It is about time that some rationality occurs. 

Ward, as IC, has regularly offended many of us, but from my point of view,
he has more than a few times offended me. I, somewhat (un)reasonably, take
offense at this. He has more than once threatened to close zone 5. If he
does, which, as he is no longer IC, he can no longer do, I would in no
circumstances join zone 2 as long as Ward is its ZC. He also went the
incorrect route when an offensive message was posted in the Fn_Sysop echo,
demanding a ZCC vote on what to do about the message. True, the message was
extremely offense, especially to certaian communities, and perhaps was even
illegal in certain countries, but if Ward was offended by that message, he
should himself have followwed the correct pocedure, and if he wasn't, then
he should have advised the complainant to follow that same procedure. I
pointed out in that same ZCC forum, that the first step for anyone who is
offended by a message in an echo, is to report to the responsible
moderator, and then see what action is taken. Ward actually thanked me for
that response, and I did not need to vote on that matter, and it died a
natural death.

I was pre-warned by my predessor as ZC about Ward, but I decided to let his
actions since my ascension to the ZC post speak for themselves, and I have
been here as ZC since 1998. I do not want the IC post even if pressed into
the position. I prefer to lurk more than write. However, each week, I do a
post in the Ham echo. 

Ward's actions have spoken, and I have threatened a PC against him. When I
joined Fidonet in 1989 the edict was 'do not annoy, and do not be annoyed'.
Many posters in many echos totally disregard such a preposterous idea, but
that idea works for me. Many are beginning to seriously annoy me,
especially Ward and Alex.

On the issue of the lastest saga in ZCC, I have the following to say:-
Ward accused Bin Li (Z6C) and myself of being puppets, but no clue was
given as to who the puppeteer was. He did this on several occasions, and I
objected to the idea. Renato (Z4C) took up the same baton, and I called him
Ward's puppet, whereupon he, Renato, turned on me and voted, much to my
surprise, against Ward. However, by that time, there were already 4 votes
against Ward, thus the outcome of the vote was not affected, and would not
have been affected even if he had cast his vote otherwise.

In life, in most fields of endeavour, the most vociferous people are those
that have objections to what is happening, and this is usually good. The
people with the most reason are usually quiet and speak up when the
vociferous ones have annoyed them sufficiently to raise their ire to
unacceptable levels, and this is precisely what is happening here in the IC
echo, in ZCC and in Fn_Sysop. 

In the Vlist - Witt case, the appeals process went on way too far, the
merits of the case had long been lost, and thus my vote was to sustain the
original decision, simply because the incident was raised from a net issue,
to a regional issue, to a zonal issue and finally to an international one.
I do not like Vlist's attitude, simply as a direct result of that escalated
PC. I do not like Ward's attitude for similar and other reasons. ( Is Vlist
going to try to take over from Ward?? ). 

I also maintain that the *C structure should be a co-ordinating structure,
the posts are called co-ordinators, and not a command structure, as the
posts are not command posts as in a military structure. I object very
strongly to the autocratic (someone said royal) manner that has been
exhibited by Ward. If the zone 2 sysops are happy with him, so be it, that
is a zone 2 matter, if they are not, it is still a zone 2 matter, but as IC
it was a matter to be dealt with at th ZCC level as defined by policy, and
it was appropriately dealt with. The ZCC has not and can not strip Ward of
his ZC role, it has simply removed him as IC.

Be peacefull and reassuring,
Richard.
N7106C
Z5C
peerrk{at}safrica.com


--- Msged/Q 1.60