[Leica] the dialectics of Mr Kotsinadelis

[Erwin Puts <imxputs@knoware.nl>]

Mr Kotsinadelis seems to follow a dialectical logic. He professes to be our
staunchest attacker of every perceived glimpse of censorship, especially
when he happens to note a glimmer of it in his self defined enigmatic "gang
of five". He defends his right to say whatever he likes based on a simple
law of freedom that says that whenever you do not like his (or any other
persons) postings, you simply  ignore them or use the delete button. I
fully agree with this position. As I noted some time ago I will not respond
to any of Mr K's postings (referring to the same basic freedom). So I
filter out all messages by this sender as I am fully entitled to do. Now
Mr. Kotsinadelis asks me a question which I am free to ignore. But what
happens then. Now the cruisader against censorship becomes the enforcer of
some self appointed rules, stating that I must answer his question and
immediately so and if I fail to comply to Mr Kotsinadelis' demands I will
loose any credibility I might have.
This train of dialectical logic reminds me of the McCarthy period in the
fifties.

I am grateful for the many posts (public and private) of Luggers who find
my writings enjoyable, instructive and informative. The many discussions
resulting from my reports 'force' me to make them better through time. I
learn from what people tell me. I write to inform and to evaluate. And I am
a Leica fan.
On the other hand I am deeply troubled by all these posts trying to
convince Mr. Kotsinadelis and his followers. By responding we give
substance to Mr. Kotsinadelis' stance. That is a pity. Some person noted
that no one on the LUG should get involved in "Mr Puts' fight".  Well I am
not aware of any fight on my side. I conduct  research on Leica image
quality and report my findings on the Lug and elsewhere. If someone wants
to challenge my content, he or she is free to do so. If one does not
believe what I report, be my guest. I write for the large group of persons
who like to share my findings and respond to its conclusions by phone or
mail or letter.
Now Mr. Kotsinadelis and followers:
first of all: as a writer for Shutterbug Mr K. may know Mr Bob Shell. I
talked indepth with Mr. Shell about my  work and my background. Feel free
to ask him what his opinion is.
secondly: if you challenge my quality I would gladly invite you to comment
in a rational way to my findings in any of my reports.  If you find faults
in my assessment, have proven evidence that contradicts or undermines my
conclusions. I will be most happy to correct my reports. If you feel that
my reports are too subjective to be acceptable, then go to PopPhoto where
you will find any hard numbers to your liking or go to Photodo, which also
has any string of graphics that supposedly are based on rockhard facts.
Then study these graphs and numbers, compare them to my semi-standardized
formulations and if you find my reports faulty, please tell me. I will be
most grateful for your effort to improve the standards of quality of the
Lug.

As an aside: im my Report on the 70-180 I gave the following info:

"BTW 1: I am not an employee of Leica. I just happen to have some interest in
"the products of this company and use part of my free time to collect some
"facts about some of the products. I get some help from the Dutch importer as
"he provides me with samples of lense to test and I am allowed to use them as
"long as I like. In the case of the 70-180 more than two months."



Erwin