Trying times...

I decided that I should point Mr. Bohn to this blog, since he probably was wondering why he didn't hear back from me about every article I had received. I was a bit apprehensive, thinking he might... over-react... and I'd be the recipient of hundreds of make-up phone calls. Fortunately, he seemed okay with it (although he didn't bother to comment on any of my wonderful commentary?). However, I had a bit of a scare after I told him. When I chose to inform him, I had received no less than 42 emails for the month of April. After sending my little message, not one, but TWO days passed, without a single bohnspam. I was biting my fingers, hitting "reload" every few minutes. I even went so far as to send a few emails to my account to make sure it was still working. It was, but the spam seemed to just stop. Might I have finally achieved the elusive goal of removal from the list? I had to know! I initiated a chat with the Man. He said he had not removed me from the list... whew! A sigh of... uh, relief?

While I had his attention, I thought it would be opportune to ask a few questions that have been plaguing me... I found the following interesting:

Since his last "disclose everyone on the list" email, a few changes have been made to the list...

Q: how many people are on the list now? have you added anyone since my last count (last time you didn't bcc)?
A: I think I've added 5 people and dropped two

Which lead me to the OBVIOUS question:
Q: you dropped two? how did they do it? death threats or death itself?
A:Nate Davis never checks his hotmail so now it doesn't work... and
And a non-Mormon who I occasionally include in my non-mormon emails I was always deleting from the list when I sent it out, so I thought I'd save myself the time

So, it became apparent that I either needed to stop checking my email and close my account or I need to leave the Mormon church. I think the latter is actually more likely. (and I know the first may not actually work, since I did try bouncing my emails from him for a time, but he asked why, and got angry at me for doing so...)

Also of interest:
Q: does anyone reply back... often?
A: Yeah.... depending on the article 5 or 6

and
Q: why haven't you done a blog for this stuff instead of mass mailing? then people can respond and have a real dialog... and those who are less interested can more readily ignore? you can have mine if you don't want to start from scratch.
A: Blog takes more work. I've told nearly everyone they can opt off if they like. Most people on the list want to be there

This last response naturally led to a bit of a conversation involving "consent"...

Q: everyone but me?
A: I asked you back when you bounced me... I can forward you the exchange if you like

I thought to myself... hmm, I don't remember it quite like that... or do I?

Then, after more than 10 minutes (that is a really long time when it comes to Marc Bohn producing "evidence" in a discussion like this... he replied:

So I'm having trouble finding it. But after you razzed me about emails I distinctly remember asking you if you'd like off the list. Perhaps you'll say I'm dreaming though since it appears you would have jumped at the opportunity to be removed....
I'm sifting through out MSN chat record...
Ugh... we chatted a lot
Nevermind. Easy way to settle this. Feel free to ask off the list if you ever want to be removed.

Which is where the conversation ended. It put me in a very difficult spot... a point blank, easy way off the list... you'd think the answer would be simple... "okay, remove me" but I guess I'm not ready to quit this exchange... just yet. So I said nothing.

And over the next 5 days, I had 9 new emails fresh in the box, just waiting for a witty response... and I have no one to blame but myself.