She is just a sweet gal.


Hehe naughty baby.

Don't know what all the rest of the posts are about. Maybe we all need a beer.

If you are truly an American and a Christian, as you claim, then you will read what I have to say.

First, if any one has a right to be offended, it is me. Right below my name in my first post is this note: "This post has been edited for profanity - nelsoc" (emphasis added). I feel that this is actually defamatory because it gives a false impression of what my original post contained. There is absolutely no way to look at that edited post and know what was changed, or how much might have been deleted; a reader has no way to know that "butt" replaced "axs" or that "heck" replaced "hxll", and most people will probably conclude that some truly offensive parts were deleted. Because the most commonly accepted definition of profanity involves blasphemy or showing contempt or irreverence toward God, such as taking God's name in vein (e.g., "Gxd Dxmn" or "Jesxs Chrxst!"), and, secondarily, vulgarity -- which typically involves language quite a bit worse than just "hxll" or "axs" when used in a light-hearted way (e.g., "fxck you", "axs-hole", or "eat shxt") -- then that profanity notation below my name gives the distinct impression that my language was substantially worse than it actually was. Oddly enough, the word "butt" is not considered vulgar, nor is telling someone to "piss off" -- which someone else was able to post in another thread -- the point being that the definition of profanity appears to be arbitrary and subject to the wims of the moderators. Well, so be it, but I think I have a right to at least question authority; that's one of the things that has made America, and every other free society, great.

Second, would you or someone else PLEASE tell me how either my behavior or my language was un-American or un-Christian? What, exactly, have I done to warrant that?
1. I 'talked trash' (relatively common for friendly competition), and I used the words "hxll" and "axs" in what was clearly just some light hearted banter to anyone with a sense of humor and any common sense. Even another 'Community Admin' -- mycrofth -- recognized that by stating: "Bill made a good-humored, good-natured funny post." Now, I never 'cussed' anyone nor did I use the words in any vulgar way; e.g., I never told anyone to 'go to hxll' or to 'kiss my axs', although the temptation is certainly growing with each post.
2. I then questionned the decision to edit those two words as "profanity".
3. I responded intelligently to each post for the purpose of reasonable debate, explanation, and to defend myself, rather than as a 'flame'. In doing so, I did not use inappropriate language, make any false statements or unsupported accusations, and did not engage in name-calling. At the very worst, I'm guilty of some sarcasm -- heaven forbid -- and of the suggestion that Sam ought to lighten-up a bit and get a sense of humor; okay, maybe I made a veiled suggestion that he might be anal retentive.

Sam Clemens, on the other hand, directly accused me of breaking "numerous" rules, and when I asked him to tell me what they were, he never did; instead, he then accused me of posting my message for purposes of "thinly veiled recruiting" which had changed to "a blatant attempt at recruiting" and "flagrant propaganda", and that I had committed "at least 7 counts ... on WCG forum etiquette". Now, am I not entitled to question him or defend myself? He also asked me the question of why I suppose school kids use language like I used, so I explained to him in a polite way -- giving two examples from TV and movies -- and I also explained why his accusations were not true and I again asked him to list my violations. He again refused to do so, but instead responded by directly accusing me of "Launching a tirade against all teams ... and then retaliating against the forum admins". I again defended myself in a very civil, reasonable, and logical way, as I should be entitled to do, and then Sam's gross over-reaction was to resign and make distortions and further accusations against me: that he is the one who is abused; that he's tried to be a peace-maker, but I won't; that I am offering no respect for the achievements of WCG; and that "The rest of us are toeing the line but it's different for Bill everybody". Yeah, I like that "everybody" at the end of his sentence, like good ole' Sammy is sort of urging everybody to shun me now.

I do regret that Sam has decided to resign, but I find it very hard to believe that it was over this _LITTLE_ incident which he has blown all out of proportion; I think it has more to do with my criticism of recruitment within WCG by the big teams -- which is just my opinion that I'm entitled to express. Well, I guess I hit a nerve because it turns out that Sam is actually David Autumns, the team captain of MyOnlineTeam which has 252 members and seems to be one of the more prolific posters. Anyway, Sam could have just ignored my posts, but he instead resigned and blamed me, which is just childish and probably the main reason why we need to be so kid-friendly. His melodramatic point of claiming that I've taken the scalp of your beloved leader has, no doubt, trashed any hope that I'll ever get any fair consideration here.

And now you are accusing me of being un-American and un-Christian. How's that? I'm a veteran of over 20 years and am still proudly serving my country in the U.S. Army Reserves, and I've been a judge for almost 20 years, defending and upholding the U.S. Constitution including our cherished right of freedom of speech and our right to disagree with others. As a Christian, besides prison ministry, I've been deeply involved in several other Christian ministries, ... but to paraphrase the Bible, I'm not about to cast my pearls before swine. Perhaps you think that brewing beer or drinking is un-Christian; brewing beer is legal here in Arkansas and most other states, and there are many devout Christians who believe that drinking is not a sin -- but that drunkeness is. Well, I never said that I was drunk; I said that I had had a COUPLE (that means "two") homebrews. Maybe it was the photo of a baby with a beer; that was a joke. Maybe it was the photo of the barmaid; nothing obscene about that. And by the way, there is another statement in the Bible about not judging people -- as you have clearly done with me despite that you have VERY little to base it on. And finally, if you don't know any other Americans or Christians who occasionally use <gasp> "hxll" or "axs" and who argue no more agressively than I have, then you need to get out more often.

Cheers.

Bill Velek

Thank you. Lawyers are paid by the hour, so we tend to draw things out.

I meant no harm in the original post, nor in the ensuing _discussion_ which I guess some folks have apparently interpreted as a flame. I am going to apologize to Sam in his team's thread, and am doing so right here as well.

Sam, I sincerely apologize for upsetting you and anyone else here, and I wish you and everyone else a Happy New Year. Please reconsider your resignation as an Admin. I promise not to challenge you in the future; if I happen to disagree with you, I'll keep my opinions to myself.

I am also changing my signature block to what it should be, but just for the record, so that anyone reading this thread in the future can understand what that particular issue was all about, this is what it said during the interim:

"Only folks who brew their own beer are welcome to join HomeBrewers; also if you already belong to WCG, you can't join HomeBrewers unless you quit WCG and then join all over again, plus send me a sample of your homebrew to prove you brew."

I am, however, specifying that we are seeking just 'homebrewers' for our team.

I really do care about crunching, and have been trying very hard to recruit people not only for my team, but to _ANY_ team on WCG ... or for that matter, on _ANY_ grid. My wife has cancer, my father has Parkinson's, my sister died of diabetes, my grandson has asthma, and my daugher works for the Alzheimers Association -- so I'm 100% behind using grid computing to search for cures. Actually, I would support it 100% even if I had no personal stake at all, because it's the right thing to do.

Cheers.

Bill Velek, Team Captain