Post Mortem

Well, I’m back from vacation. And, oddly enough, the most significant thing I did on it was finally ban Lee Ward.

If you have the least bit of interest in the “behind the scenes” story, read on. Otherwise, if you have anything even slightly resembling a life, skip this.

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The deepest secret behind my decision is that there are no secrets. I went on vacation, wanting a few days of “nothing” except what I felt like. I visited some friends, attended a sci fi convention (yes, there will be pictures), lounged in a pool, donated blood (just past seven gallons!) and relaxed a lot. And, occasionally, I popped in to see what was going on.

And that’s when I saw Rick had had enough of Lee, and was taking him down. That seemed recreational enough, so I read his article and the comments.

Naturally, Lee decided that he wanted to rope me into his fight. Me, in the middle of my vacation. I told him to knock it off.

He didn’t.

As I said at the time, vacation is when you do stuff you wouldn’t normally do. So I said “fuck it” and banned him. And I said it would last until either another of my colleagues overturned it, or I came back from vacation and reconsidered.

The cheers from you folks were deafening. (Thanks!) But behind the scenes?

Silence.

Seriously. Nothing. In an e-mail chain last week, Lee had been discussed, and no one spoke up on his behalf. (I misspoke earlier; I said that all of us had had enough of him. What I meant was, “all of us who said something.” Not every Wizbang contributor spoke up on the subject, but everyone who did was in the “get rid of his ass already” camp.)

And once I banned him, I got no private e-mails or messages or phone calls.

So as far as I’m concerned, everyone’s pretty much OK with the status quo. Hell, Lee has three different ways to contact me via e-mail (my Wizbang account, the tips line, and my private e-mail address), and he hasn’t said word one on the matter.

Lee, if you want to discuss the ban, feel free to get hold of me. As I said, you have my addresses. And I’m keeping that offer open for a bit longer — if you do decide to start blogging again, I’ll be glad to link to your new home.

I am left with two quotes that I think sum up his assisted departure best. The first, from commenter “Justrand:”

Lee’s value as a commenter was always the same as having sand in your bathing suit…it’s feels so good when it’s gone.

The other, from a forum I occasionally frequent but don’t like to discuss publicly:

Those who remain will make this a better community. Likewise, those who leave.

Bon Voyage, Lee.

Now that he’s gone, can we PLEASE let it go?