So New Yorkers, is this true?

[SlightlyJames]

Man who collects bins isn't really clarifying at all.

It seemed pretty clear to me. If you weren't satisfied with the answers you'd been given you'd only had to say so. Or google it. Either way, I'm still not seeing where the source of the disrespect comes into it. You keep harping on that part and I don't really know what I can say to make you believe that none was intended. Perhaps you should have the "respect" to believe people when they tell you they meant no ill will, since that's such an important factor.

[The Legend]

Man who collects bins isn't really clarifying at all.

It seemed pretty clear to me. If you weren't satisfied with the answers you'd been given you'd only had to say so. Or google it. Either way, I'm still not seeing where the source of the disrespect comes into it. You keep harping on that part and I don't really know what I can say to make you believe that none was intended. Perhaps you should have the "respect" to believe people when they tell you they meant no ill will, since that's such an important factor.

It seemed clear to you because you knew the answer already, that kind of logic doesn't hold water. I did say so, multiple times and still straight answers weren't given. Google it? Really? If you are having a conversation with someone and they ask you a question that you know the answer to would you ever ask them to google it? Could you do it with a straight face? Would you not expect them to get angry over it?

I believe that initially no disrespect was intended, but at some point a lot quicker than it happened someone should have figured out that the joke wasn't working and just answered the question. There's a clear point where it can only feel to me like you and PorkChop especially were making fun of the fact that I didn't know what a bin man was and like I was stupid for that or something.

So yes, I believe you when you say you didn't intend to disrespect me, but it doesn't change the fact that somewhere along the line the fact that I didn't know what a bin man was was mocked and made fun of like I was stupid and disrespect came my way, whether you intended it or not.

[Daz]

I'm not sure how "man who collects bins" isn't sufficient as an answer. I'm assuming you have bin/garbage men in America. If you can't put two and two together from that and conjure up the answer, there's very little hope.

[SlightlyJames]

Whatever you say. We were all twirling our moustaches and conspiring via PM to make you feel bad about not knowing the worlds most insignificant piece of information. You caught us.

@Everlong Reprimand me, for I am a scoundrel.

[Daz]

Whatever you say. We were all twirling our moustaches and conspiring via PM to make you feel bad about not knowing the worlds most insignificant piece of information. You caught us.

@Everlong Reprimand me, for I am a scoundrel.

If you don't draw an old-timey moustache on your avatar then there's no justice.

[SlightlyJames]

Whatever you say. We were all twirling our moustaches and conspiring via PM to make you feel bad about not knowing the worlds most insignificant piece of information. You caught us.

@Everlong Reprimand me, for I am a scoundrel.

If you don't draw an old-timey moustache on your avatar then there's no justice.

It is done.

[The Legend]

I'm not sure how "man who collects bins" isn't sufficient as an answer. I'm assuming you have bin/garbage men in America. If you can't put two and two together from that and conjure up the answer, there's very little hope.

It doesn't answer what the bin is or what is inside it or what the man does with it. That was the equivalent of someone asking me what's an eclipse and I say it's an eclipse. It's a definition without a clarification. We call them garbage men or trash men because they collect garbage or trash. They don't collect the bins/cans.

Whatever you say. We were all twirling our moustaches and conspiring via PM to make you feel bad about not knowing the worlds most insignificant piece of information. You caught us.

Again, I already told you, I believe now that no harm was intended at the beginning, but just a little bit of common sense and courtesy could have prevented this entire thing.

[PorkChop]

Google it? Really? If you are having a conversation with someone and they ask you a question that you know the answer to would you ever ask them to google it? Could you do it with a straight face? Would you not expect them to get angry over it?

If I'm having a conversation with someone and I tell them to "Google it", it seems rude as they'd have to go away and actively make an effort to find out what I was on about.

If I'm having a conversation with someone over the internet and they didn't know what I meant, I'd suggest to them to Google the topic of conversation as that merely involves opening a new tab and typing "bin man" into the search box. Google could tell you more than I ever knew about bin men and could give you the information much quicker than I ever could. Google is essentially the combined knowledge of humanity, and can be accessed in a few simple clicks. And seeing as you are on the internet in the first place, that's really not too much of an effort, is it.

[SlightlyJames]

[Everlong]

If we want to see this forum have greater activity and see our community grow then that's the type of environment we need to be encouraging. We need more respect here to grow this community.

The lack of growth on the forum has absolutely nothing to do with the attitudes of members or the tones of their posts, and i get sort of annoyed when that's implied. Being the person in charge of running this place, I tend to take it personally whenever people have a "that's why this place doesn't grow" attitude.

Here are the REAL reasons why growth has been quite slow:

1. It's hard to optimize forums for search engines.

2. Right now we don't have a mobile version of our forums, which is a huge penalty in Google search rankings. I do not have the expertise/know-how needed to resolve this problem.

3. We aren't doing enough outreach on social media. I need help with this. I don't have the time to handle it all myself, because I run several other sites, work full time, sing in two choirs and am in a show all while planning a wedding that's happening in a few months. People have helped out a bit in the past but usually stop. We have to be persistent in this area if we're going to see any sort of growth.

It needs to be a collaborative effort if we're going to help this place grow, and it's pretty much been me and @Locke who have done the vast majority of the work on tasks that would stimulate such growth. If people want to see this place get more traffic, then they need to chip in. We don't have the luxury of our site basically advertising itself like larger forums do. We're a small community that basically started from scratch. It's tough going, and we need to work harder if we're going to grow.


