Dear You 2.0

[Syphon the Sun]

Did you know that Ender's Game is on the US Marines recommended reading list?

If I recall correctly, it's even required reading at many military schools and in many officer training programs.

[starlooker]

Dear You,

Come on. Don't give up now. You are SO FREAKING CLOSE. I know it doesn't seem like it, but it's really a lot closer than it feels. Let's get this over and done and go home. You know, before we collapse.

Self

[Jayelle]

Dear Pweb,

Did you know that Ender's Game is on the US Marines recommended reading list?

I sure didn't!

Wil

Awesome.

I just found it listed in the "List of Books that will Change your Life" section of The Daring Book for Girls.

[Luet]

Dear you,

Stay the hell out of my grocery store! It only took a couple months for my fears to come true and for me to run into you there. Granted, you didn't see me because I avoided you, but still...it was incredibly disconcerting. How am I supposed to get over all of this when I have to worry about seeing you all the time?

- frustrated

[Syphon the Sun]

Dear You,

Found out today that I'm spending the next few/several days in your favorite future-city for a work-related conference. (Packing now!) Jealous, yet?

-Me

[Gravity Defier]

your favorite future-city

Galactic City?!



Always jealous, given how "meh" you are about it. Give it some love for me. Get me a job. The usual.

[Gravity Defier]

Dear You,

Please stop speaking. Ever. At all. Period. You know you're getting unnatural levels of weird when your friend asks if you've been hitting the bottle.

Yourself!

[VelvetElvis]

Dear You,

I know there was no way you could know this, but I am re-reading HP: PoA right now, and just last night, Harry was in the hospital after the Dementors attacked the quidditch field. Anyway, I totally yelled in my driveway "PATRONUS!!" (where it was too dark to even see the writing) and waved it in front of the dog, telling him, "This is what I was reading to you about the other day!!" Anyway, I haven't read the whole thing because I am waiting for Mr. Dear to get home so I can show him in case I mess it up when I shut myself in the bedroom to open it.

-Me

[Gravity Defier]

What luck.

[Gravity Defier]

Dear You,

There. Now how f****** hard would that have been to do? Just one of those things that makes me think, jokes aside, that I'm not wrong.




Dear You,

Please, pretty pretty please stop getting so angry. It was a good day and your anger scares me. You're one strike away from an explosion, I think.

[starlooker]

Dear ESPN Pundits,

Please stop pretending that football and 9/11 are somehow related, like holding giant flags and saying what an important day it was before football games somehow was a way of healing the whole, entire nation and making it like it never happened. Please. Some acknowledgement of the day was appropriate, but you people took it to some ridiculous and out-there levels, only slightly shy of my exaggerated statement. And it's really, really okay to let it go today.

Viewer Who Wants You to Comment On The Games

P.S. I cannot believe you did not rip on the Chiefs EVEN SLIGHTLY yesterday. I am thoroughly disappointed.

[Gravity Defier]

Dear Duck,

I just noticed your sig. It made me laugh.

Sincerely,
Me

[Jayelle]

Dear Ewok,

FINALLY!


Been waiting,
Me.

[Petra456]

Dear Duck,

I just noticed your sig. It made me laugh.

Sincerely,
Me

Love it! <3

[zeroguy]

But that's missing like the best line in that exchange!

[Noodle]

Dear toots,

Great googly-moogly, it's like you haven't talked to anyone before. ramble ramble ramble. But I guess you got over your fear of small talk.

This will probably make more sense in a week or two.

Mitch

[VelvetElvis]

Dear You,

Could you make few changes around here? Namely, I would like fewer people screaming, fewer people hitting other people, and fewer incidences of human waste smeared on the walls.

-me

[Dr. Mobius]

Dear ESPN Pundits,

Please stop pretending that football and 9/11 are somehow related, like holding giant flags and saying what an important day it was before football games somehow was a way of healing the whole, entire nation and making it like it never happened. Please. Some acknowledgement of the day was appropriate, but you people took it to some ridiculous and out-there levels, only slightly shy of my exaggerated statement. And it's really, really okay to let it go today.

Viewer Who Wants You to Comment On The Games

P.S. I cannot believe you did not rip on the Chiefs EVEN SLIGHTLY yesterday. I am thoroughly disappointed.

I'm actually surprised they made room in their broadcast for something non-football during football season or baseball season or any other sports season when they're talking about football and excluding damn near everything else. Though I suppose if 9/11 and football are related that would explain how it got some air time.

[VelvetElvis]

Dear PWEB,

What a week! Just got home from TLK and then dinner/drink(s) at a local-food restaurant. Cheers to pweb!



