There are a few things that I believe in above pretty much all else. First is that communities cannot function well unless principles are placed before personalities. The second is that when I am wrong to make what amends I can promptly and openly.
A couple of days ago a friend of mine and contributor to this forum contacted me enormously upset about what she believed was a new policy regarding temporal limits on the ability of authors to edit and/or delete their entries. It was related to me that her protests resulted in her being banned from Susan's. Well that was more than enough to get my juices going. For those of you who do not know my history, and that includes most everyone. I have been an on again off again activist within the anti-war and human rights movements in the United States for over forty years. I have written for alternative newspapers, participated in organizing people at the grass roots level, and done other activities that have occasionally resulted in putting myself in harms way and on two occasions ended in being detained for short periods of time.
So after verifying that her account was no longer available and that the policies she referred to existed I posted here, in violation of the rules that I agreed to, an angry retort. It lasted less than ten minutes before it was taken down which was about what I expected. But that really isn't the point.
This is a community dedicated to providing a voice for the disenfranchised and lost.
Susans.org saves lives. I better than most know what it takes to build and maintain public facing web sites such as this. If I chose, I could configure a Linux box; install an Oracle database; configure the firewall and establish the necessary security protocols; write an Apex and Java Script front end; use controlled vocabularies and web crawler to collect relevant news; develop administrative and user roles; establish spam and abuse filters; and ten thousand dollars and a few thousand hours later roll out something that is a shadow of what is provided here.
And I, with hubris and lacking respect chose knowingly to publicly criticize, and to do so with incomplete information that I eventually discovered was exaggerated and in part incorrect. In doing so I offended and disappointed Cindy, Susan, and I do not know who else. What was their response? They slapped me on the wrist and forgave me. I feel a little ashamed.
I am one of a thousand voices here. If I provide any solace to the troubled or hope to the despairing I am glad, but it is only a tiny fragment of the power of the remarkable community that is encompassed by the men and women who participate here. We have lost voices recently that have been instrumental in my development as a transgender person because of a perception of discourtesy. That I should in any way contribute to discord or distrust is both stupid and wrong. We are a body politic, and only by consenting to the rules of civility can we fulfill a positive good. No one, and certainly not me, can or ought to cavalierly and arrogantly question the work that has been done for fun and for free.
So Cindy, Susan and to anyone else I have offended I apologize. I wish everyone who comes, lurks, learns, teaches here fair winds on their journey to authentic lives, and I hope to meet you all here, and with luck elsewhere too.
Respectfully
Julie Anne Blair.
