... of elephant freedom.

I just realized (while reading through old IM logs with Kass) that our old web site was deleted out from under us exactly one year ago. September 9, 2002.

Urgh... so much stuff to do... I really want to get this project moving again, but I have so little time between my job and applying for NSF and grad schools, etc...

Umn... no offence intended (Unlike this entire thread). But did you really have to post this? Maybe Alex and a few of you had your differences, but if I remember correctly he was, at one point, a driving force behind this project. It is good to see what we all want to get this project back on track, but insulting a former member just does not seem to be the way to do it. Sorry, but it pretty much had to be said. I'm glad our project has it's own holidays, but how about not at someone else's expense? Thanks.

September 9th, 2002 was clearly an important date in the history of our project, however you look at it. It took over a month of hard work to restore the project after the damage Alex did. I personally spent day and night working on it the whole time. Isn't that worth celebrating? Why should we worry about Alex's feelings when it was his childish destructive act which caused the whole thing?

We've been over this so many times. No, it was not his site. He wrote some (rather ugly) HTML and some scripts, but never once did he contribute one speck of content. Many people contributed to the site other than him. In particular I remember Davy and UO fuming over the fact that Alex had deleted stuff they had spent a lot of time working on.

Furthermore, when Dev or myself hires someone to be webmaster of this site, it comes with certain expectations. Among them is that said person will not attempt to abuse their power in order to do damage to the project. That is precisely what he did.

If Alex simply wanted out, he could have told me so ahead of time, and we could have removed his work in an orderly fasion. That's not what he wanted, though. He wanted to teach us a lesson. He wanted us to regret the fact that we didn't agree with him. Even after doing what he did, he offered to return under certain conditions, as if he was expecting us to come to him begging for him to come back. How could he think that we would want him back after he abused our trust like that?

And then, of course, there is the fact that our charter explicitly states that once you have contributed to the project, you may not take that contribution back. He was fully aware of that.

Do you remember him threatening to sue us for copyright infringement if we attempted to restore anything from backup?

And as for the hack incident, Alex "hacked" the site before I banned him. I banned him in response to what he did. The things he posted did not tell me anything useful. He did not find any actual security holes (though he thought he did, and he posted them anyway). What he found were various bits of data which were obviously only meant to be viewed by myself and some of my friends, not the general public. He posted them anyway.

Alex spent a whole lot of time and energy trying to hurt this project -- and especially me -- in every way he could. He had the intelligence of an average geek but with the emotions and tact of a 5-year-old. He may have contributed a few things to this project, but he did far more harm than good. So, yes, I do celebrate the fact that he is gone, and I do very much hope that it stays that way. Nothing you say will change that.

You're right. He earned my hatred, but there is no reason to continue ranting on it now. I didn't want this thread to become another argument about it. I only meant to point out that it has been a year... the "elephant freedom" thing was just supposed to be a little joke, but maybe I could have worded that differently. I don't like arguing about it, but when someone tells me that I'm wrong about something I feel strongly about, I'm just the type that has a hard time sitting still...

I'll tell you what... I'll try not to bring it up anymore if you try not to make a big deal out of it when I do happen to make reference to it.

I don't remember exactly when the beta version went up, but I think it was late September. The final version went up on October 31st (which I figured out by looking at the date of my own registration :) ).

For what it's worth: thank you, Morpheus, for your kind words.

Amazing how just One Voice can be enough to establish Dignity and Moral Superiority against any Impossibility of Reason. Tyrants will come, and force their views onto others, no matter how irrational. This is a most inspiring example of how, in the end, the only persons still imprisoned in their dungeons of manipulative half-truths (a dozen tumbleweeds aside) are the Tyrants themselves.

I will not be defending myself in this forum. The Powers That Be would not allow for a fair conversation anyway, they haven't from day one. I have a good understanding of everything I have done, and why I have done it. My conscience before myself is clear.

I have an extraordinary amount of things archived: the old forum, chat logs, etc. I have referenced that content in my writings in the past, and will continue in the future. I believe that I have given everything that I could to Fate of Io. I feel good about the things I was able to offer. I am presently making very good money with my other projects, while perhaps offering considerably less.

It is true that I have displayed quite a bit of weakness while working in this project. The truth is that there has been quite a bit of weakness within me at that time, and sadly this is what this project seems to bring out most in people. I have lived through a lot in my life: poverty, disability, Communism ... and yet I honestly feel that no person in the world has caused me more pain than Temporal has. I truly feel that, and yet I've tried to make a friend and mentor of him, to the very bitter end and further beyond all reason.

Why do I linger here? In spite of everything, this project is a part of me. You cannot take this misshaped brick out of the tower that is my life, because some very important things were laid on top of it. I've sworn to be a person who cares about the world, even when the world cares nothing for him. I guess this was a speed bump I needed to go through before discovering much more rewarding things. Still, I enjoy the memories.

Regarding visiting... I enjoy observing this project. Some things about it remind me of my youth. I hit the site about once a month to catch up, and will continue to do so for as long as I desire, though it would be sad if this desire would outlive this project, or be remembered longer. I wish you all good things.

As far as posting... A thinker, sadly, can be silenced through brutality and force. I feel some degree of pride in knowing that this is not the case with me and FoI. I simply have found other, better pastures for my thought.

I shall post here no more.

Alex.

it sorta makes me feel sad.