WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO THIS FREE BOARD!

The last time I was here, there were nice categories to post to, free.
Now, Chaos. Has Wong gone nuts shutting down the freebie boards in favor of the the paid ones? I ain't here no longer. What's he going to sell when he's 75?

Nice of you to stop by once every couple of months. Guess free boards weren't paying their way. Come back when you can't stay so long...

:-)

scobee

Agreed, this sucks, then again, blackjack is dead anyway.

An eighth grader should be able to figure out that green chip memberships are paid for by people who visit the free pages for a while first. Green chip new memberships will drop thru the floor.

And deservedly so. The greed shown by the administrators of this sight is noticable. Why those who pay to share each others info continue to do so is baffling.....

Find a free sight and post there.

I know times are tough and I'm sorry that $12.25 for a 3 month subscription is a real ball buster for you. I have some free 99 cent shrimp cocktail coupons I can give you if you're starving. Let me know.

I agree, those site administrators must be swimming in all the dollars they are getting at $12.25 for 3 months. Those f-ing capitalists!

Was that a notorious troll posted sensitive information about a site administrator. The notorious troll has affiliations to rge21, which is a competitor of bj21. The notorious troll also made death threats to a major contributor to my CCCafe site, and I've also heard unconfirmed reports that he was apparently also causing problems at other free sites.
Although I've been critical in the past of bj21's enthusiasm to make money by essentially selling information back to its contributors, in this case they were left with absolutely no choice. Don't blame Wong.

Find another free board and post there. Please refrain from bashing the ownership here. I like the changes just fine. Judging from the scarcity of complaints it seems that most of the regular contributers here are reasonably complacent about the changes....if not enthusiastic. I am one of the community who believes this site is much healthier now. If you want the primo information, contribute the seventy-five cents a week that green chip requires. It is still the best bargain around. The membership is knowledgeable, generous, and lots of fun. I guess you don't understand the attraction of trading stories and relevant information among accomplished players. We are always interested in learning new stuff. Blackjack is not dead, yet.

Interesting how the major complainers about the free site changes have nothing to offer except misconceptions as to how the board is financed and the profitability of certain areas. Also I have noticed that these complaints often come from 'out of the blue' and from people who have unfamiliar names.

If lurking on Wong's Free Page is so disappointing, I suggest you ask for your refund. I infinitely prefer the new format without the verbose repetitions from the likes of our former #1, and #2 posters.

Here are statements by two different people who have an axe to grind with RGE:

In the preceeding post, John May says: The reason the free boards were shut Was that a notorious troll posted sensitive information about a site administrator. The notorious troll has affiliations to rge21

Meanwhile, over on the paid subscription side of this site, Eliot Jacobsen said: Here is the news: the same wise guys that effectively shut down the free boards here (and forced rge21 to be moderated) also (through threats and harrassment) shut down the boards on my site. When I pointed out that RGE had never been forced into moderation, Eliot went into a sarcastic tirade against RGE.

If you believe both of these sources, some guys who were banned from a site, made trouble on that same site forcing it into moderation, and are affiliated with that same site.

I'm probably not being fair combining their statements, but at least one of them is disseminating false information. Perhaps the two of them could privately discuss the dispargements in their statements in the interest of being truthful.

Or maybe, they could just discard their sour grapes and move on.

I'm probably not being fair combining their statements, but at least one of them is disseminating false information. Perhaps the two of them could privately discuss the dispargements in their statements in the interest of being truthful

I don't see it. The troll has affiliations to RGE21. The troll may have caused problems there also. The troll was a fellow team member of one RGE "expert" and a longstanding feud with another. The statements are not contradictory.

Or maybe, they could just discard their sour grapes and move on.

The guy attacks Wong for bringing in moderation, I explain why. I almost never instigate these stupid threads. You may consider that people have an axe to grind with RGE because they have an axe to grind with others.

The bottom line is that scurrilous behavior (releasing private contact information) caused an emergency shut-down of the free site. We members of Green Chip discussed for several days alternative solutions ranging from permanent closing of the free site to re-opening in the previous mode. The consensus on Green Chip was that the free site should continue, but in reduced form and with passwords to allow some control to be exercised. And that's what happened.

YIKES! I don't know nuffin' 'bout trolls or RGE (What's Dat!) or any of this other stuff. All I know is that for years YEARS this site has been a great free trip to talk gambling in all its perambulations and now it looks like it's all down the drain. . .oh well, one thing 'bout the internet. . .nothin' gonna remain the same. . .

