Must Be Something in the Water

Today, we tackle "E." "E" is for Egregious.

There's a lot of egregious conduct going on just now. What, are there sunspots in the atmosphere or something? We're nowhere near a full moon.

One of the largest writers' boards on the Internet got shut down because of the egregious conduct of an agent named Barbara Bauer and of the board's host. Evidently, Ms. Bauer took umbrage at being listed in the watchlist/bewares section of the board. Good manners dictate that the correct way to handle such a complaint would be to open a dialogue with the person(s) and seek to set the record straight about the information which is disputed. Instead, this person screamed bloody murder and made certain threats. I am, however, more troubled by the behavior of the host than of Bauer. Reportedly, the host was "scared" by a phone call from Bauer and pulled the plug on this 7000-member board with one hour's notice. Bauer apparently has a reputation for complaining, and complaining loudly. That could easily have been circumvented and vitiated. The excuses tendered by the Web host, however, don't add up, and the self-serving aspect is particularly ugly. It makes it appear as though the action was calculated, especially since in the days immediately preceding the incident the host's own competing "writers' resource" site was reopened. Such deliberate, malevolent conduct would be despicable should it turn out to be true.

Also egregious is another spoofed e-mail I received today regarding the warped activities of a certain duo who operate a certain little joke of a board. They call it a writers' board but, geez Louise, neither one of them can write their way out of a paper bag. Neither can most of their members. Good heavens, even the plaintive pleas for sympathy now going out are so badly written that they make one cognizant of the language cringe. For my money, the female half of the duo is feeling scorned, punitive, and bored and sent out that blisteringly pornographic e-mail herself. I'm not visibly paranoid or anything. A lot of people with sharper minds than mine hold the same opinion.

Boy, I hate to see what all's likely to happen when the moon does go full.

Lastly, we must note that the publishing charlatan, PublishAmerica, is guilty of Egregious business practices. They operate in an egregiously deceptive manner and treat their authors with egregiously appalling disregard. There oughta be a law. Perhaps after a few successful civil actions, there will be.