whilst they will use the thin veil of authenticity on a subject, and in most cases, this is noble of them on specific issues, at the end of it all, they (politicians or political candidates) are all after the power to be in power until the next election.

As a relatively famous Russian politician (Nikita Khrushchev, 1894 - 1971) once said :


Caveat - I'm an Australian, and this is my opinion on the situation here on 2+2

i was considering building a bridge from the US to the Isle of Man, but they don't have any cars there, so the manx would have to walk here, then i'd have to put in rest areas and food service...the whole thing just got too complicated. currently working on how to improve the mpg on my old truck so i can just drive over there...

+1... Also, why did they remove the ads? Cliffs?

Mason is not ramming him down our throats. If he was, he would say you can only be a member of 2plus2 if you gave money to the campaign.

The lol drama queen level this is getting taken to (@OP, ArcadianSky and a few others) is amazing.

No one is forcing anyone to contribute or even read any of the GJ threads if they don't want to, just as no one is forcing you to read a forum you don't wish to read. No one is shoving anything down your throat as a condition of using the site.

You have a right to ignore all of it. If you are not interested or agree with the GJ push, ignore his banner ads as I ignore 99.99% of all the other banner ads and move on with your day, participating in the rest of the site. If this bothers you so much you also have to option to stop visiting the site.

If you open your mind, and look at the complete package you will probably like what you see. Reading Mason's various posts, its obvious that his decision to back and promote GJ is not single issue. If you don't like what you see or have more questions, there are several threads where the issues are getting openly discussed. Dissenting views are allowed. How can you not like that, or the access we have directly to the candidate and his campaign staff?

He addresses this sentiment in the following video about halfway through.

Was the poll question changed? If it was and it was changed by, or at the request of, anyone but the author of the post, I protest.

i just wish they had a better picture...it's so, creepy. smile or something.

If you are a Ron Paul guy, as I am, how can you not be happy about the Libertarian wave that is rising up?

go start your own poker forum if you dont like how mason and mat run theirs.

so you don't have a negative opinion about anything, right? Don't like the meal you were served, cook for yourself or start your own restaurant. Don't like the movie you watched, make your own. Or stfu, right? Perhaps OP, in his mind, is trying to improve 2+2. Whether or not I agree with him is irrelevant.

if i dont like the meal i was served then i wont go back, i dont complain and then go back and complain again and then go back and complain again and then go back and complain again. theres millions of options.

Ok, let me boil it down. Should users of a service/product be able to offer criticism to the owners in an attempt to the improve the product/service without being shouted down and told to go elsewhere? Is there some exception about internet forums?