The BenjaminXYZ topic

[alec w]

A message for Steve

I wonder whether you will allow this suggestion? That you have a topic limited to posts from BenjaminXYZ and the responses.

Ben is one of the most prolific posters on your forums. BUT:

In some, he has gone into great length and detail about the respective merits of different dSLRs. But we now know that this is purely based on web reviews etc since, when challenged, he admits that he has not yet bought a dSLR.

In others, he has asked advice on various (often basic) aspects of photography. But if the advice does not fit in with his preconceptions, that is apparently not acceptable and his responses can be OTT.

In other posts, when asked as to whether he has actually taken any photos, he has uploaded some images (with inappropriate advertising links). I think one would have to summarise the comments on those images as: "needs lots of improvement".

In yet more, his posts have been simply unintelligible.

Now let's be positive. A lot of people on this forum, including me, are willing to give Ben advice. Some of the advice may conflict - we all have different styles of, or approaches to, photography. This may be part of Ben's problem - he does not have enough experience to decide which advice is appropriate to him.

Ben - that's fair enough. We know from previous posts that you are inexperienced, but that you are about to start a photography degree course. Have you started yet?

Your course should provide you with a lot of information and knowledge over the next few months. If your tutors cannot answer your questions, then, no doubt, some of us on this forum will be happy to help. On the other side, once you have some knowledge and experience, you can share that with us.

But, Steve, for the time being perhaps you could limit Ben to posting only on this topic. Then, those of us that want to make constructive comments to him can go directly to the topic. At the same time, we can go to other topics confident that they will not be clogged by Ben's too-numerous postings.

What do you think Steve?

[rinniethehun]

Do you really believe Ben is a college student?
Do you really believe Ben is 20 years old?
Do you really believe Ben is from Kuala Lumpur?
Do you really believe Ben is on the verge of buying a DSLR?
Do you really believe Ben has been chosen by his church to be the official photographer?
Do you really believe Ben's church has a bunch of DSLR's lying around, waiting for Ben to come in and use them?

Ben is a professional pot stirrer...he goes from forum to forum getting everyone spun up.
Ben has racked up nearly 800 posts here in only 4 months, or about 6 1/2 posts per day...he has more than that on some other forums...where does he find the time?
Ben has managed to sucker a lot of people on this forum.
Ben has some deep seeded problems.
Ben is a child.

I kinda like Ben...he's very intelligent...he knows how to manipulate people...he will make a good Hun some day - that is, if he ever grows up.

the Hun

[mtclimber]

Rinnie-

Unfortunate though it may be, you have indeed spoken the truth. I am also tired of his "lacking total reality" posts!

MT/Sarah

[meanstreak]

rinniethehun wrote:

Do you really believe Ben is a college student?
Do you really believe Ben is 20 years old?
Do you really believe Ben is from Kuala Lumpur?
Do you really believe Ben is on the verge of buying a DSLR?
Do you really believe Ben has been chosen by his church to be the official photographer?
Do you really believe Ben's church has a bunch of DSLR's lying around, waiting for Ben to come in and use them?

Ben is a professional pot stirrer...he goes from forum to forum getting everyone spun up.
Ben has racked up nearly 800 posts here in only 4 months, or about 6 1/2 posts per day...he has more than that on some other forums...where does he find the time?
Ben has managed to sucker a lot of people on this forum.
Ben has some deep seeded problems.
Ben is a child.

I kinda like Ben...he's very intelligent...he knows how to manipulate people...he will make a good Hun some day - that is, if he ever grows up.

the Hun

I have suspected that Ben has been conning us fora while and am more convinced it's true. Especially with the bit about the church, cameras they are willing to let him use, and those photographs he posted. Of course, I have no way of knowing for sure that Ben is baiting us andwasting our time. If it's not true all I can say is that it has gotten past the point of no return. I have had it with his tantrums and silly posts and I try my best to refrain fromthreads he frequents but somehow that doesn't seem right that I should have to avoid those threads. It is also not easy since he even goes into the KM DSLR thread where Ifrequent because that is the equipment that I own. I may be sticking my neck out here, but in all honesty if we were playing "Survivor I feel he would have been voted off theIsland by now.

[meanstreak]

mtclimber wrote:

Rinnie-

Unfortunate though it may be, you have indeed spoken the truth. I am also tired of his "lacking total reality" posts!

MT/Sarah

I called it a long time ago.

Beside being posted in the wrong Forum, you can be assured that the ice under Ben is already very thin...99% of what we do, is not done in public.

[rjseeney]

I also agree it may be time to end this. Whether its a charade or not (the more I think about it, the more I think it is....the XYZ affair is a famous one in American history, and Benjamin Franklin was involved :!:...look it up), too much time has been spent by respected members refuting, clarifying, and correcting his posts. Whether he is legit or not, many may have been misled or been given bad info. I for one am done chiming in on his posts. He has found his way into nearly every forum, and there are alot of folks who may believe he is more knowledgeable than he really is. Just ignore future posts and he will be forced to go away.

[meanstreak]

rjseeney wrote:

I also agree it may be time to end this. Whether its a charade or not (the more I think about it, the more I think it is....the XYZ affair is a famous one in American history, and Benjamin Franklin was involved :!:...look it up), too much time has been spent by respected members refuting, clarifying, and correcting his posts. Whether he is legit or not, many may have been misled or been given bad info. I for one am done chiming in on his posts. He has found his way into nearly every forum, and there are alot of folks who may believe he is more knowledgeable than he really is. Just ignore future posts and he will be forced to go away.

Very interesting..... great find.All this time I thought the XYZ suffixhad no real apparent significance. I knew I should have paid more attention in school. I find it amazingalthough possible thatsomeone from Kuala Lumpur would know about the XYZ affair that and create a user ID, though I guess with the internet it could have been stumbled upon andI doubt it that combining the name Benjamin with XYZ was just sheer random coincidence. In any event it doesn't matter at this point and I agree that just ignoring his posts might help, but the newbies might will still respond and or be mislead. I publicly expressed a deep concern for the newbies once before when I thought he was posting opinion as fact. Also if he goes away, he mightcome back as something else, but I think he will be easy to spot.

[rinniethehun]

I think ole Ben Franklin was long gone when the XYZ Affair occured. I thought our Ben likened himself to the band of the same name...then again, what do I know...

the Hun

[rjseeney]

rinniethehun wrote:

I think ole Ben Franklin was long gone when the XYZ Affair occured. I thought our Ben likened himself to the band of the same name...then again, what do I know...

the Hun

Actually, you are correct......Ben was gone about 8 years before this happened (which almost led to a war against France in 1798.) Still some interesting parallels. I should have spent more time checking my facts and actually studying history than just reading reviews. Now I think maybe I'll just throw a tantrum and maybe apologize later since someone with actual knowledge proved me wrong:G.