In a follow-up to yesterday's post about the SWFA, I wanted to mention that Tobais Buckell has quit the organization over all this pettiness. As he says:
I know people online will fight. I know people will struggle over differing opinions. But still, I have this odd opinion that more gets done in forums where respect and civility prevail. Yeah, I've been mocked for expecting that civility and professionalism decorum prevail, and even tried my best to lead by example. But it made no difference. I would happily remain in SFWA, if there were some other way that news was communicated timely to members without my having to wade into the muck, but as it is, too many big decisions came about in there, decisions that if I were part of an organization, I wanted input on.
And if I weren’t a part of 3 professional organizations (2 writers ones) that had online civility and professional, I might even imagine that the mockers were correct. But I’ve seen how professionals can conduct themselves even with wildly differing opinions, and I know what it is.
Amen to everything Toby says in his post. Hearing about all this from people like him has convinced me to keep my hard-earned money and sanity well away from this organization.