Fred, Very nice letter, and you know me and my opinions. I am going to jump in this frey (sp?), where I normally don't. #1 there is no denying that the Johnson County website was very good. I've always said that no matter how I feel about the person(s), I will give credit where credit is due. #2 It is my gut feeling that those two were heading away from us anyways. The only time that they had participated in anything to do with TNGenWeb was in the negative. They always indicated that they were the Johnson County TN Genealogy Hosts, but never acknowledged, unless it was in the negative, that they were part of TNGenWeb. #3 It is a shame that Pam got caught up in the banishment. I have indicated that to several folks, may be not to them, and I was probably remiss in this. I think the main reason I did not send anything to them as that my messages to them seem to be sent everywhere and yonder without my permission, and then it gets quoted out of context, not every time, but enough to make me skiddish. Also, since Mary and I didn't and don't see eye to eye, I felt no matter what I wrote to them, that she would take offense over. In other words, why should I waste bandwidth. #3 It is true that Pam could not use our CC mailing lists, but felt that if anything of importance was sent out over the lists, that the County was represented since Mary was subscribed. I was never asked by Mary if it would be okay to forward a message from Pam to these lists, and I would have agreed to do so -- since I wasn't totally in agreement with her banishment. Did I write a note to those two to that effect? Nope, sure didn't -- as they haven't posted to the CC mailing lists in a long time, and the thought had not occurred to me. Fred said: > None of us really like to hear criticisms of our actions and the voices of > the dissenter can be very annoying. Yet one synonym for the word > dissenter is "protestant." All of us genealogists know what that > means. Dissidence is in our blood. It is our right! Our forefathers > earned that right for us. I agree. However, there is a way of voicing your opinion and the taking of responsibility for your actions. You can voice your concerns without critisizing a person directly; you can voice your concerns without calling others names and you can voice your concerns as you would want someone to voice their concerns about you and or your ideas. None of the 3 ways of voicing concerns were used by three of the banished folks, and sometimes Pam (but not always). This time Pam was guilty by association, if not by deed. Mary Katzman and Pam Cresswell have contributed an awful lot to the internet genealogy world, if not to TNGenWeb, then to the county that they hosted. It is a shame that both of them let the politics get in the way in what our main reason for being here was originally. It didn't need to be, it was their choice, and they are where they are today because of it. I wish them well in their future endeavors. I wrote this note, as a person, as a county host with the TNGenWeb project, and how I feel about the situation. I am not writing this as the State Coordinator nor as a member of the USGenWeb advisory board. Bridgett On 1 Feb 99, at 12:59, Fred Smoot wrote: > Political! > > The Delete Button is your option. > > Mary and Pam, > > You have done it now. However, I rather expected it - if for no other > reason than you need to devote your efforts to ALHN. >