Thank you for your thoughtful comment and the links. Very helpful! Three thoughts in response: - The appearance of unfairness is arguably at least as important

Thank you for your thoughtful comment and the links. Very helpful! Three thoughts in response: - The appearance of unfairness is arguably at least as important as actual fairness from a community perspective. If you're being fair, but no one thinks believes it, the community suffers as though it were true. During this story, people were openly questioning your motives (even though the original story was apparently not factual) because they perceived unfairness. - Choosing not to engage on certain topics and leaving that to other people in no way prevents you from connecting and engaging with the community naturally. Not engaging throws cold water doubt (unfounded though they may be) before it has an opportunity to smolder. - There are lots of new community members, who could easily get the wrong idea. They don't know you like many (like myself) who have seen how you interact with the community, and in whom you've built up a large reservoir of trust. The role you play in this community is very special and incredibly important to me and many others. Thank you so much!