<html> <body> At 03:24 PM 7/11/2008, Kendall Ross Beane wrote: <blockquote type=cite class=cite cite="">They have already passed the test and achieved the RPT status, and you cannot deny that the Guild makes a big deal of that status. But then the Guild revokes the status over the issue of dues non-payment, which is sort of like using a cannon to swat a fly, or, if you don't accept that analogy, then it is raising the act of dues nonpayment (for whatever reason) to the level of a crime of moral turpitude. -You pick.</blockquote> My, my....  such flights of rhetoric... Kendall, the PTG has dealt with this issue some years ago. Current policy is that up to a certain number of years an RPT whose membership lapsed due to dues non-payment can regain the RPT status simply by paying the back dues - without retaking the exams. I think another catch is that the exams have to still be current...  So you see, the PTG does consider your predicament to be a problem and has devised a remedy for it that perhaps does not do you any good - but does help current RPT members avoid your fate. So before ascribing the basest possible motives to the PTG for your predicament you might simply conclude that back in your time the PTG had not yet figured out a satisfactory solution to the problem, one that balances the interests of individual members against the goals and needs of the organization. We kept working on it, though. Why is it that organizations are expected to be perfect, while individuals demand to be given all kinds of slack? And perhaps you might consider a somewhat less expansive writing style if you expect to reach a wider audience - most of us do not have hours to plow through 3000 word messages consisting mostly of rhetorical flourishes...  Your prose is admirable and in a different context I might enjoy reading it, but there is only so much time one can devote to reading e-mail lists and there are greater priorities... Israel Stein </body> </html>