-Helen (and Jared and Virgil)

[Gravity Defier]

Dear You(s),

I'm sorry, I really am. I don't think I did anything wrong but I feel like you think I did and I didn't mean to hurt feelings. For what it's worth.

Me

[Noodle]

Dear you,

Thank you all for making this probably the best birthday weekend ever. So many great friends involved, I'm amazed at how lucky I am. From very few "good" friends a few years ago, to these amazing people I surround myself with now. I'm so lucky to know each and every one of you.

Me.

[starlooker]

Dear You,

Oh s***. I'm so sorry I haven't been in touch with you this year. Although, if we were speaking in person, I'd probably mention that the phone works both ways. Anyhow, point is, please don't be lying dead in your apartment. Please. I'm trying to talk Our Mutual Friend into doing a welfare check since apparently no one has heard from you for at least a month. It's weird to think that you've been so isolated that we don't know who, besides department people, to ask. I'm so f****** sorry. Please be alive.

Me

[starlooker]

Dear You,

Thank you for being alive. Please answer someone's phone calls so we don't have to send your landlord over to the apartment every damn week.

Seriously, I'm worried about you.

Love,
Me

[Caspian]

Dear Alea,

If you're serious about being absent from the board (and I don't know why you would say it if you weren't serious) you might not see this, and even if you do it might not change your mind. I want to say it anyway.

I also want to make sure that the difficulty of expressing emotion in writing doesn't get in the way more than it has to by stating from the outset that the tone of voice you should hear in your head when you're reading this is contrite and calm. I'm gonna put some things in italics for emphasis, but that doesn't mean I'm shouting or angry or anything like that.

I'm sorry I hurt you. That wasn't my intention. Looking back even one day later it seems obvious that someone would be hurt by what I said, but that wasn't what I wanted. I was hurt on Jan's behalf.

Jan, by the way, is not as hurt on her own behalf as I am. She thinks I overreacted. And I guess I did, but I want to tell you why as part of my apology. I don't like to see people attacking Jan or dismissing her or maligning her. I know she can take care of herself, but it upsets me to see. And maybe nobody meant to insult Jan--or maybe you did--but whether it's justified or not it felt to me like you and Luet and Syphon weren't willing to give Jan any benefit of the doubt at all. You (plural) didn't seem to notice when she said, in effect "okay let's do it your way". It felt to me like you (plural) expressed so much support for her in theory and then immediately attacked her as soon as she actually did anything.

I don't really have a dog in the fight about who gets to be a mod and why, though I do remember a thread a few years back that was all about why Jan shouldn't have been made a mod. And probably the people who wrote in that thread don't even remember it, but I do, and I know Jan does, and I know it hurt her feelings. I insulted you by saying (although I promise you I didn't mean) that your efforts weren't good enough. But you insulted Jan by saying that she is a "glorified tiebreaker", by accusing her of abusing her power, by accusing her of dismissing your opinions when despite how she phrased things all she meant to say was "I want to add something to your suggestion", by refusing to let her apologize, by assuming that she's somehow speaking through me or I'm somehow speaking for her even though we've both said that's not what's happening. You all said repeatedly that Jan was in charge and that you trusted her and that you didn't want to step on her toes, but it felt to me like you all were giving her exactly zero leeway or confidence. And so my protective husband head reared.

I never meant to suggest that you didn't put a lot of work into pweb, both relating to the move and just plain in general. I didn't mean to say "if you're not a mod it's because you don't work hard". My understanding was that you didn't want to be a mod, so I wasn't including you when I made the (admittedly mean) comment that ended my rant. To be honest I was thinking of Luet at that point. I should apologize to her too, but this one is for you.

If some jerk accuses you of being petty, it seems to me like the best reaction is to take the high road and prove that you're not. Don't let me sour you on a place you love. I'm not Jan, I'm not the mass of pwebbers, I'm just one guy who doesn't even post all that much. But you do, and I know you enjoy being active here. So if your problem is with me, don't take it out on yourself by denying yourself pweb. Instead, if you want, I'll disappear for a while and it will not even be a loss to the community.

But I'd rather not do that. I'd rather you forgive me, or let me know how I can ask you to forgive me. I'd rather make it up to you somehow so that there isn't bad blood or lasting antipathy.

Paul

[Luet]

My understanding was that you didn't want to be a mod, so I wasn't including you when I made the (admittedly mean) comment that ended my rant. To be honest I was thinking of Luet at that point.

Don't worry, I was pretty sure you were talking about me. The main reason it hurt my feelings is because it's very difficult for me to be assertive and express my opinions to begin with. I tried to do it in a civil way, without resorting to name calling, insults, sarcasm, etc. I felt like this was just another example that proves it isn't worth it to stick your neck out and enter the fray of conflict. Someone will attack you for it.

