How 'bout we try talking to each other?

[jorn@chinet.chi.il.us (Jorn Barger)]

Dear fellow Ectophiles,

It seems you have forgotten, but once I was an Ectophile like yourselves.
In fact, as I recall, I was one of the first ten Ectophiles, and in fact
suggested that name.  I had quite a lot of demands on my time, so I more
often browsed the Digests than involved myself in the middle of the
discussions, but I tried to belong.  Most of my postings, though, were
about Kate rather than Happy: I'd spent the previous year trying to
build and extend the Kate community with the Love-Hounds kaps, the FAQ,
and the shortlived Newsbriefs newsletter, and my heart was still there.

I've been re-reading old Digests, from a year ago January especially, when
there was a flamewar on r.m.g., and the discussion on Ecto was about how
incredibly valuable everyone felt Ecto to be to them, and how, even if the
opportunity were offered to create a rec.music.ecto newsgroup, almost
no one would have wanted to, for fear of diluting the community into...
what we saw on Gaffa down below.

So it suddenly seemed very logical to me to try and extend the community's
reach by creating another Ecto for Katefans, and I shouted out my 
intentions on r.m.g, and fifty people signed up right away.

But then a *really scary* thing happened.  One member of Ecto in particular
came out viciously against the idea, saying:

"I have less than no interest in subscribing to warmroom; in fact, the mere
thought of it almost but not quite disgusts me."

"_Please_ do not post warmroom material to ecto.  If I want KaTe info, I'll
go to r.m.g.  It's more fun that way."

"Jorn... is trying to forcibly create a friendly space..."

"...we _have_ Ecto already; why do you folks feel 
like you need _another_ cozy little mailing list?  What are you so afraid of
in Gaffa?  Are you really unable to ignore the ignoble rantings of Cynthia
or Stev0 or Druk (whose posting about Warmroom a day or so ago really summed
up my own feelings)?  Do you have put so little stock in your own opinions
that you feel nobody could possibly find them interesting unless they're people
dedicated to making you feel warm and cozy?"

"I've refrained from commenting on this whole issue as it's blown up in gaffa,
but when Jorn decided to share his little "golden" image with us, I couldn't
handle it anymore.  This posting is not nearly as vicious as it could have or
might have been, and that's largely because I'm sure a lot of people I consider
friends are warmroom subscribers."

And ended chillingly:

"It is, however, refreshing to know that even if a bunch of you are put out
by my feelings on this, I have no fear of repercussions even should you
approach Jessica with your complaints."

And Ecto stepped right into line, except for one fine burst of protest
from Vickie.  My reaction was a post I never mailed:

-----------------------------------------------
Subject:  Thanks, guys

:^(

----------------------------------------------

It was too painful to read Ecto for a couple of months-- I let the Digests
pile up and then went thru them in April, and tried to write to Jessica,
as moderator of Ecto, and the two Ectophiles whose tones I was most pained
by.  And Jessica and Angelos were very responsive at first, but then
Angelos suddenly fired off another diatribe of fury, and apologized... but
how could I trust him?  And Jessica went off to check out where Jeffy
was at... and she never wrote back.  So I became an ex-Ectophile, not
by choice but by intimidation!

And now a year later the whole "warm fuzzy" concept is made a travesty
by the spectacle of battalions of Ecto-*creeps* buzz-bombing Jorn and
trying to *drown him out*, sending 200-line pseudo-anonymous libelous
hate mail, that reveals very clearly to *this* eye that Jeffy has an
envy-complex on the scale of the Grand Canyon.... and Ecto unites
behind *Jeffy*???

??????????

??????????



-- 
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_/--o--_/--  "j^o"r^n" "b^a"r^g"e^r" --o-- ^jorn@chinet.chinet.com^ --_/--o--_/
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