Recent events in my little corner of the world have confirmed three truths: pilots like to fly, DJ's babble and online gamblers LOVE the message boards. While the first two are all very interesting it's the latter to which we'll turn our attention today. Welcome to our latest addition to The Best of the Boards.

One particulary hot topic on the boards recently was "casinos that retroactively change terms". This sticky topic addressed the unfortunate propensity for some casinos to change their bonus and play policies on the fly thereby alienating players who entered the games in good faith. Much was said but "Woody0" really nailed it when he posted this follow-up: "...the relationship between an online casino and its players is one of trust. Once unethical behaviour breaches that trust then the market breaks down. An online casino exists only on trust. Those that break this trust should be blackballed and their behaviour prominently displayed."

At WINNERonline.com we often hear accusations directed at online casino operators and the people that design the casino software. One disgruntled player even went so far as to say: "The software writer could incorporate various methods within the software to make it 100% (THAT IS ONE HUNDRED PERCENT) undetectable and unproveable."

We've responded to this type of thing many times before but I rather like this rebuttal offered by a senior contributor, "The GameMaster": "I know it's comforting to believe in these 'Grand Conspiracy' theories, but upon close examination, most of them fall through. It's like the Bermuda Triangle and the JFK assassination theories: none have ever panned out."

Couldn't've said it better myself. For more of the GameMaster's wisdom visit his site at http://www.gamemasteronline.com.

Next to the "everything is rigged" theorists are the adherents to the school of blind faith. One contributor posed their faith thusly: "If one experiences a bad run of luck... then one's luck is likely to improve whether or not a break is taken."

"caruso", a regular on our boards, took up the task of providing a wee statistical reminder, with a little colour for emphasis: "Your chances of winning or losing are IN NO WAY DETERMINED by your previous results. Your chances of winning or losing a subsequent session are ALWAYS EXACTLY THE SAME, whether or not you've won the last session, lost it, screwed the dealer or seen a pink cat speaking Norwegian."

Quite!

Amongst the general good advice and helpful assistance our readers often provide useful insights into life on the World Wide Web. No one I know enjoys SPAM so "deaning", a relative newcomer to our boards, did us all a favour when he posted the following: "www.mailwasher.net offers a free proggie that allows you to check emails before downloading the mail from the server into outlook or whatever. I have just started using it after a heavy virus attack.... Of note is the bounce option for spam. Totally cool."

While we're talking helpfulness I'd like to send out special thanks to "Jetset". He's been a member of our boards for quite some time and has proven over and over again to be the online player's best friend. For unflagging patience and civility, endless vital information and good advice "Jetset" is without question our MVP. I make a point of reading his posts no matter what the topic. Thank you Jetset!

While we're on the topic I'd like to take the opportunity to say a few words. Regulars to our forums have recognized our desire to maintain an open, informative and civil atmosphere for players and industry people alike to exchange their views, discuss the issues that are important to them and generally share in the online gambling experience. In order to do this we've had to implement a few rules. We call them our Rules and Policies (http://www.winneronline.com/ubb-rules.html). I encourage everyone to review them from time to time and, when the need arrises, to remind the newcomers to have a look too. In the end everyone is better served and that's really what a collaborative effort like the message boards is really all about.