OrionWorks wrote: >>From Alexander Hollins: > >> Its not ABOUT the recent mudslinging issues. that was the >> straw that broke the camel's back, but once it was broken, >> it was broken. > > Personally, I disagree with this conjecture. Granted, while some may > agree with your conclusion I suspect many don't.
OK, it seems to me Alexander's conjecture is about Bill's motives, not about the group's content. So, it's a conjecture, however plausible it may be. BUT -- let's go back and look at Bill's message banning Jed. He said, right up front: > I've totally failed to get everyone's attention. I think that was a very clear statement of the intent, actually. At the risk of going off-topic and getting slapped here's a little anecdote which may help with understanding Bill's (likely) motive in coming down on Jed. The situation isn't identical but there are some aspects in common. About 40 years ago, my parents kept a boat on the Chesapeake near Rock Hall, Maryland. It was very rural there, and the crime rate there was very low. One day we heard from Buster, the boatyard owner, that a new law had been passed -- they had made it illegal to leave your keys in your car when you parked it. The fine was pretty stiff; don't recall just how big. We heard about it because Buster had been busted under the new law -- by a state trooper he knew pretty well, one of his neighbors, in fact. He was understandably outraged. He told us that he asked the trooper, "What are you pickin' on ME for??" And the trooper said, "Well, Buster, we've got a problem. Lotta kids takin' cars and joyridin' these days. We passed this law, it's supposed to cut that down. But we're havin' a real hard time gettin' folks to pay attention and stop leaving their keys in the car. I figure, if I give you a ticket, everybody for 20 miles around knows you, and you're gonna complain about me nailing you to every last one of 'em, and then they'll all know about the new law, and maybe they'll stop leaving their keys in their cars." And Buster paused for a moment. And then he said, "Y'know, Cap'n (he called everybody "Cap'n"), I guess he was right -- I have kind of told everybody about it."
