[at-l] TJ Bitching

[jbullar1 at twcny.rr.com (Jim Bullard)]

At 02:04 PM 10/8/2005 -0400, RoksnRoots@aol.com wrote:
>In a message dated 10/5/2005 8:55:21 PM Eastern Standard Time,
>jbullar1@twcny.rr.com writes:
>*
>You want to be
>anonymous, that's your privilege. Some folks might wonder why you feel the
>need to hide though.
>*
>   I'm not getting a sense of full honesty with this. As I said before
>if I started searching around trying to trace the identity of an anonymous
>member I would be set upon and harped on for it.

"Not getting a sense of full honesty"? It was a matter of curiosity that's 
all. I figured as a proud former thru-hiker and avid defender of 
thru-hiking you might belong to/support a thru-hiker organization like 
ALDHA. I didn't make any special effort. Actually I checked a number of 
names when I received the membership list back in... how long ago was that? 
I've forgotten. Several years since I got the 1st one. When I saw the 
'Trail Name' directory I thought "Cool! I can even find people I know only 
by their Trail Name. Yours was one I was curious enough to check. If that 
causes you anxiety to know that I might be curious about your real name... 
What are you afraid of? What protection from disagreement with something 
you say do you have now that you wouldn't if you were not anonymous? Quite 
the opposite in fact. When someone presents themselves as an authority most 
folks want to know what makes this person an authority and not just a guy 
with a strongly held but ill-supported opinion.

>         In my mind and to others with a more rounded Trail understanding
>(other than that derived from list chat and gatherings) this whole 
>distrust arises
>mainly from a wrongful sense that Trail advocacy is counter or averse to
>general Trail membership. It is very clear that personal attacks on some 
>members
>are OK for some. It's the reason why that I'm talking about.
>
>          I'd much rather belong to a list of Trail-interested folks
>discussing serious Trail matters as the main topic.

I don't buy your "reason" for distrusting the members of AT-L. You aren't 
the only one here who's expressed an unpopular opinion and no one has come 
to any harm for holding their opinion. Most of the objections to your posts 
are not in reference to your positions but to your erroneous 
characterizations of other list members.

   As for the list you wish AT-L was instead of the list it is, I've 
suggested in the past that you go out and start it. I suggest that again. 
Set up your dream list on Yahoo Groups. It's free. You can be the 
moderator, set the tone any way you want and limit the discussion to the 
subject(s) you want. Of course if you insist on berating everyone who joins 
the way you have berated folks here I predict that it won't last long. JMO

Saunterer AKA Jim Bullard of West Stockholm, NY (just for the record).