[Formendacil]

As one of the chief movers and shakers of the whole Statement and as its primary composer, it is only proper, I feel, that I make a personal statement on this thread. It has taken me a while to compose myself into a collected enough state to do this, but I feel that delaying it, so that this comes after Alatar and SPM’s comments, in particular, is a good thing.

First of all, I received some censure before this thread was posted, to the effect that it was likely that this would drive the ‘Downs in two. With a bit of hesitant timidity, allow me to say that I very pleased to see that this appears not to be the case, but that – as things stand- we’re actually moving towards a resolution, albeit very slowly. Certainly, no one has blown up, and that is good thing.

After SPM and Alatar’s long and, from my perspective, sincere posts, I am finally starting to get an impression of both sides of this issue. And for me, a lack of understanding about the Administration’s side has been the truly big matter. I’m the sort of person who likes order, who likes having authority figures, and who is not averse to measures being taken when necessary. But I’m also a person who, for good or ill, considers himself capable of making his own decisions, and I do not like it when a decision made by those in power does not jive with my own judgment. Observation of my blogs will show severe irritation at only getting Davem’s side of the story. Had I seen SPM and Alatar’s posts two weeks ago, I’d have been in a much better humour, in many respects.

As with most stories with two sides, I would say that both sides of the story have their faults, and both are truthful in the views of the people making them- and that holds true here. The Administration feels that it was justified in banning Davem. They believe what they are saying. For the first time in this matter, I’m convinced of their sincerity.

With most of the bones of contention cleared away, (or “Myths” as SPM called them), the issue of Davem’s banishment boils down to two things: the debate on the “Lord of the Bible” thread, and how Davem acted there (and elsewhere, but that is the main place)- and whether or not Davem was warned that his actions were inappropriate.

(I'm breaking this up into different posts for obvious reasons of making it easier to read. If the Mods think it's a wastage of bandwidth or whatever... feel free to condense into one.)