I'm a member of the Poser newsgroup (alt.binaries.3d.poser), and also a member here since Willow was in charge. Legume made a reference to AOY and asked (rhetorically) if he could possibly qualify, but the poll was removed before I could vote. There was some debate and argument in the newsgroup about the relative merits of Legume vs. Toxicangel (sp?), which seemed to boil down to which one we were in closer personal contact with. People get angry there and disagree, and they're not mindless minions of Legume or anybody else.

This AOY controversy has brought out the worst in 'rosity IMVHO. Typically, cliques of friends and associates are attacking those who aren't part of their cliques, based on personal prejudice, rather than any dispassionate logic or examination of the facts. Add to that brew the usual "some are more equal than others" comments, where old-timers imagine their views are more valid than newbies, or the only opinions that matter are from those with extensive galleries, from those making law enforcement references, et al.

The anti-Legume faction is one of the cliques here. Their automatic rejection of anything Legume says or does, combined with their ludicrous and unfounded accusations, reveals the bankruptcy of their reactionary stance. Now it involves the AOY. My feeling is that there were some slip-ups involved in the planning and implementation of the AOY for which Legume is not to blame. I would assume that the 'rosity management has gotten the point by now, so why not take the heat off them and let them do damage control? Two possible solutions: either declare the AOY in abeyance for 2002, or re-open it to general voting, once AOM for December is selected.