Sharing Can Be Caring - A Note From Your Moderators

"Gamecat235" (Gamecat235) 07/27/2014 at 19:00 • Filed to: oppositelock, owners manual, moderation, oppo tools, rules of the road, handbook

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Kinja allows anyone with authorship rights on a forum to share and unshare comments and posts. As moderators, we occasionally unshare a post here or a comment there from Oppo. There are a myriad of reasons that we would do this, sometimes because Oppo has already recently covered something, other times because we do not want Oppo to feel like all we have are re-runs and features from elsewhere. We definitely do this when any of the rules are violated in letter or spirit, and occasionally remove repeated shares from the same commenter in a short period of time. We do not always notify the person who shared the item(s), however if the situation warrants stepping in, we will do so and have a chat about the behavior.

What we would like is for you, as authors, is, before you share something, ask yourself, "Why am I doing this?" And, "It is appropriate for Oppo?" If you have just had the best commenting day of your life, and have had a string of wonderful comments, instead of individually sharing each of them, please consolidate them and share them as a post. We would rather have some #shamefullselfpromotion (or #shamelessselfpromotion) instead of getting into the argument as to whether your comment was worth sharing. A little pride is not a bad thing.

Many of you have often assisted us by removing shares that are inappropriate for oppo or that just do not benefit the community. If we have provided you with authorship privileges on this forum, it means we have entrusted you with this ability and that you are expected to follow the rules as outlined. We ask that you do not abuse this trust by unsharing comments or posts that do not violate our standards. Do not unshare someone's comments just because you don't like the author. If you feel that a poster is "oversharing" or causing an issue with what they choose to share on the forum, please let us know and we will address it if required. If however, the purpose of the unsharing is to remove a blatant violation of any of the other rules on the forum, then we thank you for your assistance.

We understand that sharing your work, which you have poured your heart into, is important. Not just for the page views, or the attention, but because it is golden content like yours that makes this community as awesome as it is. And now that there are many of you with different group blogs for your own content, we also understand that you would like to foster your own community in addition to continuing to support and contribute to ours. Accordingly, we have codified a few guidelines for sharing posts and comments to Oppo.

Please do not share any post more than once after its original publication, with the following exceptions:

If you shared your post, and due to Kinja issues, it was not seen as it was meant to be presented, in these cases, preface your reshare with an explanation. We understand that kinja works in mysterious ways (and Nibbles is still with us, somewhere).

If there is a theme day and after a time less than four hours your post is more than 6 pages back.

For posts which are recurring and benefit the community as a whole (such as posts from moderators discussing the community, like this one) or benefiting a subgroup of the community in organizing an event (meetups, for instance) then slightly more periodic resharing may be appropriate. However when in doubt about this, please ask before sharing.

If more than one week has passed from the date of the original share, and the topic is still highly relevant and would, in your eyes, benefit the community, you may re-share a topic once again.

When sharing a comment from a post (your own or someone else's), please follow this guide: Does the comment as it will appear on Oppo (e.g. the first paragraph) stand alone, on its own, as a post, which will lead people to want to read more or is self-evident as to why it was shared without any additional context ? If it doesn't meet this, we tend to look negatively at the share, because essentially, it is just noise.

If any member of the moderation team unshares a post (not a comment) due to a perceived violation of the rules above, we will notify you and give you the reason why the post was unshared.

Additionally, although we do not currently have the ability to track unsharing, this does not necessarily mean that this will always be the case. Anyone who is found to be unsharing material simply due to a disagreement or a general dislike of a person or for any other reason which could clearly be construed as a violation of the rules in the Oppo Handbook, we will treat this behavior in the same manner of other violations (warning, suspension or banning depending on situation).

This post has been linked to the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and referenced as an addendum.

Have questions? Want us to clarify anything? Please let us know!

ttyymmnn > Gamecat235 07/27/2014 at 19:06

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Is there any way to contact any of the mods directly, such as via email or some other medium?

Gamecat235 > ttyymmnn 07/27/2014 at 19:09

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@Oppositelock1 on twitter, oppomoderator@gmail.com or you can reach me directly at gamecat235@gmail.com.

