Apparently I'm doomed.

On my way home from work this evening, I got accosted on the street as soon as I crossed after getting out of the subway. However, this time it wasn't by someone mistaking me for John Hodgman; this time, it was "Hey, man, don't you play for Toronto FC?" (That's our Major League Soccer team.)

Apparently I look like everyone except myself... I can't quite figure out who he was mistaking me for, though. Jim Brennan, maybe? I don't see it myself, but I was wearing my sunglasses, and I'm about the same height, and maybe just a tiny bit lighter than he is.

I guess I'm doomed to be mistaken for other people for the rest of my life...

This is wrong...

I know the group has been quiet recently, but bcholmes just posted that Yahoo has deleted the Queer_Continuum Yahoogroup. I trust that it was because it hasn't been very active lately and not for darker reasons.

I would ask you all to fill out Yahoo's feedback form here and respectfully request that it be reinstated, as it provides a way for LGBT and LGBT-friendly members of Polaris (and fandom in general) to stay in touch and plan to get together every year at the con.

Followup to last night's post...

I got a response today from Yahoo regarding the message I sent last night about the QC group being deleted:

Thank you for writing to Yahoo! Groups.

I understand that the group that you are moderating has been deleted. I apologize for any inconvenience this might have caused you and I'll be glad to assist you on this matter.

I have personally checked your Yahoo! Group "Queer_Continuum", and it shows that it was recently deleted by Yahoo!.

Please be advised that Yahoo! may, in appropriate circumstances and in its sole discretion, terminate Groups that appear to have violated the Yahoo! Terms of Service (TOS).

Please feel free to visit the Yahoo! Terms of Service at:

http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/

Lance, I realize that this may pose an inconvenience, and for this I apologize. I appreciate your utmost patience and understanding with regard to this matter. If you have any other concerns, do not hesitate to get in touch with us.

Thank you again for contacting Yahoo! Groups.

How a group that has had maybe three messages in the past six months, all of which are along the lines of "Gee, it's quiet. What's everyone up to?", can be in violation of their terms of service, I'm not sure... anyhow, I took advantage of that "I'll be glad to assist you on this matter" to follow up:

Thank you for getting back to me.

My major concern is that this group is the one way for a number of us who are geographically diverse to communicate to plan for the science fiction convention that we all attend every year. It's also a group intended to promote LGBT-themed science fiction and related events such as Gaylaxicon and the Spectrum Awards. It is not an adult group - in fact, I recall sending
someone a cease-and-desist email a year or two ago when they posted something
inappropriate. We also take care to ask potential members for information about
themselves and their interest in the group prior to approving their membership.

Since it has been quiet recently (the convention is coming up in July), there's no way we could have violated Yahoo's Terms of Service.

I hope that the group can be restored, as it is important to us.

We'll see what happens now.

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On a happier note, I can announce that voting for the Constellation Awards is now open! The voting process is explained here. Feel free to spread the word - and if you're Canadian, attended TT20 or are pre-registered for Polaris 21, feel free to vote!

( And the nominees are... )