In Memory of Jim McClain

[MSLI]

flaming explitive filled

What an amazingly descriptive phrase, filled with raw emotion. For me it hits on a variety of feelings. Mind blowing, disappointment, sadness, despair, and finally humorous in a good way. Let me explain, wait, let me get some coffee in me, o poop don’t have any and I may need to drive to Wawa in a COLD van ( insert flaming exploitive ) I’ll be back to finish , but Thanks for sharing all that High

 

[MSLI]

....I'm saving mine for later.

Later is Now ! ..... when we tense up and dig our heels in, that’s when it’s time to open Mr. Awareness brain, he or she or is it The tends to be more calm assertive, potentially wrangling in The thinking section of the brain, that sometimes get caught up in to many detailed....... I think The coffee has kicked in ..... Hey Highup My friend, Jim really pushed some buttons back then and you did what most of us would have done, loose it. It takes two to tango, and it’s not easy ! It takes discipline, patience, practice, failure and the determination to get back up and keep trying. I believe you did all that, so sometimes a decision to switch partners needs to be made......... Youz guyz tho, Philly accent ) Danced some amazing Tango’s from the start, as the # 2 Member of TFP And good friend, behind the scenes managing TFP together and I bet it was filled with lots of laughter too. No more preaching my friend, you have my full understanding, that is if I’m even deserving to give it up. God knows I’ve lost it many times, poor Pine tree, got beaten on a regular basis......Again thanks for sharing all that, you have a great way of writing and good memory of details. I hope you feel better now getting that off your chest.

 

[highup]

What an amazingly descriptive phrase, filled with raw emotion. For me it hits on a variety of feelings. Mind blowing, disappointment, sadness, despair, and finally humorous in a good way. Let me explain, wait, let me get some coffee in me, o poop don’t have any and I may need to drive to Wawa in a COLD van ( insert flaming exploitive ) I’ll be back to finish , but Thanks for sharing all that High

I'll reply to this one first because I haven't read part dux.
In the beginning I had great admiration for Jim and one other member kept saying he was a con man. I kept saying holy crap this guy's got a couple years to live if he's lucky, I don't know why you think like that.
It took some time for to me observe what Jim was doing. He was trying to build a business. It became obvious that he was building a business and that dying wasn't something he was immediately concerned with.
Yes it was coming because I know he did have very serious lung issues. As time went on Jim wasn't so focused about his health unless he needed something. In the meantime it was focused on growing his business, not something to expect from someone that has 6 months to live.
As I watched him change, my views of him changed.
People that joined a year or two after the beginning never saw the beginning so they don't know how it started. He pissed off those of us that made his forum what it was. Once pissed, we left, including Jerry who had funded many tools giveaways. It told me a lot about Jim when he would piss off somebody so badly when this nice guy had generously donated so many dollars worth of tools to his website.
Once again, without Jim, many of us would have never met, so that's a tremendous benefit to all of us. Aside from that..... Well, I just didn't like his style.
How was that for being polite

 

[highup]

Later is Now ! ..... when we tense up and dig our heels in, that’s when it’s time to open Mr. Awareness brain, he or she or is it The tends to be more calm assertive, potentially wrangling in The thinking section of the brain, that sometimes get caught up in to many detailed....... I think The coffee has kicked in ..... Hey Highup My friend, Jim really pushed some buttons back then and you did what most of us would have done, loose it. It takes two to tango, and it’s not easy ! It takes discipline, patience, practice, failure and the determination to get back up and keep trying. I believe you did all that, so sometimes a decision to switch partners needs to be made......... Youz guyz tho, Philly accent ) Danced some amazing Tango’s from the start, as the # 2 Member of TFP And good friend, behind the scenes managing TFP together and I bet it was filled with lots of laughter too. No more preaching my friend, you have my full understanding, that is if I’m even deserving to give it up. God knows I’ve lost it many times, poor Pine tree, got beaten on a regular basis......Again thanks for sharing all that, you have a great way of writing and good memory of details. I hope you feel better now getting that off your chest.

