Conservative honored his bet. The only one out of the 4. Sad.
And unfortunately, he was the only one of the four who was worth talking to.
I'm not feeling good about this bet. I think you should hold anyone who took it harmless from it and just move on.
I like conservative. didn't always agree with him, but he was pretty cool, and he was a
Doctor Who fan, so he couldn't have been all bad.
Seriously... As a newbie, I have to say...
You all take this forum MUCH too seriously.
Really.
This place could use a whole lot more humor and a whole lot less nastiness. Bitchin' and whining is okay, I guess -- as long as you don't take it too personally when someone pokes fun at your bitchin' and whining.
But this stupid bet business -- honestly, "honoring" it is a losing proposition on both sides no matter how it turns out. Do I need to explain that? Fine, I'll explain it:
No matter which side wins and which side loses, there are only two possible outcomes:
1. The losers take themselves off the board, leaving the winners briefly victorious, but with one less opponent with whom to debate. The losers have been honorable, true; but how much fun is that?
Everybody loses.
2. The losers either ignore the bet entirely or come back to the board after a brief hiatus. They eat a little humble pie (or not), get razzed for "welching" on their bets, and sooner or later everybody forgets about the whole thing except when someone they've offended wants to needle them about it.
From my point of view, in the second scenario everybody wins, because the obnoxious ones who lost the bet are slightly humiliated and everybody gets to remind them -- for a little while, anyway -- that they were wrong, wrong, wrong. The debate on the board is as lively as ever, and the contrast between the reasonable opinions and the unreasonable ones is sharpened by exposure to both.
That's why it's win/win, in my opinion, if the losers welch on their bets.
I admit, I'm selfish. I started this thread specifically to goad the losing bettors into coming back to the forums.
Why?
... Because as a newbie, I haven't had time to become truly disgusted with any of the losers. I've only seen a couple of their most recent offensive posts -- not nearly enough for me to be completely fed up with them and want to see the backs of them forever. I know that many of you oldsters know and despise them far better than I do... but I'd like the chance, at least, to learn to despise them... in time...
So let's hope that they come back, and let's hope that when they do, they make this forum a better place....
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... by providing "contrast".
-- Paravani
As we can see honoring a bet it not as easy as some think it is.
Pale Rider/007 
