Posted by Rich on July 30, 2001 at 11:19:59:
"Your letter of last evening contained so many points of debate ... I sat down, and hurriedly tried to address them all ... to no avail. It didn't come out right and so I trashed it. These things are all interconnected ... with each other & with other stuff, so it becomes difficult to speak of one without bringing in a whole other mess. You do deserve an adequate response, though, so I've decided to answer you, point by point, in separate little e-mail, in the hope that that will keep the issues a bit more individualized. Boy, some people will do ANYTHING to get e-mail from me! Ha Ha.
This may take several weeks ... it won't necessarily be in sequence as you wrote it down ..."
THAT is what I said, taken verbatim from my E-Mail outbox, dated 11/27/00. A bit more than a few months ago as claimed.
Does that sound delusional, mean-spirited, or malicious? It was a complex issue, like this one right now. Taken as a whole, it's a big mess. Break it down, point by point, and resolution is possible. Believe it or not, I do have other things to do. I tried answering at one time. It just seemed to cloud the issues. I thought my approach made sense.
Oh, here's my answer, in response the first point presented to me:
"So ... do you expect to be "fired"????? Ain't gonna happen, honey. The only way you get out of this mess is to voluntarily remove yourself. We like what you do, OK?"
Maybe it's me, but I think I was being open, and friendly, and fair. Nothing like what was presented to many of you in an e-mail last night. I WAS WORKING ON SOLUTIONS!
Here's my second response:
"There is no loop ... WE don't know what's going on either. Never have. We let Sarah & Jo do their thing, don't see the results till the Gathering. Oh, sure, they might ask us a thing or two about content ... and we might check in from time to time to see how it's going ... that's it. Same principal with whoever is doing the T-Shirts. And, same with you. You do your thing, we do ours, everyone else does theirs ... it comes together. The main difference with you is the stuff you've been handling demands to have us kept up-to-date for the Gathering Page.
Now, many people have volunteered their services to help. Ann was the only one who had a specific plan in mind. It blended beautifully with the "downtime" concept, and so we let her run with it. Everything was put in place in a very short period. Ann's deal falls into your category, as to need to be kept abreast. As does T-Shirts, later on ...
This is not about one person, Marcia ... it's a group effort, and it really doesn't work unless everyone does their part. In fact, it won't work even if we DO all do our parts if the folks who come don't do THEIR parts.
Next chapter to come ...
Later Gator ...
Rich
PS - I surely hope this isn't pissing you off. I care about you a great deal. You have been a great Internet (plus) buddy, from way back. I don't want this to deteriorate, but I can see NOT commenting hasn't helped, so ... as you wish, I'm commenting. It's to communicate, not to scold. Remember that!!!!!!"
At that point, we stopped, at her request.
I can do this, ad infinum, because I have every E-mail received & sent, from 1998 on ... plus a few relevant ones I saved from my old system that predate that.
Those words above CLEARLY contradict what you read in a group E-Mail.
I am not delusional, a control freak, or game player.
Make those accusations here, and I will prove otherwise. By our own correspondence.
Now, regarding the current situation, it's the same way. Taken as a whole, it's an unclear mess. We can go tit for tat and go nowhere. But, break it down, point by point, and a much clearer picture emerges.
I would like to address Point One: The Conspiracy Theory
It has been said, more than once, that our, mine actually, decision to take the Board down was a pre-planned plot to flush out rats & traitors.
OK?
If there was someone here I did not want posting, which was not the case, wouldn't a direct E-Mail have sufficed? "Please don't post here anymore. Any future postings will be deleted." Did I need to take down the Board to accomplish that??
I don't think so. Insinuating that was what was on my mind, besides sounding an awful lot like someone guilty of something, presumes that SOMEHOW, before I even removed the Board, that I just KNEW that another was going to be set-up immediately, and that statements would be made not to let us in, thereby exposing all traitors.
I mean, how ridiculous is that?
Is anybody home?
I ask those of you with doubts about this matter to consider that ... as a start. I offer this stuff up as a possible course of resolution.
If you have nothing positive to say, then don't respond. The old 60's adage applies here, "if you're not part of the solution, you are part of the problem."
Negatives & lies will be immediately deleted. Keep them elsewhere.
For the record, I only used MY words here. No one else's.