[at-l] Certification, etc.

[lwbooher@halifax.com (Leslie Booher)]

I think we should contact Backpacker and Outside en masse to point out to
them that, should they need quotes from the AT community, they should
contact the ATC headquarters, but never Dan.  Do this BEFORE they interview
him again.  Begin something like, "With the new hiking season just getting
under way, now would be a good time to mention to you that Dan Bruce does
not speak for the Appalachian Trail community."  Etc.  Leslie (anklebear)

-----Original Message-----
From: ryan <lab@glis.net>
To: Phil Heffington <phil.heffington@oc.edu>; 'AT- L Mailing List'
<at-l@backcountry.net>
Date: Thursday, March 22, 2001 10:29 AM
Subject: Re: [at-l] Certification, etc.


>
>>
>>
>>Anyone, and I mean anyone, can choose to issue a certificate if they want
to
>>do so.  That doesn't indicate that it has any special significance at all,
>>unless you give the person or group issuing it some special level of
>>credibility.  WF doesn't have the right to tell the ATC what their
standards
>>should be to receive their "certificate" and vice versa.  I wrote WF when
he
>>announced his "Avery Society" and informed him "Thanks, but no thanks".
To
>>me it would just indicate that I belonged to a group that "doesn't play
well
>>with others."
>
>The problem I see is that many in the media, "Backpacker" included, seem to
>feel that WF is an authority and that he speaks for the greater hiking
>community. I think he has the potential to force his "certification" on the
>unsuspecting public. We should all make every effort to discredit his views
>with the publishers when we see his quotes and opinions presented as the
>"hiker opinion" in print. He sure makes no effort to let them know that
>opinions may vary...
>
>Lyle
>
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