[Caspian]

Dear Luet,

I'm really sorry I was mean to you. Reading over what I wrote makes it seem even meaner than it did at first, and in my anger I am ashamed to say I was aiming to be a little bit mean.

Sticking your neck out is good. I'm truly sorry to give you cause to regret it. That said--though I'm way more guilty of this than you were--posting in anger can obviously cause hurt feelings. It felt to me at the time that you were allowing a grudge against Dr. Mobius to colour your opinion to the point that you were willing to insult Jan, who didn't deserve it. I don't know the details of your and Alea's issues with Dr. Mobius, but if there's nothing to it more than what was explicitly said in that thread then I still feel like it's a petty grudge. But that doesn't excuse me lashing out at you, and I'm really and truly sorry.

Paul

[Luet]

Paul,

Thank you for that, I do appreciate it. I tried to only state my opinion of things she did as a Moderator and I don't believe I insulted her as a person. I was not even the one who said she might be a "glorified tie-breaker". Please don't assume all of us speak for each other. I do not have a grudge against Josh at all. I think he is a very nice person. I just was a bit put-off about how his mod-making went down and then surprised at some of the ways he used the mod powers. Again, nothing about anybody personally. It's not personal, it's all mod-business. I do feel bad that you took it personally about your wife. I truly did not mean anything to come across insulting. I know that the one post I made saying that I thought the mods shouldn't vote sounded very harsh (I really didn't even mean it in a harsh way, but I didn't explain it well and my mind was all over the place). But I retracted it as soon as it was pointed out to me. I'm really sorry if I hurt your or Jan's feelings.

Nom

[Luet]

Dear Pweb,

I know quite a few people have had their feelings hurt, been upset, cried, and lost sleep over all the goings on here the last couple days. I just wanted to say that I truly hope that our bonds are strong enough to keep us together, work through this, and come out stronger on the other side. As difficult as this feels right now, I know that pweb is worth it. The only thing that would be truly devastating, would be to lose any of our members over this. So please, take a short break if you need to but please don't leave us.

love,
nom

[steph]

Dear you,

I noticed the changed place holder text.

The observant one

Dear you,

I am proud of you for being brave enough to voice and stick up for your opinion. I know how hard it is for you. I struggle with that same fear, which is why I didn't post very much for a very long time. I'm afraid you are regretting doing it, based on everything that has gone down, but I hope you aren't regretting it because, no matter what the outcome, I am proud of you. Thank you for being a good example for me.

love,
steph

[zeroguy]

Just in case anyone was wondering (since I was discussing some of the board transition stuff before it happened), I was unexpectedly without internet access for almost all of last week. I'm slowly catching up on what's going on.

[VelvetElvis]

We staged a coup and took a couple of the mates to your favorite socks.

[Dr. Mobius]

To whom it may concern:

I've spoken with Jan and Alea and certain things have been brought to my attention that I wasn't previously aware of. To anyone who was upset or offended by my attempts at humor I would like to offer my sincere apologies. In hindsight, I can see now how that might have looked given what else was going on at the time. I also want to assure you that I have never and will never actually do anything like that. I'll refrain from joking about it in the future as well.

Thank you,

Josh


P.S. I realize people aren't accustomed to taking me seriously, but I promise I'm much more reasonable and understanding than I'm sometimes given credit for. If someone has an issue with something I've said or done - regardless of what color my name may be - I'd prefer if they brought it up with me directly in the future so we can work together to find a solution without letting it fester for months.


Edited for grammar.

[PwebArchivist]

Dear Yous,

In so far as there was ever a real need for this username, I feel like that time has come to an end. I dug up as much as I ever could and felt was important to preserve, I shared quite a bit of it through the 10th anniversary thread and in the now Echoes thread in the Foyer, and now that we've made a move and have talented and attentive tech people, I trust there will be nothing new to document. I added the last post the other night in the Foyer. My job, in this "role" as it were, is done.

Should anyone want to use it, however, I will now open it up to that in the same manner Confessions is open to all. The password is the second word of the username.

There is also a corresponding email address, same username AT GMAIL and the password is the second word of the username followed by the year Pweb was created and ends with an exclamation mark. Not sure how that can be used, but there you are.

If it's simply allowed to retire, that's okay, too.

Thanks,

PA

[GS]

Dear Stupid Ass Truck Driver,

Go f*** yourself.

Sincerely,

My Back Bumper

[Caspian]

Dear Students,

Why do you do this to yourselves? Why do you do this to me? Handing in an essay you got online just makes life suck for both of us.

Me