Denver Is Stuck In The 90s > Gamecat235 07/27/2014 at 19:09

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what about drawings or photoshops, I make both, and would like to (if appropriate) post said content in a comment and share it to the front page, I would do this simply to reduce the redundancy in my posts. Is this ok?

thebigbossyboss > Gamecat235 07/27/2014 at 19:12

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A long time ago I wrote a BIG piece on roadtripping in Nigeria. Because it was SO long, I was thinking of resharing the part at the end where I almost died in a riot.

Would this be appropriate?

http://oppositelock.jalopnik.com/the-ultimate-w…

ttyymmnn > Gamecat235 07/27/2014 at 19:13

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I'll use the oppomoderator @; no need to fill up your personal inbox. Thanks.

Gamecat235 > Denver Is Stuck In The 90s 07/27/2014 at 19:15

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I'm not actually seeing how this reduces redundancy (except for how it reduces you having to create a new post).

I have a few thoughts on this... But in short, I wouldn't see this being an issue personally. Unless you share AND post similar topics. Or if the post you are sharing from is still on the first page of Oppo.

Denver Is Stuck In The 90s > Gamecat235 07/27/2014 at 19:20

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thanks for the clarification, it's nice to know there are clear rules about this type of thing now

Gamecat235 > thebigbossyboss 07/27/2014 at 19:29

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Absolutely. That much work with so few views? I wouldn't begrudge that as a reshare.

thebigbossyboss > Gamecat235 07/27/2014 at 19:30

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Glad you approve. Was kind of annoyed with that few views, took me nearly an hour just to format hahaha.

Gamecat235 > thebigbossyboss 07/27/2014 at 19:31

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I wouldn't want to see it over and over again. But the repost once after you have posted is more or less intended for these types of posts.

Klaus Schmoll > Denver Is Stuck In The 90s 07/27/2014 at 19:32

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Why not create a separate post if you think it is so valuable?

Denver Is Stuck In The 90s > Klaus Schmoll 07/27/2014 at 19:47

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because there would be no need to if everything I wanted to say was in the comment

Dsscats > Gamecat235 07/27/2014 at 19:48

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What about trying to organize an Oppo meet? I've reported a few times with different updates as to time and location, but haven't gotten that much of a response. Any idea on what time to post that so the most West Coast Opponauts see it? There's another update to be posted some time.

Klaus Schmoll > Denver Is Stuck In The 90s 07/27/2014 at 19:54

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I can understand you there. Just keep in mind how re-shares are displayed on the Frontpage. You have a one-liner and nothing else. No pic, nothing to give any context, not even a headline. Even if they may sound somewhat interesting they are a PITA to click at. Re-sharing your own stuff is either needy or lazy, but that's just my $0.02.

Gamecat235 > Dsscats 07/27/2014 at 19:54

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see topic 3 near the bottom. I'm on mobile, but it is:

"For posts which are recurring and benefit the community as a whole (such as posts from moderators discussing the community, like this one) or benefiting a subgroup of the community in organizing an event (meetups, for instance) then slightly more periodic resharing may be appropriate. However when in doubt about this, please ask before sharing."

Dsscats > Gamecat235 07/27/2014 at 19:55

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I meant what is your advice on it and getting the traffic needed on it?

Gamecat235 > Dsscats 07/27/2014 at 20:00

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Ahhh... Sorry it's so hit and miss. Aim for prime times when the posts would be viewed by the target audience. I'm not sure that I would even know where to start.

Dusty Ventures > Denver Is Stuck In The 90s 07/27/2014 at 20:17

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It seems to me you'd be better off, and get more views and comments, if you compiled these drawings and photoshops and turned them into a single full post.

Denver Is Stuck In The 90s > Gamecat235 07/27/2014 at 20:19

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What about Oppopinions posts. On those types of posts, the more people chime in the more information is provided. For instance If say "should I buy ____ car or ____car?" Could I repost it multiple times to keep the conversation going?

Kenaft - some new kid > Gamecat235 07/27/2014 at 20:20

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Didn't know you run the @Oppositelock1 account - just want to give you a high five on that account. I love seeing great Oppo articles I missed during the day appear when I check my Twitter. Thanks so much!

Denver Is Stuck In The 90s > Dusty Ventures 07/27/2014 at 20:21

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Well, I usually dont make more than one a day, if that. But If I make one as a response to a post, I still made something new and would like it to be seen.

