{original post unavailable}

"But that doesn't mean I'll back every decision or idea or crusade or
action he takes - and nobody SHOULD (and I bet he'd be the first to
agree with me)."

Yup. When I behave like a jerk here, I fully expect to be told
so.

"The issue he's brought up here is a valid one - but the method he
started with was too confrontational by far. He should have started it
friendly, specially without the threats of splitting, and then, if
rebuffed, gotten brittle."

That one, I dunno...it's easy to second-guess things after the
fact. I knew that a number of people had *already* either been (or
felt) forced off, or were resigning, and sometimes the only way to get
a result is to first get the horse's attention, as the saying goes.
I've had a number of dealings with lots of systems and worked things
out quietly, behind the scenes; you don't know about them *because*
they've been worked out in a friendly way.

Then, there are days when only a howitzer will suffice.

It was my call. I made it. And it seems to have worked. Would
it have worked out with the other approach? Again, I dunno. I'm only
a P3, after all....

jms