Exit poll
My characters on the Puzzlebox have, indeed, all been removed. Am I to come crawling on my hands and knees, begging for forgiveness, gasping that, golly, there must be some mistake? Shall I quibble about which actions I really did or didn't do?
No. Even if PV hadn't laid out the evidence (or close to it) for all to see, even if he hadn't discussed (at length, as is his wont) his reasoning and justification, I think anyone with a working brain knows that, whatever else he is or isn't, he definitely is largely tolerant of people's quirks. Largely, but not infinitely.
Besides, isn't it a MUD admin's right to allow or deny access to anyone whom he or she pleases? Just as I reserve the right to state my opinions and views, neither I nor anyone else can take away PV's right to state his opinions and views- or his right to act on them, either.
Already this year, I left the Puzzlebox for several months, finding it less and less interesting, more and more frustrating. Why did I wander back, knowing that it hadn't magically changed while I was away? Chalk it up to a weakness, an unwillingness to let sleeping MUDs lie. Thus did I start passive-aggressively leading PV & co. along to the inevitable conclusion. Inevitable? Hell, I suspected from the start, two years ago, that I'd eventually be persona non grata. Greetings from Self-Fulfilling Prophecy City!
Regrets? I regret the hurt and frustration I've caused in those I didn't directly target. I regret that this monstrous burst of interpersonal bickering has blown up around me. But mostly I regret that weakness and that unwillingness, without which none of this is likely to have happened.
To Frostbyte and Aeysh: your willingness to jump to the defence of a disliked person is very much commendable, and I'm sure you'll both be credits to the MUCK for some time to come. Chins up, gents.
To everybody else: What else can I say? Mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.
Oh well, live and learn. And so, it's time to bid the people of the Puzzlebox a fond adieu. So long, Puzzlebox. "You won't miss me", saith the sage Stevens, "but I'll miss you." Perhaps some of us shall meet again, some time in the dim and distant future? It really is a small world, after all...
Aloha-oe, aloha-oe,
E ke onaona noho ika lipo
A fond embrace, a hoi ae au,
Until we meet again.