Almost Canadian

Have you any reason to doubt that hundreds have not thanked him/her? Not everyone, including you, thinks that living in Canada is all sunshine and sweet smells

dbd33

I doubt that hundreds have thanked him or her because there aren't hundreds of active posters.

Souvy

Maybe he/she posts on other fora?

dbd33

That crossed my mind but moving to Canada is rather a special interest, surely there aren't hundreds of English speaking people in the world who would be considering it, nevermind hundreds who are grateful for being alerted to the nature of the weather in Canada.

G77

Hmm - may have to consider this when I'm eligible, since the Nexus lanes crossing into Detroit are always empty and sometimes have to wait an hour in the general lanes....

Having to go back to the Nexus office each time you get a new I94-W sounds like a royal pain though - may make it not worth it!

canadian_critic

May be people here don't realize but there's an underground on this forum. People who monitor but rarely post. They feel intimidated by the regulars for various reasons. They may not respond to posts that they disagree with but they still hold a strong opinion. And they support points of view privately without hesitation.

I'm not one of those people. I don't mind people knowing I disagree with them and accept that others may not agree with me. But some of my previous posts have inspired others to PM me expressing their own views, which in some cases are way stronger than my own. Some even border on anti-Candian racism. I don't agree with all private posts I receive, of course, but in some cases they spotlight something that my post barely scratched the surface of.

When I say hundreds I'm considering all my posts over many years under this ID and my previous IDs. I haven't counted them but that's not the point. The point is that I am sometimes getting several personal responses to a single post, from aliases I've never heard of. I'm being challenged here on my numbers but I think people are really challenging my claim of having any kind of support.

I mention this here because if you only consider the public forum I may be seen as a lone wolf. In effect I have a pretty strong advocacy network. It's a shame that this support is an underground network. People are different and not everyone feels comfortable with openly challenging others. In my case doing so is simply in my nature.

And of course there's the inevitable retort which we see here, i.e. challenging my claim. For the few that do speak out in the open forum, I've even had others convince themselves this is just me making up a fresh ID to add strength to my case. Some people here have a real problem with others' opinions, to the point that they make up baloney when they start seeing support growing in favour of an opposing view. That's more a personality defect on their part, which is why I don't take offence with at such accusations.

I frequently ask myself why I spend so much time writing responses here. The truth is this forum has helped me immensely over the years and I'm contributing back. I don't expect everyone to like everything that I say, but providing an overall balanced view is far more valuable to a newbie than one that is stacked. Many private messages I get suggest this forum is significantly biased.

The danger is that newbies approach this forum as part of their research into emigrating. But most will be already sold on the idea of emigrating to Canada by the time they reach this forum. A forum which is biased is not only of limited value but also a potential danger. So I don't make apologies for giving my opinion, particularly when it's evident that in most cases i represent more than just myself in my views.

Atlantic Xpat

For those of us who haven't kept up to speed with the multiple ID's, could you provide a list of the ID's you've posted under through the years? For context, if you will.

dbd33

No. I'm just doubting your numbers.

Alan2005

I quite like your contributions (and I also find the reactionary responses quite funny too) but there really is no need to pretend you are some lone crusader on behalf of those that are too timid to post.

Then again, the site just crashed: was it under the weight of PM's agreeing with you?

Atlantic Xpat

I had the same thought.

JonboyE

To paraphrase:

"If it falls to me to start a fight to cut out the cancer of bent and twisted posting on BE.com with the simple sword of truth and the trusty shield of British fair play, so be it. I am ready for the fight. The fight against falsehood and those who peddle it. My fight begins today. Thank you and good afternoon."

JonboyE

Agree with you 100% on this. Balance is very important.

Oakvillian

Thank you Mr Aitken, the cheque's in the post.

Almost Canadian

I s/he is not pretending, s/he must have an outfit. I wonder if s/he wears his/her pants outside his/her pants.

I always play devil's advocate on here. It's no fun being on the side of the majority. People take their posts far too seriously.

canadian_critic

Thank you for your comment. I enjoy comments that go against my own views, partly because it helps me question whether I'm talking out of my ass or not. I'm not the first to admit when this happens, but who is?!

Regarding the lone wolf (crusader) this is just the appearance, and not how it actually is. There really are quite a few people who spike up when something controversial is being discussed, but who do so privately; some rarely contributing anything in the public domain.

I won't identify these people for obvious reasons. Also, and relating to another question, I'd rather not identify any other IDs I've used in the past. I have provided a moderator with these and the reasons which he accepted under the circumstances. I only ever use the most recent ID, and certainly never post with multiple accounts to fake advocacy in my posts. Also I have no plans to retire the cc identity. I love it because it kicks up a bit of a storm before I've even typed anything, but I will let time demonstrate that I'm no troll.

Cheers.