We won't pretend that we were surprised by what happened next, but Antistoicus had to give the House one last chance before condemning it. Stephanie Cass was one of the higher level administrators of the House, but only one, and not the highest. The meaningful response would be that of the "Nisut", Tamara Siuda, the one person who could speak for the House.
Tamara spoke volumes merely by her decision to not even deign to answer her own mail. The entire House membership includes a mere 200 shemsu, fewer people than in one of Antistoicus' finite math sections, and guests aren't numerous. The volume of correspondence such a small membership base will generate is not even close to being beyond one person's ability to handle, and yet she still chose to hide behind her hierarchy. The message was "it isn't your place to question my decisions, or even to speak to me". How very self-important of her !
Or, should I say, "How typical of the House"? Craig Schaefer's response? Do the words "in one ear and out the other" mean anything to you? Craig basically sent Antistoicus a form letter, a would-be "one size fits all" conflict resolution, not even bothering to concern himself with the specifics of the case. Now, that's arrogant!
Incredibly, the message still hadn't gotten through to the hierarchy of the House, because once again, we had one of their "clergy" writing
"Let me be perfectly blunt : neither one of you is a member of my church or my religion."
Translation : "Mind your place, boy!". He went on to say:
"The public side of our webboards is designed for public access, so that's fine."
making the previous comment an unforgivable exercise in bigotry, to say nothing of poor hospitality. Had he forgotten that Antistoicus was there by the invitation of his own church? Now, we had Schaefer implying that an invited guest should expect to enjoy fewer rights and be shown less respect than another participant of the boards, merely for not being a "Kemetic" (ie. Egyptian Traditionalist)? Such an attitude would stand the most basic conception of hospitality on its head. He went on, past a point at which he should have had the sense to stop:
"What's not fine is using said boards as a staging ground for personal attacks or perpetuating a conflict that should be resolved in private like civilised adults."
... and we sigh, again. History had just repeated itself. Much as Stephanie Cass had mindlessly parroted Kai's dishonest spin on events (mentioned earlier), now Craig was willfully parroting Stephanie's willfully mindless repetition, tossing in a gratuitous insult by way of embellishment. (10)
The reader does remember that my first post was about Geometry?
One may well wonder how it was the Schaefer could think that such a letter could accomplish anything positive. Such letters provide encouragement to the instigator and outrage the victim. The victim may be expected to become an enemy, and one is left with the instigator, a double loss for the group. The answer came through loud and clear in the next quote:
"I understand that there is considerable bad blood between you. It seems as though you both feel like the wronged parties. I am not writing in order to state a case one way or another in that regard."
Ah! Now we understand! Let us not, Craig tells us, worry about little issues, like who's right and who's wrong. Let us instead, worry about the one really important issue: how to resolve this matter with the least short term difficulty for Craig Schaefer. This is a point that we've long made about the "peace at any price" crowd. The facade they adopt is one of hopeful idealism, but the reality behind the facade is one of pure selfishness. They don't care whose rights or which principles get trampled, as long as they can get peace and quiet for themselves with a minimum of effort.
We wonder if Craig remembered that clergy were supposed to set a moral example, if they were to be clergy, at all? The problem is that Craig couldn't seem to understand that there was such a thing as morality, and that there was a real distinction between a valid complaint and a frivolous one. He had begun by saying:
"I am writing you both in regards to the recent incidents on the House of Netjer's webboards, as well as a series of letters which have been directed to the desk of the Nisut (AUS) in regards to the situation between you both."
This, as the reader was able so see in Antistoicus' first letter to the Nisut, linked to earlier, was historically inaccurate, as a matter of objective reality, which was clearly a matter of small concern to "Reverend" Schaefer. Antistoicus' complaint to the Nisut had been that her membership had gone trolling, and was continuing to misrepresent his remarks. Kheru had been mentioned only in passing. However, the inaccuracy was helpful for the spin which Schaefer wished to put on the events, and so it was one which he would adopt.
"See", he seemed to be saying, "you both have complaints". "Yes", Antistoicus would point out "but John's complaint is that I successfully rebutted some arguments that he was fond of, and documented his outrageous and abusive behavior. My criticism of him is that he has behaved outrageously and abusively. How can you seriously suggest that these are on an equal moral plane?"
Attempting to make fence straddling seem like courage, he wrote:
"The easiest thing for me to do, to resolve matters from my end, would be to ban you both from the system."
Obviously not, since John returned under a new name once - what would keep him from doing so, again? The easiest thing for him to do, pleasant noises to the contrary notithstanding, was exactly what he was doing at that moment. Continuing, Craig said:
"However, I would be immensely disappointed were that to be necessary -- you both have considerable things to offer,"
Ah, yes, Antistoicus and an apparent paranoid schizophrenic who sent Antistoicus threatening messages because he wouldn't believe that Sekhmet had told John to look through his girlfriend's e-mail. Oh, and that King Tut might have had a stereo. Imagine the conversations they could have!
"... and I don't feel that the obstacles here are insurmountable ones."
Translation : "I'll bet I can get the Hellenist to cave". 
"Is there any way that the two of you can talk things out and come to some sort of armistice, if not a rapport?"
What, we wonder, could such an "armistice" be based on?
"Would mediation help?"
Hmmm. We suppose if somebody gave Kheru a little Stelazine ... oh, that was "mediation", not "medication". Sorry.
In a word, "no". The offer is outrageous. If a would-be mugger is struggling with you, trying to take your wallet, do you accept "mediation" over who gets it, or do you expect to see your property rights get upheld? Mediation is only appropriate when both sides in a dispute can make a reasonable case for what they want.
Besides which, a mediator, above all else, must be trustworthy and impartial. Through his willful distortions of objective reality, Schaefer had shown himself to be neither.
"There's simply got to be a better solution than the way things are right now."
Yes. The House could have started enforcing a civilized level of behavior instead of appeasing the poorly behaved.
"As an aside, if either of you feel slighted by the way the House has responded to the situation, please accept my apologies. We are not perfect in any sense of the word, but we do try our best."
No, Craig, you don't, and that's the problem. Making pleasant sounding noises is no substitute for doing the right thing.
Had Antistoicus ever considered joining the House of Netjer, he would be referring to this incident, as the "straw that broke the camel's back". As he came on the Nisut's gracious invitation, merely to see the House for himself before judging, he would say that this was the incident that firmed up the image of the House that had been forming in his mind. Before, he would have spoken of "suspicions". Here, my suspicions were confirmed.
Antistoicus sent Craig the response he deserved, and left. There was nothing for him to gain by participation in a forum run on such juvenile terms, and he certainly didn't owe the other people on it a thing. Antistoicus had learned what he had come to find out, anyway, and felt that it was time to go.