the Top Six

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   Twenty One Daysposted 14 years ago

   funny thing:
   
   the top six participants in the Religion/Beliefs forum, according to Hub Pages (at last glance) are the top six people who have no religion or beliefs associated with religion.
   
   irony is still not without a sense of humor.
   
   it's going to be a great day!

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      Pandoras Boxposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Well that's a good sign.

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         kessposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         I believe it helps their hubscore.
         
         Not sure though why the hubscore is that important. 
         
         Maybe the prospect of earning some dough...
         
         I am hesitant to say It's God that so important...
         
         Of course they wont admit it.

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            Pandoras Boxposted 14 years agoin reply to this

            Is that part of your wisdom?
            
            Will you ever admit that your assumptions that people argue against your beliefs because they secretly want to believe like you is really just part of your delusion?

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      (Q)posted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Just goes to show who here really has something of value to say.

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         Mikel G Robertsposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         

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            earnestshubposted 14 years agoin reply to this

            luv the smiley though!

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      earnestshubposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Just goes to show, you don't have to be religious to have beliefs!

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      goldenpathposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      On behalf of this Mormon, whom many try to inflame, I sincerely congratulate those who made the top list.  I don't know who they are, for I have not seen it.  Nonetheless, I am happy for their success.  I look forward to civil exchanges with them on a neutral zone of tolerance and understanding.
      
      Again, congratulations!

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         earnestshubposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         I don't think you understand, there is no competition that I know of, it simply means someone has posted to a forum most often and it changes regularly as a subject interests one hubber more than another.
         There is no benefits for doing so, in fact one does cop a bit of flack for being listed, as you will observe.

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            tantrumposted 14 years agoin reply to this

            that's right !

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         Pandoras Boxposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         How civilly you cry persecution! Well done, gp, well done!

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            Mark Knowlesposted 14 years agoin reply to this

            LOL
            
            I thought my Mum was the Ultimate in Passive/Aggresive - but she could take lessons from these guys. And then never quite understand why this produces so much animosity.
            
            Not that it matters - they will always be persecuted for loving jesus.

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            tantrumposted 14 years agoin reply to this

            LOL
            Not very subtle , his claim of peace!
            

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               goldenpathposted 14 years agoin reply to this

               Thanks for proving my point.  I can always count on you all.

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         Mark Knowlesposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         This is a very dishonest way of attacking people, sweetie pie.
         
         It pretty much sums up your religion though. Most forms of Christianity promote this way of creating conflict and it becomes pervasive throughout people's lives. I would like to bet that you get "attacked without provocation," quite regularly if this is your behavioral norm.
         
         Only you know if that is true or not and I do not need a response. 

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            goldenpathposted 14 years agoin reply to this

            I have nothing against those of other orientations, but please, don't call me sweetie pie.  I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

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               Mark Knowlesposted 14 years agoin reply to this

               But that is a term of endearment to show you what I think of you. O - woe is me - you are persecuting me for being honest again.
               
               Dear God !

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                  goldenpathposted 14 years agoin reply to this

                  Not really, and the demeaning comment is quite clear as glass in nature.  When I even hint of persecution as it pertains to HubPages forums, I mean that with every comment I make of a faith foundation it is a sure thing that the same individuals will be right behind me biting at my heels.
                  
                  That is why I thanked for proving my point - because here we are.  It's always good to hear from you.

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                     Mark Knowlesposted 14 years agoin reply to this

                     Well - thank you once again for proving mine sweetie pie. Your passive aggressive attacks are always a joy to observe.
                     
                     Jesus must be very, very proud of you. Do you think you could do it well enough to get some one to attack you? Bet that is always a surprise huh?
                     
                     Odd that you know yourself so little, you are not even aware that you are doing it. It is always the other person attacking you without provocation.
                     
                     Thank you once again. Wonderful attack.
                     
                     ciao

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         onthewritesideposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         Spoken very diplomatically....like a guy that has a couple of wives or something....hehehe!

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   tobey100posted 14 years ago

   Kind of makes you wonder why the anti-religious crowd is more vocal than the religious crowd.....

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   FranyaBlueposted 14 years ago

   I noticed this the other day, earnesthub was #1

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   Lady_Eposted 14 years ago

   Interesting Observation....
   
   Some just like to stir and as you noted - they are not "religious".

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      Mark Knowlesposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      You should be grateful we take the time to educate you.

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         Mikel G Robertsposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         
         
         
         Thanks Mark I needed that...
         
