Hello, Robert. I thought I'd throw in an addendum, a clarification. Sort of a long hollar over my shoulder as I try to dodge the boot. (Something of an overstatement, I acknowledge.) I'm a bit uncomfortable with the way things were left and think the thread after my last post contained much that was misleading.

I absolutely didn't want to leave these boards and left a way out of the impasse. As well as missing the people, I, too, am starting a book and this would be the best place to try out "lines", vignettes as well as keep one trying to convey information to a critical audience. Even more I didn't want to be censored unfairly. So I left a door open the Shuttle could be dragged through. Upright. I always said "unilaterally", hoping the counter-offer would be that FrankC would check with one other person before deleting a post of mine. A very reasonable compromise, I thought.

That obvious negotiating ploy was treated the way a pretty girl treats a pass by an ugly guy - ignored. Repeatedly. Like the Irish kid at the beach who drops a potato into his swim trunks to impress that girl, I strutted that term back and forth. And it was received the way the kid was. Apparently the spud was in the back of that suit.

The claim I tried to emasculate FrankC as a moderator just isn't true. A red herring. Asking that in my case he just ask one other person if the post in question is that offensive. The nonsense that programs would have to be rewritten was simply a scare tactic, quite unlike you. However, it does show the thinking behind the process.

Second, when I noticed I was being dinged not for what I did, which in the present instance was innocuous, but for what I could have done and the level of hostility expressed I realized I had inadvertently worn out any welcome. For crying out loud, RobVG flamed me, rather harshly, over something I hadn't done, and he came out the victim. Sort of "you deserve it anyway" kind of thing. However, I know the hostility is the result of what I've done, no one wanted to be hostile or started out that way. I trained them.

I was puzzled that my demonstrations of bias were ignored, irrelevant, not even rebutted until I realized that all moderation is bias. That is the essence of moderation, the purpose, to express management's bias. So much for that appeal.

Interestingly, my criticism of Conservatives is regarded as over the top. That's on a page which contains another of the "buttmonkey" references to liberals. (A term, by the way, that I wish I had been able to appropriate for Conservatives. I like it.) Go figure. (Irony, sarcasm, take your pick.)

I don't, by the way, recall being personal in the last long while. I have attacked the Conservative persuasion, the Conservative ideology, and characterized the people who hold those ideals dear as "Conservative". Apparently calling someone "Conservative" is character assassination. Think about it. Calling a Democrat a "communist" isn't regarded as particulary offensive.

A part of me is aware I've been lynched. No doubt in my mind. Another part is aware that I made it easy, and it's my job to figure that out in a bit more detail than I have. I have no doubt that I earned the hostility. I'll lurk from time to time unless my registration is withdrawn. There have been some great people showing up here lately who will fill any and all voids.

So, it's been a good time. At the moment I'm feel a bit guilty, a bit ashamed, and I apologize for what undue discomfort I caused. And I got as good as I gave. I believe you have been dead wrong on a few occasions, Robert, and you've been dead right more often. Keep up the good work. The HabitableZone is in good hands.

Arf