Dear Rev. Siuda
Some while ago, you suggested that I might try taking part in the House of Netjer webboard. With considerable regret, I must report that this is an option that I will be warning others to not explore.
Recently, I posted an article entitled "Sekmet, Geometry, Cut Up Images and all that". (Yes, my "h" key is stuck
). This article
can be found in the Netjer section of your archives atTo term the response I have seen from a number of your shemsu offensive, would be an understatement. "Smugly, self-righteously libelous", would be more like it. Quotes were taken out of context, and the context misrepresented; other comments were fabricated out of the whole cloth and attributed to me. When I pointed out the misquotation, distortion and misrepresentation was laid upon distortion and misrepresentation. This was done to the visible delight of one of your more curious visitors, a self-styled "child of Sekhmet" who calls himself "(name deleted)" or "(name deleted)", though he has apparently not been divined.
At the time I first encountered "John" (aka -- name deleted --), I was not aware of his background, and alleged belief that Sekhmet was literally speaking to him, and had told him to look through his girlfriend's e-mail. This lead to a very curious exchange of messages on the Netjer private message system, including a number of threats from John, which may be found at
which tied into another conversation occurring at the time, about whether or not the ancient Egyptians had harnessed electricity (!). Apparently, I was required to believe they had, or at least acknowledge this as a serious possibility.
Rev. Siuda, I think that you know that, even by Neopagan standards, that one is really out there. Another of your shemsu, a "Bob" of Los Cruces, New Mexico, immediately started whipping up the hate on two boards, because I wouldn't go along with this.
Before this unpleasantness, however, John had done a post entitled "Netjeru and Geometry", in which he expressed dismay over a website on which the image of the head of Sekhmet had apparently mutilated in some fashion. This lead to a sort of rambling discussion that went in a number of mildly interesting directions. One of them lead to the charming Japanese practice of bringing Geometric proofs as offerings to one of the Kami, and the question of whether Djehuty would welcome such an offering.
Offhand, I couldn't remember where I had seen the article describing that practice. As I had recently moved, most of my personal library was still in boxes, and my home was in a state of complete upheaval. Eventually, though, I found the article, and returned to the original thread to post a notice to that effect. The article turned up in the May 1998 issue of Scientific American, and I was able to link to a copy of it on their website.
Eventually, books were uncrated, and a while, I found the article. I went back into the thread to post a notice to that effect, giving the date, location and url of the article. One small problem. The thread was now almost impossible to find.
One of the quirks of the "HetNetjer" boards is that when somebody deletes the lead article in a thread, the title of the thread ceases to be visible from the main page of the forum in which the thread appears. The lead article doesn't vanish, it is merely replaced by a new article entitled "article deleted by ..."
End result : when John deleted his article, instead of people seeing a thread with the title "Netjeru and Geometry" when visiting the "Netjer" forum, they saw a thread entitled "post deleted by (name deleted)" - one of many. Why he did this, God only knows. It isn't as if there were any especially embarrassing personal revelations in that post, or anything else that he'd have a reason to hide. But, he did that sort of thing A LOT, which made a good chunk of the boards very difficult to navigate.
Some may argue over whether or not a user has a right to delete a post. Apparently, Stephanie Cass feels that one does not, as the deletion of posts is no longer possible, something that I discovered to my slight embarrassment when I tried to delete a test post. Either way, yes or no, the question is beside the point. John does not have the right to shut down a conversation that other people are taking part in, merely because he is no longer interested in it. Making a thread difficult to find has just that effect. It bears repeating, that John had started a great many threads and this was a large chunk of the board that he had rendered effectively inoperative in this way.
