It is my turn to thank Dyebat, lchris and Citroenlady. I have watched them struggle against an onslaught of lies and cynical manipulation for months. I respect and admire all three of them. I am honored to be helping them in any way I can.
I have recently seen the issue of the blogs raised again. Those who raised the issue know perfectly well why we resorted to them. But I shall explain it for the targets of their remarks. We tried to bring up the subject (of staff behavior during July) on the forum. We tried to discuss it in posts. We tried to discuss it by PM and email.
In a deliberate campaign to silence us, the Board and staff members concocted a plan to label all posts dealing with this issue as "contentious" and have them deleted. For good measure, they also threatened to terminate our memberships.
I tried to discuss the situation by PM and email with both Board members and staff members. I sent messages to musictchr, truus, wasforgas, leonina, cicichi, Pickled Tink, and AnnieV. Only a couple times did I get a serious response. And even then, the response was that the Board unanimously decided to ignore the July issues and move on.
Why would the Board choose to ignore the events of last July? Why were they voting unanimously to sweep things under the rug? Why were they not asking questions? What flavor of Kool-aid was served at Board meetings?
I find it unfathomable that any Board member can claim to have been unaware of the issues involved if they spent time on the forum. Surely they saw some of the problems first hand. Staff called Dyebat and lchris liars. Staff ranted and raved about a supposed takeover of the forum (complete hogwash). Staff threatened to take their toys and go home.
All of the above was recorded on the Transparency and this site thread. It was, and is, available for viewing by any member. Go read some of it. Some staff and a few members were near hysterics. But most members remained calm, in spite of the atrocious behavior of the staff.
How else should the Board have been aware of the issues of mid-July? Members posted about it, until the Board tried to stop them. Why create policy #6 if they were unaware of the contentious issues?
I sent messages about it. I am sure that other members also contacted Board members. And lchris gave them reports. She told them about what she found as a result of her investigation of the data records. Did any of them ask her questions? No.
It is ironic that a certain Board member is insisting on retraction of a statement made about him. What did he do about false statements made by staff about Dyebat, lchris, Citroenlady and others? Those statements were allowed to stand for months. When members brought up the issue, he was instrumental in stifling the discussion.
The Board has supervisory oversight of staff. When staff post false accusations about members, the Board has a responsibility to deal with it. When staff allow members to post false accusations about other members, the Board has a responsibility to deal with that, too.
Could the problem be that the Board did not want to deal with the issue because some of them were among those who had posted the accusations? Lonni and Truus both made posts containing false and defamatory statements. And they are members of the Board.
Perhaps the other Board members should have inquired as to where they got that false information. Some was undoubtedly from the cyber-bully. Was it also from an admin of the forum? Pickled Tink, also a Board member, was the source of a false rumor that DJG was trying to buy the site at auction.* In reality, he neither registered nor bid on the fansite.
For all those months, public accusations were to be ignored. Now that the shoe is on the other foot, suddenly it is an outrage. Sure feels different from the other side, doesn't it?
*Note: lchris was not the source of this information. I learned this courtesy of another staff member.
