Thursday, September 04, 2003

Online Forum Participation Proves Safety Conscientiousness

Coaster Enthusiasts scrambled to prove they follow safety regulations by posting to a CoasterBuzz thread on Tuesday. The thread, a response to an editorial post made by Jeff Putz, rocked the online community of enthusiasts, who immediately rushed to prove that other enthusiasts, not frequent CoasterBuzz posters, were responsible for Cedar Fair’s letter to coaster club presidents. That letter suggested that enthusiasts' intentional avoidance of park rules was threatening the availability of events at Cedar Fair parks. Putz's editorial made the shocking suggestion that enthusiasts should act like sensible adults and that a failure to do so could cause harm relations with parks as well as resulting in injury or death.

The phrases “I never” and “I agree” were copied and pasted by at least 25 members within a span of mere hours.

In an exclusive ARN&R interview by e-mail, one anonymous poster explained the rush of posts, expanding the thread to a whopping four pages by press time. “By posting in an online forum to declare that I follow safety rules, and scorn any enthusiast who doesn’t, I am proving my love and allegiance for this fine hobby and making sure nobody thinks it is my fault. Because it's not my fault. I never break the rules and I agree with the people who said it's not our fault.”

Other forum participants agree, adding that ACE members who don’t post online, and who specifically didn’t chime in on the thread, are probably the culprits. “If ACE members aren’t involved enough to spend their days posting in online forums, their love is not true, and therefore makes them the obvious targets of the letters.” said another member. "I never break the rules and I agree with the people who said it's not our fault," the member added.

A small group of enthusiasts are currently working to memorize the profile photos of anyone who did not post to agree with Jeff on the thread, and plan to give those people ‘really dirty looks’ at PPP.

--MMS
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