[walterbell]

After centuries of thought, humanity has developed some concepts beyond dualistic black & white. Everyone is free to choose the terms of their own engagement, rather than handing that power to the first-mover.

http://plato.stanford.edu/contents.html

[lutusp]

> After centuries of thought, humanity has developed some concepts beyond dualistic black & white.

Not giving in to blackmail is not about black and white, it's about black and black. And from a logical perspective, you don't mean "dualistic", you mean "excluded-middle" or "false dilemma".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_dilemma

[walterbell]

Thanks for the correction.

I don't have an opinion on the blackmail topic. But the blackmail was preceded by a governance decision and other communities can provide advice or useful precedent. Even when the blackmail issue with this one person is addressed, the governance issue will remain and can re-appear at any moment.

Since solving the governance issue will have to be done at some time in the future, it can be done now and offers some chance of de-escalation. The blackmail issue can still be addressed through other means, including legal. But de-escalation helps everyone, now.

[lutusp]

> But de-escalation helps everyone, now.

Not with someone who has already engaged in illegal behavior, as in this case (if the perpetrator and the victim lived in the same country, the perpetrator could be arrested for harassment). The perpetrator has already proven his rejection of civilized behavior, so dealing with him on that basis becomes foolishly one-sided.