[MassPoker]

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If this forum didn't exist who knows when the PPA could have ridden in and "saved" the day. This forum borught the issue up and got action by the PPA. I doubt that Mason wants sole credit for this "sucess", as it was everyone here in some ways.

But to try and suggest that 2+2 "haven't done anything about it, including working with, promoting, and doing everything within your power to help the PPA"; is about as fair as the PPA getting full credit in the news story.

We've got to start working to fix the problem and not always trying to fix the blame (or credit). But like volunteers in all aspects you can not continue to rely on their hard work without showing them a little appreciation from time to time.
D$D

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The article that you are referring to specifically states:

"Luckily for online poker players, the stealth-like inclusion of anti-online gaming legislation {did not escape the Poker Players Alliance's notice}." The key phrase here is, "did not escape the Poker Players Alliance's notice." This is an entirely accurate statement! I don't even know why this has become even part of the issue. Someone from the PPA had to 'NOTICE' the bill's language or there wouldn't have been action taken. Perhaps we should include the following statement to be even MORE specific: "Thanks to the eagle eyes of 'Catlover', a poster on the 2+2 poker forum, owned and operated by Mason Malmuth and others, the PPA were able to act on the proposed legislation." Isn't that exactly what happend? Now that is over the top. Why include all of this extraneous information. IMO, the statement made in the article you presented, D$D, assigns the PPA credit for 'noticing' the proposed legislation and properly gave them credit. If 2+2 WANTS to go into the business of organizing a poitical activist group working on behalf of Poker Players, then they would recieve the credit. Ultimately, the poster 'Catlover' rightly deserves the credit for bringing this issue to all of our attention. Thank you Catlover!

Truth be told, the PPA uses several different sources to become informed about current political activity...It has to come from somewhere. Unless the PPA has some crystal ball that we are unaware of, the PPA, along with ALL other political action groups uses multiple sources to collect information. This forum is most definately a part of that collective information gathering process, but to credit them for the ultimate 'action' taken on behalf of the PPA is like saying that news sources should credit 'Catlover' for bringing the issue to all of our attention. You have to ask yourself, "who deserves the credit and how much is assigned to whom?"
I take absolutely nothing away from this forum at all. I think that 2+2 has done quite a bit for poker players, but someone has to be in the business of running forums and others have to be in the business of running political action organizations. In reality, this forum is just a piece of the puzzle overall. Let's not get carried away by asserting that this forum deserves as much credit for the action taken for the MA proposed legislation getting as much attention as it has as the PPA in actually acting on the legislation. You see what I mean?

Let's give credit where credit is due.

All In,

Randy C~
MA Rep PPA