"Pecking Order"

[Susan Kline]

Dear Gordon,

Bill's first post to the list, that I have any record of, was on 10/29/97,
and had the subject line:
>Do you know this Man ??/Dr. Braide White/John Travis/Jim Coleman/Pure 5ths
It included:
>     I find much more of this going on than I am comfortable with.  All those
>who CONDEMN the use of Historical Temperaments inevitably tune in Reverse
>Well.  So much so, that I have come up with a proverbe for it:  "He who
>tuneth in Reverse Well believeth in all his heart that his temperament is
>Equal and shall cast stones against those who speaketh the truth against him"
> William 1:1  

So you see, he has been very consistent, from the first. 

Bill then wrote a quite interesting post about regulating uprights for
maximum repetition, shortly before his outburst. I was preparing a reply,
but it was going to be a bit ticklish, and I was busy. It was ticklish
because among his excellent procedures and interesting ideas was a fairly
obvious howler, as follows:

>all of the cushioning which supports the hammer blow: the back
>rail cloth, the butt cushion, the rest rail cloth and the rest rail shims are
>at their softest and thickest.  All of these materials compress over time and
>therefore, the blow AND the aftertouch gradually decrease.

What had me stopped was how to ask _very, VERY_ diplomatically how
compression of the rest rail shims and hammer rest rail cloth could
_decrease_ blow, while making it clear that I considered the rest of the
post worthy and interesting.

I was still struggling with this when he took it out of my hands by
attacking Conrad's post. After that, the atmosphere was so hostile that I
couldn't even attempt it. Anything I said, however I said it, would be
construed as an attack. 

See for yourself: 11/13/97, "speeding upright repetition"

I intend to make a purely technical response to "ht and et" as soon as I
have the time, in a day or so. It did have a few technical points which
could be investigated. The personal abuse I'll deal with privately, as I
should have done with the last round.

We both can use all the charity the list can muster, IMHO.

Susan

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At 03:05 PM 1/31/98 EST, you wrote:
>I have been trying to follow the technical information presented on the
>subject of HT and ET, with objectivity and ignore the flare-ups.  This has not
>been an easy task.
>
>I'm curious to know whether anyone else is under the same impression that this
>whole fray started when Bill flamed Conrad a while back for a post called
>"Horrible Example"? That flame was the first post I recall seeing from Bill,
>and it was not typical of the way most people introduce themselves on the
>list. 
>
>There is no pecking order here, but we haven't all been here the same length
>of time, and some names are more familiar then others.  When someone new
>enters the room and proceeds to attack one of the long time residents, it's
>going to cause  resistance.  So when you begin discussing another subject, it
>doesn't matter what the topic, you'll get a fight if you say that a cloudless
>sky is blue.
>
>Maybe Bill had been on the list before, but I don't recall seeing any other
>posts from him.  It's clear that he knows a lot about tuning, but that first
>post to Conrad was a real 'in your face' attack.  I think a lot of us read it
>and thought,"Geeze, this guy has a big stick up his butt." (maybe not those
>particular words)  And that's what was (is) remembered when we see new posts.
>
>That original flame, in my opinion, is the root of the ongoing tensions.
>Seems to this recently thawed Downeaster anyway that the topic of tempering
>something causes blood to boil is just a bit too ironic.
>
>Am I missing something here?
>
>Gordon Large, RPT
>Maine 
>(ready to take the gloves off)
>
>