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Post by dctim on Jan 8, 2009 5:34:17 GMT -8
I found this insightful. Says much the same thing that I have been feeling, but does so without being confrontational. forums.wheresgeorge.com/showthread.php?t=129932January 5th, 2009, 05:25 PM by jardbud Are You a Hankist? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I often wonder what Hank thinks when people quote him and try to remember what he has said in the past or try and wonder what he really means. There are seemingly endless discussions about what is dumping, what are too many posts on a thread and even what are too many stamps on a George. I wonder if HE sometimes chuckles at those of us who are so presumptious as to divine his meaning. I have even had a Hank acolyte send me a rep comment that Hank was going to be mad about a post I made. 1,000 years from now when archaeologists are looking at the late 20th and 21st centuries they will run across WheresGeorge and undoubtedly determine that Hank was a benevolent but ofttimes vengeful god who had a devoted group of followers. They loved him but some, despite his teachings and warnings, sinned against him and were punished by being sent off into the wilderness. Some were lucky and eventually forgiven to be welcomed back into the fold with an admonishment to sin no more. Most, but not all, did learn their lesson. The Georgers even had a bible which oldtimers always referred to when welcoming newbies into their discussion groups, pointing out the commandments and venal sins which would result in excommunication. As for me, I am proud to be a practicing and devout Hankist. Amen. |
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Post by hatboromike on Jan 8, 2009 7:25:17 GMT -8
Here's an appropos post I made many years ago that made light fun of - among other thngs - the way some people looked at tHE hANK back when I was somewhat a diciple.
********************
Picture a mount in some semi-arid though picturesque countryside. On yon hillside a small but growing crowd gathers as the bent figure of an old man appears upon the crest. He is draped in a shabby, rough cloak and holds in his hand a crooked staff. He speaks ...
"My friends, we face many choices as we set off on our uncertain journey towards our Georging destiny. Too many of the good people here do not adequately consider just what their legacy will be on this hollowed website when they look back some day on their "Where's George?" career. Too few consider the true intent and spirit tHE cREATOR of this website had as the goal for hIS cHOSEN pEOLPLE to follow when hE formed this site out of nothingness.
"To hit it big as fast as humanly possible?
Or to really get an accurate feel of how "normal money use" circulates?
"To be the highest, brightest shining star?
Or to be the guy/gal who people point to and acknowledge in hushed, reverent tones as they say, "See that's (What's-his-name). He did it the right way!"
"To bask in the wash of the brightest spotlights for your 15 minutes of fame?
Or to work steadily and faithfully towards your goals in the spirit of your chosen obsession?
"Ah, the shallow of heart and feeble of will may say unto you, "Goeth now and gather all thee stones as quickly as possible for the Light of Fame will shine upon thee!"
"But remember! Once you open that first strap of crisp uncirculated Georges, you are tainted forever! For how many of us have danced with the Devil of the BEP before we ever became one of tHE cHOSEN?!? How many of us have dirtied our hands with the sins of untouched currency straps and the temptations of 650 $1 bill rent payments? How many ever considered the sin of bill swapping?!? Nigh, not a one I suspect ...
"The answer we all must question before we set out on our quest is ... What Would hANK DO?
"Forget the fact that hANK does not truly worship at the temple of hIS own design! Forget that hE most likely looks down upon our wretched masses as a petshop owner would view his collection of oddly shaped tropical fishies!
"What would hANK do!! (If he was so inclined to do anything ...) What did tHE mIGHTY hANK have in mind for his minions when hE brought darkness unto the land?!? Did hE want us to descend on the FRB like a swarm of BEP-starved locusts? Did hE envision a world where hIS cHOSEN pEOPLE couldn't walk without a limp while on vacation because they have four bulging rolls of $1 bills in their Bermuda shorts and two more in their knee-high blue socks?? (But enough about E=Mc2's vacation!)
"NO, I say unto you! hE wanted us to act, live, spend and love and we always had before we were ever called into hIS flock! hE wanted us to learn, love, respect and cherish the subtle roles of currency distribution, the banking system and the vagaries of individual spending habits! hE wanted us to do nothing more than E .... M .... S ... and that is all.
"So then, who is responsible for these temptations to amass, to glutton, to flood, to inundate, to shotgun (Get the picture yet?!?) our local communities with the scourge of ill-begotten Georges in the quest for fame, fortune and Top 10 Users in the State of Heresy?!?!?!? There is only one. And he is Lucre!!
"Lucre, King of Artificial Currency Manipulation! Who is he? Where is he? he hides in the heartless register of the ill-willed cashier/merchant. he breeds in the bottomless vaults of the BEP. he rides with misled vacationers precariously perched upon six-inch high folds of unnatural currency.
