Posted by Suz Brockmann on 11/24/2007, 10:06:38
Message modified by board administrator 11/27/2007, 23:32:47
I've spent the past day away from the board for a number of reasons:
1) because certain posts have offended me to a point that my blood boiled (and posting in anger is never good)
2) because I wanted to reflect on how best to deal with this without engaging this poster in further conversation.
See, I've reached the "talk to the hand" point that I posted about below re: Jason and Jules -- where I know nothing I say will change her mind, and where exposing myself to the toxicity of her beliefs is not helpful to me.
I wrote very few pages of INTO THE FIRE yesterday as I spent waaaay too much time struggling with what to do.
But here's the deal -- I pay to keep this board ad free. It's the only place on the internet where I feel comfortable to regularly visit and post. I think of it as my virtual living room. Which makes you, dear readers, my guests here. And I love providing a forum where we can meet and talk and make friends and do good things that make the world a better place. (See cookie drive above!)
Had this poster come into my real living room and said some of the things she's posted here, I like to think I would have quietly escorted her to the door. But I suspect there would have been shouting involved. Because some things are worth shouting about.
And after she'd left my home, she would not have been allowed back in.
So I've done that here. She'll have to find another place on the web to socialize, because she's no longer welcome here.
To make it clear to other and future posters:
Virulent anti-gay propaganda spouting homophobes are not welcome here.
Hate-mongerers of any kind are not welcome here.
Nazis and neo-nazis are not welcome here.
Serial killers should stay away, too, please. (Best to be extra polite when dealing with serial killers)
People who torture animals for fun and profit, ditto without the please.
I'm sure there are some toxic people that I'm leaving off this list.
I don't have a problem if you "disapprove" of homosexuality, although I continue to think you and your disapproval are rather absurd. To me, it's the same as you disapproved of my being tall. Just please don't post things on my board that you KNOW will offend me.
And I'm not talking about my books or characters or stories. Please feel free to slam away -- I don't get offended by honest opinions about my books. There are a lot of readers out there, and were I attempting to please all of you all the time, I would be writing some really terrible stuff.
For the record, I've removed one of this person's recent posts, because she linked to two hate-mongering websites that spread anti-gay lies. (They actually have the audacity to say that Matthew Sheppard's death wasn't a hate crime because the two men who beat him and tied him to a fence in Laramie, WY, and left him to die, didn't do that because they hated him. Perhaps they only hated his homosexuality...)
Okay, oops, a little of my anger has leaked out.
I'm going to go write my next book, which you can all feel free to boycott or read -- which ever you wish to do.
Thank you for your time and attention.
-- Suz
P.S. This message has been revised to remove the poster's name. Now that her problematic posts have scrolled off the board's page 1, I thought it was time to let her fade into anonymity.