[at-l] Hello, Goodbye, I don't know why...

[RoksnRoots@aol.com (RoksnRoots@aol.com)]

In a message dated 11/7/01 1:21:15 AM Eastern Standard Time, 
KellyGoVols@aol.com writes:


> OK, I reckon I'll be the first to say it out loud... I DO NOT LIKE WF.  His 
> autocratic, almost communistic way of running Trailplace REALLY turned me 
> off.

   *** You wouldn't be the first. He probably didn't like a lot of Trail 
attitudes equally as much, which is why he did it. I felt I understood that. 
That's his personality. Shame, the above was avoidable. 


> 
> His website was supposed to be a forum for 'shared' information... Well, 
> the 
> bottom line is he doesn't share information, unless of course it falls 
> under 
> his criteria.  It was a great website, but it wasn't WF that made it so, it 
> was the people who participated, and God help anyone who tried to 
> communicate 
> outside his domain.


  *** Never the less, the ability to share within his preferred definition 
existed and some took advantage of it. Nobody said it was easy! LOL 
    The journals were great. He dropped them for conservation drives. Serious 
business first. Too bad, he had a good thing going there...

> 
> He gave bad advice to children, he put down anyone who wasn't a purist, and 
> he publicly humiliated a lot of people for merely disagreeing with him.
> 

     *** Yeah, what can you do? He also tried to establish a higher Trail 
ethic truer to the Trail's original definition or "tradition". That is lost 
on some, especially those only looking to chat or involve themselves on a 
superficial level. He said Trailplace was for active participants up front. 
He was easy to hate because he took risks. Yes, some ill-advised, but never 
the less I think some fail to detect his motives. 
   He saw the Trail as falling from its original integrity and needing a 
quality "tune-up". Your explanation strikes me as glossing by many of his 
valid motives. Yes, he went too far and struck out at anybody he saw as 
threatening his principles and perhaps he controlled the site a little too 
tightly. I always saw it as being in pursuit of his beliefs. There's no doubt 
he alienated a lot of people who didn't see it that way. Some unwritten rules 
were undoubtedly broken... 


> Personally, I think he's a moron, so there.
> 

   *** I'll always respect WF for daring to set out to establish a cohesive 
community of Trail interested individuals collectively embodying a Trail 
ethic. Perhaps he didn't manage it the best way possible, perhaps he made 
some unwise moves, but in the end I will see him as a person who tried to 
help the Trail the best way he knew. He didn't receive criticism well or 
tolerate inconsiderate opinions, however he tried to challenge Trail users 
back to the basics and spur a community into rallying for the AT cause. 
    Moron, no. He had talent and created a site and conservation drives on 
his own. Perhaps he's a person who couldn't handle the way people will try to 
bring down what they don't understand? Maybe he suffered from that himself as 
well...  

   Shoot, I can't help but like the guy... 






--- StripMime Report -- processed MIME parts ---
multipart/alternative
  text/plain (text body -- kept)
  text/html
---