The AFM Observer

A change of policy

I was awake in the wee hours last night, contemplating the absurdity of my paying my hard-earned dollars to TypePad to host a blog on which people about whom I knew nothing – not even if they were AFM members or employers – felt free to trash AFM members and officers under the cover of night and fog. But I knew I didn’t want to get into the business of deciding which comments were acceptable and which crossed the line between civilized discourse and mere destructiveness or libel. And then I realized there was another way to separate those, like Rick Blanc and Phil Ayling and me, who are willing to be associated with their opinions from everyone else.

Starting today, in order to comment here, you will need to register with TypePad, which hosts this blog. It is free and painless. I cannot discover your identity if you do so. You could probably get away with registering under a false name or email address, if you insist on continuing to conduct character assassination from under cover. But, in order to register, you will need to agree to TypePad’s Terms of Service. If you’re not willing to abide by those, which appear to me to be very standard-issue Terms of Service, similar to what most websites require before posting comments – then go start your own blog and trash people anonymously to your heart’s content.

I can already hear the cries of “censorship” and “Stalinism” and "YouJustDontGetitLevine can't tolerate real differences of opinion." Fortunately, though, I won’t have to read them on this blog unless you agree to the Terms of Service.

It's a Bloy!

Due to popular demand (ie three requests) the new blog is born, or borged, or however blogs are created. It's called AFM Future Tense. I've posted ground rules and a starting place for a good argument.

Welcome Adaptistration readers

I noticed during my morning surf that Drew McManus over at Adaptistration had given AFM Observer a nice plug. It was doubly flattering given that his excellent example was one of the inspirations for my embarking on this journey into cyberspace.

I think I’d characterized this less as a “niche” blog (as did Drew) than I would a “geek” blog. Some people are computer geeks; a few are union geeks (a union geek is someone who can’t use the minutes of a union executive board meeting as a sleep aid.).

Drew also suggested I add a glossary. It’s a good idea, and would force me to think about definitions in a more rigorous way. The AFM has invented a lot of stuff on the fly over the years by worrying less about definitions than results, which can be confusing to an outsider. As well, the organizational dynamics of the AFM resemble that of a small and rather inbred village in the back of beyond. It took me years and years to figure out just what people were talking about, much less what I thought of it.

But I’ll see what I can do. Drew’s mini-explanations of the various constituencies on his blog would be a good model.