| | I want to thank Andrew for commenting on this thread. I was busy today and Lindsay is still on his couple-week, self-imposed exile. Andrew has done an excellent job explaining the situation. Thanks!
Now let me make a few comments. First, I recently made this post:
http://solohq.com/Forum/SOLOAnnouncements/0029_3.shtml#64
Yes Hong, I place people under moderation after they say they're leaving. I'm not a big fan of grandstanding, and we get a lot of that. If someone says they're leaving, I take them at their word, and won't let them have it both ways.
And no, I don't do that to everyone. Sometimes I invalidate their accounts entirely.
Since this was written well before Barbara or James decided to leave, it should be clear that this is a general policy and not aimed at either of them in particular. As I said, there is a reason for the policy. The grandstanding I refer to is the over-the-top decision to leave, usually accompanied by comments about how their genius isn't appreciated by "cultists", how horribly abused they are, how there's just no value here at SOLO, and how Lindsay and/or myself are tyrants.
Yawn. We've heard it all before.
And really, we've been pretty good about letting these people have their say, doing as much damage as they can before they leave. But some people just love the spotlight, and probably know they can't get it anywhere else. So they keep on posting, over and over, not saying anything new.
And that's why we had created this policy. If you say you're leaving, we're going to take you at face value.
In this particular instance, although both James and Barbara said they were leaving, we didn't shut the door right behind them. Lindsay apologized for his actions, self-imposed an exile on himself to give himself time to work it out privately with these two and others who are concerned, and asked both of them to stay. The answer he got from both of them is that they're still leaving, and public accusations hidden behind a veil of compassion. For me, the first is more important. They repeated their intention to leave. That's enough for me.
And now I find that they're shocked and horrified that after publicly (as publicly as they can) announcing that they are leaving, their posts are not being accepted anymore. Keep in mind here that Barbara made 11 posts after her announcement that "I'm gone". James got an article published after his departure. Both repeated that they were leaving. And James's article can be read as encouraging everyone else to leave, or being guilty of "enabling". And they're upset that they can't keep going? Well, maybe it's just Barbara who is upset.
Jody asked "If they are trying to post at SOLO isn't it implied that they 'want' to post here?". The reason I created this policy was because people want to have their cake and eat it. Clearly they all want to keep posting. But once they say they're leaving, there's no intention to be constructive or even civil. They post in order to keep the spotlight on themselves, to try to convince everyone else to leave, or to discredit SOLO, Lindsay, or myself. In other words, they want to leave, but they want to make it into the most dramatic event they can, hopefully doing as much damage as they can in the process.
A recent example of someone being moderated, which the quoted post from above refers to, was Brant Gaede. He made a public announcement of his departure, repeating on a couple threads to make sure he had attention. So I put him under moderation. I had nothing against him...I hadn't really paid much attention to him before that point. But I moderated him anyway. His posts, afterwards, were not grandstanding (well, not too much). He said he found value in SOLO despite some complaints, and didn't want to leave after all. The point is that not everyone feels the need to grandstand after their announcement, and we take that into consideration, but we stand by the policy.
What about James and Barbara? What was the point of their posts after announcing their departures? To try to reconcile differences? To leave, but attempt to do so on friendly terms? Or was it to rub some salt in the wounds?
It doesn't really matter to me. They said they were leaving, and that's it. Jason Quintana asked early in this thread " is this true and if so who is responsible for making this decision???". The answer is, James and Barbara are responsible for making that decision. If they want to change their minds, they're free to. All they have to do is say so. They haven't, so it's ridiculous that we should be hearing complaints about them not being able to post. That decision was, and continues to be, made by them. If anyone wants to complain about it, complain to them.
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Jody, you asked James: "Then what exactly is your quarrel James?" Here is the response he attempted to post, but his posts are not being accepted (nor are mine):
