Craig Zablo's StalloneZone

Sly Stallone is posting on the StalloneZone message board.  How this all came about is kind of funny… now.  You see before everything was worked out, I actually blocked Sly’s ability to post here even after he had posted a few messages.

No, I’m not crazy.  Let me explain.

On April 12th a SZ message board member using the screenname “Barney Ross” posted a couple of messages signing off as Sly Stallone.  Over the 25 years since I started the StalloneZone this has happened from time to time.  Someone will come on the message board and claim to be Sly, one of Sly’s personal friends or business partners.  We’ve always blocked these imposters’ posts.

That’s not to say we haven’t had contact with Sly, Frank, Sage or Kevin King.  We have, but they have always made it clear it was them and we verified the info before we posted it.  Heck, I was even asked by Sly’s team to run the Official Rocky Balboa Movie Blog and I gladly did that.

But back to April 12th…

After seeing the posts, I private messaged “Barney Ross” and asked him to not sign off as if he was Sylvester Stallone.  I then see him post again signing off as S. Stallone.  So I checked his profile.  “Barney Ross” had been a member for over a decade and never posted.  There were a few other reasons that made me think he was an imposter.  I sent him another message to not sign off as if he was Sylvester Stallone  or he would be blocked from posting.  “Barney Ross” then posted a public message saying, that he really was S. Stallone and I could ask him anything.”  At that point, I was like, “I’ve been down this road before” and blocked him from posting.

The next morning I see this message from Sly’s Official Twitter account: @craigzablo you blocked me from the site, s stallone???? I was under the name BARNEY ….

You can imagine how I felt.  I also had an e-mail from one of my official Stallone contacts.  He asked why I had blocked Sly from posting.  

Of course I unblocked Sly immediately and explained to everyone the situation.

When I started the StalloneZone in 1996 my goal was to create a place for Sylvester Stallone fans to get the latest news and interact. We’ve weeded out the trolls and those who want to be negative.  I’ve made every effort to not post rumors and to verify sources.  

And that is why I blocked Sly from posting.  Yeah, I’ve been getting the business from friends and family for blocking the very man I created the site to honor.  But no harm, no foul. 

Sly is posting on the StalloneZone… now.  ; )