OK, enough is enough and I've had more than enough.
Bob, for whatever reason, contention seems to follow you wherever you go. I can always tell when you start posting, because my Inbox starts filling up with complaints from the people who feel you're busting balls and stepping on toes. I am at a point in life where I am doing my utmost to avoid contention and it seems I have to wade hip-deep into it whenever your overly-critical posts start appearing. It seems you are just not a good fit for this forum and I'm cutting you loose. I hope you will be able to find a forum site where your comments, observations and critiques will be better accepted. For multiple reasons, this site was just not the one.
For those who have taken the time to drop me a note when something is coming apart around here, I appreciate Bruce and I being made aware of potential problems before they get out of hand. There are only the two of us to look after everyone and everything, a situation I am now in the process of trying to alleviate with some additional help. So, if you suddenly get a message asking you to step up to a forum moderator's position, please do not dismiss it without giving it some serious consideration. Bruce and I have spent more than a few minutes agonizing over who amongst you would be an asset to this site through service as a moderator. Our list has been an extremely short one from the very beginning, so we both hope you will see your consideration as part of the team as the compliment it truly is.
For those who have taken the time to drop me a note to do nothing more than pick fly specks out of pepper, be advised I am more than willing to measure you by the same plumb you measure others. There is something in the vicinity of 100 members who are participating here on a regular basis. If you really believe everything those people say will always be 100% correct, diplomatic and politically-correct, it's time to step back through the looking glass. It's not going to happen and I'll be damned if I will let you tie me over a barrel every time your sensibilities have been disturbed. If you feel a post is out of line, send myself or Bruce a link to it. I promise you we will look into it as soon as humanly possible and we will strive to come up with a solution that will serve the majority of our members and guests in the best way possible. If that solution does not meet your high standards, you can 1) get over it, 2) get used to it or 3) get out. If you prefer hearing it in Biblical terms, read Matthew 7:1 with the understanding that your individual reality only exists when you choose to focus your awareness on that perceived 'reality'. Go figure, Jesus was actually teaching about karma and in real simple terms, He said karma is a bitch. There is one person standing at the experiential center of your own state of being, and that's you. What you choose to do with that is up to you. The standard we Christians are held to is that of loving others as we are loved and forgiving others as we expect to be forgiven. What standards are you held to in your life? (Wow, an entire sermon in just six sentences? :wow: I am teh awwsum.)
I spent 37 years working with people in sales and I managed to develop a good method of assessing not only situations, but those involved in them. What the school of hard knocks failed to teach me, the United Methodist Church taught me as I was prepared to serve as a pastor. You'll have to take my word for it, but the members I chose to serve as forum staff were chosen with more care than you might imagine. So do me a favor. Flag us up if you think a volcano is about to erupt on the site. Then, please take your opinions and get back out of the way, so we can do our jobs. Pissing in my ear and trying to convince me it's raining is accomplishing two things - it is wasting your time and it is really rubbing my fur the wrong direction. Let those with ears hear.
'Nuff said? Good. Now go play well with others, before I feel the need to make some more changes.
I alluded to a shortage in forum staff members and want to ask if anyone has had any contact with Yogi. He's been away for some 3 months now and I've not received any reply to my attempts to reach out to him. I am hoping his absence is nothing more than a change of his interests in Life and is not caused by something more serious. If you do have contact with him, please let him know of my concern and extend him my best wishes for the future.
