Thoughtforfood said:
I guess I don't understand the continued insistence that speculation should not be part of a forum. This is a forum, not Wikipedia, we don't compile fact for publication, we don't put out a newsletter with information, we don't do anything but to discuss things. Speculation is merely a natural part of a discussion on a forum or anywhere else. Why some treat it like heresy is beyond me? It also seems readily apparent that those who favor Mr Armstrong are the ones who continually rail against "speculation." What I would suggest is for you to listen to yourself tomorrow, and count the number of times you speculate. I am betting you do it quite frequently.
One of the issues here is that in some posts by some posters, speculation is either represented as fact (when that may not be the case) or the posters do not make the effort to note in their posts that it is indeed speculation and not based on fact. Nothing wrong with speculation. Hell, I speculate all day.
re your comment - "those who favor Mr Armstrong are the ones who continually rail against "speculation" - I call BS. There are many posters here (obviously including myself) who ask for a link to sources or think that extensive speculation based on rumor and/or a lack of facts is open to challenge.
Such a challenge is too often interpreted as "favoring" LA. The response to that challenge often contains a subtle context - "if someone is not bashing LA and does not post that they dislike LA as much or even more than I do, then they must be an apologist for LA."
That context, which is pervasive here (and I would appreciate some non flaming comments with semi-intelligent rebuttal on that point of pervasiveness) stifles discussion.
To quote your post "
What I would suggest is for you to listen to yourself tomorrow" and ask yourself if any of your responses to a post could ever possibly be based on "someone is not bashing LA and does not post that they dislike LA as much or even more than I do, then they must be an apologist for LA."
Usual disclaimer - I am not a fan of LA. I feel that his presence/influence has been a detriment to cycling. I do tend to like facts.