In a message dated 98-07-14 12:08:36 EDT, [log in to unmask] writes:

<< Someone else mentioned you had been expelled from Preservation-L.  Were you
 really expelled, or did you just leave quietly?  Or is Bullamanka actually a
 crafty cover-ID for P-L? >>

Citizen Gray,

I got so much backchannel flack from PL to kill Gab & Eti that I spent a
weekend learning how to set up a listserv and was able to get St. John's
University to sponsor it... all via e-mail contact. This was before my heart
operation last January. I'm not even sure where in Queens St. John's is at -
except that it was from the psychology department that I got my response. I
then pulled everyone from PL who seemed open to Gab & Eti onto BP. I don't
think there is a conspiracy here. My methods of throwing out wild messages,
contrary viewpoints, and the insanity of Gab & Eti were not universally
received on PL.

My intent was, and remains, to stimulate open dialogue... it became fairly
obvious that there are people in the preservation world that not only could
not handle this, but were insulted. I feel those people have to have a place
where they can be proper, or whatever not pushing the envelope, not sending e-
mail very often can be called, and that I was more adept at moving than they
were at being tolerant. I'm putting this in polite terms as I actually felt a
bit traumatized by the affair.

I wanted to promote people talking with each other, and a majority of PL
subscribers did not want to talk with each other. As my son says, everyone
wants to watch television. I'm sure that attempting to have conversation with
strangers is uncomfortable... I certainly have found it so at times, and then
there are incredible rewards of learning something new or having viewpoints
changed.

The urgent need to e-mail came about for me when another individual who had
put a lot of very earnest effort in trying to develop a website for a
preservation organization remarked that despite everything he had done he
could not get people to respond to his e-mail messages. I then resolved to try
the experiment of responding to all of the e-mail messages that I could
muster.

I have also long been of the opinion that if you want to have a conversation
then someone has to say something first, almost anything will do for starters.
I'm getting used to saying what comes out of my mouth and not feeling all too
bad about it afterwards. I can't help it if it comes out sounding weird. The
experience on PL hurt, and I want BP to be a place where people can share what
they really think without hurting each other. Sometimes this requires role
playing, sometimes directed replies, sometimes nonsense. The important thing
to me is that the people who use BP, including the lurkers, feel that they are
important and that someone, somewhere, cares about them.

I can say one thing for certain, I think about everyone on this list and am
very happy and proud to be able do so.

][<en