I can't lurk any longer - this is too good to be true:

I appreciate that this board does not feel comfortable with the course of action I stated then. Repeating, for reference only "We can all deplore rudeness, and cruelty, and bullying, and violence, but we cannot stop them with mere deploring words. In the real world they will ever exist, and we are responsible for how we act - or fail to act -- accordingly. Cruelty, bullying and violence are weeds, and will spread ever-wider unless checked. There is but one way to deal effectively with the most vigorous and vile weeds: to deracinate them, thoroughly and promptly. One can hope to be careful and gentle, but never at the risk of losing sight of the job that must be done." In the months since then, it has become clear that others are not prepared to deal in that way with rudeness on the board. As best I can tell, one can count on one's fingers the number of times that anyone, other than
me, has stood up to object that a specific post is hurtful. It also appears that the board disapproves when I stand up in what I have intended to be that manner. Accordingly, I will desist.

...I raise no moral objection to a closed club -- but I do not personally feel comfortable being part of one. And purely as a matter of personal taste, I do not wish to be part of a board where people are willing to tolerate the hurtfulness we have seen in past months. This I can get from chat rooms. Other people are of course perfectly entitled to act as they wish, but I will be departing unless I sense a change in how we act as to rudeness, not merely how we talk about it.

That is Keiva, my friends.

There is but one way to deal effectively with the most vigorous and vile weeds: to deracinate them, thoroughly and promptly.

I thought that was what we were trying to do - but Keiva is like this horrible Manitoba Maple that keeps popping up everywhere, no matter what you do to try to eradicate it.

As best I can tell, one can count on one's fingers the number of times that anyone, other than me, has stood up to object that a specific post is hurtful. It also appears that the board disapproves when I stand up in what I have intended to be that manner. Accordingly, I will desist.

Ah, but you DON'T desist. This post was made long before I joined the board - and when I joined, you just jumped all over people who said things to me of which you disapproved. I can "fight" my own "battles," thank you very much. I think most people who a) found their way here, b) figured out how to post here and c) CHOSE to post here, are of the same level of intelligence: they can respond as they see fit. Leave 'em to it. Your idea of rudeness might not be anyone else's. I suspect it isn't, having seen, in other threads (the "ooh Daniel Pearl is SUCH a HERO!" thread springs instantly to mind), how you look for insults where none exist. At this point, you're just reaping what you sowed: you looked for insults, and now people are insulting you. Well, at least now we can agree on something.

I will be departing unless I sense a change in how we act as to rudeness, not merely how we talk about it.

Well, presumably you didn't see that change, because you still lambaste people for perceived rudeness. And yet, you're still here, you monstrous hypocrite. The difference is, the rudeness is now real, because....

MANY PEOPLE DO NOT WANT YOU HERE.

You responded inappropriately to being asked to leave, and to being banned, and now, like the most annoying of creatures in any sphere of life, you insist on foisting your company on us, though many of us have made it expressly clear that we DO NOT LIKE YOU and DO NOT WANT YOU HERE. The difference between this board and other spheres of life is, apparently we have to put up with you until you walk in front of a bus or suffer a massive yet unexpected heart attack or stroke. We can't hang up on you or close the door in your face when you persist; we can't walk away or de-list our phone numbers or block your calls. (keep those clever gnomes working, Fiberbabe!) Yet we have done all we can in our power to let you know that YOU ARE NOT WELCOME HERE.

So why do you persist? What order of mental midget are you, anyway?

Let us go in peace to love and serve the board.