<html> <body> Ron - They were implied.  Every one of them >:-o =D> 8-) :'( :-[ >:-} <:-| :-! O:-) :-) >:D< :-* :-D :-X etc. I'm sorry.  One of the oddities is email itself, which, unless you use italics or bold or underline or font size or style, is rather neutral. It doesn't do well with irony or sarcasm.  And then there are the conventions that accumulate as part of a community such as this, where, for better or worse, we evolve a distinctive, recognizable voice (or think we do), based upon that history of interactions.  I acquired some affectations over the years, such as making a 'European' 7  (with short horizontal line through the middle vertical part of the number).  Now it's a part of me that I recognize.  I've never been comfortable depending upon emoticons to convey my meaning, though I admit that, on occasion, it fosters misinterpretation.  Think of it like reading Hebrew without all the vowel signs, or figured bass without the numbers. As I wrote to Duaine, people may have a right, or feel they have a right to have negative feelings towards him, as the world is more complex than Disney, but the intent and expression of those feelings in this venue, in that way, becomes destructive to the venue, most of all.  As I also wrote to him, at this time, I don't believe that focusing on a severance of the relationship is the most effective solution to the underlying issues.  It's an idea to keep in mind, however. Again, sorry for the adrenaline, David Skolnik Hastings on Hudson, NY At 07:50 AM 1/4/2012, you wrote: <blockquote type=cite class=cite cite="">David Skolnik wrote: <pre>I have no doubt the people working on this are good.  We're all good (except maybe for Duaine).</pre> <pre>******************************</pre> <pre>Hopefully, the ;-) or :-) got left off that post...  I don't think</pre> <pre>there is any excuse for a personal attack here.  I for one am waiting to </pre> <pre>hear why the pianotech list has to go.  What I remember from past posts</pre> <pre>is that there isn't the staff to manage it, nor the cyber-room to host it.</pre> <pre>Both can be solved by a shift away from PTG hosting.  After the recent ugly</pre> <pre>exchange incorrectly stating that the list should be for PTG folks first, and the </pre> <pre>rest second, it may be a good thing to sever this temporary connection to the PTG.</pre> <pre> </pre> <pre>Ron Koval</pre></blockquote></body> </html>