I'm perplexed...

...by inexplicable behavior.

I established a journal here simply because I was unhappy with the attitude of those who work for the site that hosts my old one. I liked the place, but not the whiny, immature attitude of its admins.

When a friend had trouble with an admin who took offense at something he perceived -- but did not actually see -- in a message she sent regarding a new site feature that wasn't working properly, I chose to make an attempt to smooth things over. I wrote to said admin, and got a sulky reply for my efforts. Since this followed other public temper tantrums by the same person, I decided I'd had enough.

But the reaction of some people I like and respect at the old site leaves me puzzled and, frankly a wee bit hurt.

At departure, I advised everyone (via my old journal) of the reasons I was leaving, and urged all readers to refer to my friend's site for a full explanation of what led her to leave. I also posted the exchange of messages between the admin and me.

Here's the confusing part:

The reaction was, in many quarters, a defense of the admin not based on knowing the facts. Some posted comments of their own, taking my friend to task for her use of inappropriate language. Some said, in essence, they wouldn't bother to read what she -- and the admin -- wrote; their minds were made up. She was wrong, and the admin -- to whom she, and I, and many others paid money for a service -- was perfectly right to whimper and threaten to go away and no longer help his customers.

In short, they did not wish to be confused with the facts. Their attitude is: My cyber-home, right or wrong. Because that particular journal-keeping site is very community/friend oriented, they were willing to take the admin's side without considering that it was his attitude that transformed an innocuous "word" into a Very Big Deal.

PARENTHETICAL THOUGHT: If I had been there when she wrote the original message, I might well have advised her not to use the cheeky subject line she used. But it must also be said that communication in this cyber-world tends to be more informal than traditional forms of message-writing, and in the end a certain amount of tolerance is demanded from all of us.

There are intolerant people everywhere, on every journal-keeping site, in every town, city and village in the world. I am, in some respects, one of them.

But the comments of those I left behind at my old "home" surprised me. And saddened me.

I have to wonder about people who are so loyal to what amounts to a server and a pile of software that they won't take the time to understand someone else's discontent with its operator. They criticize her -- and me -- for choosing a new place to write, yet cannot be bothered to figure out why.

I'm certainly willing to continue to go back to the old site and read them (and others whom I like and enjoy reading), but they consider me somehow disloyal for leaving, and find the effort to click on my new journal -- an effort that takes them away from their "home" -- too great.

Oh, well. Perhaps if I understood this, it wouldn't bother me so much.