The Jailhouse

[Bird of Prey]

Sara,

No matter how much we might dislike it, the only mentor that would have a prayer of success would be one of Joe's choosing. As I said earlier the act of choosing would be very telling of Joe's ability to truly reform. He's had ample opportunity to take this idea and run with it. Yet so far, no comment. That too is telling.
As I hope you (and everyone else) know by now, I don't post just to see what my writing looks like. There is always a hidden purpose as well as an obvious purpose. Sometimes I am able to get three or four themes in a single post.
I have a good deal of respect for you because you choose to learn from several people and incorporate the best of each into your own personal style. Would that all of us could be as intelligent. My style is the result of decades of online interaction and I have attempted to incorporate the best of what I've encountered online and in the real world. Truth be told I am still developing that style and hope that trend will continue.
You are absolutely right that Joe has a plethora of good examples that he could choose to incorporate into his style. He arrived with a particular attitude and style and (as is typical of youth) feels he has reached perfection needing no improvement. He learned quickly that wasn't the case. He has shown marked improvement from the original Joe, but there is still room for much more. But I don't agree that he should be forced to eliminate core personality elements to continue here.
You are an excellent example of a feisty, backstreet brawler learning the fine art of fencing. You work within the rules to achieve your goal as opposed to the "no holds barred" approach you arrived with.
You adapted quickly and because you had not interacted inappropriately with a large group, you've been able to move on without excessive baggage. Joe, unfortunately doesn't have that advantage. His early indiscretions made him a great number of enemies and he began to revel in their number and vehemence (typical defense mechanism). This spiralled him down pretty far.
Over the last few months though, Joe has been remarkably tame. Finding out what caused his incarceration this time is proving a difficult task for a number of people (myself included). Something fishy is going on here, fred doesn't seem to know why Joe is here this time and clearly is befuddled on what to do with him. An understandable position as I would have difficulty handling Joe were I in Fred's shoes. I've seen Joe post about Stocks and not a person, and I've seen joe get very personal when he shouldn't have.
Excel is right in that those that have problems with joe should "ignore" him. sad to say but Joe is a perfect target for users that I call "baiters", they find folks like joe and bait them into Flame Wars. I believe they get a perverse joy out of both the war and seeing their victim punished.
To close this up before Churak gets another "deadache". <g>
I don't think joe is merely an innocent victim here. He has done things worthy of termination on several occasions. But I don't agree with Matt's approach and I certainly think Fred is not helping Joe at all. Several things have happened that lead me to believe something is rotting in IH. It may be Joe... and it may be something else entirely.

The Bird of Prey
#board-381