"sandirhodes" wrote in
message news:gXrFb.14813$PK3.2455@okepread01...(to Sam Sloan):
"Sam Sloan" wrote
(snipped)
I still would like to know: Was Tisdall's quip, which I published
without attribution in the Gulf News, based on his actual knowledge of
the situation in England, or was it just a sarcastic remark or a joke?
Sam Sloan

Yet the last paragraph is a microcosm of your ineptitude. Are you
really naive enough to assume that such an outlandish statement is fact?
The average ten year old has better grasp of irony than this.
Are you so unprofessional as to not check out such a comment before
publishing it, given the inflammatory aspect and the fact that you
insinuated it to be true?

Evidently, Sam Sloan *is* 'so unprofessional'. Here's another example:

In the thread, "John Fernandez and Yermonlinsky, long lost brothers?"
(30 March 2003), Sam Sloan wrote (the spelling errors are his, not mine):
"There was an indicent (sic) years ago where the player who won the British
Chess Championship was not allowed to play on the British Team in the
Olympiad, so he sent his championship trophy back to the BCF in the mail.
I think the name of the player was Botterwell (sic). Do you remember that?
Do you think that the Botterwells of the world should be entitled to compete
in the World Chess Olympiad?"

For the record, IM George Botterill was not involved in any incident such as
that described by Sam Sloan. But Sam Sloan rushed to circulate that allegation
without even troubling to check the facts, including the correct spelling
of IM Botterill's name.

As a 'chess journalist', Sam Sloan's standards of accuracy and fairness
leave something to be desired. And that's an example of my diplomatic
understatement.

You said yourself it was a wisecrack, man, and that it was just a quip.
Leave it at that! It is this type of thing that makes people think of
derogatory words to describe you: Sleaze; Scum; Slimebag.
Why do you court this type of image?

One hypothesis is that Sam Sloan might have a flaw in his character.
I suspect that Sam Sloan really cannot help himself improve his 'image'.

On occasion, Sam Sloan can write something that's factual, relevant, and
even tasteful, yet even a stopped clock will be right twice per day, perhaps
more frequently than Sloan. 'Every dog has his day', and someday Peter Leko
really will stay dead. interdum stultus bene loquitur

--Nick