From that, we can only conclude that QRZ.com doesn't have much social intelligence. It decided to ban GB9BLM - my Black Lives Matter special event callsign last week, based on a spurious and false assertion that GB9 calls do not exist, and so I had provided "false information" to QRZ.com. I particularly liked that latter claim, sounding, as it does, like 'undermining the State'.
Following the ban and events that occurred as a result, as a sole operator with other things to do in the day, I managed over 1000 QSOs in two weeks.
There was fantastic support from all over Europe, Russia and, I was especially glad to see, America.
In no time at all, before I myself had realised the call had been removed, others had already noticed the removal, and were questioning why. Some of those asking were US-based lawyers.
This sparked a lot of discussion on Reddit, none of which was the usual poison seen on forums - including those of QRZ.com itself.
In fact, many of the comments were quite heartbreaking, with licensed black operators saying how excluded they felt in the hobby of amateur radio. There were some comments of a similar nature from gay people, which I can only imagine must be particularly hated amongst the ageing, gun-toting white conservatives that troll QRZ.com forums, amongst others.
Indeed, I myself found the whole experience of this banning very troubling indeed. By Fred's own words, QRZ.com holds about "800,000 callsigns" from across the world. I think that does mean QRZ.com ought to be far more alive to cultures that aren't white American.
QRZ.com, let's remember, gave rise to serious questions about why they really banned the site, given that part of Fred Lloyd's email to me said:
"Your team wishes to paint every non-black person on earth as racist, and in doing so you have significantly diluted your argument."
The absurdity of this needs no further comment, other than to say the obvious assumption that I was black, and a member of the BLM "team" were both completely wrong.
Fred continued to try and apportion blame for the banning to my actions, all of which happened after Fred had banned the callsign.
After approaches from supporters of the Black Lives Matter movement, I agree with them that not deleting my reinstated pages on QRZ.com, as I had intended, is the best way forward. That way, I can keep spreading the good word about various social issues. But in general, my web presence is now better served by Hamcall.
