ptkalista's thoughts on PTK, open challenges, etc.

On the plus side, I did order the book and can't wait to read it.

 

NICE!

 

We can thank PTKalista that the sales of the book should quite nicley increase now, Thanks buddy I am sure you have made the publishers very happy

I am ordering mine tonight and cant wait I bet it's a dam good read too.

See that is the mistake you made, you told us not to read it and being FMAers we don't like to be dictated to by anyone, must be in the FMA blood eh!

Best regards

Pat

 

I ordered mine yesterday while you were on the beach! :woo: :woo:

 

PTKalista is away for one day and it's quiet again here.

I'm hoping to buy a copy of the book here in the Philppines. I don't want to have to order it over the internet and then wait for a friend or family member to come visity to deliver it. From the excerpts I've read on their website and from Rapid Journal, it's probably one of the few works that tries to substantiate their claims with footnoted historical research. If you want to read a good book on some of the problems with Philippine historiagraphy read Glenn Anthony May's Inventing a Hero.

I think you'd all be surprised about who the various trolls might be. They're not all 14 year old wannabees, sissies, geeks or internet-only martial arts experts. I personally know of a few people who've trolled who are very accomplished and gifted martial artists and experienced fighters as well. Some of them post under different names here and other forums. They're human. I think they're just allowing the s**t disturbing mischievous side of them to wallow in their anonymity. A couple of guys I know trolled with the intention of getting certain other members to openly challenge them, knowing those members wouldn't challenge them otherwise. They would accept, show up and then "surprise!".

 

I bet we could all do something about that. How about everyone resolve to either start a new (and good) thread or contribute something substantive to an existing thread once a week. Honestly, once a week should be easy enough. And it would keep things chugging along.

Personally, I've never assumed that troll equalled young, inexperienced, or feeble. Any given troll could be a complete and utter monster. But that doesn't really change things for me. I'll be the first person to say I AM NOT the best fighter on the scene. I'm sure that there are plenty of people here who could beat me so hard that THEIR life flashed before my eyes. But that doesn't mean that anyone gets to run roughshod over the forum, dropping whatever they like.

As I've said, though, I'm not looking to enforce my will here. If people want me to revise my approach to alleged trolling (or anything else, for that matter), I'm all ears.


Stuart

 

I could write a small bot that posts a 'My style is the best' Post here every other week... even with different styles and an explanation why (of course it'll be always 'cause I'm just the perfect 6ft5" Uber-Fighter)

No, honestly, I prefer a quiet, but informative forum...

 

Got my interest, where can it be got is my next question, and can you give us a breif overveiw of the book, Pleeeeeeese

Best regards

Pat

 

Actually Stuart I think you're an excellent moderator. The internet is a different culture than what I'm accustomed to. In some ways I still suffer from culture shock and would rather retreat and mind my own business rather than contribute when I see offensive posts. Strangely I never found PTKalista offensive. I thought his rantings were too ridiculous to be taken seriously.

 

LOL

So do I mate. Quiet. But not dead quiet. I'd rather have five really informative discussions going than 30 useless ones. But I figured all but five of you would ignore me anyway.

j/k


Stuart

 

Cheers Diego. I appreciate that.

As a poster, I agree with you. I'd rather just back away and not take it seriously myself. As a moderator, though, I feel some responsibility to try and ensure that a small group of people don't ruin the experience for everyone else. I make no claim to know precisely how best to do that, however, so I'm always open to feedback.

As it stands now, I'll back down on the idea of deleting posts and trust that you guys can handle such posts however you see fit. If someone breaks ToS, I'll intervene obviously. And if people think that certainly posters are ruining the experience of posting here, obviously I want to hear about it. I'd hate to lose good members to this sort of thing.

Thanks again.



Stuart

 

in a way it is sad that it takes a troll to liven things up here.


hmmmm...maybe i should start an escrima vs. eskrima thread...

 

That should get some dander up.

Actually, I wonder where the "escrima" spelling comes from. The Spanish use a "g" for "esgrima." And there's no "c" in Tagalog. Right?


Stuart

 

yes. and there is no "c" in the original filipino alphabet.

LET THE FLAMEFEST BEGIN!!!

 

Ah.. I use Escrima for all the AFMA (American-FMA) which are, imho, very different from FMA in the Philippines due to the big influence of Dan Inosanto/JKD on almost all FMA-groups in America. - More Drills, more Gunting, different teaching-style, ...

Ok.. now you got a statement you can bash on

(Ps: Maybe I'll post my understanding of "Kali" later if I dont get banned *G*)

 

Ask and you shall receive sir.

Inventing a Hero, is Glenn Anthony May's book on the attempts by Filipino historians to transform Andres Bonifacio into our national hero, on the same level as Jose Rizal, or in some cases, instead of Jose Rizal. His problem with this isn't so much with GAT Andres but rather the methods used by historians to "manufacturer" him as a hero. Essentially he says that the historians don't have any evidence to back up their assertions. They do not footnote their work so its impossible to check up on anything they write. He covers brieftly other Filipino myths like the 10 Datus of Borneo and the Code of Kalantiaw and how these frauds were perpetrated. He also goes on to explain that this isn't an exclusively Filipino phenomenon and cites examples from other countries of nationalist historians inventing heros to serve their sense of nationhood.

I like the book because it gives great insight into the methodology of writing history. Simple things like looking at footnotes to see where the writer got this information. If there are no footnotes, that's an indication in itself of sloppy research. Other things like finding original historical pieces in archives or personal collections and verifying how they got there. (The Code of Kalantiaw coming from the Pavon Manuscripts of Jose Marco is a good example of why its not enough to just take a person's word for something authenticity.)

Ultimately, the book is somewhat disappointing in that it leaves an empty picture of Andres Bonifacio. May was never able to present his own portrait of Bonifacio because he couldn't find enough historical evidence to back it up. So, his book spends its entire content critiquing the works of others.

 

Escrima not Eskrima

In PTK we spell it 'escrima' because they do not deserve the Filipino 'k' which is the same we use in the true Kali. The Filipino alphabet of K is found in the language and culture of the bravest of the brave but the C is European like the c in c'est la vie. You cannot spell the true kali with a c because it will spell Cali. The blade is the only truth. :woo:

There is no goodbye in PTK only hello.

http://pekiti-tirsia.typepad.com/pekiti-tirsia-a.html

 

Well, I found one here:

Shame it didn't stick.

 

it was a short trip.....heheheh

 

Total fricken comedy....
It appears there's a fricken' revolving door built right into PTK.

They're coming... they're going... they're coming... they're going...

ROTFLMAO!!!

oh wait here they come again... oh they've just left...

oh they're back...

wait they're gone...

oh back...

gone...

back...

gone...