From: quirk@pioneer.unm.edu (Gym Z. Quirk)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.pern
Subject: A public apology (And stuff about ATWOP in pback.)
Date: 6 Oct 92 01:23:47 GMT
Organization: Nit-Pickers for a Better Tomorow Afternoon

[For those of you who do not care about the PHIL wars, please bear
with me.  I wish to express my thoughts on the entire matter after
time spent consideration the course of events.  The stuff about ATWOP
is at the end of this article.]

Phil,

I would like to extend my apologies for flaming you on this newsgroup
on several occasions.  I submit the following explanations for my
actions.  I do not expect this to absolve anything; I only wish to make
my thoughts on the issue of 'heated debate' known.

Please, note.  This is *my* recollection of events.  I make no claim
that they are the 'absolute' truth.  I would be most disappointed if
you chose to disparage what I freely admit to be my own views.  If you
wish to respond, please try to keep 'loaded' words at a minimum.  I
shall attempt to do the same in my narrative.  Any omissions in the
record are unintentional, and accusations to the contrary will, I
expect, reflect poorly on you.

As things started up, I braced myself for another bout of 'The Great
Floating Usenet Homosexuality Flamewar' (TGFUHF).  I have obesrved these
things in the past, most recently when it flared up in rec.arts.startrek.*.
As I watched events progress, I was mildly surprised to note that the
usual vehmence associated with my past encouters with TGFUHF was
missing.  Alas, that was not to be for long. ;-)

My first response to you was to answer some inqueries concerning the
construction and layout of the Weyrs.  I noticed others making similar
points.

Your response was, to put it mildly, something of a slap in the face
when you declared all of my carefully researched points concerning
accessibility of weyrs (i.e. the only known weyrs with access from the
ground are those of queen dragons, and that the others required some
form of draconic assistance) to be irrelevant.  I found your tone
abusive and patronizing; it seemed to invite similarly worded
responses.

As an asside, I had recently taken Th'ron to task for one of his
posts, having decided to indulge in some mild flaming to 'keep my hand
in'.  (Last year, I made the '91 Usenet Olympics on my Heated
exchanges concerning the outcome of the first rec.arts.sf-lovers
reorganization vote.  I consider it a perverse honor. ;-)

Given the heated responses you had started gathering, and the fact
that I agree with the 'majority viewpoint', I tried once more to
explain the data I had gathered, and included a cheap shot at the
end.

Your response reinforced my growing opinion that you did not wish to
actually discuss the topic, but only wished to doggedly push your own
view.  I cast asside all semblance of civility and proceeded to flame.
For what it's worth, you gave as good as you got in your response.  (That
is a perverse compliment of sorts.  ;-)

From then on, I was primarily an observer.  What I saw was a person
who refused to consider the evidence brought to counter his assertion.
The specifics do not really matter, it was the (IMO) 'pig-headed
denial' that I found annoying.  The constant accusations of
'intolerance' also did little for your case in my eyes.

One thing that still irks me about that accusation is the implications
that I had somehow been 'brainwashed' into this belief.  I had come to
the same conclusion that most of the others did long before I started
my association with alt.fan.pern and PernMUSH.  Your cries of 'You are
suppressing my beliefs!' (paraphrased from several posts) struck me as
whiney.  Also, your insistance on responding to *every* post on the
topic led me to conclude that you obviously had an axe to grind,
despite protestations to the contrary.

I contributed one or two cheap shots before Anne McCaffrey came in
with her declaration.  For the record, I feel that she waffled on the
issue and find that disappointing.  Still, she is the expert on these
matters and I was satisfied to let the matter (of mating flights and
associated sexual activity) rest.

Alass, net.delay provided more responses to earlier articles and you
kept on plugging away with responses.  This worked to maintain the
feeling that you were being unreasnable about the entire matter and was
unwilling to let it lie.

Finally, your reputation as an pig-headed fool (waranted or not)
manifested itself on one of the MU*s.  The log was posted, and you
went on and flamed away.  It struck me that you did not fully
understand the dynamics of the situation, so I chipped in with the
Pot&Kettle spiel.

To the other readers of the newsgroup, I appologize for the duration
of the flamewar and my part in it.

To you, Phil, I appologize for the lack of restraint which prompted me
to respond to those posts in the tone chosen.  I do *not* apologize
for my views on the subject.

Hoping to put this puppy to bed as quickly as possible...

Taki Kogoma (Known to most as Capt. Gym Z. Quirk)


ObPern: According to the lastest "Hailing Frequencies" newsletter from
Waldenbooks, _All the Weyrs of Pern_ will be released in paperback in
November.  Nothing was said about the Pern Anthology, and It would
appear that the 25th aniversary will not have any special observation
(Asside from what *we* chose to do. ;-)
-- 
Capt. Gym Z. Quirk  (Known to some as Taki Kogoma)  quirk@pioneer.unm.edu
 I'll get a life when someone demonstrates that it would be superior to
                          what I have now...
Newsgroups: alt.fan.pern