You're of course right about participation by others, and not just limited to those from countries with adjoining borders, but anywhere.
I welcome all opinions and attitudes, if for no other reason than just to hear them and either agree or get a good scare or belly laugh. I had no intention of sounding either elitist or exclusionary, and I apologize to anyone who was offended by my carelessly thought out word, i.e. "initiate."
What really irritated me was grelber's incessant harping as a foreigner on a subject that, judging from the lack of participation, we Americans didn't want to entertain.
My masochistic/sadistic post was, I felt, a symbolic pulling of my finger out of the hole in the dike, and I wasn't surprised by the aftermath, although I'm a bit disappointed by the possibility that grelber is gone for good.
Personally, I think this thread has run its course, and I'd like to see it locked and to see what springs up in its place.
The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.
In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
