Why I got banned from Epicski.com

[bushwacka]

Yeah, what's up with that 'Bush...I thought you were becoming one of the Epic insiders?

you would think.

Ok I have been giving people **** on that site for a long time and myself have probably caused a lot of people to leave that site.

I first talked trash about Dan Egan's skiing because someone (blake saunders), who has now left the board said I should take a lesson from him.  Dan Egan may be a film star and I bet is a cool guy but his skiing, in my opinion, is utter crap. I got to ski with him last Saturday at the Bush and I would never pay money to take a lesson from him.  He is not that strong of a skier and his coaching is dubious from reports I hear. 

During the period of the first time out, I changed my name to Josh Matta.  Evidently some of the moderators were upset and felt I was trying to get around the timeout.  Josh Matta as an "alias" to sneak by the time out is laughable since its my real name.  Things were going well for a couple of months until I made an admitted stupid choice to criticize a Rogan video of him skiing trees. That caused yet another crap show of mutliple threads.

It was being led by Phil and Tricia. Phil says he is on my side and I really want to believe him.  However, I have felt that they have had a bias against me for a long time. Thinking that I was already going to get banned, I made a post saying Tricia and Phil were and have been talking alot of smack about me at Epic Gatherings.  The moderators were in a bind though, since I had stepped up and organized the EC gathering for them taking time off work to lead people around Stowe and MRG. I was also not to pleased with being left out of the "ask a ski pro" forum.

My post got taken down and they let it go. The Gathering went off and after it was done I got "timed out" 2 days later for a week. I was "like OK, whatever". I got in trouble again for posting in the comment area of the forum. They turned off my PM feature.  I had people coming up to Stowe to ski with me with no other way of communicating to them ..... and since losing PM was never part of my understanding with them I created a name to get ahold of the people PMing me.

I was then IP banned later that day, which I was blatantly ignoring because, well, IMO I have done more good than bad for that site.  Obviously, this is my side of the story; but I dare anyone from Epicski.com to tell it differently and be truthful. Go head guys, let's hear your side of the story. Before the IP banning I was asked to apologize for what I have done. I declined.  At the time I thought I was going to "senseless spam them" with attacks on the moderator team, but in the end it's not worth it and they probably did me a favor.

I have organized and guided on 3 seperate gatherings and have shown many people around from that site. I did it because I like helping people. If you're going to accept the helpful side of me, then you get the confident, bullheaded, and stubborn person along with.

Mods: I am willing to bet the Mods from epicski.com are going to ask for this to be taken down. Please leave it up.

And to anyone else out there reading this, know these things.

I can not answer your PM on epicski.com. I am not being a jerk, it's just that I cannot answer your PMs.
Spreading this word on epicski.com and taking up my case is the probably the best you can do for me.

Josh Matta

[jim-ratliff]

Hmmmm.  More than I wanted to know.
No one from Epic Ski has made any requests, but I am going to go through and make some changes to Josh's post.  However, I don't intend to change the message, which is his side of the story.  I think all of us can read it in that context.

I am also OK if anyone from Epic wants to post their recollection of the events, but I don't want it to then turn into a "did too -- did not" dog fight.

[jim-ratliff]

He can speak his mind, and most of my changes wound up being for legibility.
Therre was nothing that Bush posted that I found personally overly derogatory, and I believe any intelligent reader can deal with it.

I did the same thing when SCSA posted some stuff about Harald that was  extremely derogatory.  He said I was  protecting Harald and restricting his right of free speech, and chose to remove  himself from the forum. 
I wasn't protecting Harald and I'm not protecting Epic -- but I'm exercising my own standards of what is respectful communication.

As I said, I posted my comment about my intent to edit Bushwacka's post after a quick read.  When I went back to do it, I found that most of my changes were to make it easier to read; I may have deleted one sentence. I don't believe that he would feel that I materially changed the content of his message.

[Svend]

Hey Josh, I can't speak to what happened over on Epic, as I don't post there any more (haven't done so in years), and don't spend much time reading many threads there other than the better-written gear reviews.  But I will say that, although one or two of your posts here have caused me some consternation and made me utter a few explicatives, all-in-all I find your presence here very refreshing and I enjoy your helpful and informative replies to my questions.  You're very generous of your time in that way, and I appreciate it.  Furthermore, the fact that you're not a follower of a particular doctrine of ski technique, but have your own unique approach and philosophy, provides a nice counterbalance.  It helps me keep an open mind about how things can be done, and that there are always alternatives that may work better for different people.

Take care,
Svend

[Gary]

Bush...far as I'm concerned, it's only what you say here...I could give a rat's *** about what they say on other sites. I think those that post here are convinced that this site demands a certain amount of decorum.....and that we all can bring interesting subject matter without the BS that shows up on other sites.

You believe in what you know and what you see, you believe in what works for you....sounds pretty straight forward to me.

Others from different forums attacking anyone here...not going to go over well at all...g

[dan.boisvert]

Ouch.  The whole story sounds rough, but especially getting timed out and banned right after organizing the Gathering sucks bigtime.

I can't imagine I'd be too thrilled with that, either.

