Much as I’d feared, there has been at least one other banishment. I received an email from Shadowthief this morning letting me know that he has found himself locked out of Duloc.
So what is the reason this time? Was he one of the amorphous “slanderers” Booman alluded to in his Ideas on Slander. I have yet to see a clear definition of either “slander” or “libel,” because libel is what it is in a print medium such as this. If management is using a yardstick to determine what constitutes bannable offenses, I think that measure needs to be spelled out a little more clearly than the highly subjective word “prick” and accusations of “slander/libel” with no demonstration of how it interprets those words.
Is writing this diary a bannable offense? See, I have no idea. I find it very disturbing that I should even have to question my right to articulate my concerns about the direction of this site. But, the truth is, I find the atmosphere here sufficiently chilled that I am uncomfortable asking legitimate questions about matters of policy. I had hoped this site would never become that kind of place.
Update [2005-12-8 19:46:32 by Recordkeeper]: I’d like to personally thank everyone who has participated in this diary and the diary that preceded it. I had to step away from the computer for a little while to take a much needed break from this and attend to some domestic demands (which is a fancy way of saying housework). I have glanced at this diary here and there this afternoon, but it is only now that I have been able to sit down and read through it in its entirety. What can I say? I am saddened. I’m going to need to take a step back from this site whose community I have treasured for so long. No, this is not a GBCW announcement. But, I will need to re-assess what if any contribution I can make here. Either this place has changed dramatically or it wasn’t ever what I hoped it was. Nefarious plottings. Jihadists. Warnings that management will be scrutinizing the membership to weed out miscreants. It’s all just too bizarre for me. And it feels far too much like the real world political climate I have dedicated myself to fighting.
Again, thank you all for indulging the questions I was attempting to raise in these diaries, whatever your opinion on them. To one and all, Namaste.