         
         

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            Mark Knowlesposted 14 years agoin reply to this

            My pleasure Mikel. Remember - just because you cannot disprove it - that does not make it true. You will get there eventually sweetie. Keep trying. Good luck.

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   Twenty One Daysposted 14 years ago

   narcissism is a religion too, fellas. And all three of you just made that perfectly obvious, again.
   
   though, of all, i would have to say earnest is the most entertaining and very quick witted. Here's to YOU Earnest.
   ps, did you get those headphones fixed yet?

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      earnestshubposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      narcissism may be the base of all religion at one level at least. I don't do religion, my beliefs change with evidence, I am not afraid to learn, as I am not fixed in any religious belief.
      Not believing in fairies is not a religion!

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         AdsenseStrategiesposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         There's a quote on my fridge, posted, I think, by some former tenant...
         It goes something like:
         
         Don't believe this or that doctrine, don't believe the great masters, don't even believe me... test everything for yourself before you accept it...
         
         It is attributed to the Buddha

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            earnestshubposted 14 years agoin reply to this

            Not bad at all. I read Siddhartha  as a kid and enjoyed reading many sayings like this.

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         Twenty One Daysposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         Yet, you once did as did I, which emulates belief, even to the infinite opposition.
         Point A and point B are infinite in either direction, yes?
         Again, I am with you on the regard of all such systems but not to the premise of denying a Creator exists.
         
         I recently said this to a friend who follows atheism, how it has now become a form of slavery, forcible belief, via education in the West. Every person has to go to school and be 'educated' in what they are taught. No choice in the matter up to the collegiate level where they can specify a limited choice. Else, the consequence of a type of social banishment/exile or worse, effecting every point in their lives from work to relationships. In short, everyone is being indoctrinated into atheism without choice, as did religions many years.

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            Jeramiposted 14 years agoin reply to this

            I think that everyone has been indoctrinated into where ever they are in life.
                 Unfortunately our religious leaders  have gone under the same....   gotta answer the questions corectly or you don't get your diploma to be a religious leader.
                 This in a nutshell is where "Religio" has gotten a bit "Off track"   The subject matter is true eventhough it has been described incorectly.

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   Colebabieposted 14 years ago

   Yeah but look at the topics in the forum. Many of them ask for theist/atheist/agnostic/etc. responses or question the existence of a God. Not to mention it is the religion/BELIEFS forum, like earnest pointed out.

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   earnestshubposted 14 years ago

   I am not any "ist" I can think for myself.

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      Mikel G Robertsposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      doesn't that make you a 'self'-ist??

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         earnestshubposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         No it does not, which is easy to see if you wanted to.

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   Colebabieposted 14 years ago

   I am a science major, but I wouldn't say I was "forced" to be an atheist. Because I'm not one. I am a well educated student in the West, but do not share the thoughts that you have. Some of your thoughts are a little jumbled but I think I get what you're trying to say.

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      AdsenseStrategiesposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      I'd say that there is peer pressure to be one though (at least in Britain, where I grew up, and I suspect in Australia too)

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         Colebabieposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         I think that there is peer pressure to be open-minded. Definitely. And rightfully so. But atheist, no.

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            earnestshubposted 14 years agoin reply to this

            Our government is opened with the lord's prayer, our prime minister is a religionist, the opposition leader (who some unkind souls in the press nicknamed "The mad monk") is a fundamentalist, so not too much pressure here to be an atheist or any other "ist" in Australia. We have a live and let live attitude mostly.

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               AdsenseStrategiesposted 14 years agoin reply to this

               Interesting. I'd say that both in the schools I went to in England and the high school I went to in Canada anyone who was religious was mocked mercilessly

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                  earnestshubposted 14 years agoin reply to this

                  We have a large Muslim community in my city, not as many as London, we have people from most nations and religions here. Each seem to have their own schools, Mosques etc and although not perfect it seems to work pretty well.

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                     AdsenseStrategiesposted 14 years agoin reply to this

                     I was interested ( i think amused, actually, in a sort of strange way), when I lived in London in the nineties, to see that on a Sunday morning at 12 o clock people poured out of the churches... all of them "Afro-Caribbean" British people.
                     It makes me laugh, because I suspect that the same nonces who go around talking about England for white people would do well to go to some Church of England services in Britain's cities... virtually everyone in there is an immigrant, child of an immigrant, or grandchild of an immigrant.

