>I don't know what I can add to what I've already said.

How about validating some of my experience in regards to you? All I was
saying is that you could have been a little less flippant and
expressing a need for you to understand that regardless of your good
intentions, the consequences and interpretations of your attitude were
rather unfortunate.

>(a)I had no foreknowledge of the prank and no intentional role in its
>perpetration.  I was too busy to check my mail for a few days.  This
>has happened in the past and will happen in the future.  I can't be
>chained to my Inbox just in case someone tells lies about me.

I know, but if you get one of those palmtops with a cellular connection
you can remain constantly connected to your inbox no matter where you
are.;-)

>(b) I saw the intended humor and felt almost everyone else would too,
>so my initial postings were in that vein.

That part was difficult for me to swallow. I felt I was being told to
laugh at my own hurt (even more so by Doug & Ward), and the humiliation
I felt in connection with this is one reason why it is so difficult for
me to let this whole thing go.

>(c) I nevertheless posted as soon as I discovered the ruse to make
>sure that no one would take the prank the wrong way (little did I know
>how many would actually fall for what seemed pretty transparent to
>me). Yet I felt the moment I read it and still do that the hoax
>showed poor judgment on the perpetrators' part.

Out of solidarity to any potential bruised souls it would had been more
appropiate of you if you had expressed just a few words about the poor
judgment that in your opinion was being exercised. Instead, the victims
were in a sense left with having to laugh along with their perpetrators
- not a very dignified thing to be asked to do. By continuing to
express that the hoax seemed pretty transparent to you, you are
revealing the same poor judgment as Doug & Ward, which is maybe why so
many thought you were in on it in the first place.

>(d) I did not chastise them right away because at first I didn't know
>that any actual harm had been done (except for Maynard Clark's
>response, none of the grief-stricken e-mails had started to pour in
>yet), and besides, I was a victim too.

Unlike the rest of us you knew very well that you were still alive
(don't deny it!;-)) and if you felt victimized you should have
expressed it.

>Meting out punishments is not my job --- it's yours.

Indeed, I just needed to set the record straight and process some of
the frustrations I and many others have felt. And may I add that all of
us, not just I, are responsible for keeping this list a cool place to
hang out.

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Best, Peter
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