CJ mentioned how wonderful it was to read my writings......
......but then I immediately realize he was talking about you not me.
Your interpretation of events was eloquently stated. You understood every bit of what I said.
It honestly makes me sad because as I watch the site develop I loved what it had become. Jim just enjoyed his power too much and manipulated people. It was okay to people that either like to be dominated or didn't know they were being dominated but to me we're all equals. I said before that I would prefer that he would have been a site owner and ran it as a business if that was his preference. I would prefer that he'd stayed out of the workings because I don't think he did a very good job at it.
The owners of this website have stayed in the background and have not come down and smacked our fingers with rulers, and it doesn't amaze me one bit that this site almost self controls itself. We're all grown ups and we can have our differences and still get along. Jim simply like to shut things down if he didn't like them rather than left the differences settle themselves.
I do miss the floor pro and I wish it was still here, ......just like the rest of you .

 

[JPfloor]

I was wondering what happened to that sight. I guess now I know. I never knew the man personally, just read his posts. So sad, my deepest condolences to all who knew him.

 

[MSLI]

I do miss the floor pro and I wish it was still here,

thanks for sharing all that stuff High, Randy. I came along appx. 4 years into TFP so I’m not going to Monday morning quarterback your conclusions of Jim’s ‘ Con Artist intent ‘ but what I would like to shine a light on is why do us humans, me Included, feel such a strong desire to Judge. If we judge less we’ll have more time to actually live. I’m posing a question, do we like it ? Or is it unpleasant? I’m assuming the expitive e-mail was not fun and probably raised the blood pressure. Let’s ask ourselves, is there another way to walk this Earth more gentle.? ........I saw a guy, in Jim, who probably thought to himself, I have COPD ( 1 year or 10 years to live, it doesn’t matter. How can I be of service to this industry before My Segway battery’s run out and at that time FCI Mags on line forum was having issues. Now Jim had a good head on his shoulders, even after abusing it with pot and alcohol ( those topics where always fun to read, made me almost feel bad for not being a stoner ) ....Anyhow, so much I want to share, but my finger can’t keep up. Darn I just lost about 5 sentences darn 👁 .... in conclusion, Dobby said “ it doesn’t matter how good my work is against your work, it only matters that my work today is better than my work yesterday ! I miss those mission statements some TFP members had at the bottom of each post. Respectfully MSLI.

 

[Jon]

thanks for sharing all that stuff High, Randy. I came along appx. 4 years into TFP so I’m not going to Monday morning quarterback your conclusions of Jim’s ‘ Con Artist intent ‘ but what I would like to shine a light on is why do us humans, me Included, feel such a strong desire to Judge. If we judge less we’ll have more time to actually live. I’m posing a question, do we like it ? Or is it unpleasant? I’m assuming the expitive e-mail was not fun and probably raised the blood pressure. Let’s ask ourselves, is there another way to walk this Earth more gentle.? ........I saw a guy, in Jim, who probably thought to himself, I have COPD ( 1 year or 10 years to live, it doesn’t matter. How can I be of service to this industry before My Segway battery’s run out and at that time FCI Mags on line forum was having issues. Now Jim had a good head on his shoulders, even after abusing it with pot and alcohol ( those topics where always fun to read, made me almost feel bad for not being a stoner ) ....Anyhow, so much I want to share, but my finger can’t keep up. Darn I just lost about 5 sentences darn 👁 .... in conclusion, Dobby said “ it doesn’t matter how good my work is against your work, it only matters that my work today is better than my work yesterday ! I miss those mission statements some TFP members had at the bottom of each post. Respectfully MSLI.

i agree with most you you say. I felt its Jims site so he can run it as he feels which is best for everybody. I did not understand the big picture of how a site needed to run. So he run some free ads for some products he needed So what? Its his site. People work to buy things he gave out ads instead of money
I did tell him that I believed that some of his posts should be under his name and not TFP, he did agree
I was also given a title but then someone thought all these titles could frighten people from asking questions which could be seen as silly because of all these experts so I bailed out, titles mean nothing to me, but what I remember some didnt like loosing their titles and left

 

[Floorist]

I was on another site Jim had too, "One foot in the grave". Don't remember much about it except I posted a story I wrote on there. It is in my collection of short stories that I published,

 

[MSLI]

was on another site Jim had too, "One foot in the grave". Don't remember much about it except I

. It would be nice to go back and read a few of Jim’s last posts. Rusty, can you share the link to that forum. Thx !

