A Block — a good maneuvar for Hoopfest Weekend BUT…
Good afternoon, Netizens...
I have come to the Virtual Ballroom because it is the only place I can find where the heat of our first real day of the Summer cannot reach me, for I am somewhat old and sometimes doddering.
As I walk up the stone walkway to the invisible front door of the Virtual Garden, I see where even the Garden Gnomes are nestled beneath the wide flowing leaves of some plant whose name I cannot recall, and are fast asleep in the cool shade. Here it is nearly 7:00 PM and it is still nearly 90 degrees, so I do not blame them for hiding from the heat.
I am somewhat startled, however, when I walk up to the Virtual Espresso Bar because only a few people, and the usual handful of ghosts, are gracing the bar stools at this hour of the afternoon. Our barrista of the day, Gonzo Warthrop, smiles as he slides a cup of today's special espresso blend, “Dave's Justice” in front of me.
How utterly apt. Earlier today David Brookbank, a frequent flier in these parts, was banned from posting in all the SR blogs. According to the message I received from Doug Floyd, the block was supposed to apply only to A Matter of Opinion, but it was readily apparent to me that this was not entirely accurate, because David no longer could post in Community Comment's Virtual Ballroom or any of his other favorite haunts. I fired off a message to Becky Tallent, our Ombudsman for the SR, and she indicated she was just as much in the dark as I was.
Finally, I located David Brookbank's IP address in the list of banned addresses after some considerable searching. Then I did the unthinkable: I contacted David by telephone and extracted a promise from him that he would observe and obey the ban against him posting in A Matter of Opinion in exchange for my freeing up his IP from the banned list. Once I had corrected what I firmly believe was an honest mistake, and set matters to right, David Brookbank is once again back with us. As I explained to him, part of our “gentleman's agreement” is that he cannot break his promise.
It might mean the guillotine for both of us rather than simply my own head. At least then I might be able to dance with several really comely ghosts I've seen wafting their ways across the Virtual Dance Floor.
Dave