Dusty Ventures > Denver Is Stuck In The 90s 07/27/2014 at 20:26

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Fair enough. The only issue there is, as Klaus said, I'm pretty sure if you share a comment with an image in it the image doesn't always show up on the Oppo main page. And if there's no image the odds of anyone clicking the comment are rather low.

Denver Is Stuck In The 90s > Dusty Ventures 07/27/2014 at 20:27

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I've never had a problem where the image doesnt show up because I never link my photoshops and their always above 64oppi

Gamecat235 > Kenaft - some new kid 07/27/2014 at 21:10

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I'm one of a handful of mods that runs it. I know that Porsche, Nobody, Tom and maybe one or two others also assist.

Marriokart > Gamecat235 07/27/2014 at 21:20

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How does one get author privileges? Also, I think a beginner's guide to oppo with the rules and using kinja in general with some tips would be a good idea as a post to pin to the oppo homepage if possible.

Gamecat235 > Marriokart 07/28/2014 at 02:12

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The link at the end of this post covers both of these bases. Tomorrow there will be a "club openings" post and the link takes you to this: http://oppositelock.jalopnik.com/revised-opposi…

Which is the ground rules and handbook for Oppo.

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > Gamecat235 07/28/2014 at 08:45

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There's no escaping the "fire hose" of OPPO at this point.

Really frustrating to come across fantastic, older posts (either well-written, many fantastic photos or a finely-edited video) and see that they got less than 100 views before being lost under a pile of GIFs and one-liners...

yamahog > Gamecat235 07/28/2014 at 10:15

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Similarly, how does one get authorship on GT?

Gamecat235 > yamahog 07/28/2014 at 11:04

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They have semi-regular invite threads... the most recent is here: http://groupthink.jezebel.com/current-gt-inv…

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > Gamecat235 07/28/2014 at 11:40

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Hey Gamecat,

I've got an idea.

In DasWauto's absence, or maybe with his assistance, could the mods create a BestOfOPPO Kinja account, and share articles, photo threads, and videos that the mods deem "of merit" to this account? I think this would be a simple and elegant way of letting OPPO continue to be what it is, pretty much hands off, anyone can post and (almost) anything goes, but then also have a place for people to go to read and view the really quality content without wading through all the frivolous posts.

I'd be happy to help as a curator of the new Kinja account. Seems like if only the mods, DasWauto, myself and a few other select users had rights to publish on http://bestofoppo.kinja.com/ , we could easily keep it to the cream of the crop, and since they'd all be shares (no direct posts to the account), all comments would remain here on OPPO.

What do you think?

Dave

Gamecat235 > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com 07/28/2014 at 12:47

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We're looking at this as a potential idea. I personally think this is brilliant and have created the subblog already as a precautionary starting move. I'm slammed today with various things, but I will be in touch with more on this subject and may very well be interested in taking you up on your offer to assist. Let me talk with the mods and DasWauto specifically and we'll get back to you.

Thank you. =)

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > Gamecat235 07/28/2014 at 13:14

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Fantastic. You're very welcome!

DasWauto > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com 07/28/2014 at 23:57

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Hey Dave,

This is actually very similar to an idea I had proposed to Matt several months ago, though when I first had the thought the ability to create group blogs was not yet freely available. I even created a logo for it:

As my time has been limited over the last little while, your suggestion makes the idea relevant again and I think I'd like to move forward with it. To that end, I've created this page and will try to sort out the best way to run it.

My first thought is that it the number of people sharing should be fairly limited. Not too many hands in the pot, so to speak. As you might understand, the Best of Oppo has been my baby for quite a while and I'd like to manage its future carefully.

I don't want the page to become too crowded so I'd break it down as follows:

- posts that I would normally feature in a Best of Oppo can be shared I'd like to be fairly selective (eg. let's try to stick to a number per day as a soft guideline to keep the quality high)

- Posts that I might put at the top of a Best of Oppo could get a reframed share where the title image can be enlarged (this can't be done when a post is simply shared directly)

- I'd like to have smaller round ups for the Best of the Rest (which needs a new name, badly), Tips and Discussions sections. I would like to delegate these tasks.