 

[Floorist]

. It would be nice to go back and read a few of Jim’s last posts. Rusty, can you share the link to that forum. Thx !

can't find it anymore

 

[highup]

Jon, I didn't bail because he took away my badge.
I just didn't like the way he ran his site. In the beginning, had he just started the site and started advertising at the very beginning and started it as a public site instead of a private site then it would be what it was. He specifically asked us if they if we wanted this to be a public or a private site. He let us vote and that's what it became, a private site. Then he asked for all of the input from us. He changed the font and the tfp logo and the colors and the way the form was laid out and once we had perfected it for him via our yays or nays he made the site public started advertising and the rest is history. The advertising was perfectly fine with me. The more revenue the better because he put a lot of work into creating that site and he did an extremely good job of it. If he had done that in the beginning instead of asking us if he wanted to be a private or a public website, that would have changed my perception. It became obvious that was his whole intention and he did not intend to leave this as a private site. That became obvious later.
He started doing things that pissed people off and it was a power thing. That's fine if you're the obedient type but some of us aren't. . When I started a new topic, he started moving them to a different location where he would get more advertising. I asked him a number of times to stop moving my topics..... I mean I'd get up in the morning and my topic would be gone and I'd have to search around to find it he didn't even tell me where he put it. After numerous times of him doing this is obvious he was screwing with me and I said adios. I'm not a bad guy, Nick wasn't a bad guy, Rusty isn't a bad guy, and Jerry was a great guy.
He pissed off all of us good guys and we left and never looked back.
Everyone here has read posts that we have commented on or created and I don't think any of us cause any issues on his site until he started messing with us. That was my only issue on his website if he would have a little more of a hands off instead of a power trip thing.
Yes it was his site and I totally agree he can do anything he wants. Vladimir is power tripping because it's his site...... does that make it right
I wish tfp was still in existence and it was operated like this website. More like hands off, within reason.

 

[highup]

What an amazingly descriptive phrase, filled with raw emotion. For me it hits on a variety of feelings. Mind blowing, disappointment, sadness, despair, and finally humorous in a good way. Let me explain, wait, let me get some coffee in me, o poop don’t have any and I may need to drive to Wawa in a COLD van ( insert flaming exploitive ) I’ll be back to finish , but Thanks for sharing all that High

Just enjoy the humorous part. Had I stayed the situation wouldn't have gotten better. If I was a distraction for Jim then it was best that I left anyway, so I did. Don't let my comments bother you too much because I know most people liked Jim. To a very large degree, I did too and like I had mentioned before his site brought many of us together and we would never have known each other without him so like I said before. I'm thankful to him for that.

 

[MSLI]

. I mean I'd get up in the morning and my topic would be gone and I'd have to search around to find it he didn't even tell me where he put it. After numerous times of him doing this is obvious he was screwing with me and I said adios.

. I can relate to that High, he moved some of my posts and I ocassionaly felt slightly alienated by him or other members, that I no longer was wanted.....But I decided “ I like this internet playground “ let me toughen up my resolve and maybe go with the Jimbo / other Members flow because ! you know, we bring our own unique set of strengths and weaknesses to the ball field of life..........However I can see how your dynamic was different, being a Founding Member, one of many loyal subjects who helped mold the site. This is something to be proud of no matter the ending outcome

 

[DarisMulkin]

I had always figured Jim had Roger Gerber in mind to take over the site when he passed. But Roger had retired and moved to NY[?] I think to be with his kids and grandchildren and din't have the time and possibly knowledge on how to do it, but those were my thoughts and beliefs. So the site died with Jim. The one thing I did like about the site there was no BS, politics, and religion allowed. Those 3 subjects can create a lot of problems.

