Folks, I don't have a dog in this fight. It's none of my business who Don invites or permits into his group. All I am saying is that we all clicked on a button that said "I AGREE" when we joined this group. What we agreed to, among other things, was that the list moderator had final say on who was in the group. It is neither legal nor gentlemanly to attempt to unilaterally renegotiate the terms of a contract after the fact. If you didn't agree, you shouldn't have clicked the button to join. If you didn't read the terms before you clicked the button, how exactly is that Don's fault?
I joined the original list in late 1998 or early 1999 and I moved over to the Yahoo! Group when the old list was forced to shut down. Does my longevity (which is easily exceeded by many members) actually confer on me the right to make decisions? If you invite someone into your house for years, does there really come a time where they have any right to make decisions as to who else you invite in or are they still a guest? Remember, we have had several very interesting and prominent people in the music community leave this list in the past due to the juvenile pissing contests that have happened. What's more important, being able to have pissing contests or being able to collect more people who can contribute to THE CARE, FEEDING, AND PRESERVATION OF MELLOTRONS?
I come to these conclusions by being the "owner" of a few Yahoo! Groups, and who has had to make the same type of decision a few times myself. I'll be real blunt about it, if I think somebody is stirring up shit in my groups just for the sake of stirring up shit, I will lower the hammer on them fast and hard. It's my decision and I don't have to account for it to anyone else. They all clicked the "I AGREE" button affirming that they understand it is my decision. If people want to start another group, there is nothing wrong with that. But get off Don's case, none of us know what may have transpired behind the scenes, and it's his decision to make and that's that. You are welcome to appeal and try to persuade him to make a different decision, but if he chooses not to, those are the terms that we all agreed to. It's not like Mike has been disappeared from the planet. Everybody on the list has his email address and can contact him all day every day if they so choose.
Perhaps, instead of taking Don to task for making a decision we all agreed that he had the right to make, it might be wiser to privately prevail upon Mike to contact Don and apologize to him, and to ask Don for guidelines as to what is permissible in his group and see if he might be permitted back if he agrees to adhere to those guidelines. Don can still refuse, but it's the only proper course of action to take as far as Mike's membership status is concerned.
Please notice that I am not taking sides. I have not criticized Mike and I have not praised Don, nor have I criticized Don and praised Mike. I am only pointing out that we all affirmed that it was Don's list when we joined and that we agreed to the publicly posted terms. It's time to man up and live up to our agreements.
There is one good thing about this recent furor. It shows how passionate and how enthusiastic we all are about things Mellotronic. Perhaps we should all step back and realize how lucky we are to have found this group of fellow travelers, and that we all need to treat the group with the respect it deserves instead of taking it for granted.