[midwif]

Maybe we SHOULD have gone with
Banned Skiers, er, I mean Band of Skiers.
We've accrued a number of banned folks from different sites!

L.

[jim-ratliff]

Ouch.  The whole story sounds rough, but especially getting timed out and banned right after organizing the Gathering sucks bigtime.

I can't imagine I'd be too thrilled with that, either.

Dan:
Some truth there.  But to his credit, BW manned up and admits that he made several errors in judgement that had to contribute to the decisions by Epic.

[jim-ratliff]

Max:

I don't know.  I was just discussing and commenting on what Bushwacka posted.
More than that isn't of much interet to me.

[jbotti]

Congrats Josh!! Whenever anyone steps up over there and says wait a second, the king is wearing no clothes, banning is not to far ahead.

Deep down inside you have always been headed for PMTS . Now that they did you this big favor you have time to join a new forum. I actually think that you and Harald would hit it off!

Best to you!

[Liam]

uh huh,

Given Josh's choice of skis, inclination to use rotary movements in tight places, fairly outspoken posting nature, lack of humility...just how long do you think he'd last over on Harald's forums??? 

I like Josh's posts, Though, I do chafe at his often use of self aggrandizement and his general lack of civil humility---but, I got to appreciate his no-holds barred honesty: Guess you can't one without the other.

 I like his skiing, too, (and his general promotion of all things Expert Northern Vermont!).

A few times, on Epic, he gave some pretty damn good skiers a little too much Sh*t, but they threw it back at him (and dropped in some serious Video to boot---the Blake Saunders exchanges on Epic being the most notable), but all in all, his comments to mediocre skiers who had some expert delusions were pretty spot on.  I know I personally would value Josh's comments on ski technique--but I don't have too many expert delusions 

As to killing Rogan and Dan Egan....hey, those guys have earned their stripes in the instructional world, and presently their relations are a big part Epic's present promotional success (or lack thereof)-So I guess I can understand why these would be sort of Sacred Cows, beyond reproach over there.   What Rogan Tree Skiing Video, btw???

Finally, you Josh was always, very complimentary of, and deferential towards Bob Barnes (who, by the way, can ski-his most recent crudology videos are pretty good stuff!  I am going to side with Josh and point out that BB looked a lot better than Dan Egan in those videos...btw, John Egan is really the Egan that rips)--I am surprised, BB didn't pull for you a little.  Maybe he did.

Who are the 'mods' and decision makers over on Epic???

[bushwacka]

yeah no way Id last over at PMTS board.

Max I made multiple user's names, but each time I did I made sure they knew it was me. I could easily go anonymous but there is no spine in that. If I said it on a board I would say it person where as I feel alot of people hide behind their screenname or their distance. I have went so far to seek people that I either really like their skiing like Bob Barnes or to seek people to put them in their place. Rossi Smash one of the people who talks the most trash over there wimped out when given a chance to ski with me. I wish more of the people who have talked smack on me would come to stowe basically just so I can wail on them. I have no interest in traveling west to ski with them because even the hardest resort are too easy unless your doing huge hucks and then it really just is balls.

as for egan not only did Bob look better I feel I look better.

at 1:04 watch the bump skiing

I truly do think i am better.....

this was what caused the first time out. why would I take a lesson from someone who is going to teach me to stem step and ski backseat along with a whole slew of other problems. The point of being coached is getting better not regressing.

[HighAngles]

Josh - you can wear your Epic banning like a badge of honor - some very good skiers have been banned from Epic.

I'm almost sorry I watched that Dan Egan video above - I always worry that watching bad skiing will somehow imprint on my brain and overwrite the images of good skiing I have.  I guess I'll have to go back and watch Harald's new video he posted yesterday to cleanse my skiing soul.

Here's HH's latest:

[jim-ratliff]

I like Josh's posts, Though, I do chafe at his often use of self aggrandizement and his general lack of civil humility---but, I got to appreciate his no-holds barred honesty: Guess you can't one without the other.

As to killing Rogan and Dan Egan....hey, those guys have earned their stripes in the instructional world, and presently their relations are a big part Epic's present promotional success (or lack thereof)-So I guess I can understand why these would be sort of Sacred Cows, beyond reproach over there.   What Rogan Tree Skiing Video, btw???

Very well said Liam.  I hope Josh reads your post closely.  I think a lot of Bush's future success probably hinges on his ability to build on his skiing and teaching, while trying to smooth off the rough edges of the bluntness and self-aggrandizement (and that's a wonderful word, by the way).
Very similar to advice that Helluva posted a while back.

[bushwacka]

Josh - you can wear your Epic banning like a badge of honor - some very good skiers have been banned from Epic.

I'm almost sorry I watched that Dan Egan video above - I always worry that watching bad skiing will somehow imprint on my brain and overwrite the images of good skiing I have.  I guess I'll have to go back and watch Harald's new video he posted yesterday to cleanse my skiing soul.

Here's HH's latest:

so much better skiing. I may not agree 100 percent with the guy but he does rip, and is a much better model than the majority or 'names"

btw do not know if it is allowed to stand but vote early and spread the word.

http://www.epicski.com/t/111941/so-i-am-banned-but-should-i-be