At the time I started this most recent thread, I did not work from the assumption that this result of John's actions was anything but an unintended consequence of his actions. So, I set up the post ("Sekmet, Geometry, Cut Up Images, and all that") located at
as a gateway post, with links in place set up to make locating the old thread easier. The links on that post take on to a pair of files on two copies of the "Almond Jar" site, which link back to the copy of the "Netjer and Geometry" thread in your archives. This was clearly the way to go, because urls on the "HetNetjer" board are long and cumbersome and the editing of posts no longer works, anyway. Far better to simply link to a simple url, and then cut and paste the relevant link into a file when I get home. (Especially since I have to drop by Screenz to use your board, and fumbling around at $6 / hour is not an appealing thought).
This much was simple common sense. What a shame that common sense apparently chose that day to go on spring break.
A number of your shemsu went quietly ballistic. Some protested my placing of John's posts on my site, all the stranger since the url appearing on one's screen will clearly show that the file merely leads straight back onto the Netjer.org website, right into your own archives. This, a number of your people have been refusing to get, with a tone that strangely blends condescension, self-righteousness, and misplaced indignation. Some, with John's gloating encouragement, have 'gently' corrected my misperception that my post was deleted by John, untroubled by the fact that I never said any such thing, and that the link from the pages I give, goes right back to one of my posts in the thread in question.
It just goes on, and gets ever more bizarre, but it can be summed up in a brief phrase. Some of your people have been persistently putting words into my mouth, and they've been doing this in response to a post about Geometry. They've revived the old, Usenet-era practice of defaming the character of one's opposition, by attributing absurd remarks to him, and generally rewriting history and distorting reality. Trolling in its most classic form.
Ms. Cass will probably say something like, "I didn't want to get involved". That may be so, but she is the webmistress of a board that advertises itself as being a civil place where civility is required of the participants, and when John and his friends among the shemsu are allowed to lie outright about what another poster has said, in a sniggering tone, no less, what is being seen is not civility.
I would add that Ms. Cass has not remained neutral and uninvolved in the past when, for example, I finally posted a rebuttal to a personal attack on me written by your "Bob", in the reference section of the board. This, she deleted within two hours, though Bob's remarks had remained on the board for eight months. Nor did she remain neutral and uninvolved when John returned to his favorite topic (him having actual conversations with Sekhmet) with a new audience, and I posted a mild, and factual, "here's what happened; please don't encourage him" notice. Again, that vanished within hours. The blatant libel posted by John and his friends, the falsehood of which may be confirmed by a simple "point and click", has remained up for days, even with my public protest about it, in place.
To intervene in such a reliably partial fashion is to become one of the combatants, oneself. Rev. Cass, and whoever else is monitoring the boards at present, is doing so on behalf of one of the most dishonest and crazy factions that I have ever had the misfortune to run across, and I speak as one who has met the community that the House had the wisdom to leave behind. So. I have to ask. Is this what the House wants to be on record as standing for?
I once told you, that when I spoke of the House, that I would truthfully report all that I had seen, and I never break my word. With the aforementioned regrets, I will have to issue a travel advisory with regard to the HetNetjer boards. True, the Almond Jar only sees c. 10,000 visitors per year, according to site statistics, but you'd be surprised at how word gets around.
I am surprised, and disappointed, not to mention perplexed. By now, you must know that the old Pagan community, which you so prudently left, is all but dead. The Il-Pagans list, which once hosted dozens of letters per day, is now lucky if it sees three. pgnchil, (*) the announcement list for Chicago, doesn't even exist any more. Its bookstores are dropping like flies. You told me once, that you and the House left that community, because it couldn't welcome a voice of moderation. History has handed you a victory. You have survived the enemies you fought in the political arena. So, why does the House see fit to cease to be that voice of moderation, and slowly turn itself into a carbon copy of the self-destructing community it left behind?
I don't know, but for once, I'm not curious. I've seen enough. I must protest, in the strongest possible terms, the blatant disregard for even the most basic principles of civilized discourse which I've seen on your board. I have asked for justice and been refused it, not even being given the courtesy of a response. This, I take very personally. How could I not?
...................... Respectfully yours,
......................................... Antistoicus
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