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                        earnestshubposted 14 years agoin reply to this

                        Many of our immigrants are devout, but they soon learn to be tolerant of others too.
                        For example say you are a Muslim family in a shopping centre here, every second person smiles at your kids, people of all religions and races soon get the hang of how to behave by the examples within our still very Australian culture. It is still a pretty reasonable culture here in my opinion, some of the better old values like tolerance have remained since settlement.
                        
                        On the other hand, our dealings with our aboriginal people has been disastrous because of ignorance and greed mostly, it is something I am not proud of about my country!

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                           AdsenseStrategiesposted 14 years agoin reply to this

                           I've lived in both London and Montreal, and both are models, in general, of religious tolerance, despite both having huge numbers of Muslims (in both cities), Jews (in Montreal), Hindus, and so on. Everyone seems to get on fine.

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                              earnestshubposted 14 years agoin reply to this

                              That warms my heart! Thanks for telling us that!

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                                 AdsenseStrategiesposted 14 years agoin reply to this

                                 A few years ago, the media blew up a story about Palestinian activists in Montreal rioting when Netanyahu came to speak.
                                 
                                 A year later the CBC did a documentary. The riot had consisted of one student who had broken a (large, admittedly) plate glass window at Concordia University. I have been in that university many times and often seen the Palestinian and Jewish students (all of them Canadian, none of them Middle-Eastern as such, of course), go at it... In other words, have heated, but civil arguments, and then go off peacably.
                                 
                                 The documentary revealed that the Palestinian student (actually from Ontario), had a JEWISH girlfriend. My favourite part was showing him over to dinner at his girlfriend's parents place!!!

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                                    earnestshubposted 14 years agoin reply to this

                                    

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                                    JeanMeriamposted 14 years agoin reply to this

                                    yes well the CBC has to make mountains out of molehills to get viewers,lol. The rest of the programming is unwatched.  And anyway, one publicly pissed off guy in Canada is a riot. :-)
                                    
                                    Most Canadian cities are very tolerant, I have found. We have to be with such a mix of cultures. I think if American religious made their way to Canada with their intolerance they would be jailed for hate crimes. Maybe in many other countries as well.
                                    
                                    It’s ironic. We’re extremely intolerant of intolerance. And the religious are ridiculed in our schools because religion is generally kept out of our schools.

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            Pandoras Boxposted 14 years agoin reply to this

            I live in the south. As in the southern states of the U.S. I can tell you for certain that here it remains the christians who apply the peer pressure. Socially speaking, or in school or work or business, one does not admit to not believing if one wishes to be accepted. After much thought about it, I have somewhat regretfully advised my children to avoid the subject.
            
            In some parts of the U.S., people are much more open-minded. The northwest, parts of New England. But the south is all for god, the christian god, of course. The protestant christian god, who mostly resembles the god of the OT as opposed to Jesus.
            
            By the way, less someone point out that I have indoctrinated my children, I have not. I have had very honest conversations with them, and they know that I do not wish them to simply adopt my own viewpoints.
            
            While I respect that for many people it was a simple instinctive decision, for me and from my point of view, whatever one's convictions are, they're pretty weak until one takes the time and invests the energy into investigating them for one's self.

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   Twenty One Daysposted 14 years ago

   Agreed.
   we are both non 'ist' and can think for ourselves.
   So between you and me, there is no disguise, emotion overload or sticky post stereotype, lack of sanity.
   
   This agreed and accepted, leaves only one question:
   
   Why does one accept there is a Creator and one does not...

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      Colebabieposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Personal and life experiences, family influence (can have an opposite effect as well), education, lifestyle, surroundings, location...
      
      Lots of reasons.

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         Twenty One Daysposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         hiya Cole.
         
         I know this, but those are outward influences.
         My family was the prime example of point A/B.
         One British Naval atheist, one Artistic Persian.
         Perhaps i was fortunate to see both sides day to day for 30 odd years.
         
         Even still, my friends and their families never really pushed the 'ist' on them either. As my dad put it, we were the post Love-in/Aquarius generation, when technology was just coming out of the closet.
         
         when we came to the states, the culture was much more liberal, accepting and -i joke a lot- reminded me of the stories of Babylon, anything and everything goes, so long as you can pay for it...

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    Hokeyposted 14 years ago

    I have officialy converted. I am a mouseist. They do have a book.

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       tantrumposted 14 years agoin reply to this

       ask Mickey !

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       earnestshubposted 14 years agoin reply to this

       My elder son is surounded by them!
       They study him constantly.
       They keep my son in a laboratory for 8 hours a day sometimes.

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          Hokeyposted 14 years agoin reply to this

          Only 8 hours? Then he is one of the lucky ones. He must have cheese. 

