My first thought when Thunderclap pointed this open invitation to me was that it was an IP fishing expedition, but that type of bait and switch would really only have made sense back before they went all Fight Club and closed down all outsiders from even being able to find the handle to the front door. Now that they've gone underground, I see little value to them in harvesting IP blocks 'of the enemy' unless it's a waaaaay over-the-top effort to be able to screen out any people who learn the secret handshake and get an invite into their Stone Cutter Society.
What this seems more likely to me is a means of getting attention. They do correctly assume that members of both OT and FE get a kick out of checking their site out so that their 'invitation' was certainly going to get noticed, and we know they do love attention. As any parent knows, a child will do anything to get attention, even if they have to act out in order to get it.
Ultimately, this thread has already given AM what he wants:
- Attention
- Affirmation of his belief that he is persecuted
- Proof that OT and FE are full of nothing but A-holes who aren't worth his time and should continue to be banned from his site
Now I'm not defending his actions or history. Any reasonable person who reads through the infamous thread can clearly see a talented editor with an ambitious concept receiving literally nothing but supportive, constructive reviews, critiques, suggestions and above all, genuine interest regarding his project. Then out of the blue it turned into one of the most amazing and head-scratching melt-downs that I've ever seen on a forum. I came to the thread with no prior knowledge of the events and not knowing the history of DFE so read it with about an open a mind as you can get. It is in a word, inexplicable.
But honestly, this thread and the piling on that happens here only further reinforces the opinions of DFE about OT (and FE due to many common forum members).
Ultimately I echo Frink's sentiment that it would be wonderful for a DFE member to post here in an attempt at meaningful dialog, but we all know it would take less than five posts for someone to post something snarky, reinforcing their world-view and restoring their bunker mentality.
In the end, I think we have a greater chance of seeing peace between Israel and Palestine in our lifetimes than seeing this silliness end.