Patrick

Looks like you meant to include this video, KarateKen! Adding it in:

Hello, Thank you for visiting KarateForums.com. We recognize one member every month as the KarateForums.com Member of the Month for their positive contributions to this community. Our honoree for December is... @Wado Heretic, who becomes the first member to receive this honor for the fifth time! Wow! Thank you all of the incredible contributions that you have made over the years, Wado Heretic. You've definitely left a mark here. Thanks, Patrick

Love this topic, and look forward to seeing what others share. Thanks for starting it, @crash. This is only partially related, but it's something fun I've witnessed after managing this community for almost 24 years. It's actually one of the things I love talking about when I tell people outside of this community about this community. Which is that we have had people disappear for a long time (more than just a year or two... 5 years, 10 years I think) and then come back, join back in, and be glad we're still here (I hope, ha). Your activity over the years is actually an example of this sort of thing happening, because you went over 15 years without making a post, from 2006 to 2022, and then, you went from mid-2022 to this March, and popped up again, which I loved to see. I always find that really delightful because I know that some people have sort of ventured off on the internet and maybe they've done the Facebook thing or got active on mainstream social, and then decided they had enough of that and wanted more of whatever this community is to them. But there are other reasons. For example, it could tie into breaks in their training, as you discuss here. Like when they had a break, they had less to talk about. It is also true we've had people who were unable to train for a while stay engaged here as a way of maintaining touch with the martial arts, so it comes in all shapes and forms. It could also just be that something happened in their life that demanded priority, and they no longer had the time. But whatever it is, it's always fun when people come back.

Thanks for being for a good sport, @KarateKen! You're right, this was our April Fools' Day joke for 2025! I hope that everyone had a fun day.

Hey all, Thank you for visiting KarateForums.com. Our April Fools' Day joke this year was requiring that all posts end with "oss!" or "osu!" But not just requiring it, automatically inserting it into the bottom of all posts, just to ensure that you would not run afoul of our community guidelines. Respect is a big deal in our community, and we do pride ourselves on being a friendly, respectful discussion community. But forcing specific language into posts is not something that would help us accomplish that. So, this was just us poking a bit of fun at a martial arts custom. I hope everyone had a fun day. Thank you to @Nidan Melbourne for coming up with the main concept for this year's joke. I'll go ahead and leave it online for a couple of days so that folks that missed it can see. Thanks, Patrick

As an aside, it's also not that hard to keep things on the up-and-up. Literally all you have to do is disclose a relationship to something when you talk about it. Simply saying that you received a free product, or the company sponsors your podcast, or your Dad runs the school, is normally all that is needed to be okay legally and, in the eyes of most, ethically. Eliminates the miniscule chance of trouble. I think what there is a bigger chance of (vs. enforcement) is losing credibility with your audience, e.g. if they believe that you are hiding something or discover that you were hiding something. Generally speaking, it's not worth it. Also, Bob, I'm not sure how I glanced over this portion. Yes, that is ridiculous. If your wife were to contact the site hosting the review, they might do something.

Update: This was our 2025 April Fools' Day joke! Hey all, Thank you for visiting KarateForums.com. As you'll know if you've spent any amount of time here, we aim to create a friendly, respectful environment where difficult martial arts conversations can be had without disrespectful comments or personal attacks. Today, I'm happy to announce that we are adding a new policy to further this ideal. We will be updating our community guidelines to require that all posts end with "Oss!" or "Osu!" It is a popular phrase in the martial arts, intended to convey respect. But don't worry, we're making it easy to follow this guideline: All posts will automatically have "Oss!" at the end of them. If you'd like to add it in other spots, you are welcome to do so, but this one mention will ensure that all members are participating within our guidelines. We will quickly follow this announcement with a new feature in your profile where you will be able to select your preferred spelling: Either "Oss!" or "Osu!," which will then automatically be added to all of your posts. I appreciate your time and understanding. Thanks, Patrick

Thanks for checking. No, no, I'm not. I just decided I would try to be prepared for next time (or when someone in my family has it happen).

I can definitely sleep... after throwing up, haha. Trying to see what I can do to avoid that but ultimately not always avoidable.

I have played it a bit, but I think I have it on Switch.

Hello, Thank you for visiting KarateForums.com. We recognize one member every month as the KarateForums.com Member of the Month for their positive contributions to this community. Our honoree for November is... @crash for the second time! Happy to see you pop back up again recently after a few years away, crash, and thank you for all of the contributions that you have made over the last 22 years! Thanks, Patrick

Welcome Brandon. Glad to have you.

This is reasonable. You can probably shift this meaning over time, too. Like you can decide to start viewing transgressions more seriously. I don't really think of corked bats or pine tar or rosin or any of that stuff the same as I do Ty Cobb's issues or the steroid era. But that's me, we all might have different lines. Ty Cobb was in 1936, so at some point, I think we can stop using that one as an excuse. I actually don't mind Bonds, Clemens, A-Rod, etc. not being in the hall. Ultimately, they did it to themselves. If they get in, it's fine, but it's not exciting to me. Andy Pettitte, who I loved as a Yankee, did it to himself. That's life. Choices and consequences. We can also choose to simply value players who didn't get caught up in those things, like many of the names we mentioned recently here: Griffey, Johnson, Jeter, Rivera, Glavine, Maddux, etc. Or even someone like Edgar Martinez, whose candidacy was probably boosted by the fact that he was clean from that.

It sounds like it's part of the same universe but there won't be much from Cobra Kai in Karate Kid: Legends.

I'm back to this!