this will be my only comment on this matter.
i am one of the original members of madjacks forum. i stumbled onto jack's site when i first started using the internet as a tool to improve my sportsbetting knowlwdge around 1998 or so. while the forum membership was much smaller back then, it consisted of a core group of older, experienced gamblers who welcomed the opportunity to share information and expertise on a common pastime. we reveled in each other's success, and supported each other during slumps. age and experience gave us the insight to understand that short-term success in this business was meaningless when compared to learning fundamentals that would increase the probability of long-term profitability.
now, commercial success has brought a much larger membership to the forum, and with it a much larger cross section of the gambling public, most of it the young and/or naive players that have little or no understanding of the math of large sample statsitics and probabilities. they have no grasp of the fact that even the best of sports handicappers can go through extended losing streaks, nor do they care. the prevailing attitude among many now is that those who offer up plays and opinions are obliged to provide winners and free money for them, and damn them to hell if they don't. every day i shake my head when i see posters who have shown insight and ability in this forum for years are trashed when they post a few losers, and then i watch in amazement as the lemmings all suck up to whatever new face with a dozen posts happens to throw up a short sting of winners. as a result, i rarely post plays any more even though i visit the forum every day to keep track of how my friends are doing.
when i say my friends, i mean that in concrete terms, as while many of the names in the forum are anonymous, disembodied screen personnas to most, they are real people to me, with faces, wives and families, real people that i know care about me, and that know i care about them. i am unable to fully articulate how much it pisses me off to see these friends bashed and trashed in the most vitriolic fashion by immature cyber passersby that will be broke and gone in a matter of weeks, if not days.
it's just a damn shame.
