HA’s purpose (response to Tom), an announcement from me, and new members

[Porphyria Ashenden]

Abigail wrote:
>>To insist that HA theories can only come from TBAY posts is 
essentially to limit HA to a specific sub-group of HPfGU 
posters.<<

Cindy replied:
>>The entire purpose of HA is to make TBAY more accessible. <<

Thank you for defending the original purpose of Hypothetic Alley, 
Cindy. I wasn't talking out of my ass when I answered Tom's
question the first time. If you read the introductory text in HA it 
actually states that it's all about Theory Bay and the acronyms
that float around in it. However, if you all would like to expand the 
scope of HA, be my guest. In fact


That brings me to my next point. If there's one thing I hate
it's someone who says they'll do tons of work and then they
disappear from the map, so with that in mind I have an announcement: 
I will no longer be available to do any work for the FAQ team apart 
from the strictly technical (HTML; uploading page updates).  

I must apologize to those of you I'm letting down: Debbie, to
whom I promised work on the Justice/DE FAQ, and Amanda who is 
counting on me for maintaining the Snape FAQ. Amanda, I bequeath my 
baby to your capable hands (and you too Melody). 

Part of my decision is technical: as a few of you know, I have 
recently moved into my own apartment, and with paying rent and basic 
utilities all by myself I can no longer afford a broadband connection 
or voice mail. Thus, it is too inconvenient for me to be online for 
long periods of time.

Part of my decision is also personal: I suppose I should be polite 
and insist that this year's upheavals have nothing to do with it,
but that would be a lie. In truth, I have decided that the atmosphere 
and group dynamics of online communities don't agree with me, and
I'd rather devote my time to maintaining individual
correspondences and otherwise spending my spare time offline. 

I'll remain subscribed to this list so I can still do technical 
duties for you all, but if someone hails me and I don't reply,
please email me to get my attention. (And no, I will not be returning 
to MEG whether I am allowed to or not.)

One last matter: is there a ruling on letting in new members? I was 
eager to welcome Juan Rodriguez since he has basically offered to do 
my job, and I would like eventually to be replaced by a capable 
substitute.

Thanks, ~P.