comments

1. Kelsey Parker on August 25th, 2010 at 10:12 am

   Happy. Happy. This made me happy.

2. Cindy Scroggins on August 25th, 2010 at 10:14 am

   Kelsey, I’ve missed you. I’m so glad you’re back with us!

   I’m kind of glad that Michael’s making more regular appearances again, too.

3. Kelsey Parker on August 25th, 2010 at 10:16 am

   Kind of.

4. Cindy Scroggins on August 25th, 2010 at 10:25 am

   oui

5. Kelsey Parker on August 25th, 2010 at 10:26 am

   Also, Cindy, I am awash in love and admiration of each of you this morning. Especially Michael, for having the chutzpah to say exactly what I was feeling on a post that’s already challenging the limits of clusterflock inclusivity.

6. Michael Smith on August 25th, 2010 at 10:29 am

   You guys missed me.

   That’s nice.

7. Deron Bauman on August 25th, 2010 at 10:30 am

   I don’t think inclusivity is the right way to frame it, but we can leave that for another discussion.

8. Kelsey Parker on August 25th, 2010 at 10:36 am

   Yeah, I spent about five minutes trying to figure out how to say what I mean with that. Here’s a simpler, more direct way:

   I couldn’t bring myself to say what Michael did because I was afraid of further ostracizing the person already questioning this community’s …rules and regulations?

   Okay so, I still can’t find the right word.

9. Deron Bauman on August 25th, 2010 at 10:42 am

   I’m going to hold off responding for now, out of respect for the person who made the post and the person he loves.

10. Sheila Ryan on August 25th, 2010 at 10:50 am

    Thank you, Deron. I know this must be difficult for those involved, and it is confusing and upsetting to the many who know little or nothing.

11. Cindy Scroggins on August 25th, 2010 at 11:24 am

    Okay, in the interest of honesty and openness, here’s the situation in a nutshell. This year’s clusterflockstock included a number of occasions in which one flocker acted out (many of us came to find out later that he has a mood disorder). He would begin drinking alcohol as soon as he got up, and the combination of drunkenness and psychosis left many people feeling vulnerable and drained. His behavior included verbal attacks, unwanted sexual advances, and unsolicited commentary on others’ psychology and sexuality. Several of us spent a good portion of the weekend trying to reign in this one person’s behavior. I do not know how much of his behavior was willful and how much was out of his control. I do know that he never seemed to recognize how difficult he was being.

    I will say this: I do not think he ruined clusterflockstock. I would do it all again in a heartbeat, if given the chance.

    The reason that today’s post hit such a nerve with several of us is that we recognize the poster as someone who was not present during the outbursts. And that pisses me off.

12. luke on August 25th, 2010 at 5:28 pm

    Thanks, Cindy. Most days around here I feel like I understand about 40% of what’s going on… which isn’t a bad thing… this is some of the intrigue of Clusterflock… and one of the reasons I love it. But today I was feeling like I understood, oh, maybe about 5%, so thanks for the honesty and openness. Things make more/some sense now.

13. Cindy Scroggins on August 25th, 2010 at 5:46 pm

    You’re welcome, Luke. We should offer a running sidebar that translates what the hell we’re talking about.

14. luke on August 25th, 2010 at 5:47 pm

    I’m sure Andrew would love to program something that does that automatically.

15. Deron Bauman on August 25th, 2010 at 5:48 pm

    I’ll talk to him about it.

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