Date: Mon, 18 Oct 2004 14:42:23 -0400 (EDT)
From: "Keith F. Lynch" <kfl at KeithLynch.net>
To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at WSFA.org>
Subject: [WSFA] Re: Goodbye?
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at WSFA.org>

You missed an excellent con.

Several WSFAns at Capclave asked me what was going on with you.  I
had wondered if my original reply to you, which I had intended to be
humorous, might somehow have been interpreted as an attack on you or
on Mensa.  But everyone I discussed it with -- including Mensa members
-- said they found it humorous, or at least could tell that it was
intended as such.  None of them found it insulting or offensive to Mensa.

Some of them thought that your reply to me was *also* just friendly
banter.  (It is, after all, difficult to tell tone of voice via email.
That's why it's wise to interpret any message in the light most
favorable to the sender.)  They thought that until I reminded them
that you had explicitly disinvited me to any future party at your
house.  There's only one way to interpret *that*.

One person said "Of course that means that his parties won't be
mentioned in the WSFA Journal or our online calendar of upcoming
events, right?," reminding me of our long-standing policy of only
listing events which all WSFAns are allowed to attend.  I was
reassured that nobody would interpret my leaving your events out
of our Journal and off of our website as being because you had
disinvited *me* rather than any other WSFA member.  One problem with
volunteering to be WSFA's secretary, Journal editor, and webmaster
is that it it's a lot of work.  A much bigger problem is that I
risk someone believing that I am abusing my authority for personal
aggrandizement or vendettas.  At least I'm not the con chair or club
president -- they're the ones who get the most flak.

The most bafflement was expressed about your objection to my
directions to your house.  I had said in those directions just how
far it is.  Each person was free to follow the directions or not,
depending on how far they like to walk.  Several people had followed
the directions with no problem.  I could understand objecting to
inaccurate or misleading directions, but neither you nor anyone
else has alleged that my directions were either.

I have looked for the 1995 "rant" about meeting at bars that you said
I wrote.  The closest thing to that I can find is a *question* I
posted about how things were done at British cons.  If anyone took
offense, they gave no sign of it.  Even if they did, I would be
flabbergasted if they held a grudge over something so trivial for
nearly a decade.  As you may recall I did attend Intersection, and I
did enjoy it.  I also spent many hours helping to address Intersection
Progress Reports at TR's house.  Did you do anything to help with that
con?  Or did you just complain about those of us who did?

And no, it doesn't matter which email account you use to post to this
list.  I set it up so that any WSFA member can post to it from any of
their email accounts.  It was more work to set up that way, but WSFA
is worth it to me.  And I do get gratitude for my extra work from most
WSFAns.

And no, I'm not going to do anything petty like ban you from this
list, or remove you name from the sign-in sheet, or disinvite you to
WSFA events hosted in my apartment, or anything like that.  I'll leave
the pettiness to those with more experience at it.