Ignatio,
I hope you allow this to be posted.
I’m very grateful for all the friends I have made through riding an FJR and participating in this and other forums. To see a thread like this is very nice and I really, really appreciate the effort. For the record, I did not put KJ up to it. He is fully capable of generating buzz on his own. However, I will say, I didn't discourage it either and have really enjoyed it. I would certainly like to be allowed to post without having my posts approved by Ignacio. That being said, without rehashing the past, it is clearly his sandbox to run, not mine.
I would like to address one thing in particular. I have never and will never “cower behind the anonymity of the internet”. I welcome anybody to stop by my house, or meet me, and discuss anything they’d like, anytime. I would never talk smack behind somebody’s back or behind a monitor when a perfectly good opportunity arises to say it their face. I’m not a “nice guy once you get to know me” and I have been far from a Jerk on the forum. I am who I am, all the time.
However, RedfishHunter raises a very good point. People on this forum and elsewhere tend to treat those they don’t know personally with a lack of respect. How many times has the anonymity of your helmet given some safely protected cager the courage to do something on the road they would never do in person. In other places, news sites in particular, they are cracking down on the “comment trolls” by making people provide proof of who they are before allowing commentary. I think that’s a great idea. Perhaps we should write more about ourselves in our profiles. This forum is about way more than just FJR’s, that’s why people come here. It’s why I still occasionally read the posts.
So here I go; My “real name” is Marty Walsh and I live in Evanston, IL. The few of you who have spent more than a couple hours with me know there is more depth than motorcycles, guns, and porn. Not much, but a little. For instance, I’m currently president of a charity that helps alcoholics & addicts regain their lives. Before I became president they were losing money, in the last six years, with the help of many others, we have turned it around to the point where we have to give away more money and services in order to keep our non-profit status. I get paid nothing. I have raised enormous sums of money for charities such as, Susan G. Koman, Ronald McDonald House, Wounded Warrior Foundation, and PAWS Chicago. I foster homeless dogs that would otherwise be euthanized. Out of all the charity work I do, I like the dogs the most, they are so happy. Oh, and I try and get as much swag as possible for CFO. I do all this while running a semi-successful Real Estate Business, served as Chairman of our trade association and a director on the state's board, travel to Washington to lobby on your behalf to keep your mortgage interest deductions and flood insurance, among other things. I’m major donor to our PAC, and constantly am in contact with local politicians to prevent bad legislation, that would adversely affect property values and the economy. Speaking of the economy, in a prior life, I was in finance, twenty plus years as a commodity trader at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. I’m married to an absolute saint of a woman who lets me do pretty much whatever I want; we have no kids by choice, and a couple of dogs. Why am I writing all this? I’d like to think I’m respected, both professionally and privately, that I’m a doer not a talker. I solve problems both for a living and in my “free” time. So, naturally that will clash with other people who have different agendas. Sometimes they work out, sometimes they don’t. I don’t lose sleep over it and I’m sure they don’t either.
I have never really discussed most of this with any of you, I probably shared more than I should, and I'm sure somebody will find fault with it, but what the hell, right?
There is such an enormous amount of talent and knowledge in the collective experience of this forum, it’s astounding. Each and every one of you is more than a douchebag on the internet (at least I keep telling myself this). No matter what the question, FJR related or not, somebody knows the answer. That’s just cool.
Now, back to the topic at hand.
Have some of my comments been crass, off topic, and harsh? Absolutely, I don’t deny that, however, the contributions I've made far outweigh a couple of sharp-tongued remarks.
Believe it or not, I would like the ability to contribute restored so I can help with NAFO. There’s a lot swag needed and I need to work on it. I really do enjoy it when people get to leave an event with stuff. It’s fun.
Is an apology needed? If so, I apologize to those I offended, but never to Bust. Barry deserves a kick in the nuts.
Thanks again for the friendship and support.
Now can we please close this thread and move on?
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