I have been thinking about this ever since I learned about Plaw's death. The way I learned about it was from DC, whom I consider a friend (although we have never met) who IM'd me at my regular e mail account to tell me the sad news.

I have been on the internet for about twenty or so years now, and over that time I have made some friends, and even met a few people whom I had "met" online.

I think there is something very special about the Gangster BB boards that does not exist elsewhere. Probably because all of us have a passion for the Godfather and perhaps because we are all geeky enough to talk endlessly about whether Fredo knew Mike was going to kill him, who opened the drapes, and the like, we have inadvertantly opened a private part of ourselves to one another. Right now I am obsessing about the "dropped coins" clue in the recently added Godfather items thread!

Because of this, when we have sports or political discussions we can sometimes really get into it. While there is wisdom to be gained in these discussions, sometimes we go overboard with personal attacks... I know I have....but there is something about it that allows us to go on... its almost like when members of a family get into a fight and someone says something that is over the line. Other family members tell the offender that he/she has overstepped, apologies are given and we move forward.

Because we have such a vested interest in sharing our views about so many things, and because for some reason there are not any "posers" on these boards, this site is one that is special.

Plaw was a great voice of reason whether you agreed with him or not, and to say his shoes will be hard to fill is an understatement.

As we move forward, I think the best tribute we can pay him is to remind one another from time to time...."what would Plaw say to this?" And then sort things out.

For me, I have changed the slogan to my personal profile, and am going to leave it like that for a respectful amount of time, after which I'll go back to partisan politics, and Frankie Five Angels quotes.

To all of us on these boards....Cent'anni!