I am proposing that we take an on-line poll of
all readers of ARBR to determine whether we,
as a group, want Ed Dolan to stay or leave.
In order for this to work, we need the numerous
lurkers to step forward and make your voices
heard...

You're kidding, right? Even if every lurker and every regular
poster banded together as one and asked/implored/demanded that he
go, you would have no authority to compel him to do anything at
all. This isn't intended as a flame. It's simply an observation
of the way USENET works.

Only the ISP which owns the server and provides a given poster's
access has any authority. Appeals to his ISP will almost
certainly go unheeded. Although you may find him annoying,
nothing he's doing would violate any ISP's AUP.

I suspect that there are many more lurkers to ARBR
than there are active posters. I also suspect that many
lurkers, such as myself, primarily visit ARBR to read the
latest rants from Saint Edward...

If that is the case then why would you want to get rid of him?

Even among those of you who dislike Ed's politics or
egotism, I bet you nonetheless find him entertaining;
and I suspect many of you agree that this newsgroup
would be a bore-fest without him.

I can't speak for anyone but myself. I have no idea what others
may think. I personally find him neither entertaining nor
annoying. He's just a troll and you are feeding him. It seems
that you enjoy doing so, much as children enjoy throwing peanuts
to monkeys in the zoo. Again, no flame. If that floats your
boat, feel free to continue. I occasionally filter Ed and a few
others but I turn off the filters after a while to see if
anything useful is being posted.

So what we need every ARBR reader to do, including
(especially) all of you lurkers, is to reply to this post with
just a few simple words:

Either:

"Ed Should Stay"

Ed will stay as long as he likes, regardless what I might say
about it. I really don't care what he does.

Or:

"Ed Should Go"

Or perhaps... those who feed him should go away. If no one
answers him after a while he'll get bored and disappear. Of
course, getting those who enjoy feeding the troll to co-operate
is about as likely as getting Ed to leave.
--

Regards,
Robert L Bass

Bass Burglar Alarms
The Online DIY Store
http://www.BassBurglarAlarms.com