"DO NOT GIVE IN! Do not give refuge to this baseless beast! Reject him and his minions! Mark, enter, spend in the lIGHT of the rIGHT!!"
(For the "lay people" out there ... Do things the right way, the pure way, the only way! Do it MY WAY, or it's the HIGHWAY!)
This message brought to you by the cHURCH of hATBORO mIKE.
(The following was posted purely in fun. Will the offended please take three deep breaths, count backwards from 10, and say 12 Hail Hanks before flaming the pastor .... I mean, poster.)
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joeyd
Republican
Not a Republican
10 percenter
Posts: 2,444
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Post by joeyd on Jan 8, 2009 14:59:32 GMT -8
Like I said in a post in my first day in here; His ego is massive, and the fawners and hangers-on who fall all over themselves whenever He introduces some extraneous and cluttering feature to WG (the average distance your hit bills have traveled is 111.34 miles),[whoopee], getting on the MF and thanking him for saving Modern Civilization.
Joe
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Post by Maxf1ex on Jan 8, 2009 16:58:33 GMT -8
Like I said in a post in my first day in here; His ego is massive, and the fawners and hangers-on who fall all over themselves whenever He introduces some extraneous and cluttering feature to WG (the average distance your hit bills have traveled is 111.34 miles),[whoopee], getting on the MF and thanking him for saving Modern Civilization. Joe 1 Thing I keep in mine is that the internet is still playtime for many people. But without the PF to worried about he now has time for the more important things in life. Such as allowing people to use strike out in there posts. |
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Post by jon on Jan 8, 2009 19:40:09 GMT -8
I don't envy him, he has created a monster, unfortunately for him it's his monster....
As I said in another post here, "head bowed, eyes averted [/sarcasm]"... the first 4 words have been used in the past, in the fora with sincerity- reverence- whatever, the first time I saw that I knew that thing was out of control...there are some who are over the top in their adoration, but that's why this society has restraining orders. I know there are a few high profile people who have dropped out of the fora over there because of that kind of stuff.
Don't get me wrong, I know he's a nice guy, heck, I'd play poker with him anytime, any place...(of course on my way to the first ever WG? poker championship, I personally knocked him out of the game ;D)...
I do understand he can be overwhelmed by the madhouse that is WG?, but what can he do?
-If he walked away and shut it down, I'd believe there would be some suicides. Yes, I do believe that.
-He couldn't sell it, folks would find him and bug him after he was gone, every other post that was complaining about something would start out, "He wouldn't have done it like that." or else he'd have to be handcuffed to it as some sort of managing consultant on an ungodly retainer that was worth more than the site itself..
I'm sorry he can't run the asylum in a fair, even handed way, but he'd have to be detached/uninvolved and FWIW he enjoys his baby as much as many of us still do.
No, I don't envy him, nor do I hate him,
but for the taking of a random idea with the handwritten St. What's-his-face dollar and making it into WG I both admire him and I pity him.
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Post by centrist on Jan 8, 2009 20:02:09 GMT -8
here are all the posts referred to in the first post of this thread :
>> by jardbud
Are You a Hankist?
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I often wonder what Hank thinks when people quote him and try to remember what he has said in the past or try and wonder what he really means. There are seemingly endless discussions about what is dumping, what are too many posts on a thread and even what are too many stamps on a George. I wonder if HE sometimes chuckles at those of us who are so presumptious as to divine his meaning. I have even had a Hank acolyte send me a rep comment that Hank was going to be mad about a post I made. 1,000 years from now when archaeologists are looking at the late 20th and 21st centuries they will run across WheresGeorge and undoubtedly determine that Hank was a benevolent but ofttimes vengeful god who had a devoted group of followers. They loved him but some, despite his teachings and warnings, sinned against him and were punished by being sent off into the wilderness. Some were lucky and eventually forgiven to be welcomed back into the fold with an admonishment to sin no more. Most, but not all, did learn their lesson. The Georgers even had a bible which oldtimers always referred to when welcoming newbies into their discussion groups, pointing out the commandments and venal sins which would result in excommunication. As for me, I am proud to be a practicing and devout Hankist. Amen.
Why did I post this? Just a rambling way of having something to say on my 100th post.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>> by Morse Tom
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Nope.
I remember a professor whose family I became friends with. Willy was sometimes bemused that past students would come up to him and tell him something he had said had totally changed their lives. He admited that usually he had no memory of having said it. I've been standing there when this happened. It was a common occurence.
