I knew that when the Wizard served spam instead of fine stackware there would be howls of protest, and even murmurs of revolt from the author of a less demanding column! But there was nothing I could do.

Because of the unusual programming load I had to bear last issue, I was eventually forced to choose between shipping a Wizardless issue or failing to provide a third issue in time for our New Years celebrations. The great disk disaster of '88 has forced the same dilemma this time. I hope that I do not find myself in such a position again, but I have no regrets. The Wizard will always choose to remain silent rather than disrupt the all-important Archipelago schedule or turn out shoddy workmanship! And, again, my sincere apologies for being unable to recover Wizard stack number two (The Cube of Crete) in time for this issue. Even if my errant hard disk is not back in time, the Wizard WILL RETURN in issue four!

As for whip cracking, I find it ironic that an old deadline dodger like me should find himself on the other side of the whip. But without a little friendly persuasion, Archipelago would soon ground to a (gulp) halt. And however generous the deadline, many of us will not push our first respond button until appointed hour draws nigh.

I am currently allowing about a fortnight for members to respond. This rate yields, at best, one issue per month. It is vital that we find a comfortable compromise between the hares and the tortoises of the group, so please, everyone, let me know if we're going too fast (or too slow).