Dave, thank you for this gracious and well-considered letter. I once took a
year off from OBOL and life went on pretty well. When the time came I rejoined
and it felt right. I personally hope to see you on OBOL again at a future time
when it feels right.
See you in the field at Malheur if not sooner.
Alan Contreras
Eugene, Oregon
acontrer56@xxxxxxxxx
Sent from my iPhone
On Jan 27, 2016, at 9:59 AM, Shawneen Finnegan <shawneenfinnegan@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Greetings All,
As I am no longer an OBOL subscriber, I've asked Shawneen to share this to
the list.
As nearly everyone in this forum can probably appreciate, the Malheur
occupation has taken a toll on many of us and surely caused some reactions
that produced undesired results. Over the past week I've upset some folks in
this forum, including members of the Oregon Birders Association Board and
apparently at least one of the moderators. Was it worth it? No. At the same
time I've received many private emails thanking me for my thoughtful sharing
on OBOL and the BOO forum. Two groups of people reading the same posts and
having distinctly different reactions to them demonstrates just how variable
and fragile perceptions can be. Unfortunately, the Internet provides us with
a wonderful tool for making ourselves misunderstood and misinterpreted.
Over the years I have valued OBOL as a community and hopefully my good
contributions to it outweigh the occasions when I've made a nuisance of
myself...like last week. In the interest of reducing the things in my life
that cause the worst part of my personality to occasionally poke through, I
have been stepping away from some activities and involvements that have
occupied my life for many years. I've decided that it's time for OBOL to join
that list. My vision for this forum doesn't exactly mesh with the vision many
others seem to have for it. The OBA membership and board are ultimately
footing the bill to keep the lights on, thus it's their right to set the
rules of engagement for this community and I respect that. I have many valued
friendships in the Oregon birding community. It is not worth jeopardizing or
compromising those relationships through my occasional missteps on OBOL.
I always welcome chances to answer ID questions and weigh in on interesting
status and distribution questions, so don't hesitate to reach out to me
privately (llsdirons@xxxxxxx) with queries on such issues. Further, this
coming Memorial Day Weekend I will be at Malheur as usual. Shawneen and I
plan to do a big sit from Lilly's memorial bench on one day during the long
weekend (probably Sunday). If you happen to be there yourself, stop by say to
hello or introduce yourself and linger long enough to spot a distant raptor
that we can add to our day list.
Good birding,
Dave Irons
