I wish you all the best...

This dispute has a sort of dream like A Christmas Carol quality to it. It is both nightmarish and introspective, although there is a hope of redemption. We all have a bit of Scrooge in us don't we? If we don't end this, the not so tiny limping rare clumber might not be with us next year or we might end up like Marley. I do not want to be responsible for that. I truly wish all of you well, including and especially my twin and her consort. Let's drink of the cup of good will.

I wish we all could laugh and forget this. But obviously for some, too much has been said. And that is fine. Separations happen and people move on with their lives. Bukowski said it's possible to love a human being if you don't know them too well. I do not completely believe that, but it is partially true. I assure you all wrecking anyone's place is not and was not my intention (and I doubt it is the intention of most of the others that my twin and consort deem to be the "Dirty Dozen"). Poking fun at pretensions and hypocrisy, well I am certainly guilty of that. I am sorry if I hurt anyone's feelings. Don't take me seriously. I am just a cow.

The one commentator who (in my opinion) truly acted in bad faith was J. And the comment in the commetary policy thread today who made the analogy of a dangerous neighborhood vs. a tyranical HOA community was a good one (I am sorry if I forgot who made it, but it was a good comment). Anyone who has blog with open comments has to deal with that.

There is a middle way. J should not have been deleted for being stupid, but for actively attacking other commentators. His were personal attacks, not just disagreements over ideas--and they were repeated all the time. J was not clever, or funny, or interesting. He was mostly boring with occasional unacceptable bouts of abuse and creepiness. And it is okay to disagree with me. Again, I am just a cow.

But that is what could have been. It did not happen that way. It is time to move on. I truly, in all sincerity, wish you all both success and happiness in the future.


Update:  Not to be stalkerish, but I did agree with these comments and who knows how long they will stay up over at my twin's place.  So I post them here.

Steve Koch said...
J was funny the first (very) few times you read his comments but the never ending insults get old fast. Personally the guy did not seem that smart to me but was just talented at insulting people. He frequently knew nothing about the topic on which he was commenting (for example, J knows next to nothing about climate, yet he still pretended like he does).
My interpretation of J's commenting is that by insulting, he can hijack threads without having to know anything about the topic being discussed. It would be quite easy to write a program that would simulate J's comments because his comments are not context sensitive (with the exception of identifying who to target for his relentless abuse).
Any comment moderation policy that permits J's comments is pretty much no moderation at all.
OTOH, getting rid of Trooper is a big mistake. Having said that, Trooper is way, way better on his own blog than he was on Althouse.
12/22/11 6:16 PM

I agree Trooper is funnier at his own place.  I think this is an opportunity for him.   

Harsh Pencil said...

As the Irish would say, because they don't like to take the name of the Lord in vain, "Oh for Fuck's sake!"
TY and EBL aren't trying to destroy this blog and aren't stalking or acting creepy. They are ridiculing you two. Some may find this completely misplaced and see this as ridiculing people who have acted perfectly reasonably, and thus not see the ridicule as funny or apt. Others, including me, see it as funny and well deserved. That doesn't mean I hate you, want to destroy you, want to stalk you, or want to destroy this blog. It's just different strokes for different folks.
But holy moly, the very act of not being able to see the difference between someone ridiculing you and someone creepily stalking you is itself quite worthy of ridicule. And the "does his wife know how he's treating poor little me" stuff is also worthy of ridicule.

As always, your blog, so your rules. I believe in private property. But that doesn't mean someone who thinks the new rules are stupid and you are acting weird and paranoid is somehow acting in bad faith for saying so.
12/22/11 6:24 PM

 I agree "your blog, your rules."  Very good post.  I am mocking them, but I have no bad feelings towards them and certainly no bad faith.  Think of it more like a Friars Club Roast.  Thanks for getting that HP.   


Update II:

Crack said... [in response to HP's post]
 Exactly. It's my experience that Ann and Meade don't see what they don't want to see, won't address what they don't want to address, and - like Glenn Reynolds - because they have a platform and sycophants, continue to think it's O.K. to address concerns from only their viewpoint - like Ann's feminist take on Trooper's behavior which, from here and without talking to him, sounds completely cockeyed. (A man who owns a women's clothing store can criticize a woman without it being weird - especially if that woman does stuff that pretty much invites criticism.) As Shouting Thomas would no doubt say, stop with the feminist shit and look at yourself. 
It makes me wonder who the "Dirty Dozen" are, too, and why. I've only tasted Mary's venom once, and get that, but Trooper? And is ST on the list? Why? because he insisted, rightly, the feminist/gay crap can be bullshit? It can - as bullshit as listening to Al Sharpton on race - but are Ann and meade so beholden to it they'll punish others because it's they who are wearing blinders? ...

12/22/11 8:40 PM

Ann and Meade do not have to worry about outside forces with "bad faith" motives ruining their blog.  They are doing a fine job of that with their narcissistic paranoia!  Still, I hope it is just a temporary madness on their part.  They have their blog, I have my little pasture, Crack has his place, and TY has his.  It is all good.