Ok, so now that I've responded to that, all I really have to say about this thread is that both sides are acting childish. You guys are deliberately winding each other up and trying not to understand each other so you have something to cause a ruckus about.

A bin man is a garbage man. Scollops are like fish or something, I still don't even know. Let it gooooo, let it goooooo

[War Daddy]

@Everlong if you needed some help, just ask. I'll spam the shit out of the ESPN and NFL pages on Facebook with our link

[SlightlyJames]

Ok, so now that I've responded to that, all I really have to say about this thread is that both sides are acting childish. You guys are deliberately winding each other up and trying not to understand each other so you have something to cause a ruckus about.

For the most part I was trying to explain that there'd been a misunderstanding and that everyone should calm the fuck down. It fell on deaf ears. Now I'm just tired of this bullshit topic so moustache avatar and dumb videos are my new tact.

[Viazon]

Everyone, just pipe down! Ive had enough of this. All bickering at each other. You are all acting like children! Grow up! I went to work today and come back to see this. I'm disgusted and appalled.

If there is anyone here who has a right to feel aggrieved, it's Aky. His question has still not been answered. And why? Because you were all caught up in your own selfish qualms with each other to even give a damn! Shame on you! Shame on all of you!

I'm a little disappointed in all of you right now.

[SlightlyJames]

Everyone, just pipe down! Ive had enough of this. All bickering at each other. You are all acting like children! Grow up! I went to work today and come back to see this. I'm disgusted and appalled.

If there is anyone here who has a right to feel aggrieved, it's Aky. His question has still not been answered. And why? Because you were all caught up in your own selfish qualms with each other to even give a damn! Shame on you! Shame on all of you!

I'm a little disappointed in all of you right now.

You're right. My not being from New York and thus unable to answer his question is thoroughly disrespectful. It's the reason this site isn't growing...

[Viazon]

Everyone, just pipe down! Ive had enough of this. All bickering at each other. You are all acting like children! Grow up! I went to work today and come back to see this. I'm disgusted and appalled.

If there is anyone here who has a right to feel aggrieved, it's Aky. His question has still not been answered. And why? Because you were all caught up in your own selfish qualms with each other to even give a damn! Shame on you! Shame on all of you!

I'm a little disappointed in all of you right now.

You're right. My not being from New York and thus unable to answer his question is thoroughly disrespectful. It's the reason this site isn't growing...

If you truly cared, you would have tried.

I Googled "can you rate your garbage men in New York". Did you? I got no answer but still tried.

[prophet]

For the record, this is a bin man.

[Kirbi]

I Googled "can you rate your garbage men in New York". Did you? I got no answer but still tried.

I tried, and also got no answer. I think it may be a myth. Obviously, I am devastated.

But I did find:

An interview with an author on the past and present of rubbish collection/disposal in New York, which mentions a historical parade exclusively for sanitation workers, and basically thinks they're great:
http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/04/the-secret-world-of-garbagemen/274536/

And also, a statistically-based report which implies that they're overpaid and inefficient!
http://www.cbcny.org/sites/default/files/REPORT_GarbageFacts_05222014.pdf

But who's right?!

[Daz]

For the record, this is a bin man.

Now you're just being grouchy ... zing?

[Str8Shooter]

I find it a little disconcerting that the only time we get active threads is when people get into bitchfests about dumbass things.

[Hanley!]

Okay, fucking hell guys. Grow up. I think I preferred when people were getting heated about racism because at least that's a subject that actually matters. This is just petty bullshit.

You're deliberately misunderstanding each other so that you can argue. Neither side is making any effort to make things right or to straighten this thing out, yet you're all playing the martyr, like you're entirely innocent and wronged in this situation. This is the kind of argument I'd expect from children. When someone is threatening to actually leave the site over a thread about bins, I think it's pretty damn clear things have gone too far.

@SlightlyJames & @Porkchop deliberately didn't answer the Legend's question to try to get a rise out of him. You can claim innocence all ye want, but it's really, really obvious that's what you were doing. It might have all been in the name of fun, but we've seen this exact kind of thing cause arguments before. And then when you did get a rise out of him, you acted affronted like that's not what you were going for on some level. And then you quickly got condescending about it. And come on, if you actually believe that "person who collects bins" is a valid explanation of what a bin collector is, I'd be astonished. You were taking the piss.

@The Legend responded by being over-sensitive and escalating things further. And made things worse by implicating that every Brit on the board is somehow at fault here, rather than the couple that were actually doing this stuff. And then by implicating that these people were at fault for the board not getting more traffic than it does. Like I said, I can see why he got annoyed given he was baited into it, but this wasn't the most mature way to handle it. None of this should have been that big of a deal.

Both sides are at fault, and it's frustrating that you'd drag on a stupid conversation like this for four pages rather than somebody just apologising for things getting out of hand or making any kind of effort. The Legend has been on these forums (through their various iterations) for years now, and I'd hate to see him or anyone else leave over something as silly as this.

So maybe you could all just apologise for your role in this and move on? Or if you can't do that, then simply avoid the thread altogether and make more of an effort to act considerate and decent the next time something like this comes up.

If you think I'm being a cunt for calling ye out, then fair enough, feel free to give me shit about it. Neg rep me into oblivion, whatever. I'm fairly confident we won't hold it against each other later. You guys are some of my favourite posters here, and the place would be a lot less entertaining without any one of you. But in this particular case, you all need to see that you're being stubborn and ridiculous. You're digging your heels in over something very petty.