MT
>>>>>>>>>
by jardbud
I think that professor was just doing his job. I think most of us hope that something we do will have a positive impact on the generation behind us, whether our kids, or in my case, those that I served with in the Air Force. There's not a lot of people left on active duty that I served with but up until a few years ago I would sometimes hear from one of them when they got promoted and somehow gave me partial credit for their success. Sometimes I couldn't remember who they were. Same goes for my daughter. Now that she is a parent it is funny to see her demanding the same of her children as I did of her when she was a child. I can only smile and fondly remember her temper tantrums and rebellions. I always hoped that she would have kids just like she was and, it appears, she has.
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>> by scottk
You kind of did ramble, and hit various targets from some very differnt angles, and I'm not entirely sure where they're all coming from. Here's a couple of thoughts:
- Hank's a busy guy, and he doesn't monitor the forums diligently (and IMO, he really shouldn't, but that's another tangent). So a lot of people try to be helpful when people ask various questions that have been answered a thousand times before. I mean, to some degree, that's kind of the point of a community forum. Sometimes they (we) get it right, sometimes things get twisted. The funniest thing is when the accolytes do the twisting.
- My observation of Hank is that he's very much like a version of House, the TV atheist doctor who believes that everyone lies. Hank thinks everyone cheats. Ok, he doesn't really think everyone cheats, but he seems to be afraid enough that anyone might cheat, and so he sort of runs thing in a shoot-first-maybe-ask-questions-later manner.
- A corrolary of the above seems to be the belief that, no matter how the rules are defined, someone will try to twist or break them. Along those lines he tends to resist any suggestions that his rules might be somewhat vague, or could be better worded. To suggest such results in a response that anyone can understand them, they are common sense. If they are clear to him, then there's no reason they shouldn't be clear to everyone. But the fact that sometimes even the true believers, those trying their hardest to follow and recite his rules (some of them "unpublished"), get them hopelessly screwed up, bears pretty strong witness to the fact that they could use some work.
- So what does Hank think? I think that Hank often gets frustrated at having himself misquoted and misrepresented. No surprise, I would too. I also think that sometimes he contributes to the problem. Just my own observation. I would hope he appreciates it when things are answered correctly for him so he doesn't have to, but who knows.
- I wouldn't consider myself an acolyte (and I'm sure Hank wouldn't either), and I've given out quite a few of those rep points. It's not always a matter of the acolytes threatening you with the wrath of Hank. In my case it's usually a friendly warning based on a couple of years of observation, and learning that some things are better left unsaid, and even worse, other's you need to be careful how you word them. People have been banned for the simple sin of being misunderstood. It get's messy.
- The "Hank as god" analogy is understood by many. IMO mostly has to do with how people treat him than how he expects to be treated. But I sometimes think he maybe let's it go to his head at times.
- I think what you mean to say (but the "different angles" makes it a little hard to be sure) is that you're an "ahankist". A theist is someone who believes in a god, an atheist believes there's no god. So I suppose a Hankist would support/worship Hank, an ahankist would not. (Can't really say an ahankist would believe there is no Hank, unless they believed Where's George randomly evolved from some primordial digital soup. )
So, are you really a Hankist?
Myself, maybe I'm aghankist. I'm often bemused, and sometimes annoyed, but the true believers. I'm sometimes annoyed by Hank, and I have little doubt I probably annoy him more (not that I'm anyone that he would loose sleep over). I give him a lot of "nuts" at times, sometimes deserved, sometimes not. But I appreciate what he's done with this site, even if I sometimes think he does it wrong. I suspect (hope?) I'd probably like and get along with him in real life.
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>>> by tobismom
I kind of enjoy the Hank smackdowns. When the All Seeing Eye appears, I know it's going to be fun. Kind of like a train wreck. I know it won't be pretty, but I just have to look
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>> by jardbud
Wow, where do I start. To begin with I really intended this to be satirical and tongue-in-cheek. It was never meant to be taken seriously. If the PF would have been open I would have posted it there just to get a reaction from certain people. I am a johnny-come-lately to the forums and have appreciated all of the tips I've got and the advice received. Even the comment in the rep was given politely and was certainly not a threat. I appreciated the pointer. I even got a positive point from the person offering the advice. It was simply be careful of certain kinds of posts, you dont want to make Hank mad.
That said, after just a few months of reading the forums, I really have observed an almost religious zeal about this hobby and a lot of reverence for Hank. It was in that spirit that I made the remarks and I was really looking for something to say to mark my 100th post. And, if I had to choose, I would come a lot closer to being a Hankist than an aHankist.
Thanks, I really appreciate your observations. Oh, I would have multiposted your post instead of quoting the whole enchilada but haven't been able to figure it out yet.
