The mavens of mediocrity do not stop at mockery. They also stoop to ugly private messages and other sinister practices (I will not mention these to limit copy cat terrorists) directed to people like myself who do not remain annonymous. As a result I withdraw all contributions both monetary and literary to the mudcat forum.
Here is a typical message from your beloved throng.

Don Hackman's Private Messages --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From Title Date M.Ted Your Missing Sock 2001-09-25 16:26:16 Archive

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Message: I am not posting to your thread, because I am hoping your triple repost is just the lead weight that it takes to sink it. I really am sick and tired of your rantings--I really don't know if you really are so agitated that you are unable to express a coherent thought, or you are just tend to run on--whatever it is, the stuff that you post is so full of something that comes across as hysterical rage--Everyone tends to rant a bit, especially at times like these, but they generally calm down--you don't seem to--It wouldn't hurt you at all to stop and read and think about what other people are saying, instead of attacking it and them all the time--The other people who post in the thread are real, and, for the most part, the things that they say are pretty much what they think and feel--It is not a debate that is being scored, and your "shoot at anything that moves" style doesn't do anything but agitate folks like Uncle Jaque and Cranky Yankee, and believe me, we have heard what they have to say about everything, even before they say it-- Ted