[AT] Back

[Ray Gansz]

I am very glad you are back.

Robinson wrote:

> I want to make this statement with a warning then I am ready to drop 
> it. It is the end of my part of political discussion and it applies to 
> supporters of BOTH political parties.
> OK, I walked away and figured I would take a few days to cool down. 
> Guess what, I haven’t cooled down… The more I think about it the 
> angrier I get. I don’t know what has been said since I left as I 
> signed off right away. Spencer did cc his list message to me. Spencer 
> is a nicer guy than I am. When you do things that are that much of a 
> slap in the face to him as some of the spiteful crap that a few guys 
> sneak in on this list he mostly just suffers in silence. He puts a LOT 
> of work and money into maintaining this list and yet “some” of you 
> repay him by “intentionally and knowingly” breaking the few rules he 
> laid down. What is the point??? This party politics crap is just the 
> most obvious part of it. What is the point??? Do you really honestly 
> think that by posting your politics that you are going to convert 
> somebody? No way in hell… What is the point??? Do you honestly think 
> that you are contributing something of value to the list that the 
> majority of the list wants to see? Surely you can't think that. What 
> is the point??? Like I said Spencer is a nicer guy than I am. I own 12 
> public list totaling around 2,000 members and I can tell you without 
> hesitation that members on my lists that intentionally post stuff 
> specifically forbidden (almost always politics) very suddenly find 
> that they are no longer members. There is a lot more work to 
> maintaining a busy list than most might think and the right of “free 
> speech no matter what”, does not apply to a list that I operate and 
> work on everyday. The majority of list members appreciate a “clean 
> running” list. I never, however; challenge a discussion that is just 
> off topic, even way off. This list has gone down in membership because 
> of the reasons Spencer outlined. Last I looked it was down to about 
> 200. Much less than half of what it once was. One of my simple little 
> list will soon be three times larger than this one. I absolutely do 
> not tolerate party politics or any kind of bigotry on my lists and 
> their membership just keeps growing. Most thinking people don’t want it.
> I have decided that I am going to come back on the list… I have almost 
> a decade here and I have decided in my angry stubbornness that I am 
> not going to be crowded out. I am though going to have a new mantra - 
> “on the ATIS antique tractor list we don’t do politics”… A couple of 
> you might say that this isn’t my list and you are right. It is 
> Spencer’s list and he can even remove me if he chooses. It is however 
> my list too just like it is your list but it is also the list of all 
> of the other members as well. Like I said I have almost a decade 
> invested in making a lot of good friends (and a couple of enemies) on 
> this list. I may start making a few more enemies because as a 
> concerned long time member if “any” of you keep posting party politics 
> don’t expect to sneak it in. Expect to find me “in your face” and 
> calling you to task openly demanding to know what silly pompous brain 
> fart made you think we (the rest of us) want to see it. Spencer got so 
> disgusted not long ago that he even threatened to pull the plug if you 
> recall. Didn’t soak in at all did it. The same will apply at Portland. 
> Yes, you have the right to free speech but I have the right to most 
> loudly and uncivilly declare that I want no part of it from either 
> side and I am going to start doing so. I had almost decided to just 
> forget about Portland but I do plan to be there and in full stubborn 
> mode. If anyone starts spouting their party politics in my face I may 
> just become very unpleasant to be around. I do not need your 
> leadership in political decisions whether I agree with you or not. I 
> personally read, listen and otherwise study and make a carefully 
> analyzed decision on my vote. I, and most others do not appreciate the 
> open implication that if we disagree with your narrow position even a 
> tiny bit then we must be complete fools. Most of you that think I need 
> your advice would vote for Godzilla if he ran on your party’s ticket. 
> I don’t call that thinking.
> The number of nice emails I received surprised me. Several indicated 
> that they were on the verge of leaving the list because of this crap. 
> Several have asked me to start an antique tractor list… I don’t want 
> to do that. It would be a simple thing to do but it would never be 
> ATIS. There is no reason that we (the majority of list members, not 
> necessarily always the most vocal) can’t take hold of this list and 
> turn it around by refusing to tolerate offenses as a group instead of 
> just waiting for Spencer to just handle it for us. We can also help it 
> by not jumping on the “me too” band wagon just because someone said 
> something political that we agree with when we know deep inside that 
> it just doesn’t belong here. I was talking to a list member at a show 
> this summer and he said “you know _________ is generally OK but gosh I 
> wish he would drop the politics.
> I have no intention of letting the few political zealots take over 
> this list and ruin it to the point that the plug gets pulled because 
> of them and thus depriving me of the many good friends I have made 
> here. If that means that I have to become the unofficial list bully so 
> be it… Be warned…If you don't like it get over it. This list is too 
> important to too many of us to let the lack of self control of a few 
> destroy it for everybody.
> I meant what I said when I said that several of you owed Spencer an 
> apology. I hope that he received some…
> You have "my" apology Spencer if this is too far over the line.
> BTW Spencer, Thanks.
>
> OK, I'm done. Is anybody doing anything tractor-wise?
>
>
>
>
> "farmer"
>
> I am the list owner of the following public email lists:
> Allis_Chalmers
> Budget_muzzleloading
> Cheap-Shelters
> Cheapcomputer
> Cheapcritters
> CheapPower
> FrugalFunWoodworking
> FrugalRuralLiving
> NoNonsenseHorse
> Smallfarmshop
> truck-blab
>
> Some are pretty quiet, some are very busy. Member counts range from 32 
> to 570.
> All are on Yahoo Groups and can be found with a search at:
> <http://groups.yahoo.com>
>
> Also a newly created one called "100 Acre Farming" targeting folks who 
> operate farms from about 75 acres to 150 acres. Those are not iron 
> clad numbers. Midwestern farms in this class require a full line of 
> farm equipment unlike much smaller farms but have only a little in 
> common with the much larger farms common today.
>
>
> Francis Robinson
> Central Indiana, USA
> robinson at svs.net
>
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