A bit of a kerfuffle (and my fault, too)
There are people on my f-list who are also on FORKNI-L-and I'm sure they've been worried for a couple of days, and now are feeling a bit annoyed. So let me explain.
Back in the spring, there was talk of war. However, it was pointed out that April would not be a good time, what with Easter and Passover; and somehow, after that, things never got brought up again. The summer was, of course, busy with fkficfest. Autumn seemed like a good time...if people got interested in war again.
So I got together with Mildred C., the Grand High Pooh-bah of the Mercenary Guild, and suggested a strategem to get people inspired. That was about a month ago; and, after we'd e-mailed each other a few times, I contacted Don and McLisa, since they'd have to agree to it. And they did.
At that time, I'd thought the whole thing would be starting in early September. However, people got so fascinated with the idea of naming factions for Nick's fireplace and the duck lamp (and then Vachon's guitar and motorcycle) that I didn't want to cut things short. So time passed.
Now, we'd worked out that I'd cue the joke by posting the icons for the MacGregors, Friends of Gillian, and DracPack factions. Since so much time had gone by, I e-mailed Mildred a couple of days ahead of time. Then I posted the icons, e-mailed her again, and also gave the list mods the heads-up that things were starting.
And then I made that fateful post about my computer giving me a funny message, followed by another saying that I'd got a tech in. I assumed that, simultaneously, Mildred would post.... Well, she missed her cue; and I figured she'd decided to change the script a bit. So I posted again, making sure to slide in references to McLisa's brother, Larry-that being intended to reassure people that this was all a joke.
Um. Not only has enough time passed that people don't seem to have picked up on the reference, but Mildred still didn't post anything-and, understandably, those not in the know were getting nervous about their own computers.
Now, as it turns out, Mildred hasn't been checking her e-mail lately. As a result, she missed that this was OUR little joke, and actually got caught up in the computer scare herself!
I can only say that it was supposed to be obvious within hours that it was all something Mildred and I had cooked up between us. We were supposed to post a veritable flurry of posts in quick succession. At this point, though, the joke is quite "unfunny" indeed. It's caused a lot of people worry.
Obviously, I should have waited until I got an e-mail back from Mildred before starting the joke.
I can only apologize.
Back in the spring, there was talk of war. However, it was pointed out that April would not be a good time, what with Easter and Passover; and somehow, after that, things never got brought up again. The summer was, of course, busy with fkficfest. Autumn seemed like a good time...if people got interested in war again.
So I got together with Mildred C., the Grand High Pooh-bah of the Mercenary Guild, and suggested a strategem to get people inspired. That was about a month ago; and, after we'd e-mailed each other a few times, I contacted Don and McLisa, since they'd have to agree to it. And they did.
At that time, I'd thought the whole thing would be starting in early September. However, people got so fascinated with the idea of naming factions for Nick's fireplace and the duck lamp (and then Vachon's guitar and motorcycle) that I didn't want to cut things short. So time passed.
Now, we'd worked out that I'd cue the joke by posting the icons for the MacGregors, Friends of Gillian, and DracPack factions. Since so much time had gone by, I e-mailed Mildred a couple of days ahead of time. Then I posted the icons, e-mailed her again, and also gave the list mods the heads-up that things were starting.
And then I made that fateful post about my computer giving me a funny message, followed by another saying that I'd got a tech in. I assumed that, simultaneously, Mildred would post.... Well, she missed her cue; and I figured she'd decided to change the script a bit. So I posted again, making sure to slide in references to McLisa's brother, Larry-that being intended to reassure people that this was all a joke.
Um. Not only has enough time passed that people don't seem to have picked up on the reference, but Mildred still didn't post anything-and, understandably, those not in the know were getting nervous about their own computers.
Now, as it turns out, Mildred hasn't been checking her e-mail lately. As a result, she missed that this was OUR little joke, and actually got caught up in the computer scare herself!
I can only say that it was supposed to be obvious within hours that it was all something Mildred and I had cooked up between us. We were supposed to post a veritable flurry of posts in quick succession. At this point, though, the joke is quite "unfunny" indeed. It's caused a lot of people worry.
Obviously, I should have waited until I got an e-mail back from Mildred before starting the joke.
I can only apologize.