A person who has posted once on this board under the user name MMD sent a vile and harassing email to another member. I won’t reveal the content, but will ask you to trust me that I’ve characterized it properly. I’ve informed this individual by pm and email that he or she is no longer welcome on the board. I hope you will all do me the honor of assisting me in making him/her certain he/she is unwelcome.
Dale
Based on your avatar, Dale, are you sure that wasn’t a post of WMD?
Must watch out for those, too…
Gordon
How are we supposed to do that? Don’t
understand, I’m afraid.
I still love that avatar. The light, the light!
OK, found the post, understand now. Best
Re the Avatar- doubt that you’d ever see a ‘lightbulb’ over Dubya’s head!!! 
I thaught the light was supposed to shine out of his …
Anyway it shows that he is good for something , if only a lampstand !.
MMD I think you are quite horrid and are only fit to join the current US administration ( Even if I didn’t find the offending post ) .
It’s not an easy one to find. He’s the guy who said he bid on the flute that David Migoya described as a fake. It was never clear (to me) who the anonymous seller was, but boy, he or she had good connections here! 
I assume the guy foolishly wanted to continue the mudslinging outside the locked thread.
Yes, the single post, which was in the JessieK/Migoya match,
wasn’t unreasonable or impolite, but the fellow
apparently went to PMs and outdid himself.
Well, i just found out what this is about. 
Probably the least said about it the best. I’m not sure what “wisely” wanted us to do anyway. Just ban the guy and be done with it. Some people here need to lighten up. It’s just flutes, people!
I’m afraid that I won’t be making anyone feel unwelcome on evidence that I am not privy to (and even if I was privy to it I mightn’t choose the cold shoulder approach).
Is this a sort of Bushian ‘you’re-either-with-us-or-against-us’ polarisation?
Regards,
Harry.
Wow! I’m glad I skipped that thread. Quite the shooting star, that MMD. Only one post and he gets the boot.
Web society is bizarre. I don’t know if I’ve posted this before but in a lot of ways it seems that even the most civil person often has to relearn a lot about social behavior when joining a web community.
Good point about thr Bush polarisation, Harry. Looks to me like more of Dale’s irreverent political humour (which the world needs lately).
Cheers to all!
Aaron
There’s got to be something else going on, but I have to say I agree with Harry’s sentiments.
I also find the whole thing out-of-character for Dale; why on earth post something asking that board members make someone feel unwelcome? Lock the offender out and be done with it.
There’s also a shade of passive-aggression in PMing the person that he or she is unwelcome. Why send a message which requires logging into the board telling someone he or she should no longer be a member of the board’s community . . . email would have been more appropriate.
And regardless of the parties involved, no third party has the whole story from both perspectives. So a public lynching is really inappropriate.
Also, what has it to do with the board that one board member emailed something harassing to someone else? It wasn’t a PM. The only reason Dale would know about it is if the harassed party sent it to Dale. How would that have played out? “Dale, this guy who’s posted some stupid stuff on C&F sent me this nasty email. Can we ban him from C&F?”
Major BIG BROTHER action, folks. I knew there was a reason I’ve had the feeling lately that I should wean myself from C&F.
Stuart
It is a bit odd, I agree. But I don’t know the whole circumstance. If this becomes a trend then there will certainly be cause for concern.
Participation in C&F is wholly voluntary. It is a privately run forum (which may sound a little like an oxymoron) so the administrators’ rules apply.
I’m not going to read too much into Dale’s conduct yet. At the end of the day the C&F community is only virtual even if the participants are real.
Cheers,
Aaron
I’m sympathetic to the concerns expressed above,
and Dale PMed me earlier in response to
my post.
I think the vile and harassing
message was a PM, in fact. Anyhow I think Dale
was personally upset by this thing; unsubscribing people
isn’t workable because they can simply join
up again with a different name. So he told
the individual he’s unwelcome and asked
us to help out. This may or may not
be skilful, it may have been more
upset than anything else, but it’s no big deal.
If you think this isn’t a good idea, please just
look at it for what it is; not big brother
or much of anything. Do what you think
best about this guy if he ever surfaces.
Consider the weird stuff moderators have
to deal with–no reason to expect them always
to be more perfect than we are.
Best
I don’t think Dale needs anyone to come to his defense, Jim, and since you don’t really know the whole situation I don’t think your response is useful. This is his forum and we post at his leisure. So he can do as he chooses.
It is just entirely inappropriate to ask that members of the forum shun someone else. Even at Dale’s behest. Regardless of the reason. That’s my opinion and I stick to it.
Stuart
It WAS a PM. It was vulgar and threatening to me and my family. It is no longer virtual when one’s identity is known. People have my name and address. This is no game and no joke, and if I am found murdered or worse, do you really want to have to think about the fact that you were worried about Dale’s conduct, or the fact that you didn’t have all the details?
No, Jessie, I don’t. Why the hell didn’t any of you say any of that?
If you seriously think that you’re in danger from the person, then you need to contact a lawyer and the police. A nebulous request by the part of someone whom, admittely, I know and trust only based on virtual interactions to shun someone else because of some weird and threatening private message? How in the world would anything that I do by “making the person feel unwelcome” render your situation any better at all? Would that really make you feel safer?
Contact the police. Harassment is harassment.
I haven’t ever posted any personal details on here. People could probably figure out who I am and look me up in the phone book, or find out connections to where I work from the web, but I sure as hell wouldn’t make it easy for anyone.
What appears to have happened isn’t your fault, Jessie, and it sounds like you’re being targeted by a psycho. Take it seriously. That doesn’t mean throw a barb at me because I question a public post on here to shun someone. That’s not the issue. Jeez, I can’t even believe I’m dignifying this with a response, but do you seriously think that I should feel some kind of guilt at ALL for suggesting that Dale’s post was kind of weird? That if you were “found murdered or worse,” as you put it, that it would be because I raised a question about Dale’s request that I make someone unknown to me somehow feel unwelcome? I’m not that powerful.
Stuart
I didn’t really see myself as coming to anybody’s defense.
I agree that asking members to shun someone isn’t a good idea.
I think I rather do have a grasp on the situation, in fact.
I’m not sure I understand your post, Stu. Please
read mine again. Best, Jim
Um, no, I don’t think you should have guilt about wondering about this. And I wasn’t throwing a barb at you, just requesting a little understanding. I don’t believe I have done anything worthy of hatred lately, and even if some of you disagree, there is a difference between being mad at someone and threatening someone with off-line trouble. I will not be participating here anymore, at least not in the near future, because my safety and that of my family are far more important than any forum or community, on- or off-line. Thanks for the good stuff and take care everyone.
Be safe. Nothing on here is worth that kind of risk.
And good luck with the baby!
Stuart