>*snip*
>>See the above. A repository, great; one that we can point at for FAQs, code helpful articles and the like. We just went through what was, IMO, a really fruitless attempt to bombard J Random Idiot for having a wrong idea. I don't want to see that, and I won't be a part of it. Better to keep my mouth shut and be thought a fool, than to open it and remove all doubt.
>
>I did not "bombard" the writer of the article (especially since their e-mail address bounced, and I would have written my note to them without any prompting from anyone, had I run across it myself. Maybe I have just a touch too much Dudley Doright in me, but I try to right wrongs when I see them. And as far as being thought a fool, it wouldn't be the first time, and probably not the last time my mouth gets me into trouble. However, the squeaky wheel gets the oil, and being silent never changed ANYTHING!
>

Fred, you were as much a victim as J Random Idiot. My point is that someone went hunting for an evil creature who had a wrong idea, and then unleashed the hounds on them. You happened to be the first to fire off a message and admit it publicly. And then the mail bounced.

>>As this was the first even quasi-official act of the, for lack of a better term, loose confederacy calling itself the VFPDA, it's certainly left a bad taste in my mouth. I'm just wondering when the loyalty oaths will be administered, and when the confederacy's Board of Political Correctness will condemn the first heathen who spoke ill of their chosen platform of all application goodness and light.
>
>It was not an "official" act of any organization, at least not my letter. It was merely little-ol-me. If this ever evolves to something like you're describing, I agree, this would not be a good thing to be part of.
>

Again, you were only the first. The point is that someone, in the trappings of VFPDA 'officialdom' (a stretch, I'll admit, but at least in the context of the formation of the VFPDA) denounced the unbeliever and invoked the wrath of the righteous. We aren't far from being called on to boycott a magazine that prints an article saying that VB is a better development platform than VFP. I fully expect to be dragged off to prison in chains for stating that VFP isn't the right tool all the time, or even most of the time, for developing an application.

As much as I like VFP, it's not right in all places for all things, as unpalatable as that may be to those people who feel it's the only tool that can meet the needs of data-centric development. I like VFP as a platform, and I admire the VFP community's ability to provide self-help and support for the product and for people struggling to master it. I don't have warm fuzzies about people who feel a need to police the rest of the world, the ones who aren't members of the VFP community, for instances where they disagree with our desire to see VFP continue as a part of Microsoft's product line, or postulate that it's not long for the world. The behavior exhibited in this one instance makes me wonder what horrible fate awaits a member of the community who comes along and says there's something better.

>>
>>Perhaps I'm being cynical. The bulk of the message traffic to date has shown an awful lot of people volunteering without knowing what they're joining, or what they're being asked to do. I got over that in the military. In fact, we don't even know what the VFPDA is going to do, besides fighting the war for truth, justice and the VFP OOP model.
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>Being cynical about something as undefined as the VFPDA is easy to do, especially if you've been involved with similar "good idea" organizations before. I know I have been. But I do believe we ALL would like to see some good come out of this, even if we all do not agree with proper protocol as to how things should be put forth. Remember, we are all individuals and having different opinions on things doesn't make them bad opinions, just different. Getting together at DevCon would be a good idea, however not everyone can be there. Not even all those that would like to be a part of this are even here on the UT, but it's a start. But if everything has to go through a "commitee" to agree on things, I can also tell you from personal experience that that doesn't work well, either! So you're probably correct, Ed, we certainly don't need to go off into battle half cocked.

Thanks. I am cynical for just the reasons you mention - I was a member of the first attempt to roganize the FidoNet, and watched it fragment and disintegrate over issues of direction, membership, and organizational responsibility. I withdrew from PADD's CT FoxPro chapter when it turned into a political nightmare, and I've avoided such organizations like the plague ever since. This rush to create a VFP PAC scares me; someone actually went out to the web looking for a fight, and got you to go smack them around a bit.

For the moment, I won't be joining the VFPDA, especially if this is indicative of what it is trying to accomplish.

>
>And don't forget Mom's Apple Pie! :)

I wish I could; Mom wasn't a very good chef!