But FWIW, here's my 2 cents (and my only response to all this).
There's plenty of noise on both sides of this issue. These types of exchanges reflect negatively on the entire membership here. I can see it now in title co and other offices around the country: "Have you seen the nonsense being spewed over on Notary Rotary? I think I'm going to start looking elsewhere when I need to find a remote notary!" Is that what you want?!
It's clear that for many, the focus has gone beyond the actual issues at hand to the personal, and regardless of who the target is, I believe that's highly unprofessional. I defend anyone's right to remain anonymous on this forum, but I also don't believe that status should be seen as a free pass to dish out attacks to other posters. (And it's not as anonymous as you might think...) Lashing out behind the cover of a pseudonym may allow you to dodge direct repercussions, but that doesn't mean it can't still hurt you, as it hurts us all.
Finally, folks, if you find yourself the subject of a verbal attack from various quarters, isn't it possible (if not likely) that they have a point, however poorly presented? None of us are perfect and we all have plenty to learn. Please try to see past the juvenile antics. Responding with more of the same is probably not the best approach...
I'm sure I'm not the only one who has found some of the discussion of the past few days extremely off-putting. Sadly, we'll never know the cost of this lack of professionalism, whether it be key contributors who've had enough and move on, or clients who decide to take their business elsewhere. This kind of pettiness can even feed into the desire by some industry leaders to bypass local notaries altogether. IMO, the current business environment is not one where we can afford to further degrade our overall image. [I was going to say "professional image", but it may be too late for that, as a whole.]
And one more thing... Please don't misinterpret this post as me taking anyone's side. As I believe I've said many times here (unless that was always in messages that I deleted before posting... ), I always try to keep my focus on the issue, not the person... I strongly recommend that others do the same!
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