Subject: Re: Damage control – John Dvorak Fired By Leo
Date: Tue, 29 Sep 2015 13:33:04 -0700
From: Steve Gibson[for the unabridged version, see ferrix’s post above]
I’ve never followed, but I know that sort of fare appeals to Mark Thompson. There’s some “coast to coast” crackpot he listens to “Art Bell” I think his name is. 9/11 conspiracies, practical zero-point energy being covered up, perpetual motion machines, and lots and lots of aliens zipping around.
Not my cup of tea… (as you guys doubtless know. 🙂
Ergo, one must trawl through the depths of his newsgroups at grc.* hosted on his own NNTP servers to find out what he says in his discussions with his own brand of sycophants. If you don’t know what that means, don’t worry about it. Nobody else cares either.
They only discuss stupid things like raw sockets, SpinRite not working on any computer made in the last decade, and his never-ending “work” on SQRL.
Here is Steve Gibson’s statement on John C. Dvorak’s being banned by Leo Laporte at TWiT and calls for him to resign in solidarity with his former colleague.
Subject: Damage control
Date: Mon, 28 Sep 2015 16:55:50 -0700
From: Steve GibsonGang…
While working on SQRL, I have also been doing a lot of damage control following the weekend’s events with Leo and John Dvorak. Many DM’s and writing to GRC sales, demanding that I leave TWiT and find somewhere else to podcast. I’m staying put, but it’s but it’s been quite amazing to see how adamant and rabid many of Leo’s listeners are.
Subject: Re: Damage control – John Dvorak Fired By Leo
Date: Tue, 29 Sep 2015 08:30:48 -0700
From: Steve Gibson> Now I’m going to try and figure out why Steve is being harassed.
It is listeners of Security Now who want the podcast, but really do not want to support Leo by downloading it. I’m being urged to move the podcast elsewhere (Tom Merritt is often suggested). But that’s not going to happen for the foreseeable future while SQRL and SpinRite v6.1 are pending. I expect that this will blow over as other past changes at TWiT have, though it does appear that Leo’s public treatment of John has deeply angered many people. It appears that, at least in the short run, Leo has hurt TWiT and himself… though I’m sure not fatally.
John and I have also known one another for decades. We were each writing our respective columns in InfoWorld Magazine at the same time and, interestingly, our beats were the same: he was writing as a sort of a curmudgeonly tech observer and I was deep in the weeds of how things worked. John and I have been in touch during this and he is 100% fine. I doubt that either of them actually has any plans to actually work together again… but “ever” is a long time. So who knows?
It’s also been suggested that my reputation and standing are being tainted by my continuing association. But I’m quite sure it’s clear to everyone that Leo and I are separate, and that as Leo himself describes it: “Security Now is Steve’s podcast.” So I’m not at all worried about my “reputation” being damaged by my not immediately departing. These mostly seem to be people who are rooting for the downfall of TWiT for reasons of their own grudges. I don’t begrudge the [sic] that, but they are not me. I truly believe that such a downfall would be a loss for the industry. There remains a very great deal of good content there… and it IS essentially free. I think it works. It works for me.
