Since someone at one of my former homes has, apparently, questioned my whereabouts. . .and since I'm guessing that none of the people "in charge" over there have the testicular fortitude to actually offer up a straight answer. . .allow me to clarify things for everybody.

The reason that there hasn't been a post at Purple Thoughts from me in a long time is because I was banned from the site by a douchenozzle named Viking Tom for having a link to this very site in my signature.  (At least, that's the story that he told me.)  Keep in mind that I had a link to this very site in my signature for 2 1/2 years prior to this and it had never been a problem. . .but, because I dared to have a disagreement with this guy, he decided to throw a hissy fit and ban me, and used that as his lame excuse.

That's the story.  Any other story that anybody else might tell you. . .including any of the other PT moderators, who have basically ignored any requests I've made for an actual explanation. . .is a lie.  As they say, with friends like that. . .

So, the result of this is that I no longer have the ability to go to an inferior forum running on inferior software and comment.  I'm truly broken up over this development.  Or, I should say, I was for about five seconds.  For you see, the bigger picture is that for the last 2 1/2 years, I've been running a site that's superior in virtually every single meaningful way to that place.  That may sound a touch on the arrogant side, but it's pretty much true.

This is the best Vikings' site on the Internet.  (In my own opinion, of course. . .but the consensus seems to be that it's towards the top of the list somewhere.)  It's also a great place for Vikings' discussion, as the FanPosts and FanShots have been rapidly evolving since version 2.0 of the site rolled out around draft time.  Hell, if you want great Vikings' message boards, there are a ton of them out there, too. . .here are some fine examples:

Kansas Viking (and Vikingsmessageboard.com)
Purple Pride
Sports-Boards.net Vikings Board
Talk Vikes
Viking Army
Vikings Forum

(Yes, I took those right from the link section of the site because. . .well, why not?)

They're all better organized and they're all better run, particularly the Sports-Boards.net forums.  I can't pimp sully's work enough, quite frankly.  Also, much like this site, none of the sites listed above have the gall to charge extra for "premium content."  (Quick hint. . .there's absolutely, positively nothing on the entire Scout Network worth paying for.  And there never has been.  Ever.)

Now, I understand that some of you folks are members over at Purple Thoughts, and that's totally fine.  Many people still feel attachments to some things, even when a superior alternative is clearly available.  Some people love their original XBox even though the XBox 360 is readily available.  Hell, some people still fiddle with Walkmans and portable CD players rather than invest in an MP3 player.  The superior product will always be available to you.  Unless, of course, you're a spammer or just can't quite get a handle on how the whole "Terms of Service" thing works.

So, for the decent and intelligent folks from PT who were wondering about my whereabouts, there you go.  I'll leave this post up for a couple of days, and then it will disappear.