 

[Steve079]

I was also part of Jims site from early on, In fact, I was his Global Moderator for a while, but my ideals didn't align with his, so I bowed out. What I really miss is knowing who is who from the old site. I know who Floorist, Highup and of course, Jon and Daris were, maybe CJ. Pretty much lost on everyone else. Just started a new job, with the first company I worked for when I got my contractors license in 1985. Sort of a overall crew leader guy, have 22 crews to ride herd on, help out with technical issues, problem resolution and training where called for. Shop is a 5 minute drive from home, and I get a company truck to drive, and , I get to take it home, which will let me not worry about having anything stolen. 42 years installing, still not ready to hang it up just yet, still enjoy the trade and the people I meet.
Maybe we could have a page where everybody reveals their old screen names.

 

[Floorist]

I thought at one time that Barry was going to take over Jim's site and then Jim did something, I don't know what, and Barry backed out.

 

[C.J.]

Love him or hate him, the man did something right. He’s gone and we’re all talkin about how much we miss what his website had to offer. That’s alright, change is part of life and we can all roll with it.

Chris 45

 

[Commercial Floor Rep]

I was also part of Jims site from early on, In fact, I was his Global Moderator for a while, but my ideals didn't align with his, so I bowed out. What I really miss is knowing who is who from the old site. I know who Floorist, Highup and of course, Jon and Daris were, maybe CJ. Pretty much lost on everyone else. Just started a new job, with the first company I worked for when I got my contractors license in 1985. Sort of a overall crew leader guy, have 22 crews to ride herd on, help out with technical issues, problem resolution and training where called for. Shop is a 5 minute drive from home, and I get a company truck to drive, and , I get to take it home, which will let me not worry about having anything stolen. 42 years installing, still not ready to hang it up just yet, still enjoy the trade and the people I meet.
Maybe we could have a page where everybody reveals their old screen names.

Mines the same.

 

[Don Monfils]

Mine too!

 

[MSLI]

Everyone here has read posts that we have commented on or created and I don't think any of us cause any issues on his site until he started messing with us. That was my only issue on his website if he would have a little more of a hands off instead of a power trip thing.

Very interesting and I’ve been giving that some thought. (O-Boy the thinking mind over-doing it ) So ! Is it possible he fell victim to his own rules ? Rules equals fine line between control and controlled. It’s actually what we just went through with the Pandemic, but let me not go there. Back on Jim, his intentions where good by creating rules, - no personal attacks- no religious or political topics. Etc etc. I actually never went and read the rules list sorry Jim, he probable put lots of time into it. Anyhow, do I think he had a power tripping personality ? No ! But let’s face it, us humans wake up with different moods each day. This variable makes our thinking change daily. I often noticed political and religious comments that he allowed. Maybe that day he was feeling open and accepting to ideas ? Then other times, like the topic ‘ In Memory of a TFP members Dog ‘ for some reason, and I’ll touch on that latter, Jim felt incredibly strong that we TFP members should not have turned that topic into our own personal tribute to our own lost pets. That we should have just given our condolences........I must admit, Jim got that one wrong and most of us agreed. Now I’ll attempt to give him our understanding. For some reason this issue hit him hard, he dug his heels in, and I’m guessing did not listen to members reasoning, Why ?.....If I had to guess, maybe it was a combination of things. Growing tired physically, with the bull **** of having copd. Also tired of ‘ The Management process of his forum. keeping conversations flowing, Moving topics, creating new ones, and managing staff members and there concerns. But the big one maybe could have been a combination of him loosing a pet and the forum problem of members Hijacking posts. We all did this and most times the topic would get redirected and maybe lost. Maybe his ‘ Power Trip ‘ and over reaction came from pent up stress ? Clouding the reality, that we where actually on topic. I wish I would have emailed him privately to discuss this.......It was a sad day for Jim and TFP ..... Life and rules caught up on a public forum. In closing, Jim came to bat every day with Zest and confidence that he could hit a home run every time, but life throws curve balls ( low and down and high and up ) and those darn pitches are difficult to hit out of the park. RIP Jimbo !