I agree that this kind of arbitrary action, not to mention
uncommunicative follow-up, requires a response. Perhaps something of an
email 'campaign' would produce a response, especially if those messages
were all cc'd to a net media outlet like MSNBC or the like. It's
sometimes surprising how few messages of this kind it takes to elicit a
response from a media-sensitive 'target' with a desire to avoid bad
publicity.

At the same time, this may be an example of just that kind of behaviour
on the part of a very public service provider that wants to avoid
controversy and doesn't have the resources to investigate potential
problems thoroughly.

As an alternative, perhaps I could recommend a much less well known
service with similar features - Community Zero, which can be found at
www.communityzero.com. The non-commercial level of service provided at
this site is quite feature-rich, and there is no cost for setting up a
'community.' Communities can be private (by invitation only),
semi-public (participants request membership, but must be approved), or
fully public. I've used the service for a couple of projects, and have
found it reliable, easy to use, and very helpful.

Peter O'Donnell