I am kinda shocked this has taken up so much energy and space here....again.

I do not want anything official and I really wouldn't want any individual poster to go out and do anything that would draw attention for potential trolling, mass influx, or giant kerfuffling.

We are such a nice oasis and that shit over there should stay over there as far as I am concerned.

I am msbelle in this. dons nice cap

I haven't re-read the posts in a really long time and most likely never would again. It is an unpleasantness that I would prefer to never think about it again.

I haven't been to the other site, but would certainly understand if people that are active there would want to sound a warning bell if they see something amiss. It wouldn't sit well here if a stranger came and started talking stuff about one of our users.

That said, I really don't know enough about it all to have a valid opinion and don't want to upset myself by looking into it further.

I'm pretty stunned at the deletion, but I'm not gonna lie. I did a pre-emptive threadsuck as soon as the topic was broached. And I figure I'm not the only one.

It's just--I was there, you know? It happened. Those words went out on the internet, and I felt a bit like the external storage of my memory was threatened. I wanted the documentation of my experiences, of everyone's experiences, not to be so fragile.

I would absolutely support that idea, Jessica, but I am hesitant to ask for something that would involve coding since I have no useful skills to offer in that area.

I did a pre-emptive threadsuck as soon as the topic was broached.

I'm glad to know someone did. Yeah, they were Cindy's posts, but it's our collective history.

I thread sucked too, with the idea that if/when this ever sorts itself out, I could restore the posts. That's why I chose to edit, rather than delete. I'm not sure if that helps or not, so I will to leave you all to decide what you think is best, without having to listen to me.

I ask that my name not be included in any of it, please.

I don't think there's anything to sort out, honestly.

The most that will come of it, based on the BSC factor and self-protection generally outweighing a desire to have our side known, is going to be an FAQ entry.

Someone asked permission instead of forgiveness, a discussion happened, and it's all sort of dying down. No one is out with pitchforks, at least other than mental pitchforks.

I've deleted my old posts, which I know is contemptible. It just seemed less contemptible than having an upsetting, potentially hurtful fight with you lovely people. I know some of you probably downloaded the thread, but even if you didn't, you can still put the story together, if you believe it will serve the greater good.

It feels like when someone seeks an annulment instead of a divorce when there are kids involved. You want to pretend like it didn't happen. But it did. And that's untruthful.

We just had a significant chunk of this incident that actually happened erased.

I'm going to sleep on this for a couple of days, but I may propose that we have a time limit on editing/deleting posts. (Not 2 minutes like I've seen on some forums, more like 6 months.) I don't want to do it now while I'm still angry, I want to sit and have time to cool off.

I certainly would say to take a few days but I might really support this. Especially since Bureau is our public record.

I'm not sure if that helps or not

Actually that doesn't. It's playing god with our history. You'll restore them if you think we're finally playing nicely and feel contrite enough for failing to all deal with this the way you want? I'd prefer a flat delete. Be done with it. The record still exists. It still happened.

This is actually the first time I have felt angry at your current actions, Cindy. I didn't agree with you taking your words down so many years after the fact but I felt you thought you were doing what was right for you. Now you seem to imply you are doing what is right for us and that's not your call.

No one is out with pitchforks, at least other than mental pitchforks.

And those never work. I've tried.

No, I don't think there's anything to sort out now.

No, I'm not talking about what happens here, Cass. I meant I would wait to see how the larger situation sorts itself out. Right now, for me, I need to do this. I wasn't going to post again, but I wanted to clarify that.

but I wanted to clarify that.

Ah. I had misunderstood. Thank you.

I still don't agree with you deleting but do agree it was entirely within your rights. But I don't feel that anger now.

First, I recognize that I've become someone who reads the board far more than I post. So my voice may not mean as much as it once did. But anyway...

I don't see a fight here. I see people with strong feelings expressing disagreement politely, courteously, and respectfully.

I'm also deeply saddened that posts have been removed. As a failed historian, I believe that the Internet offers a huge opportunity to the field because it allows future historians to discover what (relatively) ordinary people said, thought, and did at critical moments in history as well as in everyday life. Removing posts distorts that history.

On to the substance of the topic. I would strongly oppose any link to the discussion (as originally posted or with posts removed). I haven't seen anything about the TV Tropes mess other than what I've read here. But it seems that people have very strong feelings and no qualms about expressing them. Somebody is likely to feel aggrieved if we say anything. And linking to the discussion would make it too easy for anyone who perceives a grievance to mess with the board. Above all, I don't want anyone to mess with the board. (New posters wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing -- but I'd like to see them fit in with existing culture and/or take the board in a positive direction. Anyone who joined because of a perceived grievance against the board would not be likely to do that.)

I'm a little less concerned about someone acting on behalf of the board to tell a third party the story. However, before we do that, we'd need to resolve several matters. (1) Who would do the talking? (2) What would that person say? (3) What benefit (either to the board or more generally) would be gained by telling the story?

If I misunderstand the situation, my apologies. It was a rough weekend involving power outage and several car trips with very distressed cats. I hope to be fully awake by Wednesday.

I agree with you all on the whole we should just let it go because, so what? Feelings hurt, guy's a jerk. The end.

But also, FTR, I had suggested a donation because I thought he was sockpuppet but I had no way of getting people to look for an obit other than to say, "Were there charities he liked?"

I do wish that Cindy hadn't deleted because that is an important part of our history (clearly).

Also, if you think our kerfuffles are bad, imagine 6000 AP English teachers on a mailing list and you have the current kerfuffles I read on the internet.