Good afternoon everyone. First of all I would like to say that I am totally overwhelmed by the response from many of you over my decision to no longer participate in the Forum. It has made me feel quite humble and has restored my faith in human nature. So, thank you all for that.
I had been ‘lurking’ on this site for several months before I finally mustered up the courage to enter the weekly clue writing competitions. I’m afraid that I don’t normally participate in the other aspects of the forum (i.e. helping others with clues etc.) but I do derive immense pleasure from producing and submitting clues. Therefore, I don’t tend to read threads that are not ‘Peer Review / Clueless’ related.
However, due to the furore over a certain ‘term’ posted in Clueless this week I have taken an interest in other threads. In retrospect, maybe I shouldn’t have.
The ‘term’ didn’t bother me one bit but it obviously upset some other Forum users. As it did, Ash and his team felt that some action had to be taken. I am not at all sure that the response was entirely appropriate in its content (sorry Norah) but I did feel that it was more or less justified as another Forum member had previously complained about Julian and Sandy’s clue content / comments. What I did object to was the use of ‘petty blackmail’ in response. I believe that Ash and his team provide an excellent service for people like us and all for free, so they should be commended for it and not vilified. As they say ‘you can’t please all of the people – all of the time’.
I realise that this will not sit well with some and I entirely respect that, but that was the reason for my somewhat hasty decision.
In a lighter note, I was privileged to serve in the Royal Navy for nearly 30 years and will always remember joining up at HMS Ganges in Shotley Gate – to be greeted with ‘Smile, you’re in Tolly Cobbold country’. So Trevor’s comment did take me back. I am also an engineer, we are renowned for poor grammar.