To assist in all this, I'm going to try to get everyone on Oppo to tag their posts with tags relevant to each section. This will make gathering the posts - the most time consuming part - less onerous, hopefully.

The Best of Oppositelock will then return as a simplified aggregation of posts that have been shared on Oppositeblog with links to the aggregated Best of the Rest, Tips and Discussions mentioned above. I'm not quite sure how best to divide this yet (perhaps keep a working Best of Oppo draft on Google Docs or something similar) so I'd keep this responsibility myself, for now.

Getting started, I'd like to enlist a few people who have volunteered to help. If interested, and if you have a Twitter account, send me a follow and we could exchange email addresses via Direct Message.

Cheers.

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > DasWauto 07/29/2014 at 09:30

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Fantastic. I think everything you've outlined above looks great, and I'd love to help out.

I would touch base with Gamecat, if you haven't already. I think he reserved a "BestOfOPPO" Kinja if you'd like to use that instead of "oppositeblog". Your Best Of OPPO series already has a lot of name recognition on OPPO and on Jalopnik, so I'd suggest we go with that, unless you have strong feelings otherwise.

I definitely agree that this new Best Of sub-blog should be pretty selective, with rights to share to it limited to just a handful of us. One "page" in Kinja is about 20 posts, so I think that'd be a good limit to try to stick with per day (unless you think fewer is better) - that way, if someone misses a week, they only have ~7 pages to look through on Best Of to get caught up (instead of 50+ pages on OPPO).

To keep you from getting swamped with this, I think we should just start with Best Of OPPO, and once that's established and we get the kinks worked out, we can discuss how to handle Best of the Rest, Tips and Discussions.

Can mods add tags to other users' posts? We can ask all Opponauts to tag their stuff, but honestly, that will probably be a hard sell, and most won't remember to do it.

I really don't think you need to make aggregated posts for The Best of OppositeLock anymore, unless you really want to - the new blog will replace it nicely, and if the guys at Jalopnik choose to, they can directly Jalops to Best of Oppo from time to time to see what's there. Or you could just do a Best Of post each day with your personal top five, with a link to the Best Of blog below that - that'd be simple enough, and would give the Jalopnik guys something to share to the front page, and would get the word out about the new Best of OPPO sub-blog.

I'd start this off by making it as low maintenance as possible - simple shares (with the lede image and text, so they show up nicely) to the Best of Oppo Kinja page, and then once you see how much time that it taking, add more "features" as you see fit.

I'm not active on Twitter, but have an account and am following you now. My Gmail account is "dclange" - feel free to use it to get it touch with me.

Thanks again for all your service to OPPO! Look forward to helping you get The Best Of OPPO back up and running.

Dave

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > Gamecat235 07/29/2014 at 09:32

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Hey Gamecat,

So you're aware, DasWauto and I are continuing the discussion here:

http://oppositelock.jalopnik.com/hey-dave-this-…

Dave

Gamecat235 > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com 07/29/2014 at 11:44

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Awesome. Thanks for the update. I contacted him to let him know about your idea. Glad it seems to be moving somewhere. =)

Gamecat235 > Marriokart 07/29/2014 at 13:20

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Invite thread should be going live any moment now.

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > Gamecat235 07/29/2014 at 13:52

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Same here.

Unrelated: got your +1 on Untappd. I started using it for a second a while back, but it didn't have several beers I tried to add, so I went with Beer Advocate instead, and have most of my list there (far from complete, just working from memory). Looks like you're all in with Untapped, though (858 distinct!) - maybe I'll give it another chance.

Gamecat235 > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com 07/29/2014 at 13:56

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Did a quick search just to see, saw you had an account which was relatively recent, figured no harm in sending the request. =)

BA is nice, but I liked the convenience and interface of untappd (plus I have a group of friends who use it - if you look at my friends there you may recognize a few names from these parts).

Gamecat235 > Marriokart 07/29/2014 at 14:04

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http://oppositelock.jalopnik.com/club-openings-…

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > Gamecat235 07/29/2014 at 14:08

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Might just have to do that... Thanks.

Try Boulevard Tank 7 when you get a chance. One of my favorites.

