On a more serious note now...  I cruised
 on over to the #c64friends chat logs to see
 what was discussed last Saturday night.  To my
 dismay, I found the chat log full of vitriol...
 hatred... gay-bashing... Bernardo-bashing...
 (insert name)-bashing... all coming from the
 mouths of Jon "Moloch" Mines, Golan Klinger,
 Mark "Dragos" Gladson, and Gerry "_Commodore_"
 a.k.a. Klockmeister.  The friendly chat is
 no longer friendly.  In fact, such talk in the
 chat has driven away Jeri Ellsworth (long ago),
 Garth from Australia, Roadmaster from New
 Jersey, Stephen Jones (just recently), and now
 I think it is time for me to follow suit.
   This decision is not an easy one to
 make.  I've been on your chat since the late
 1990's -- the days of Genie -- and then
 #dan-mike and now #c64friends.  And I've
 thought, "I must stick it out.  I must not
 let the Golan and his cronies win out."
 However, when I look at it another way, if I
 attend the chat with them continuing to act
 the way they are, I am tacitly condoning
 their actions.  I don't want to do that.
   With the four cyber-bullies now in
 power, the #c64friends chat has degraded to
 their victimizing those who have no power on
 the chat.  With the four cyber-bullies now in
 power, I see that they revel in intimidating
 others.  With the four cyber-bullies now in
 power, I no longer see anything productive
 being discussed... at least not from those
 who are being victimized and those who are
 too afraid to speak.
   I've tried to ban in the past; the ban
 has been lifted.  I've tried to kick; they've
 kicked right back at me.  I've tried to
 ignore, but all around me cannot ignore what
 they say.  I suppose I could try to ban all
 the above four at the same time, but I'm not
 sure you would approve of such a purge of so
 many who have OPs.
   Therefore, I must leave the #c64friends
 chat permanently.  I can no longer recommend
 the #c64friends chat to others.  I will take
 residence at the more friendly, more
 controlled #acug chat and will start promoting
 that one.
   I want to thank you for your
 understanding and friendship throughout the
 years.  I never did thank you for your
 defense of me on the Homestead mailing list,
 but I want to thank you now.  I don't think
 I will ever attend another 4Cs Expo or an
 ECCC, because of Mark Gladson, and so, I'm
 not sure when I will see you again.  If you
 ever make it to CommVEx or to VCF, you'd be
 most welcome.  If you ever visit #acug,
 you'd be most welcome.  Farewell, my friend.

       Sincerely,
       Robert Bernardo