Goodbye, farewell and adieu (Forwarded from GulPlum)

[Wendy]

Note from Hebby: I received this message from GulPlum (AKA Richard) 
today, and he asked me to forward it to this list. 
*****************

Folks,
 
Over the last week or so, several people have contacted me, 
wondering about my prolonged silence on the HPFGU lists. It 
transpires that a message I posted to the feedback list on 17th 
December didn't appear (or has been removed, something which I 
sincerely hope isn't true) which explains my absence. What follows 
is that message (unamended) and it will become apparent to you why 
I'm not posting it myself.
 
-- ORGINAL MESSAGE --
 
There's a reason I've not said anything for several days (despite 
being involved in threads here, on the main list and OT-C). I'm 
shocked, confounded and disgusted and I can't get beyond it to enjoy 
HPFGU.
 
I found Amy's levity in her sig after msg #284 at Joywitch's 
outburst quite out of place. For a regular list member to admit that 
they know they're being deliberately rude and offensive is bad 
enough. For an established poster and (ex?) member of the Admin team 
to end a post with "I know I'm being rude but I don't care" is, 
frankly, unforgivable. Amy's one-sided attack on Gwen's language 
(note, we're talking about a single word here) whilst quietly 
brushing the tone and language of Joywitch's comments under the 
carpet is quite disgusting, to be honest.
 
I don't care a fig about the behind-the-scenes personal politics 
which have brought about these exchanges and have no desire to take 
sides. However, those politics have now been brought out into the 
open and whist I can avoid watching the mud-slinging, the fact that 
it's going on has permeated the atmosphere on this list, and it's 
only a matter of time before the other lists are affected.
 
I will, however, make one comment on the *content* rather than tone 
of these exchanges.
 
I happen not to agree with some of what Gwen said in msg #251. I 
don't think that there is any causal connection between the decay of 
TBAY and the general degradation of post quality. I do. however, 
consider both to be symptoms of the same cause: thoughtlessness. And 
one thing I do *not* expect of a list created and run by adults is 
the degree of wooly thinking and lack of common civility which has 
characterised this community of late.
 
The way I read Gwen's perception of those discussions among the 
Admins is that TBAY was being defended maniacally - she did not 
actually describe anyone as maniacal, which is the charge that has 
been put against her. I don't know about other people, but for me 
there's a huge difference.
 
As it happens, whilst I'm not in a position to comment on Gwen's 
perceptions of the Admins list, I can say that the defence of TBAY 
on THIS list has been replete with hyperbole, and yes, a certain 
level of maniacal devotion which refuses to see reason, so I can 
understand where she's coming from.
 
We've recently talked about metaphors for this list. Right now, it's 
neither David's party nor symposium, nor is it my "letters to the 
editor". The only metaphor I can see is a children's playroom where 
a minority of the kids are throwing a tantrum not because their toys 
are being taken away, not even because they're being *threatened* 
with having their toys taken away. They're throwing a tantrum 
because they're being asked to tidy up the toys they have.
 
I'm too old for the playroom, and I'm getting a headache from the 
tantrums. I'm therefore taking the only option available to me, so 
I'm getting out.
 
I will now be unsubscribing from all HPFGU lists and the way I feel 
right now, I don't see myself ever coming back. For the last week, 
every time I see "HPFGU" (or variants) I get a sick feeling to my 
stomach and want to scream.
 
I might just come back to the Movie list when the PoA movie comes 
out because I enjoy exchanging ideas with a few of the people there. 
There's five months to go, so I might just get over my utter distate 
to a small degree.
 
Enjoy the playroom, children!
 
--
GulPlum AKA Richard, signing off