the following email was sent today to those who have been active on the scrytch mailing list in the last six months:
Dear Friend of Scrytch:If you are receiving this email, you either are active upon or have posted to the ‘scrytch’ mailing list in the last six months. Please know, this is the one and only email you will receive with regard to this matter, and it is being sent to you strictly to insure you are aware of recent events and fully informed as to the state and status of the “open collaborative” known as Scrytch.
I am writing to you today to advise you of a regrettable state of affairs and to make you aware that at this moment, there are several participants who seek to have Scrytch entered to the archives and are being denied the right to do so.I call it a ‘right’ because it is very clearly presented as such both by the original charter as well as by the GPL license under which this effort operates.
This denial is due to unrelated, personal motivations held by those with stewardship of the effort, none of which relate to Scrytch itself.
Efforts to reconcile matters have proven impossible, as those responsible for this state of events refuse to acknowledge their charter, this effort’s history, or anything more than “I don’t like you, go away.”
Thus, it has become apparent those responsible for stewarding Scrytch have taken inappropriate control of it, naming themselves ‘owners’ and abusing the authority given them in good faith and trust as well as the GPL license by which Scrytch itself can even exist, to wit:
> The GPL, which comes from the software world, allows one to use, modify,
> copy, and redistribute GPL source in any way they like — so long as they
> don’t try to restrict others’ right to do so!(Source – Scrytch License 1994, sourced from the GPL License, see www.fsf.org for full version)
After conversation with several members of the mailing list (who, for obvious reasons, wish to remain unidentified), and in the face of having the gift of two domains to aid in consolidating the effort thrown into the dirt as ‘poisoned gifts’, it has become apparent that the effort itself is being smothered… with the list itself now CLOSED to new membership and several requests to join being systematically denied.
Rather than pursue this with the FSF by lodging a formal complaint and thus, risk placing the archives themselves at jeapordy, it has been decided to take the archives currently provided under GPL and dedicate them to the public domain by entering them to a new, truly open collaborative that will continue the idea and dream of Scrytch free from the personal prejudices and bias that presently impede its growth.
Should you wish to see Scrytch as an idea grow and find success, should you like to be part of helping it do so, I invite you to visit www.scrytch.com or www.scrytch.org, register, and make a point of contributing Scrytch to the archives.
The entire archive of Scrytch to date is slowly being placed online at this location as date/time stamped entries to permit a fully-searchable, conveniently organized resource for future generations of Scrytchers.
In addition, a daily mailing list of new entries is auto-emailed from the blog to those who elect to receive it (this option may be toggled on or off via your profile).
When these archives are fully online, a public marketing effort to bring new interest and contributors will be undertaken, and from there… may all things proceed and succeed.
As one who has been integral to making Scrytch what it is today, your presence would be welcome and appreciated. Please consider giving your support to the idea of Scrytch as a world-wide collaborative it was originally intended to be, and help insure the vision remains healthy and strong… and truly open to any who wish to participate.
For what it is worth, despite their refusal to extend this to others, the current stewards of the .net domain and the mailing list are and remain welcome to join and contribute to this effort. It would hardly be an ‘open collaborative’ were this not the case. Perhaps, in this, some aid to them in understanding that there are times when the nature of something must be held higher than the petty urges of ego and humanity.
Thank you for your time and attention. I invite you to contact me with any questions, or should you require additional information.
i cannot say that, other than those with whom i’ve spoken privately, there will be any interest. but in truth, i find it difficult to believe that every one of them have forgotten what the place was supposed to be about and the purpose it was supposed to serve.
for my part, i am enthused and excited about seeing this effort given the attention, nourishment, and focus it deserved to have all along. and i’m excited as well to find the contacts in publication and other areas that i had thought might well languish will instead be set to amazing and new directions.
in the final analysis, i choose not to let the bitterness, fear, and the hatreds of others impede. the idea has merit and deserves support, regardless that many of its stewards have seemingly forgotten their own words or dreams for it.
there is a certain, repeating pattern of neglect and resuscitation noted… but i will not speak more of it. this will be the last such instance as that connection has been severed utterly at the root.
all in all, i find it helpful to nourish a worthy endeavor in spite of the spite. proof positive that one does not have to be the ‘bad guy’ just because another swears it so… and despite the various idiocies of ego and humanity, it is still possible to see good things flourish if one is willing to dedicate time, effort, patience, and tenacity to them.
with a wry grin, i admit, these things are blessings given in plenitude here. in this moment, i am simply, quietly thankful that i have the opportunity to keep what i find to be a worthwhile thing from smothering to death.
it is… enough.