Gamecat235 > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com 07/29/2014 at 14:33

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The next time I'm somewhere that Boulevard distributes to, I'll check it out. I've liked most of what I've had from them so far.

sm70- why not Duesenberg? > Gamecat235 11/11/2014 at 17:10

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Interesting. I noticed that all the shared comments made in the last few hours (including two by me that I thought were okay) have been deleted.

Gamecat235 > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 11/11/2014 at 17:29

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I haven't really been on Oppo today (or, honestly, much at all over the last couple of weeks) so I'm not sure why they were unshared, or by whom... Some shares are awesome, and I do hope that whomever it is that is unsharing these isn't tossing the baby with the bathwater. But I would like to point out that anyone who is an author here could do it.

sm70- why not Duesenberg? > Gamecat235 11/11/2014 at 17:34

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I know, I just didn't know if the two were connected. Thanks!

Milky > Gamecat235 02/25/2015 at 10:43

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Question, I recently shared and then had this comment unshared. Any input as to why?

http://oppositelock.jalopnik.com/got-a-friend-c…

Its a pretty picture(s) and imo the paragraph by itself "stand (s) alone, on its own, as a post". I'd want to know Alfa designers drive old funky Renaults.

Gamecat235 > Milky 02/25/2015 at 10:50

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Unfortunately, I have no idea why, and equally unfortunate, literally anyone who has author status here can unshare a comment from Oppo, which narrows down the list of suspects to roughly 2750 people...

I've given up on sharing comments as a useful method to share content, and instead create new posts highlighting material because then no one else can mess with it.

It is, unfortunately, a known quantity that we have some unnamed users who dislike sharing comments and will unshare any comment which is shared to oppo. I don't know who they are, and if I ever find out will ban them.

Milky > Gamecat235 02/25/2015 at 12:23

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Ahh I see, and noted. Just make another post if its worth it. Thanks for the reply!

Gamecat235 > Milky 02/25/2015 at 12:33

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No problem. I do wish that there were more control, or tracking (or both) of the feature, but because it's as wild west-ish as it is, I've just learned to expect that people will abuse it.

Nibby > Gamecat235 03/06/2015 at 11:53

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I emailed the mods last week saying I love them. They said they don't love me back. ;_;

Gamecat235 > Nibby 03/06/2015 at 11:54

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I can only speak for myself, and since I'm friends with you on G+, clearly that means I love you. =)

Nibby > Gamecat235 03/06/2015 at 11:59

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D'aww c'mere brother

Brian Silvestro > Gamecat235 03/06/2015 at 12:13

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THANK YOU for sharing this again, so many goddamn reposts going on lately...

Gamecat235 > Brian Silvestro 03/06/2015 at 12:15

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Yeah, it seems like we may need to possibly even think about rewriting/tweaking this a bit. But I figured that this was the best place to start.

Brian Silvestro > Gamecat235 03/06/2015 at 12:17

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Well if continues after this, then yeah I agree something more drastic needs to be implemented.

Wheelerguy > Gamecat235 03/15/2016 at 12:52

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Who here would like an Opositelock Fantasy Gaming GmbH, that combines Formula Oppo, Fantasy WRC, Fantasy Rallycross, and MotOPPO GP in just one, uh, group?

Honeybunchesofgoats > Gamecat235 05/27/2016 at 10:19

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I know this is a reshare of an old post, but are club openings still happening? This morning I saw 1) a newish BMW 750il delivering newspapers. 2) three Subaru Crossteks parked near each other in my parking garage in the exact same orange paint. I could really use an outlet for these sorts of things.

StingrayJake > Gamecat235 05/27/2016 at 10:19

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Whatevs

Group B Enthusiast - Captain of the supercharged barge > Gamecat235 05/27/2016 at 10:21

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Speaking of authorship, what’s a guy gotta do around here to get it?

ttyymmnn > Group B Enthusiast - Captain of the supercharged barge 05/27/2016 at 10:42

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http://oppositelock.kinja.com/so-you-want-to…

Group B Enthusiast - Captain of the supercharged barge > ttyymmnn 05/27/2016 at 11:21

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Thanks!

Blondude > Honeybunchesofgoats 05/27/2016 at 12:08

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http://oppositelock.kinja.com/so-you-want-to…

Club openings are always happening.

Honeybunchesofgoats > Blondude 05/27/2016 at 12:09

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Thanks!