Part of my problem with your and Geogre s request is that if I accept it and follow it strictly to the letter it would be pointless and if I accept it and follow it in spirit it would be cruel as well as undermining of my major work in Wikipedia As I mentioned above I rarely visit the arbcom IRC channel which itself is not heavily used even by members of the ArbCom swearing it off is largely a meaningless act I could readily stop participating in the mailing list because I would essentially get the same information via other channels You seem to think that this is the only backchannel that exists or that I participate in It s not It s not even the most important one For me to accede to the spirit of your demand would require that inter alia I cut myself off from personal communication with people like James and Kat people I count as friends because they would likely continue to discuss the same issues with me that we currently discuss from time to time on the arbcom list my opinions would still enter the discussion just not as directly Furthermore one of the major resources I use for collaboration with the Foundation and specifically with Danny and Brad which by necessity is a wholly private resource includes James and Kat as regular participants Withdrawing from that particular resource would hamper my ability to provide assistance to Brad and Danny which represents probably the bulk of what I do on the English Wikipedia these days and the part that I find most fulfilling I also frequently participate in backchannel conversation with Kat James Dmcdevit another arbitrator and occasionally smoddy on the restricted IRC admins channel Should I also withdraw from that channel It seems that the you and Geogre through your joint demand are seeking to require that I isolate myself totally from the entire ArbCom Geogre s proposal even requires that I even refrain from public communication with members of the ArbCom I don t recall if yours does although I believe it does not Those people some of them at least are my friends For you to ask such a thing is really quite heartless It would be akin to my demanding that you have no nonpublic contact with the myriad of friends you have no doubt made on Wikipedia So you must forgive me I would rather resign my privileges with honor than accept either of the alternatives left to me giving you a hollow victory gained through my unethical manipulation of your own ignorance or the personal harm of agreeing to cut myself off from those I count as friends