This situation is surreal.
Susan said:
Genna and I communicated by email - then we communicated publicly in
the "PL issues" thread. Since then we have had a further exchange of
emails.
I would not say that we have communicated.
I have addressed all of your questions.
You have continued to ask questions, demanding answers under the threat of
shutting down e-mail exchanges, yet you have neither acknowledged my
responses nor answered my own requests for clarification as to the nature of
the problem.
The bottom line? The current arrangement is not working.
You have not given one example of how the current arrangement was not
working.
You have not articulated a logical rationale for the need of a move to a new
server.
That last sentence is indeed the problem.
You are not interested in making anything work.
Furthermore, you are giving the impression that I am the one who is being
intransigent when you are the one who has refused to discuss anything openly
and rationally.
You are correct in one respect. "Because I want it" is likely to get it for
you, but I will NOT let you do it at my expense, by continuously and
willfully misrepresenting the situation and calling my ethics into question.
I do not intend to discuss what happened, why it happened, who was to
blame etc. etc. etc.
It is rather a shame than in asking the members of this group to make a
decision, you are unwilling to inform them as to the facts of the case.
Could it be perhaps because the facts alone do not substantiate the claim?
Isn't it ironic though? You misrepresent the facts to the newsgroup, not
once but several times, yet ask them to take on faith the need for a move to
a different server. I state both publicly and privately that I have no
intention of taking over for you, yet my word is not sufficient for you.
Such a discussion won't change the bottom line.
I would like to move the Pricelessware List to a new location.
At least this is honest.
Pity that you could not have had the courtesy of stating your primary goal
to me as clearly as you have here.
Pity that you could not have had the courtesy of not disguising your true
goal under a misrepresentation of unethical behavior on my part.
The Pricelessware List has been hosted on other sites in the past
(IIRC the last move was about two years ago).
The PL was hosted only on two sites prior to its current home.
It was originally on SOS's site and when that became unavailable at one
point, I hosted it with the understanding that any time SOS wanted it back,
he only had to ask.
Moving the PL to the current site was done in order to have a permanent,
dedicated home for the PL.
Some free sites have
been offered. If they are not suitable others can be found. Hosting
details - who, how, where etc. will require discussion.
Why a move is necessary and what issues will be resolved by moving the site
are points that have not yet been addressed.
The move itself is not a Big Deal. Getting the Pricelessware site up
and running at a new location will only take a few hours.
I would like to continue as webmaster. My top priority: ensuring that
the Pricelessware List can be prepared and maintained easily by others
when I leave.
I don't like putting the group in the position it's in now - I want to
ensure that it won't happen again.
Susan, this is a self-serving statement that smacks of bad faith.
The group would NOT be in the position it is now if you had not overreacted.
Period.
The group would NOT be in the position it is now if you had discussed
matters in good faith. Period.
This is self-created drama at its best.
You gambled that I would not respond in the newsgroup after the first post
you made. And as I have said to you, the irony is that had you not so
willfully and consistently misrepresented the facts and called my ethics
into question, I probably would not have responded.
You have now twice abruptly terminated email conversations by turning to the
group, without giving the group the benefit of all the facts. That is
deceitful.
Finally, your statement again is implying that I am somehow abusing the
trust placed in me. You have yet to give any evidence of this, despite
repeated requests on my part.
FYI: I sent Genna an email when I started the "PL issues" thread. I
will notify her this time too.
While this accurate, it is also misleading.
It would have been more correct to state that in lieu of a response to my
questions about the specific needs for a move, you have posted this thread
requesting said move. The manner of your post would tend to suggest that you
have tried everything to resolve the situation while I have been
unreasonable.
The reality is actually quite the opposite.
As with her first post to this newsgroup, Susan has willfully and
continuously misrepresented the facts.
The title of this thread alone is indicative of the situation. Susan has yet
to specify what the issues are that necessitate a move to a new site.
Insofar as she has not done so, how could we have any differences, let alone
irreconcilable ones?
Prior to this situation, there had been no issue. Not once has Susan ever
commented on any problems or expressed a desire, let alone a need, to have
anything structured any differently than it has been up until now. The only
logical conclusion is that it was the email in which I mentioned a move to a
database that has so affected Susan.
As has already been posted elsewhere, the database project was nothing new.
For all Susan's protestations in the initial thread on this subject, this
was not new information to her either.
Furthermore, it might be worthwhile noting that it was Susan herself who
indicated to me earlier this year that the PL might not be long in her
future. This fact she has neglected to bring up to the group, but it is
quite significant in the chain of events. It was precisely because of that
statement that the concept of the database was revived. Susan herself
acknowledges in this thread that a list that can be "easily maintained or
prepared by others" is the way to go.
The initial incident was a grossly overblown miscommunication that could
have been and should have been settled privately in a matter of a couple of
e-mail exchanges. Instead of simply addressing the issues, Susan became
increasingly irrational and posted here under false pretenses, declaring
that there was an urgent and immediate need to move the site. None of her
claims to urgency have been sustained in reality. What indeed was the
pressing and urgent need that sent this newsgroup into a frenzy a few weeks
back?
I take issue with Susan's insinuation that I have been inflexible, making a
power grab or any other such nonsense. That is just simply not true and not
an accurate representation of the facts. I have repeatedly asked Susan what
it is that she wants and have yet to receive a response. I have asked very
directed questions, including whether it was my involvement alone to which
she objected, yet have received no response. There has been no articulated
rationale for the need to move the site elsewhere.
What is perhaps much more telling is that when I expressed my belief that
the PL was a collaborative process and that I had never viewed it as a Power
issue, I was told that I should. That statement should give the members of
the newsgroup pause.
If there is a question as to who is really flexing muscle here, I would like
to point to these 2 statements:
"I do not intend to discuss what happened, why it happened, who was to blame
etc. etc. etc. Such a discussion won't change the bottom line. I would like
to move the Pricelessware List to a new location."
"I see no *point* in discussing the past. . ."
What is truly sad here is that I have always championed Susan from the
start. Whenever I had a difference of opinion with her, I addressed it to
her in private as not to undermine her. I have posted my opinion on a couple
of separate occasions, but never have I pressed my point nor left the
newsgroup in a huff as has been suggested. But I find myself now in the
bewildering position of having to explain away motivations I do not have.
There is no doubt that Susan has done a tremendous amount of work for the
PL. While her claims about always discussing and resolving matters in the
newsgroup are disingenuous, I don't think there are many who could or would
find fault with her efforts. But Susan's actions of the past few weeks leave
me with a great uneasiness. The members of this newsgroup should think long
and hard whether someone who is so inflexible, so closed-minded, so
manipulative, so deceitful is really the best person to represent the values
of the PL.
I have forwarded to SOS the necessary information that will remove the need
for my own future involvement.
