You may remember that a couple of weeks ago or so I wrote about how Tom at Bookie Bashing had cut short his daily Vlog that he had intended to post for around a month. The reason was that after posting just a couple of times, he had received some pretty venomous personal abuse from what I can only describe as complete idiots.
This was a classical case of a mindless minority ruining things for the majority. Here was the opportunity to learn more about the thought processes and the edges used by an incredibly successful professional bettor, and some brain dead bellends had ruined it for us.
No blame whatsoever attached to Tom. Who would put up with taking personal abuse from faceless idiots when you don’t have to? I know I wouldn’t.
Since then, it’s been noticeable that the output from Bookie Bashing, in terms of videos and discussions around some of the edges that their tools can be used to identify that were frequently posted on their site, has diminished somewhat. There’s not been a Bashcast podcast released since either (which is a huge miss as far as I’m concerned, by the way). I may be reading more into this than there is. It may be that the decline in public output has simply coincided timing-wise with what happened with the Vlog and there’s nothing more to it. But the feeling I get is that the two are very much linked.
Then this week we have an announcement from the BB Team that they were closing their Discord channel. I’ve got to admit, although I joined the channel, I didn’t pay much/any time in it. I could see why they might close this and when it was announced I personally didn’t feel any sense of loss. Certainly not in comparison to how disappointed I feel at not having had a Bashcast to listen to or a daily vlog to watch!
And then on Wednesday, Tom posted a video headed, “Why we don’t talk as much…”, which kinda says it all.
In the video, Tom basically lays out the crux of the issue, and justifiably and successfully gets across the message that life is too short to waste time arguing with people online (when really what you say is not going to have any impact – I guess another way of describing this “interaction” is arguing with trolls). And I agree. There aren’t enough hours in the day. Why waste precious time and energy when if you have half an hour or so free, you can get out in the fresh air, walk the mutt, clear the mind, etc.?!?
The thing is – and I think this is where the real shame lies – is that although I don’t know Tom at all, he comes across strongly to me as someone who is only too happy to discuss and debate issues around what he does and what Bookie Bashing provides. I get the distinct impression that he is open to a proper discourse from which both parties may pick something useful up, and would be completely fine should someone challenge something that he has said or done. Most intelligent people do, and respond positively if challenged in a way that is polite and respectful…in short when someone behaves if they’ve been brought up to be respectful and not believe that the best way to approach someone is to just wade in in an aggressive and completely unreasonable way. Manners cost nothing, and all that.
Anyway, like I say, I don’t really know Tom. These are simply my own observations made from afar. I hope, selfishly, that the Bashcast returns. I hope that Tom and the others at Bookie Bashing continue to do what they’re clearly exceptionally good at, and most importantly, that they enjoy doing what they’re clearly exceptionally good at. Because if they do, reasonable, intelligent folk who can rationalise and put points across without resorting to abuse and aggression will benefit, and everyone – those at Bookie Bashing, and their customers – wins.
Figures update on Monday. Have a good weekend.
