John and Kelly:
Thank you for reminding everyone about the disgusting incident that took place on this chat room in regards to the fake golf course rankings article. When the scam artists were brought to light they immediately defended themselves by placing blame on those who reproduced the work as if somehow trusting the integrity of the chat room was the real problem.
We now have a second incident of the site attempting to perpetuate a fraud, which means there is a pattern of deceit here.
From the very beginning there were problems with this tale of sketches, meetings and a rewriting of history. First, in my mind, a former newspaper reporter who investigated corruption and fraud, was why bring this “discovery” to light here on a chat room with marginal reputation for honesty? Had there been unequivocal proof that these documents were genuine, the likes of Golf Digest, the Guardian or the Smithsonian magazine would have been interested in revealing them to the golf world. Those involved knew this is not a place to hold the research up to legitimate and fair criticism, but it is a place where deception is embraced.
The fact is the people who run this chat room had an active and supportive role in perpetuating this swindle. Had it been pulled off and some of the fakes sold as genuine before the con came to life then certain individuals may have found themselves in court defending their actions. Claiming ignorance and/or stupidity is not the best defense for such actions. Claiming ignorance, though, is apparently a good way to get people to keep supporting you financially. Some people will always willingly drink the Kook-Aid. Dr. Oz is still in business even after duping hundreds of thousands with a tale of bogus weight loss pills.
Adam Lawrence and some others should be lauded for not only displaying a healthy skepticism and revealing the fraud, but also doing without the mean-spiritedness that is a hallmark of this chat room. He gave the dishonorable a chance to remove themselves from the scheme while still maintaining a bit of their honor. They chose not to. He is a gentleman for doing so.
There are many conclusion to be reached here but, for me, one stands out: this chat room is not a bastion of integrity (except for Joseph Bausch, Adam Lawrence and a scant few others) and, therefore, it is not a place for serious discussions of history, facts and truths. It is a place to bloviate, to deceive, it inflate one's ego. In other words, it is a barroom.
Those who wish to push aside this incident as if it is nothing but an unfortunate small error, fail to realize that this wretched episode has the potential to harm those of us who make a living striving to research and write golf course history while maintaining the highest standards of research that we can. When a supposedly bona fide historian is shown to be anything but, I fear others in the field will suffer.
I’m genuinely sorry that this incident happened and that many of you have seen the curtain pulled back on a hero or two, but I am not at all surprised.
Anthony