I am sitting here this morning yet again shaking my head and what I
see going on here on the LBNA talk list. But most of all I am
dumbfounded and find myself in a bit of a conundrum. As a moderator
on this list I would like nothing more than to try and help all of
the members have a pleasant experience here on the talk list. I
don't comprehend the desire of some people to be jerks to be mean
and to slam down others or anything of the like.

But instead of sitting here telling you that you are all wrong or
agreeing with the ones I thought were right, I thought I would just
give a first hand example of how this sort of thing effects people
in everyday life. Because you see my fellow letter boxers, I
believe that part of the problem is that it is so easy to do or say
something in this medium without giving thought and consideration to
who reads it or how it makes them feel or how they respond to it,
because the truth of the matter is that you are highly unlikely to
ever have to face them.

I thought perhaps, just for a moment if someone saw what this sort
of thing does to the people involved they might think twice before
hitting the send button.

Iron`Bear and I are personal friends of Team Rayvenhaus; actually we
are such good friends that we consider each other family. I don't
know about the rest of you, but friendships like that are important
to me, they are rare to come by this day in age. When I introduced
Steve and Kris to letterboxing it was with a vast desire to share a
hobby that I absolutely love with two people that are very special
in my life.

Since doing that I have to say that I am nothing but sorry that I
did so. I'm sorry to Steve and Kris that I introduced them to
something that would cause so much venom and hostility in their
lives. In less than a year of being involved in letterboxing, they
have had to deal with people hating them for their "enthusiasm", a
mirage of hate mail because they accidentally used the name "Freight
Fest" without realizing the repercussions, people boycotting events
because they might simply be there. The saddest part is, I went to
Steve at one point and asked him to kick back, to let things lay and
let the dust settle so to speak. But the reality is that this list
won't even allow my friend to do that. Instead its as if the "Anti-
Steve" party wants to sit there and nit pick at every word that
comes out of his mouth in and effort to find something wrong with it.

What Brian said is right; everyone that lives in this wonderful
country of ours has freedom to do what they wish in their pursuit of
happiness. If you want to be known as a jerk, and be mean and nasty
to people, then you go right ahead. But I think you should realize
how your posts affect people. Let's forget for a moment Team
Rayvenhaus let's talk about their kids. Their innocent children
who have done nothing to you, I know for a fact that the Rayvenkids
have asked their parents on more than one occasion why everyone
hates them, they don't understand, and what did they do so wrong?
They didn't do anything, their Dad stepped on a few toes and now the
whole family pays a price, but why did the toes get stepped on in
the first place? Because some people didn't like their enthusiasm,
they didn't like Steve's sense of humor, is promoting his website. I
can't even tell you how many times someone has said to me "Gee
thanks pandora for introducing Team Rayvenhaus to this hobby." Or
how many people tell me that they curse me for doing so. It's
absolutely ridiculous, and downright hurtful, to me, to them, to
Iron`Bear and to their children.

What gets me is that letterboxing is something so beautiful, so
natural, so family oriented, and yet, here on this talk list, it
becomes a nasty free for all of constant bickering and putting
people down.

When I signed on as a moderator it was because I wanted to help put
a stop to some of this nonsense. I wanted to help make this talk
list a better place. And to those of you who have stood up and
voiced you're opinion about how hurtful and venomous this list gets;
I extend my personal apology that I have been unsuccessful in doing
so. I wish there was more I could do, however the common consensus
on how this talk list should be ran is to let everyone do and say
what they want and just keep the porn and spam out, so that is what
I do now.

I've gotten several emails from members of the list asking me why I
don't get the moderators to do something about all of the tension
and negativity, the truth is, that isn't what the moderators are
there for, nor do they want to be. They don't want to be referring
the childish fights going on in the sandbox of letterboxing. What I
would suggest to all of you that are tired of the way the list is
going, that cannot take the negativity and slapping and biting any
longer is to write to the moderators yourself, privately and let
them know how you feel and request that the modicum and demeanor of
the list be change by instituting stricter moderation and rules.
You can reach the moderators and list owner at letterbox-usa-owner
at yahoogroups.com. For those of you that don't like that suggest, I
suggest you too email the moderators with your preferences for list
management, no need to start flaming and attacking me for it
publicly where everyone else gets to see you be mean and nasty, just
address it to me privately at hispandora at phlsystems.com and you
can be as mean and nasty as you want to be.

Again I extend my heartfelt apology to those that would like a
kinder, gentler list. I wish I could have done more to try and help
reach that goal.

pandora{I`B}