I've been doing my best to keep this conversation moving in a positive direction, which is the same thing as saying I have been trying to ignore everything that TEPaul has written, but one of his mantras demands a response, if only because it has been repeated so many times that it appears to have taken hold with some of those who really ought to know better.
TEPaul keeps questioning why I didn't go to Merion before my essay came out and is using this bullshit to repeatedly try to undermine my credibility. This is not only offensive and downright delusional, it is pretty goddamned creepy and pretty-near patholigical when you consider the role TEPaul and Wayne played in my decision not to go to Merion Golf Club. TEPaul would apparently have us believe that this drama started when I appeared out of nowhere and posted my essay, but we all know that there is a long backstory in which he and Wayne were very much involved.
Long before my essay came out I figured out that Merion's old club records were in storage at MCC (TEPaul had long speculated they were lost in a flood or fire or something) I attempted to access those documents but was unsuccessful. As for Merion Golf Club, I considered going to them but thought better of it for a number of reasons . . .
SOME OF THE REASONS I DID NOT GO TO MGC BEFORE MY ESSAY CAME OUT
I. Wayne and TEPaul made it perfectly clear that this would not be productive.
1. So far as I knew Wayne and TEPaul were the defacto keepers of Merion's history. At least that is they they portrayed themselves around here. And based on their representations and behavior, I determined that going to Merion would be rather unproductive, to put it mildly.
2. For years Wayne and TEPaul had mounted a campaign to shut down all research or even discussion about Merion's history, other than the version they tried to sell us. How many times did they tell us that they had all the information? How many times did Wayne warn us against questioning or even discussing the topic? Remember TEPaul's open campaign to run me off the website? Remember his "possee" he put together to harrass me at every turn? Remember Wayne's vulgar insults and name calling? Remember him calling me a liar and and idiot for merely correcting mistaken understanding about the length of the 10th hole?
3. Both TEPaul and Wayne repeatedly and explicitly informed me, in private and on the website, that Merion wanted nothing to do with me. Wayne told me to "f**k off" among other things. TEPaul called me every name in the book, and even made up a fake Canadian researcher in an attempt to convince me to send him all my posts to vet them before I posted!
4. TEPaul even went so far as to make up detailed LIES about specific conversations he had had with various officials at Merion, including the Chairs of the Committee relevant to these issues. He repeatedly informed me that he had specifically discussed my research with these gentleman and they were disgusted and upset by my research and wanted nothing to do with me or my research, and that in their eyes my research was embarrassing myself.
5. TEPaul also informed me that Wayne HATED me like no other, and that he would never have anything to do with me or my research and he would see to it that Merion never had anything to do with it. Wayne's own emails and posts on here confirmed this.
6. At one point their behavior got so out of line that TEPaul told Tom MacWood a series of LIES about fictional emails he had received from Rand Jerris and other officials at the USGA, where they supposedly said the same sort of nasty things about MacWood's research; very similar to the LIES TEPaul had told me about what the Chairs at Merion were saying about my research.
The list goes well beyond this, but in short TEPaul and Wayne did everything they could to STOP my research and MACWOOD's research, and to convince us that Merion (and the USGA) wanted nothing to do with us. LIES, namecalling, veiled threats, harassing emails and telephone calls, rude behavior, false rumors, a self proclaimed "Philadelphia Possee" to run us off the board and make us stop. These "gentlemen" stopped at nothing to try and stop us. For TEPaul to now claim that I should have gone to Merion is patholigical and downright creepy
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II. But but beyond this, , his claims that I should have gone to Merion are just his latest attempt to discredit me and TomM and to discredit our research and analysis without actually addressing it head on. An examination of the history shows his real motive.
1. Both TEPaul and Wayne - the self-appointed keepers of all things Merion - were aware of the nature of my research and analysis BEFORE my essay came out.
2. Before I even came back to the site, I informed TEPaul, Wayne, and a number of others that if I came back it was to discuss Merion and related topics, and I even gave then a laundry list of the types of topics I would discuss.
3. Patrick and others told TEPaul and Wayne that I was working on an essay that would rewrite much of the early history of Merion East, and both TEPaul and Wayne encouraged (demanded is more like it) that I post it and post it immediately so it could be vetted. Most of the website chimed in as well.
4. NO ONE ONCE SUGGESTED THAT I GO TO MERION BEFORE POSTING IT. NOT WAYNE. NOT TEPAUL. NOT ANYONE. TO THE CONTRARY, THERE WERE DAILY DEMANDS THAT I POST MY ESSAY IMMEDIATELY, FINISHED OR NOT, SO THAT IT COULD BE VETTED. I WAS ACCUSED OF HOLDING OUT, OF WITHHOLDING INFORMATION, OF PLAYING GAMES, OF HAVING ULTERIOR MOTIVES.
5. TEPaul has repeatedly claimed that he was discussing my Essay with Merion before I even posted it. Yet apparently not even Merion wanted to look at it before it came out. Or if they did TEPaul kept that to himself.
6. Not even Wayne originally claimed the Essay should have gone to Merion first. And we had plenty of communication where he could have; while I was explaining to him how the property transactions worked; or various other details not covered in my paper; or when I was providing him with the documents he requested and directing him to others. Never a peep.
7. It was only in retrospect, when more conventional methods of defeating my essay would not prove adequate, that Wayne and TEPaul started this nonsense about how I should have gone to Merion. Only then did my actions suddenly become so offensive. How convenient yet completely contrived. .
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III. A few other things to consider:
While my dealings with Merion are none of TEPaul's business (or any of your business, for that matter) I will remind you that my essay relied entirely on public domain material and concerned topics that had been discussed on this website for years. The only difference with my essay is that I actually did the research and put it all into one coherent piece.
I discussed providing Merion with a copy before posting it with some, but was encouraged not to do so because, I was told, Merion would most likely try to stop me from posting it, especially given that they would undoubtedly involve Wayne in the process. There was no legitimate reason for me not to posting it. In retrospect, I can see that this was the case. There would have been no way to keep TEPaul and Wayne out of the process, and with them involved the process was bound to be a real mess, just as it has turned out on here.
Plus, even if I had gone to Merion, nothing would have changed. By the point I was ready for a draft of my essay to be posted, I knew everything TEPaul and Wayne knew about the origins of the East course, and a whole lot more. And I had tried to work with them cooperatively in the past, and that proved impossible, and I was resolved to not getting bogged down again. So long as TEPaul and Wayne were running the show regarding Merion's history, one would have to be a fool to think that cooperation would get anyone any closer to the truth. Unfortunately, they prove this on an almost daily basis.
I mean look at TEPaul's idiotic claim that all I have proven is that the date of the trip was wrong. Considering how much more we know as a result of my essay and subsequent work, it is delusional, pathetic, and creepy; just like his attempts to shut TomM and me down, just like his lies about what the USGA and Merion had to say about us, and just like his demands that I should have contacted Merion. Delusional, pathetic, and creepy.
[edited to bleep the profanity.]