Mr. Gouger – think before you pull this one.

Dear Alan,


In the last twenty-four hours you have expunged one topic that I started, and closed another that asked about the one that was removed. All this on the Birthday of the country that champions freedom of speech. You hinted that my credibility was in doubt, something that you gracefully recanted a short while later. When I challenged you to replace my post, you said you could not bring back a post that you had removed. Then without giving me a chance to reply, you wished all a happy Fourth, (same to you), and closed the topic. You could have offered me the opportunity to replace the post.


By now you are asking, ‘where the hell is this going?’ Well, I’ll tell you this topic is not about the Panamorph. It is about something far more important: Truth.


Alan, I understand how much pressure Shawn and the company are under right now. (I have recently offered to help solve some of the problems if I can talk to Shaw directly.) But when you try to control dialogue, suppress reasonable levels of anger, quash inquiries by those that are entitled to ask tough questions, then you have started down a path where Truth becomes your enemy.


The Truth is funny. It is ruthless, and can be used as a weapon inflicting great harm. It often hides when most needed. It is both formidable and fierce, and yet…, and yet… it is pathetically fragile. It wanes when one person takes on the responsibility to be its protector. It starves without the food of dissent. And it thrives where there is the chaos that comes so often with freedom. Truth may not make a comfortable friend, but it makes a God-awful enemy.


You’re making a mistake in the way you are running the forum Alan. Use what has happened here to make the forum better for all, and set an example for other moderators.


First, admit to your friends at the forum that you are too close to the Panamorph project to be objective. (As an aside, you may be close to the project, and be perfectly objective. But when you control discussion of a topic with the right to edit and censer, and are you are personally involved with the product or services under consideration, you leave the appearance of non-objectivity.)


Second, appoint a neutral moderator for all topics involving the Panamorph. By so doing, you set a high standard for all moderators who are responsible for topics in which they have an interest, either financial, or by way of friendship.


One of the remarkable things about the Truth, is that though often subdued, it always comes out. Help keep the door open so that it might shed its harsh light upon all of us. I acknowledge how difficult this is to accomplish, as being responsible for what people are allowed to say is an excruciatingly difficult task, one that should humble the best of men.


If this post remains, I will have nothing more to say about this topic, or the Panamorph. You shall have the last word.



Regards,


Sore Eyes


PS. In your note to me, you said one of your reasons for pulling my post is that people were tired reading about the subject. There are thousands of posts on this site. Tell them to do what I do; don’t read the ones that don’t interest you.