ATM Re: Msg. to Michael 1

[Atmj1@aol.com]

An Open Response to Michael Lindner (TM Reprints thread) Part 1
The Never Ending Story Continues …or
How to Blow a Saturday Without Really Trying

Dear Michael:

I would have hoped that if you needed to challenge me personally you would
have done so off the List. Now, I feel duty bound to make a personal response
public.

First of all, if you choose to believe that your post was the catalyst that
caused me to rear my ugly head, you have drawn assumptions based on whim or
conjecture. I could waste time trying to explain. However, it would bore
everyone else and probably not convince you.  

Therefore, if you think that I am out to be against everyone with an internet
site for the ATM community simply because it might in some way impede ATM
Journal, I would humbly ask that you speak to Messers: Bartel, Tonkin,
Lombardi, Davis, and last but foremost, Matt Marulla - from whence your
proposed site is to come. I believe that if you do so, you will be in the
"Oops!" mode real quick!! For surely you have misjudged. 

But, perhaps, that is good. It helps demonstrate how over-zealousness can
cause a person to draw erroneous conclusions. This is exactly the concern I
have had with regard to some of the folks who have proposed putting up their
own ATM  sites without regard for much more than, as you would put it,
"scratching their own itch."

Half way through my memo, I re-read enough to see that some people might take
what I was saying the wrong way. Upon noticing that, I apologized on the spot
before proceeding. Still, without ever having met me, you have judged that I
was motivated by your email and, from my standpoint, have missed the giant
picture I was trying to paint in order to focus on what you PERCEIVED my
intentions to be. Finally, with the voice of authority, you denounce my posts
as "misguided, misleading, and at odds with the HOBBY of ATM."

I totally support you right to feel way, and perhaps others feel as you do.
This is good too. If so, it would tell me that I should work on my
communication skills and not write a 1.5 hour letter in 20 minutes. Please
support me in addressing some of your points and comments:

1) MISGUIDED: That is a matter of opinion. We are each products of our
environment and experiences. My environment and experience in telescope making
tell me that having an ATM site on every corner is not a good thing for the
hobby. (I will discuss the ATMJ connection later.)

Perhaps I am wrong; I truly hope I am. However, I feel that if half the folks
who have talked to me about putting up a web site actually do it, it is going
to be an eye-opening experience for some who now are either complacent or who
are eager to embrace the idea. 

Michael, if you are a dedicated ATM, you must cringe every time you see
someone in a mall walk to the check-out with one of those little plastic,
paperweight telescopes and a couple of wide-eyed children in tow. I think most
of us would feel the same. Why? Because experience has shown us that these
toys in telescope's clothing as often as not end a child's desire to every
bother again with telescopes - even REAL telescopes. 

What will happen when every self-appointed telescope guru with 15 minutes of
experience has his own web site. You think about it this time. I have been
thinking about it for quite a while.

When a potential telescope maker starts searching the web, they will not know
the difference between our sites and the site of Clarence Horblesnap, who got
his Ph.D. in optics from the young man at the K-Mart photo counter. If you
choose not to agree with me, great. But please, let's not so blatantly attack
my motives until you have enough information.

The world was known to be round since about 505 B.C.. Still, 2000 years later,
Columbus, was the only fellow in his canoe club who knew where he was going.
Everyone else thought he was MISGUIDED. Thus, I feel I am in good company. 

2) MISLEADING: This is also a matter of opinion. Search the List, or the ATM
community outside the List, to find out if Bill Cook has ever lied to or
cheated anyone! I'm sure you know Peter Hirtle; I'm sure you know Randy
Johnson; I think you probably know Loren Busch. Ask any of these people what
would happen to one of my opticians or optical sales people if I ever caught
them "bending" the truth to one of our customers.

3) At odds with the HOBBY of ATM: That's right - a matter of opinion. I don't
know your age or background. Thus, I will not make assumptions about you as
you have shared about me. However, I'll bet that there are a number of ATMs
out there, with 20 or more years of experience, who would agree with my
assessment of the situation. IF NOT, WHILE I MIGHT KEEP MY OPINION, I WOULD
CERTAINLY QUESTION IT AND CERTAINLY ALTER MY ACTIONS FOR THE BETTERMENT OF
ATMJ AND OUR CRAFT AS A WHOLE. I know that there are a few people who would
like more ATM info just for the sake of having it - accurate, inaccurate, or
questionable. However, I can tell you, without the slightest hesitation, that
most ATMA members will take quality over quantity anytime. 

4) "On the other hand, you complain when people don't support you for putting
together a magazine of ATM material." Nope. I have plainly stated that I am
opposed to further splintering our efforts and injuring ATMJ. However, the key
word here involves effort and not publications. I want people to support the
ATMA.  

Let's suppose you create and enjoy a couple of blazing campfires. Then, before
you go to bed, you take each log and stick, remove them from one of the fires
and lay them down neatly in a nice little row. Then you go to the next fire,
and stack those sticks and logs in a tight little bundle and leave them in the
pit. What will you find the next morning? In one area, you will find a series
of charred sticks and logs in a nice little row. In the pit, however, the logs
and sticks will have been consumed - they will have fulfilled their purpose. 

The ATMA was planned to be an organization, the power of which was to be
stronger than the power of the individual parts -- a co-op if you will.
Michael, I was trying to do something good. When I tuned into the List to find
out the Kalmbach was about to start getting hounded again, I felt obligated to
speak up. We may never get the rights to reprint TM. But I honestly feel that
going about it as I proposed in a kind, humble, logical way, showing Kalmbach
that working with ATMJ could be a win-win situation, was better than to
continue crying in our proverbial beers and berating Kalmbach. 

If I have sinned, it is because I used authority that I assumed I had to act
on  behalf of ATMA members to try to achieve a goal that many have hoped for
for many years.

My greatest concern came when, after thoroughly explaining my position and
sharing my letter to Mr. Eicher, people kept on with how they were going to do
this and going to do that. If Kalmbach ever gives in to free up the back
issues, I'll wager that it will be to an individual or intity and not a mob. 

Perhaps I should not have interfered. But if I should bear my frailties so as
to become a better target, I will do so. These were my exact thoughts:

"Hello….anybody listening? Anybody actually read these posts? This is not a
drill. The problem is being worked in a wholesome business like fashion.
Please folks, let's back off before the situation is screwed up beyond
salvaging." 

Michael, it is true that I had approached the matter very slowly. But, after
all, was I just to step back and say to myself, "Well the A team has arrived
now, I can go home." In my situation, what would you have done? Would you have
been a bit frustrated?

(continued...)