>>>>>>>>
end so far.
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Post by centrist on Jan 8, 2009 20:04:36 GMT -8
I don't envy him, he has created a monster, unfortunately for him it's his monster.... As I said in another post here, "head bowed, eyes averted [/sarcasm]"... the first 4 words have been used in the past, in the fora with sincerity- reverence- whatever, the first time I saw that I knew that thing was out of control...there are some who are over the top in their adoration, but that's why this society has restraining orders. I know there are a few high profile people who have dropped out of the fora over there because of that kind of stuff. Don't get me wrong, I know he's a nice guy, heck, I'd play poker with him anytime, any place...(of course on my way to the first ever WG? poker championship, I personally knocked him out of the game ;D)... I do understand he can be overwhelmed by the madhouse that is WG?, but what can he do? -If he walked away and shut it down, I'd believe there would be some suicides. Yes, I do believe that. -He couldn't sell it, folks would find him and bug him after he was gone, every other post that was complaining about something would start out, " He wouldn't have done it like that." or else he'd have to be handcuffed to it as some sort of managing consultant on an ungodly retainer that was worth more than the site itself.. I'm sorry he can't run the asylum in a fair, even handed way, but he'd have to be detached/uninvolved and FWIW he enjoys his baby as much as many of us still do. No, I don't envy him, nor do I hate him, but for the taking of a random idea with the handwritten St. What's-his-face dollar and making it into WG I both admire him and I pity him. You have brought up some excellent points. When and if Hank left, there would be a lot of distressed folks.......and if the new owners did not "perform" well, the uproar over the PF would look like a walk in the park, compared to what would happen in that case... |
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Post by centrist on Jan 9, 2009 19:03:50 GMT -8
a continuation of the "Are you a Hankist" thread on the other site.
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This is an interesting thread. I really can't find anything to refute, even from ScottK.
But I will add this.. the exact same things could be said about:
Wikipedia and Jimbo Wales
Digg and Kevin Rose
Microsoft and Bill Gates or Steve Ballmer
Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg
Apple and Steve Jobs
Oracle and Larry Ellison
CNN and Ted Turner
Amazon and Jeff Bezios
Google and Larry Page and Sergey Brin
Craigslist and Craig Newmark
News Corp and Rupert Murdoch
Virgin and Richard Branson
And the list could go on.
There are alot of pros and cons in this business, and trying to keep hundreds of thousands of people happy, all at the same time, isn't easy. And I am human, and I do make mistakes -- anybody would given what I have to do.
And sure, I catch alot of flack (more recently, for sure), but I also get alot of praise from people about how WG has helped them in ways nobody can understand. About once a month, I get a note from someone who is homebound, due to disability or neuroses, and how they've found a hobby and community here that has improved their lives tremendously. Or how using more cash instead of credit helped people get out of huge piles of debt. Or how families use the site as a bonding and educational experience.
Do I have a big ego? Possibly. But I also took the risk and had the guts, technical, and business skills to take a simple idea, and grow it into a huge website enjoyed by tens of thousands of people everyday. By myself. I don't have a staff or employees to help me with anything, other than Team Aqua who helps with the contact forms (and for whom I am grateful). So look at that list above again.. except for Craig Newmark, who there DOESN'T have a big ego? It goes with the territory, and for that, I won't apologize.
__________________
-Hank
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Post by centrist on Jan 9, 2009 19:04:19 GMT -8
What do the banned think about this post by hank ?
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Post by hatboromike on Jan 9, 2009 20:58:53 GMT -8
What do the banned think about this post by hank ? I hope he didn't tear his rotator cuff while patting himself on the back.  |
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richard
Republican
Bacon!
Posts: 1,412
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Post by richard on Jan 9, 2009 22:10:38 GMT -8
What Mike said.
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Post by blackjohnflint on Jan 9, 2009 22:48:41 GMT -8
What do the banned think about this post by hank ? Obviously the Where's George site is a great success and has made a big impact on a lot of people. If this were not true, nobody would be upset about what happened. |
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joeyd
Republican
Not a Republican
10 percenter
Posts: 2,444
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Post by joeyd on Jan 10, 2009 14:32:15 GMT -8
What do the banned think about this post by hank ? Joan of Arc speaks. Joe |
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Post by hatboromike on Jan 10, 2009 16:44:37 GMT -8
What do the banned think about this post by hank ? Joan of Arc speaks. Joe Must religion infuse every post?!?    |
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Post by disasterchick on Jan 14, 2009 8:27:09 GMT -8
Must religion infuse every post?!?
I don't know the history on you guys. But I'm confused when there is someone constantly making statements on religion yet seems to be against it? |
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