> I have no idea why you thought this would be at all like talking in code or French. That just bewilders me.

We didn't. The general idea was that the level of conversation at the time was rather banal, and Dave and I wanted to do something to spice things up. That's it.

> This is the part that enraged me the most. No one likes it when they're blamed for stuff that they didn't do: along with rage, it instills the feelings of helplessness and frustration.

Then I think you need to do some maturing. Rage? Helplessness? Get real. This is RINKCHAT. We FOOL AROUND ALL THE TIME there. When I accused you of being BEER/BUTT, I was effectively telling you that I was a part of it and inviting you to be a collaborator in the episode. I was SHOCKED when you didn't jump at the opportunity, and more shocked still when I learned why. Look at what happened when Wes started playing along. It was GOOD. Not that, as an administrator, I expect you to enjoy and participate in every joke. You didn't have to participate. But getting all offended and indignant about it and whining and moaning was not an appropriate alternative. If you had done just that but dropped the matter after it was cleared up, I would still have not held it against you. But the fact that a full day afterward you are still making a big deal out of this is outrageous. If you don't like the way we joke around in RinkChat as a matter of NORMAL ROUTINE, a routine that for a FULL YEAR has not yet elicited this kind of complaint, then you have the glorious American right to leave, thereby protecting yourself from the remotest possibility of any further attack.

Alternately, you can lighten up, grow up, squeeze a little tighter on reality, laugh it off, and move on. That would have been the mature thing to do. That's what I would have done had our roles been reversed. That's what Wes DID. That's what countless others in the RinkChat archives did in similar circumstances.

> ...or had some people left before it was resolved, I could have been blackballed...

Give me a break. You HAD to know that if ANYONE had held a grudge against you, I would have corrected their impression the INSTANT I learned of it. And truth be told, I'd have gone a step further and taken the initiative to make sure everyone knew the truth of things before it ever became an issue.

> I'll try to explain it with a metaphor. Imagine RinkChat as a literal room which you, Sam, have invited us, the RinkWorks regulars, into. Now, imagine that for no reason at all, you decide to kick me in the shins. As I grip them in pain, I ask you why, and you respond: "Because it's FUNNY!"

Better metaphor. Imagine RinkChat as a literal room which I, Sam, opened the doors to so anybody in the entire universe who wanted to could wander all over my personal property for the purpose of gathering a group that could get some laughs. Some members of the people that wander in become friends, and, _because_ they are friends and I feel comfortable joshing with them, as many of them do with me, I say to one of them, "Hey, this'll be funny -- go step out of this open doorway, then step back in!" Said friend rants and pouts and moans for the next 24 hours.

It's your prerogative if you want to take offense at this, but it was my prerogative (legally, because I own this place; ethically, because it was joshing amongst friends) to do it in the first place.

The other thing I would like to point out is that out of an estimated 60-80 REGULAR visitors to the chat room, you are one of just two to object to the occasional frivolous kick. And before you say anything like, "Easy for you to say, you're the admin+!" note that Dave and Leen have *each* frivolously kicked me more than anyone has ever frivolously kicked you.

> Jokes have been carried to far, yes. However, this joke was carried to disgusting extremes, and wasn't funny in the first place. I agree that you shouldn't be expected to have a flawless sense of comic timing or originality, but you SHOULD be able to determine when a joke is carried to far. Maybe you thought that BEER and BUTT were the funniest things in the world, but as you know, none of us did.

1. Yeah, we SHOULD be able to determine when a joke has gone too far. Usually I'm good with that. This time I didn't. So FLAY ME ALIVE and THROW ME TO THE DOGS. I am obviously some kind of SCUM for MAKING A MISTAKE.

2. There was no way to know the reaction would be so adverse until it happened. Prior to the point of the false accusations, the vast majority of messages were people, yourself included, ALSO JOKING AROUND. When I reread the transcript I noticed a few scattered lines that indicated a couple people were disturbed, but they were not in the majority and did not indicate that the majority were also disturbed. The first time around, I missed this stuff anyway. AFTER the point of the false accusations, I DID react to your frustration with the situation by switching who I was falsely accusing to someone more in the mood to play along. Of the three people falsely accused, BOTH Morris and Wes played along, and while Morris was frustrated with the situation anyway, he gave no indication of that until afterward.

> > An original twist to an old idea makes it worthwhile.
>
> No, no, no. I could put an original twist on the clock radio idea: it's called Ku Klux Klock.

This argument is evasive, diversionary, irrelevant, and flawed. The analogy does not apply. To suggest any of this meets the same extremes as your clock radio idea is ludicrous beyond sanity. Worse yet, even if I were to concede your point, which I am not, what does it gain you? Like, nothing.

Bottom line: Get a grip. Grow up.