Question: If you had worked hard to build a business, and then someone continually kept coming in the front door and mistreating your customers, what would you do, just let him continue?
I doubt it.
And neither did Stanford.
People are still free to discuss relevent BJ related topics here, and on the contrary, the only thing we've lost IMHO, is the likes of Clarke Cant, Frank Stanton, and a host of other trouble makers. As far as I'm concerned, good riddance to them all.
So in review: While some trolling, nonsense, meanness, and back stabbing will always exist somewhat as long as you have human beings involved, they are at a fraction of what they were before the big changes here.
I commend Stanford & Co for the changes, and the clear and obvious improvements it has made to this site.
Everybody wins.
Take care,
@^)
Cyclops

now called advantageplayer.com. If you don't like to post here you can post blackjack questions over there. They have several blackjack sub-sections. The only thing they are missing is a Midwest page. By the way ask them about John May's above story. I would be interested in their reply.

You still get everything you could get here before. Green chip members regularly contribute and nothing is forbidden here. If you are a really deviant poster, you will have your free membership revoked. The free page has had no busted posts since it re-opened and what Curious Amateur says about the sequence of events leading to a more stream-lined format is 100% factual. Please visit once in a while and see what I mean. Content is still excellent and any question or observation you would have placed on the multi-level free pages will still get attention here....just more cohesively. Even though the Pi Yee Press office is now in Vegas, we players still cover the waterfront from Seattle to those awful Florida cruise ships....and everywhere in between. You want to know about Monte Carlo? Just ask. You have a question about Reno or Tunica? This is the place. Want to know about which book or author you should consult....or what laws you are planning to break...or video poker games to avoid??? The free page. What dealer at the local casino is giving great pen? fuhgeddaboudit!

In some cases you can get information here that is unavailable on the Green Chip pages or AP.com. We have authors, players, theoriticians, math wizards, professional gamblers, and hobbyists all sharing the same forum. We have the Great Cellini and Arnold Snyder listening in. I think this is a bonus and not a liability, especially now that I am reduced to a dial up connection while on an extended vaction from my DSL.

Look around for a while. You might discover that the changes are for the better, after all.

Regards,

scobee

Mr Wong's post, linked below, should explain the change for all those who haven't visited here recently.

Thanks to everyone who responded.

Why are they missing a midwest page?

The midwest page was a wild and wooly site with many opinionated and creative posters. We regularly had casino employees posting and frequent visits from the great voices of other regions. There were imaginary teams of monumental stature...the D'atroit Faction, the Hoosier Hitmen, and others. People often spoke about team play openly and there was an incredible passion about philosophies of advantage play and other topics. There were trip reports that would curl your hair. Harold Harvey called it "the most vital and important forum on BJ21"...or words to that effect. We had gaming executives who posted, dealers, surveillance personnel, and the ever effusive 'Joe', who constantly told stories of suspect veracity but always entertained. In a word, it was great fun and a social smorgasbord.....er, I guess that is more than one word.....

Electric Kid is still mourning the loss of the late, great, Midwest Red Chip pages. You can check out the free archives for the posts of the last six months or so of it's existence.

Now we still have the midwest green page, but it is a horse of a different color. Mostly people complain about further deterioration of the games in the area. Days and sometimes weeks go by with no new posts. The great hearts and minds of the midwest more often ignore the midwest pages and post elsewhere on BJ21. The 'flava' of the midwest community is missing.

I have to agree with E-Kid. The 'midwest free loaders' will be hard to replicate. Even though most of the frequent posters can still be found elsewhere, there was a certain unique character to that forum that may never been restored. Some will say, 'good riddance' to all the controversy, but we did have some lively discussions there, if I do say so myself.

scobee

Yes, sorry, you cannot be expected to know everything that has happened. I also enjoyed the free forums in the early years.

only thing missing is the individual posts of specific regions.For example,,midwest,,east cost,,southern,,ect,,before,when one was intersted about the local goings on in thier area,they could go right to the regional post.That was a plus.

"Recently Joe reopened his free buffet, but with only one serving dish and larger spoons for his spitbusters."

The question is: what is the one dish he serving?? I prefer to eat my carrots peas corn beans and meat all wraped up in a steaming batch of mashed potatoes.