On the topic of trolls--which I gather was on your mind when you posted this, oh green one, I thought to offer that perhaps David/Dan need to be thinking of the overall tenor of the board and how that reflects on him/them. If the unreasoning screeds of racists, just as a hypothetical example, are allowed here, then does that tarnish the reputation(s) of those who allow those messages to remain? My father often lectured on the topic of avoiding "guilt by association," back in the days when I could turn no one away, and I must say, there is a certain attractiveness to the idea.

Then again--maybe trollishness is more of a temporary (if recurrent) kind of thing, rather than a label to be applied to a whole person. Maybe some people have moments of troll-hood that can be compared to the epileptic seizures some people are prone to. Much flurry, even moments of danger, but ultimately a temporal phenomenon. (Someone once advised me to stick a wallet in the mouth to avoid tongue biting . . . is that a metaphor?)

Is there such a thing as a seizure of synapse that will not abate until a message board has been notified?

I don't know what to do about the situation, except to do what I generally try to do, which is more or less remain on the sidelines, my line in the water, waiting for something interesting to take the bobber down.

That's my roundabout way of saying that I liked your post, and I'm glad you're sticking around. Here's something for you, to be read on another Spring day:

I am only he who sets the course in motion.

All who go in beauty will resurrect in beauty . . .

Our will is only a gusting wind that turns us and urges us, for in our most fervent longings we are a field in bloom.

. . . and then I can only keep silent and breathe--slow, deep breaths.

I simply experiment, an endless seeker with no past at my back.

--Emerson _________________________________

I wish you well,

Herring405