Re: [at-l] Saddleback addies was(wingnut)

[kahley7 <kahley7@ptd.net>]

This is fair warning....the following answer may be viewed by
some as a rant.
This is your delete opportunity.

I've sat on this for a couple days to make sure it still worked 
for me.  I thought of responding privately but since the question
was asked  publicly I'll respond likewise.  This is not an attempt 
to prolong  the discussion of Dan and TP.  I am well aware that 
such talk upsets many of my friends.  But... it is my position that 
since Dan is a public AT Trail figure, public discussion of him and 
his actions should be permitted on a list about the AT.  And since he
doesn't maintain archives, there is no way for newbees to know 
history unless it is repeated publicly.

I said:
>> "... he has a grand plan..."

"James P. Lynch, III" wrote:
> What do we think this plan is?

I don't know what you think but to my mind his plan is:

a)  To form a tight knit group of sycophants who will respond to his
commands.

b)  To use these people to wield power and establish himself as a 
more  influential and famous figure in society.  

c)  To use that influence and fame to make the Center more profitable.

Notice that I did not say anything about forming a group of people
committed to preserving the Trail.  I think in the beginning that was of
some import but has since fallen to second place in favor of other
issues.

People posted here as to how they were booted for simply asking to whom
the letters generated by Dan's system were addressed.
I find this an extremely intelligent notion...curiousity as to where
letters SIGNED BY THEM  would go.  Or maybe, a desire to write their 
own letters to some or all of the pertinant folks as they saw fit.  
Or to DOUBLE their effectiveness by following up with snail mail or
phone calls.  If Trail protection were the true goal, these efforts
would have been supported.  Snailmail addresses would have been 
provided.  But only the roboform letters were wanted.  Why is that?
Seems obvious to me...so Dan could take credit.

Given that, it is obvious to me that it is not a person's willingness to
work to protect the Trail that is uppermost in Dan's plan, but a
person's willingness to respond as commanded, on schedule and in the
exact manner prescribed by Dan that is of value to him.

He hasn't been secretive about wanting this.  He said the same
years ago and if he wouldn't constantly erase TP archives you
could check it out.  Although James, i think maybe you have been around
long enough to remember such proclamations first hand?

Now why is this a bad thing?  He is working for the good of the Trail
after all...... 

1)  Because he is a rogue agent who revels in his position of being
outside the established organizations.  In a way, I find it odd that i
am
suspicious of this.  In my younger years I was nothing if not a rebel 
and am, even now, hardly one to follow the herd.  I guess it comes
down to whether or not you trust and agree with a certain rebel leader.

Although I may often agree with him, I cannot trust Dan.  
Rumors have been flying for years about the trustfulness or 
lack there of, in the matter of the number of thrus he has actually
done.  I wasn't there so I don't know.  But there are a lot of people 
who were and privately challenge his claims.

 Then came the ongoing fairy tale of the 99 handbook.....sheesh.

Even now, I've been told that he has stated that 
some of the 00 handbooks had been shipped.  I have also been told
that he has stated that the 00 handbooks will be shipped anyday now.

Which is the truth James?  Do you know?  Personally I find his 
insistence, all through the planning period for the class of 99
and then all through the hiking season, that the 99 handbook was 
on the way, the grossest form of betrayal to the hikers he claims
devotion to.  
.
He lied.  He lied over and over again.  
.
And when the class of 00 started asking about the 00 handbook, everyone,
me included, who didn't publicly warn them that there might not be one, 
lied by omission.  Two years of lies by him and his followers.

That's why I worry about any gain in power he achieves. He has 
revealed himself to be of poor character and that's dangerous in any
leader, especially in one determined to work on his own.....
outside any system that may provide checks and balances.  

2)  Because he both openly and covertly establishes isolation od his
followers from the greater hiking community.  In a previous history
lesson, i have gone into the slow process of isolation he enforced 
between AT-L and ATML.  I won't bore you with a repeat.  It has gone
beyond his animus towards AT-L.

I don't know if it's happy (for him) happenstance or a fluke of the
programs he uses but you can't, or at last you couldn't the last
time I was there, respond privately to a post. This may not be planned 
but it certainly does tend to quash the timid who may want to disagree
in private but are unwilling to do so publicly.  

