RossCW

From Wiki Gonzalez

''''RossCW was a little bit like Backlasher, but without the pretense of common sense.'

The persona of RossCW migrated from the old Rob Neyer discussion board, according to fellow denizens of that board. Like Backlasher, he mocked the notion of DIPS and the alleged genius of Billy Beane and the A's. Unlike Backlasher, he was totally humorless and unwilling to engage in debate or analysis of his opinions, often restating his initial points and going off on tangents to the annoyance of all. RossCW was a Twins fan and apparently lived in Portland, OR.

Similarly to Backlasher, he has a very annoying tendency to continually, and constantly misinterpert the point of view of those he debates. Even when it is pointed out to him that he is doing this, and had it explained to him numerous times the difference between what he is claiming his opponents are saying and what his opponents are saying, he keeps on with the same misinterpretations. Some think he is a troll-in-dissenter's clothing as a result. Others just think he's dense. Others just don't bother entering into discussions with him.

Still others[1] think he, like Backlasher, does not "misrepresent" the arguments of others but rather he realizes he is largely dealing with amateur and professional sophists whose arguments are so shrouded in dishonest language that he is obliged to restate said arguments in a clearer way (also, like all great sarcastic debaters, his answers took already preposterous assertions and made them still more preposterous through exaggeration to prove a point that was inevitably quite lost on the dense and superliteralists who typically comprise the hardcore numerology crowd). In doing so, he and Backlasher quite naturally are answered with squeals of "misrepresentation" and -- the perennial favorite -- "strawman".

[1]These still others are a decided minority and have had very little actual experience with RossCW, so their opinions can be ignored. RossCW and BackLasher are in fact nothing alike:

RossCW was unfailingly polite; BL can be snippy. BL is intelligent and makes logical arguments; RossCW was incapable of this. BL has modified his positions in response to intelligent arguments; RossCW did not.

After BTF required registration, RossCW (or someone claiming his persona) posted once and was never seen again. His whereabouts are unknown. He also stopped posting on other websites (such as the Dickie Thon Fan Club) that he used to frequent at the same time, so it is not just a primer/think factory thing.

RossCW holds a dubious record as the most prolific contributor to the PETCO thread: over 100 posts, mostly from a left-wing viewpoint.

In his primer-debut (a thread on MLEs, I think), a former Neyer-ite posted as the Rob Neyer Message Board and warned people to enter into debates with RossCW at their own risk.

RossyW can still sometimes be spotted posting at Fanhome and many people confuse him for RossCW.

Before Baseball Primer became BTF in 2004, there were many posts by RossCWXYZ, a pseudonym for a variety of people that were fed up with RossCW's antics. These posts would pretend to be the original Ross and would be used to disparage Ross by taking his reasoning to its "logical" conclusion (which was usually embarrassing to RossCW). Though some criticized the impostors, the band of RossCWXYZ posters felt they had no choice because RossCW refused to argue in good faith.