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             earnestshubposted 14 years agoin reply to this

             Yes, as usual you have slid the nail right on your non hirsute head!

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    Colebabieposted 14 years ago

    So what answer are you looking for? Do you think we are genetically predisposed to a religion?

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       AdsenseStrategiesposted 14 years agoin reply to this

       Yes, but I think we are genetically predisposed to lots of things that are unfortunate, war of various kinds for example. Not that religion is or isn't "unfortunate" necessarily

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          Colebabieposted 14 years agoin reply to this

          My brother is atheist, my sister and I agnostic, my mom was raised Catholic, my dad was raised Jewish. Not sure what genes are doing in my family then.

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             AdsenseStrategiesposted 14 years agoin reply to this

             I thought you meant humans as a species.
             
             But, funny you should bring it up, because in my family (on my Dad's side), my father is a Bahai convert, my cousin (completely coincidentally... and he lives a thousand miles from us) is a Bahai practitioner, my uncle follows Krishna (not that cousin's father), I did a BA in religious studies, and so did my sister, though she is much, much younger than me, and didn't know that that had been my major.
             Now, I am not saying definitively that this odd interest in religion (all people mentioned above were brought up in more-or-less modern rationalist households) is a genetic family trait, but then again.... it's certainly conceivable...
             
             ...In fact there is evidence that personality characteristics are genetically passed on sometimes, as large studies of twins separated at birth show

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       Twenty One Daysposted 14 years agoin reply to this

       no, no.
       
       both Earnest and i have 'been' there done that with the 'ist'.
       we each made a thoughtful, rational, human decision.
       Me to accept a Creator, Earnest to not.
       
       Wondering where/why the choice was made.
       
       
       
       ps, i gotta move there. have friends in Hornsby NSW. jeje.
       
       it not is so much a pressure thing here as much as a law.
       the pendulum has swung 180 opposite but still is the same.

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    marinealways24posted 14 years ago

    As much as I despise religion, I think everyone is religious. Everyone religiously believes something.

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       pinkyleeposted 14 years agoin reply to this

       agreed.. enough said

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          AdsenseStrategiesposted 14 years agoin reply to this

          But believing in something is not synonymous with religion.
          
          I know I seem impatient with this kind of slippery use of words, but it's important we nail down what we mean, at least for a period, when we use a given word.
          
          There is some general way in which believing in something is a religion.
          
          But for me, I'd say that a worldview that does not include some notion of good conduct or duty combined with a concept of the structure of reality or the universe is not a religion.

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       Mikel G Robertsposted 14 years agoin reply to this

       Well Stated

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    Twenty One Daysposted 14 years ago

    ... and this just in...
    
    earnesthub hold #1 spot today
    followed by the Cagsil at #2.
    oddly, Mark Knowles takes seat #3
    inching ahead of #4 Q while Hokey holds at #5.
    lady tantrum comes in just behind #6 TWD at #7.
    
    Stay tuned for more HubPages R&B updates.
    we now return you to our regularly scheduled program...

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       tantrumposted 14 years agoin reply to this

       Updating
       I'm in post 7 now, and going down. Will not be posting much in religion forum for a while as I find it terribly boring  lately !
       
       More of the same !

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       earnestshubposted 14 years agoin reply to this

       and this means what exactly?

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       skyfireposted 14 years agoin reply to this

       I don't get it what are we going to do with stats ?

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          earnestshubposted 14 years agoin reply to this

          We will collect them and sell them to the religionists of course!

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             Mark Knowlesposted 14 years agoin reply to this

             They don't seem very grateful of the education either. I mean - here we are trying to help them understand and all they do is attack and ridicule.
             
             Some how - I think they would prefer it if we left them to it.
             
             How odd. 21 days keeps bringing this up - almost like he has realized us non-believers actually understand more than the believers.

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                Twenty One Daysposted 14 years agoin reply to this

                emm, believers of exactly what?
                
                the 'god' you don't believe exists?
                how and with what have they been educated? banter, laughter, ridicule. Come on guys, if your going to re-program them, at least have a program.
                
                just sayin` is all.

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    skyfireposted 14 years ago

    
    
    reminds me of our HP's very own "my ranking is higher" man...

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       earnestshubposted 14 years agoin reply to this

       I missed him somehow.

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    skyfireposted 14 years ago

    Didn't noticed he was out, busy with life i guess

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       Mark Knowlesposted 14 years agoin reply to this

       Probably banned for personal attacks.

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          skyfireposted 14 years agoin reply to this

          Moderators noticed that ? I thought he got away with that as usual.

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