Date: Mon, 17 Oct 2005 22:16:57 -0400 (EDT)
From: "Keith F. Lynch" <kfl at KeithLynch.net>
To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at WSFA.org>
Subject: [WSFA] Friday will probably be my last WSFA meeting
Cc: prather at netzero.com
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at WSFA.org>

Sam Lubell wrote:

> I spoke to the Gillilands yesterday.  They are not excluding any
> paid-up WSFA member from the meeting part of WSFA meetings.

Who is going to come to a house where they clearly aren't welcome, and
aren't allowed to stay for the social hour?  For that matter, with
traffic and Metro as unpredictable as they are, the only way people
can be reasonably sure they'll be on time for meetings is to aim to
arrive early.  Are people expected to sit in their parked cars until
9:15?  Are those of us who arrive by train, bus, or bike expected to
stand out in the rain or snow until that hour?  The idea is absurd and
offensive.  No WSFA vote held in a house where some people are made
to feel unwelcome because of their stand on a WSFA issue should be
considered valid.

> We don't all have to be best friends, but I think we can all get
> along with each other and work together as long as we remember that
> our fellow members are human too and have feelings that can get hurt
> and brains that can misfire, make mistakes, and sometimes fail to
> understand what we intended to mean.

Because this attitude towards Lee's actions seems to be widespread
within WSFA, this Friday will probably be my last WSFA meeting.  I am
not ruling out the possibility that I will remain in WSFA, but this is
seeming increasingly unlikely.

I had hoped that nearly all WSFAns would agree with me that Lee's
actions are just as far outside the realm of acceptable behavior,
as if she had come to your house and deliberately flung her feces
randomly all over your living room.  Had she done that to me, I
could have probably cleaned it up in a few hours, or at worst, had
to discard some things and buy replacements.

As it is, I know that no matter what I say or do, that months, years,
and decades from now, people in fandom, if they remember me at all,
will be saying "Keith Lynch?  There was something about his lying at
WSFA meetings.  I don't know all the details."

To mitigate this, I will be writing up a detailed chronology, with
footnotes, and will make it available to all WSFA members and to
anyone else who asks me about these events.  I considered doing so
before Capclave, and having copies with me to hand out to anyone who
asked me about these events at Capclave.  I decided not to, mostly
because of requests that I postpone things until after the con so as
not to interfere with the con.  In retrospect, it would have saved
a lot of time.  People, not all of them WSFAns, kept coming up and
asking me what had happened, so I had to explain it at least a dozen
times.  I'm not going to bring it up outside of a WSFA meeting or this
list, but I'm not going to remain silent when directly asked about it.

I will definitely be at Third Friday.  I will definitely produce a
November WSFA Journal (though it may consist of little other than
meeting minutes, since nobody has submitted anything for it so far
this month).  I will definitely *not* be at any meetings held at the
Gillilands.

I haven't told any lies, but I have been living one:  By returning to
the Gillilands' after Lee's similar attack 3.5 years ago, I falsely
implied that it either didn't matter, or had been resolved.  This was
a major mistake.  If I had it to live over again, I would have left
the club then.

I'm open to suggestions for how I can continue coming to meetings of a
club which apparently finds this behavior acceptable, which routinely
meets in Lee's house, which elected her trustee after the events of
3.5 years ago, which added her to the publications committee, and which
didn't long since replace her as activities chair or as Capclave '04
chair.  I know that not every member feels that way, but the club as
a whole evidently does.

I welcome messages that urge me to continue being involved with WSFA,
even though they don't, per se, lead toward a resolution of the
problem.  But I do not welcome messages urging me to return to the
Gillilands', or to pretend nothing happened.  People who send such
messages may enjoy the work I do for the club, they may even enjoy
conversation with me, but they do not value me as a person.  Not if
they say such things knowing what Lee did.  If anyone values my work,
they're welcome to pay me for it.  I only work for free for people who
value me as a person.

As an aside, if any boss had ever spoken to be as Lee did, I would
have quit on the spot, no matter how much they were paying me.

To remind everyone, Lee publicly accused me of lying to Mike Walsh
about movie tickets, then banned two people from her house who
objected to this libel.  At the meeting eight days after Mike said
it was a joke, and that I hadn't said anything about tickets, Lee
directly refused to apologize for calling me a liar.  Eight days.
Indeed, she was clearly very upset that I even brought it up.

Such allegations have led to duels.  More recently, they've led to
major lawsuits.  They are grossly outside of acceptable behavior for
an officer or a host of any organization I want to be involved with.

Everyone, please start thinking about volunteering to be secretary,
Journal editor, webmaster, listmaster, and point-of-contact.  The same
person doesn't have to do all these jobs.  If nobody volunteers for a
job, it won't get done.

I've been involved with WSFA for over half my life.  Heavily involved
for eight years.  I hate cutting my ties to WSFA, but I can see no
alternative.  I remain open to suggestions, however.  Suggestions
consisting only of "can't we all just get along?" are pointless,
however.  Lee has already answered that question, in the negative.