If you’ve been to Canis Hoopus last evening or this morning, then you most certainly have not. For those of you who haven’t watched a chick flick in the past fifteen years, the man in the above photo is Hugh Grant. Yesterday, some time around noon, he was banned from Canis Hoopus.
I’ve made it a point to keep my comments on the TWB/Hoopus feud to a minimum. I called them out for poaching Sonia and stabbing us in the back when we relaunched the site. There was quite a bit of controversy about that fairly mild post, but I really didn’t say much else. I had said my peace, and that was that.
Then Stop-n-Pop decided to ban Roundhouse from the site (initially for “2-3 weeks” – a lie as the ban continues despite RH remaining civil). Apparently, Roundhouse was being “mean”, when he made a rather tame response to an inflammatory rant by a crazed Hoopus poster in which RH was compared to Adolf Hitler. The crazed poster was not reprimanded or punished. Nice. Stop-n-Pop also proceeded to repeatedly refer to Dave and Wally World “dogs” during this period. At that point, I felt the need to stick up for my friends, and so I spoke up for a second time. SnP asked that we keep our complaints on TWB, so I made my front page post featuring “The Rock” where I called him out on his inconsistencies.
Now, my hand has been forced to comment for a third time…
Yesterday, a poster named Hugh Grant made his first comments on TWB describing his plight. Apparently he had been banned from Canis Hoopus yesterday afternoon, along with Dave. After hearing about his situation, I emailed Hugh to find out exactly what happened. It turns out that, in addition to being a charming British movie star, Hugh Grant also likes to lurk on Timberwolves blogs and message boards. Yesterday, when Stop-n-Pop posted a draft board that had DeMarcus Cousins #1 and John Wall #4, Hugh felt the need to disagree with what he felt was a completely ridiculous post. He was met with some opposition and participated in some lively banter with the rest of the Hoopus community. In line with Stop-n-Pop’s own rules, Hugh wasn’t mean and he kept it clean. Yet today, he was met with a permanent ban from Canis Hoopus, less than 24 hours after registering for the first time.
“He said he wouldn’t get involved in this feud, but then Stop-n-“POP” banned Hugh Grant”
Why was Hugh Grant banned? From where I sit, it looks like his only “crime” was disagreeing with Stop-n-Pop. Some have speculated that he was Roundhouse in disguise, but I can assure you that was not the case. I’m certain that SnP has access to the IP records for all his users and must have known that Hugh Grant was not Roundhouse.
Why am I bringing this up and making this a front page post? Because Stop-n-Pop needs to be called out. He repeatedly posts lies to cover up his mistreatment of Roundhouse and Dave. It’s lame, but we’re “feuding”, so whatever. (Ironic, though, how he claims he’s “above” this and “taking the high road”. More lies.) The difference now is that he’s taken his power-trip so far that he’s banning innocent people, who are new posters with a clean slate, simply because they disagree with him or because he THINKS they’re associated with TWolves Blog. After he’s done his dirty work, he’ll go post a “pity party” comment where he acts like the victim and right on cue…
Everyone drinks the Kool-Aid and tries to lick his wounds. Yet while everyone rallies around Stop-n-Pop, few defend Hugh Grant, who clearly did nothing to warrant his banning.
Stop-n-Pop will use the following arguments…
1. Don’t be mean. Keep it clean.
Hugh Grant certainly didn’t violate either of these rules. On that note, neither did College Wolf. In all fairness, RH can get pretty fiesty, although the comment that got him banned was not bad at all.
On the flip side, it’s fine to rag on any of these three without penalty, and entirely ok for Stop-n-Pop to refer to CW and Wally World as dogs.
2. You can get banned for repeated offenses.
Hugh Grant didn’t even last 24 hours. Absolutely ridiculous.
3. I’m just doing this because people come here to read about the Wolves, not to read your bickering!
Exhibit A: The threads that contain these “feuds” are some of the most commented threads on the entire site. Obviously people care or are at least semi-entertained by it, otherwise they wouldn’t repeatedly comment and/or join in on the squabble.
Exhibit B: Realizing that SnP is not in favor of having these disputes play out on the main blog where they “interfere” with Wolves discussion, CW started a fan post once the comment got off-topic. By starting a fan post, CW moved the discussion to a place where only those who cared to read or participate in the discussion would even see what was being said. This did not interfere at all with the main Hoopus blog. So the argument that this was all being done to “preserve the blog” is just an excuse. The main blog was not be interfered with and the discussion was not being forced on anyone but those who willingly clicked through to read it.
4. They only come over here to bash our site and cause trouble, so I’m banning them.
Not true at all. Maybe when the “feud” initially started there were some shots fired in the comments. However, for weeks now, the discussions have been focused around basketball. When Roundhouse was banned, he was having a regular debate about college basketball. Then one of the Hoopus commenters got heated and started bringing up the whole Hoopus/TWB issue. The most recent banning of CW and Hugh Grant started with a conversation about the draft. Again, Hoopus commenters who didn’t like Dave and Hugh’s opinions started ragging on TWB and got the ball rolling again.
Roundhouse, Dave, and Hugh all got banned on threads where they were discussing basketball and not picking fights about which site was better. The Hoopus commenters who claim that they’re such “intelligent” debaters then took the basketball debate and decided to bring TWB/Hoopus into the discussion, as if it had anything to do with John Wall vs. DeMarcus Cousins. Stop-n-Pop can blame those three all he wants, but the fact of the matter is that it’s “his” crew that’s starting the off-topic conversations. It’s “his” crew that’s being “mean”. But since they agree with his basketball opinions, and Dave, RH, and Hugh Grant don’t, they get banned.
The bottom line is that it appears Stop-n-Pop can’t handle healthy opposition. Roundhouse has remained banned despite the fact that he’s behaved himself for longer than his “sentence”. Dave was banned despite not breaking any of the rules, and even going as far to respect SnP’s wishes by taking his discussion off the main blog. And Hugh Grant, well, that banning was just completely ridiculous and indefensible.
I doubt that Stop-n-Pop will ever let College Wolf, Roundhouse, or Hugh Grant back on Hoopus. This post will probably do very little towards their re-instatement, but somebody needs to stick up for the people that he’s mistreated by bullying them with his admin privileges. I’d go post this over at Hoopus, but as one admin to another, I’ll respect his wishes and keep this type of post on my own site. Anyway, the second I went over there, I’m sure I’d get banned myself. However, if SnP wants to man up and actually adhere to the very rules that he originally established, then he can earn some respect back by allowing Dave, Roundhouse, and Hugh back on Hoopus. It’s true that it’s “his” bar and he can run it how he sees fit. The question is whether he wants to run it as a place where Wolves fans of all opinions and backgrounds can share their thoughts, similar to how we play here at TWB, or whether he wants to be the captain of a dictatorship where opposing opinions are silenced.
So on behalf of Hugh…
What’s it gonna be, Nate?