Re: ANN: Retiring from A2 world - Good Bye All!

["Paul Grammens" <grammens@svn.net>]

"Donald L. Johnson" <70524.1023@Compuserve.com> wrote
>
> The key phrase, Paul, is "If Tom ever did so, perhaps it was before my
> time." Tom did, and it was.  Yes, Tom could be very helpful, and
down-right
> charming.  But, seemingly at the drop of a hat, he could be as
foul-mouthed
> and vicious as Quantum Cat, and so were many of his allies.  I have
> experienced firsthand Tom's vitriol (in email, not on the public
newsgroup).
>

That could well be. I've only been around here for maybe 5 yrs.  In that
time, I can't recall ever reading an obscenity-laced post from Tom. I
definitely recall reading them from Tom- haters, and indeed we just had
another example.

> Tom also had a habit of posting notices that he had arranged for
> abandoned-ware to be released into the public domain.  When members of the
> CSA2 newsgroups tried to verify the info,

And why should they care about someone else's abandonware?  I think that's
the key to what this is all about.  These people are just plain weird. They
think it's 1982. Get a clue! It's 2002.

>
> Finally, Tom has been playing this game of announcing "I'm going away and
> never coming back!" for many years.  He may actually go away, or he may
just
> lurk for a few weeks or months, then he reappears as if he were never
gone.
> So you can understand the scepticism his latest announcement received.
>

Yeah. Bev does the same thing. I couldn't care less. Let 'em go, let 'em
come back. It's a free country.  They're probably hanging on every word,
seeing how much they're being missed.


> As difficult as it may be for some here to believe, I bear Tom no ill
will.
> If he is, in fact, ill, I wish him a speedy recovery.

That's commendable.  One of the things I'm objecting to is the way Tom is
treated like a mass-murderer or something.  It's ridiculous.

But I have seen what
> he's been doing for almost 15 years on these newsgroups, and I no longer
> trust what he says.
>

<shrug>  He's helped me a time or two. He supports the Apple II by providing
a source of downloadable software.  That's a lot more than I can say for the
Tom haters.
-Paul