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04/11/2005: "The Secret Is Out!"

I'm so proud of Alison and the work she's done at RTB. People have criticized her for not loving romance, but it was a love of romance that spurred her into RTB's design, and she deserves a LOT of credit.

And no way is she going to take all of the criticism, so let me state for the record that there were several people involved at various stages of the project, and I was one of them. And you know what? I'm proud to have been in on such a great concept and I hope it continues to thrive no matter who is at the wheel in the future!

Replies: 14 brave souls responded

on Monday, April 11th, Mariann said

I feel so... out of it with this RTB "scandal" on who was involved. I always thought Alison Kent had a part in its creation, but it didn't seem like *any big deal* who was behind the concept, planning and execution of the site. All that mattered was a central place where romance could be discussed from a variety of perspectives. I guess I'm either naive or clueless!

on Monday, April 11th, Larissa said

Mariann, it shouldn't be a big deal. We want it to succeed, and I hope it does!

on Monday, April 11th, Alison said

Mariann - I said more than once that I wasn't involved even though many people assumed I was. *g* That was why I wanted to step up now and make things right. RTB is hitting a lot of right notes from the mail we're getting, but we want to make it even better!

on Monday, April 11th, Mariann said

Alison, I stand corrected -- I must've confused you with a founder because I first heard about RTB through your site.

on Monday, April 11th, Joely said

Good work, Larissa! RTB is a great idea, and I can't wait to see what successes keep coming.

on Monday, April 11th, Charlene said

See, I expected Secret Identities. I didn't have any guesses about who, but now that you're all out, I'm not surprised. It fits.

Here's to further improvements on a cool thing!

on Monday, April 11th, TracyS. said

I say we have a coming out party! Or do I just want to party?

Larissa, you guys have done and are doing an excellent job of gathering lovers of romance together. Kudos to all of you! I'm proud my blog is a part of RTB. I'm even prouder that some of my blog/net friends are the geniuses behind the scenes. Whoa, hear that? That's the sap police. Gotta go!

on Monday, April 11th, Linda said

Love RTB, and love you guys for putting it together. I'm with Tracy -- throw a party and let's celebrate a good thing!

on Monday, April 11th, Larissa said

Thank you, all. The thing about this is that it's bittersweet. Some of the people who are/were behind RTB decided not to come forward, but some of us have because we didn't feel like we were being deceptive at first, but as time went on, we really began to worry about friends who didn't know what we'd done.

So we stepped out, and now it looks like although nothing we did was meant to hurt anyone, at least one person HAS been hurt. And that kills me, because as I said earlier, I HATE conflict, and friends mean everything to me.

Thing is, we didn't HAVE to come out, but we did. Gotta wonder if it was worth it.

on Monday, April 11th, Lydia said

You should read my blog. I know you don't know the whole story.

on Monday, April 11th, Larissa said

I'm not sure what to say about some of what you said, Lydia, but I do know that it wasn't Alison or Emma who brought up the group blog. It was actually the brainchild of two of the other people involved.

on Tuesday, April 12th, Lydia said

If that's true, then I feel a hell of a lot better. Like I said, it wasn't a terribly original idea, but I HAD discussed the idea with Emma in a fair amount of detail.

I still think the deception with DFM was deliberate and uncalled for. And neither seem to be one whit sorry that they went out of their way to decieve ME specifically and elaborately. This was not "general" thing. This was "let's think of how we can keep Rey from knowing."

on Tuesday, April 12th, Alison said

Uh, no. It wasn't.

on Tuesday, April 12th, squeaks like a mouse in a trap said

Silly girl. Don't you know EVERYTHING is ALWAYS about Rey?

Specifically. And elaborately.

"Well, I'll let you in on a little secret: Part of the reason that the founders are pseudonymous is that they didn't want to hurt my feelins by not intiving me to the party because I'm too opinionated and controversial and they're afraid that I'd drive some people away."
Reyesuela, April 10, full text found here:

http://wendyduren.typepad.com/wendyduren/2005/04/ill_bet_you_thi.html#comments

I'm laughing so hard, I'm crying. I guess that makes me a bitch, huh? Obviously, I'm in excellent company.