[Aredubjay]

Thank you, Doug. Many of us share your feelings. I took a hiatus myself, and considering NEVER returning, but, I am back with a vengeance. There is no need to have this forum destroyed due an onslaught of brainless, boyish bravado. Somehow, I hear my mother's voice imparting her wisdom to me in this situation. Her words were wise and true: "Don't feed it and it will go away."

Those of us who have worked hard to build something good for the SVX community . . . something different from the testosterone laden insult-fests that others call "forums" . . . something that we can be proud of, and have donated time, monies, hours of our lives and have spent almost every waking hour here . . . who have developed relationships, yes, even friendships through the ether . . . should not and will not put up with it. Yes, what some of the newbies don't understand is that this isn't some "public forum" that was spawned from a dot-com giant. It was started, funded and continues to be maintained by SVXers. Yes -- BY SVXERS FOR SVXERS.

Hearts will turn, so stomachs won't have to, or, I'd just as soon go back to Yahoo and fight the ads. But, for now, I'll do whatever is within my power to see that this place returns to the friendly, welcoming, respectful community it once was.


My warning is (and, yes, I said warning), if there are any posts that are disrespectful to the occasion of commemorating last year's event, I will personally delete them. I would hate to spend my entire day "baby sitting" this forum, but, I will not have the memory of this occasion sullied by pettit upstarts. If you want to show your respects in a kind and positive way, please feel free to do so. If you don't, then, do not respond to the posts of those who do. Notice, there were no question marks in that statement. Don't misunderstand. That wasn't a "will you please." Short and sweet: say something respectful, or say nothing at all.