And why would someone fear disagreeing publicly?  Because it
will get them publicly attacked or dismissed.....thus removing
any voices of opposition or descent.  The flock is then safely 
isolated from anyone who may ever get the nerve to shout 
"The Emperor has no clothes!!" or "There is no Handbook"

3)  Because he demands loyalty above all else.  There was a time when 
I was an active participant of TP.  I was kicked off.  What was
Dan's reason?  Because "You have never supported what we are trying
to do here."  I have long since deleted his final shot at me so I can't
quote more than that, but it went on and focused on the fact that
my heart was focused on AT-L and not ATML.  He got rid of me not because 
I had broken  his rules but because I had failed the loyalty test.
"Are you now or have you ever been a member of any other hiking forum?"

Does that type of thinking ring a bell?  I have been told...now mind,
I don't go to TP anymore, but i have heard that he will reprimand anyone
who mentions GORP or Backpacker or ANY other web source for hiking info.
Why do you think he does that James?  Why this need that the
participants
of ATML hear only his, or those voices he allows to be heard?? Why?

Having danced on the edge of some fringe, quasi-religious organizations
in my time, I can recognize a cult when i see one.  

I see Dan lie and the people who surround him, further or protect
his lies even when they know the truth.

I see him winnowing out the infidels and enforcing loyalty and
obedience amongst the faithful.

I see him seeking to isolate the faithful from outside influences 
which may counter his control.

If it looks like a duck.....

I said:
>> "...more visits mean more ad revenue."

James said:
> Not sure I remember seeing any ads on the Trailplace site.  Did I miss
them?

Actually, I was not referring to TP in this statement but to GORP
or the other commercial sites that seek to host journals.  I have no
idea if there are ads on TP.  I don't go there anymore, but remember
him saying that he would be seeking advertisers to support TP.  Let
me be clear.  I have no problem with that.  It must cost something
to maintain the site.  If he can get someone to pay him for ad space,
more power to him.  To my mind, he produces a product (TP) abet
with the UNPAID participation of the journal writers and contributors
to the forums as well as the labor of the UNPAID volunteers. If he
can make money from it.....well that's the American way.   A person
seeks to make money from the management and sale of the labor of others.
He lays out his own cash for the facilities and promotion and if
he does it right he makes a profit.  If he doesn't he loses money..
that's the way of commerce.

I do have a problem of him hiding behind the high sounding "Center for
Appalachian Trail Studies".  That label gives the impression of a non
profit organization and I know it isn't.  I'd feel better if he'd just
be upfront about it.  The way it stands now, he enjoys the illusion
of non profit standing without the regulation that such a designation
requires.

Let's face it.  He can say whatever he wants about how much is donated
or earned or  how he spends the money that people donate, but he doesn't
have to prove anything.  I can't quote the numbers he used to use 
as the cost of providing TP and ATML and the other cost he listed
in his pledge page but some of those numbers seem absolutely
unbelievable. Something like 10 grande for the mailing list and
website?????
Geesh....am I the only one who thinks that sounds excessive?
And i remember he listed the books he used to publish as an expense??
.
Hello????  If his books are really as invaluable as he would have
everyone believe, wouldn't he be able to price them at a point to
at least break even????  Plus he listed other stuff with great sounding
names but no details.  Personally, I'd rather see the listings as
My mortgage
My phone bill
My groceries.yada yada.  Since I don't think he has time to hold a
regular job, I assume he is supporting himself through The Center.
Or in other words, making a living from the Trail.  Please understand,
I do not think Dan is getting rich.  I bet he lives a pretty spartan
life.  But he is supporting himself doing something that he enjoys
so I don't see why I should feel sorry for him.  If he is not doing
as well as he hoped, it may have something to do with the fact that
he has not produced his most saleable product in two years. It's his
failure, so I don't see why he should be whining and bemoaning his
cash flow or the fact that more people aren't willing to give him money
for what he does now.  

And what is that?  He hosts a mailing list and a website....a website
filled, not with his own creations, not his own prose or effort, but the
effort of others....hummmp. Some humanitarian.

I gotta stop this before I ruin my week and not just my morning....
Hope i answered your questions adequately....
INHO and YMMV and YADAYADAYADA

Kahley Hubitsky
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