I was originally posting this in reply to a post from Robert Touts in one of the Slab threads below, but I know that it would have been lost.

Robert said:

Perhaps a step in the right direction in the case of Mr. Scott would be him to remove the blocks he has in place not allowing certain members from bidding on his auctions

A step in the right direction? Has he not (A LONG TIME AGO) stopped selling slabbed chips? That is THE step, is it not? He should drop his ban? That puts the cart before the horse. Slabfree banned him first. And in effect, Mr. Scott should allow all the Slabfree members to bid on his items, and the Slabfree board would unanimously chuckle and vote 5-0 to keep him on the list anyway. Does that sound reasonable?.

In a nutshell, this is everything I hate about "lists", "pledges" etc. The gang mentality stinks. Good intentions become 50's blacklists. Slabfree won. Slabbing is long dead. Yet the punitive measures remain. Has anyone been removed from the list? If I was a chip dealer that sold slabbed chips 5-6 years ago, and I stopped, then years later asked to be removed from the list, and then was told it 5-0 to keep me ON the list, I'd be upset too.

Now I am sure some Slabfree members think the time has come to move on, but when the Slabfree Board conveys the attitude that they are not going to move on to the membership, some of the members who disagree are stuck with either supporting the Board and not making waves or leaving the group and signaling their disagreement with the group, and many in the group are friends.

I believe that people are intrinsically good. When an ethical dilemma arises (which this is, as no "laws" have been broken), most people, when left to their own devices will do the right thing. Gentle persuasion can sometimes win the day too. When like minded people ban together, and make pledges for a noble purpose, free will goes right out the window. The will of the group becomes "law", the people at the top of the group dictate the "law", and stepping back from that position is a lot harder that an individual person bestowing forgiveness on someone who has offended him/her. I don't take the pledge because I would prefer to decide for myself when the time has come to move on. I don't need a Board to dictate what I know to be right or wrong.

As a member of the CCGTCC, I firmly stand by the official position of the club. In summary, they let the membership know that slabbing was a bad idea, took steps to assure that the CCGTCC could not be perceived as condoning slabbing, but made no blanket prohibitions against buying/selling slabbed chips. Works just fine for me, then and now. We all agree slabbing was a terrible idea and would not work for the hobby. Slabfree pledgers helped make that happen. So did everyone else who didn't take the pledge but supported NOT patronizing dealers who slabbed. All that is left is lists. When/if slabbing pops up again let me know, but I am certain that under the present conditions, the "list" has outrun its usefulness.