Did I "out" RH? Nope. I reported on her outing. Liz Williams had already been sending emails, as a way to warn recipients of the "shit-storm brewing" (that is, the one she was helping to brew) and once any such email got anywhere, it got everywhere. Of course, everyone already *knew* except for the willfully ignorant. (1) (I don't mean that it was obvious; I mean that enough people knew as-a-fact from the beginning that eventually everyone found out. (2) We played the I-dunno game because it was fun to do so, and RH seemed to wish us to, as she played it with us.) This is also important. If there's a lesson it is this; never be so self-righteous that you are ever the subject of gossip but never the recipient of gossip. (3) You want to be approachable enough that people will tell you things, even if sometimes they only tell you because they know you'll tell others, including original sources.
1. "Liz Smith was telling people in her circle" did not mean "everybody knew", unless "everybody" is restricted to mean "people in publishing who knew Liz." 2. Where "everyone" is a tiny subset of what most people would call "everyone". 3. It's really her fault.
This is just sloppy reasoning, used to obscure an unpopular act.
no subject
1. "Liz Smith was telling people in her circle" did not mean "everybody knew", unless "everybody" is restricted to mean "people in publishing who knew Liz."
2. Where "everyone" is a tiny subset of what most people would call "everyone".
3. It's really her fault.
This is just sloppy reasoning, used to obscure an unpopular act.
e: Very belated HTML fix