[Webstral]

A little bit of oversensitivity goes a long way towards bruised feelings all around, whether one is new or an old hand.

I agree that some fresh ideas are an excellent thing. Many of the people who used to provide new material, like me, are too occupied with other responsibilities to do much writing. (How I'd love to get back to "The Storm in Germany"!) It's good to have some new voices and new ideas.

That much said, we all ought to have a look at how James conducts himself. His ideas are well-considered and well-presented. He accepts feedback graciously. He's willing to modify his work to reflect feedback. He shows a positive attitude. It's really an impressive show. I wish we'd had him in the old days when we were trying to build a common vision.

It's fine not to like certain aspects of the published material. The Howling Wilderness horse is dead, my friends. Those of us who don’t dig Howling Wilderness don’t require further convincing that there are problems with it. Those of us who prefer Howling Wilderness aren’t amenable to new arguments that it needs fixing, given all of the discussion that has taken place on the subject over the years. Certainly, those who prefer Howling Wilderness more-or-less as it is aren’t going to change their minds when presented with an argument salted with “That’s stupid”. There’s plenty of room for a factual review of the holes in the timeline, disappearing reinforcements, and the like without anybody’s feelings getting involved.

Everyone has their feelings about Howling Wilderness and the published materials. I have a wife and two young children, so I get plenty of drama at home. When I’m teaching, I have classrooms filled with tweens, so I get plenty of drama at work. I keep the company of men on the Internet to avoid the drama. Let’s not get spun up over whose ideas are more logically consistent or more likely to win favor from Frank Frey. In all likelihood, Frank is steering clear of us because he doesn’t need the drama, either.