Don Schlesinger: Thank you, Cyrus

[Don Schlesinger]

Dear Cyrus,

I'd like to thank you for the kind words below that you posted on bj21's books/software page in response to its resident lunatic (yes, I know, DD readers, there are so many, you can't be sure which one I mean!).

I was actually quite touched by your words. I would have written to you privately, by e-mail, but unfortunately, I don't know your address, so I chose the public route. I hope you won't mind.

It's quite pathetic how the lunatics are now running the asylum on SW's free pages, and the head inmate seems to have gone literally quite berserk (how can we tell the difference from before?!) now that he has free rein to spread his special form of maliciousness, lies, innuendo, and delusional hatred.

I am thankful for people like you who step up, every now and again, to remind him of how very small he really is in the eyes of the true cognoscenti.

Again, my thanks. I'm beginning to learn who my true "friends" are, as opposed to those who used to be, but who turn on you when the almighty buck rears its ugly head.

Don

Cyrus wrote: "All the posters you have mentioned, Green Baize Vampire, SOTSOG, The Mayor and myself, would not be able to fill the space in the chair that Don Schlesinger left empty. All of us put together would perhaps fill about half the space there.

"Squeeze in yourself and we might have more space..."

[Hollywood]

That was a wonderful thing to say, but quite frankly, Somehow, it became Dons job to keep that room from craziness to normal.
The room is an conglameration of bad information and Don was the only thing that seperated the facts, from people just writing to to see themselves in print.
I myself was a bit surprised it took Don so long to pull the plug. It is however a bit unfortunate, because there are also alot of good and normal people in the room. People who do not know any better and as a result will take much of what the nut-jobs say and run down to the nearest casino and use the new found knowledge they SINCERELY think they have.
This is boardline criminal. When somebody gives bad information on BJ21, the person who scans the posts should eliminate them. They are giving real information to real people. Kind of reminds me of the movie Boiler Room. Indictments to follow.

Anyway Don, I am what I am (in the BJ world) because of you, and quite frankly I thought it was along time coming. I don't understand why anyone with access to both rooms would want to go in that room anyway. In here if you have a question, you get a real answer. Isn't that what it's about?

A person has to do alot of reading in there, in order to weed out what is or isn't real. My god, who has the time or patience. Nah, i'm staying put.

Regards,

Hollywood

[Don Schlesinger]

> That was a wonderful thing to say, but
> quite frankly, Somehow, it became Don's job
> to keep that room from craziness to normal.

And that's the whole point; it shouldn't have been. Wong decided to let the site go to hell, and to be an "absentee landlord." I criticized him for that, he didn't even bother to respond half the time, and I got too frustrated to remain.

> The room is a conglomeration of bad
> information and Don was the only thing that
> separated the facts from people just
> writing to to see themselves in print.

"Hits," Hollywood -- the name of the game at bj21. Hits = revenue.

> I myself was a bit surprised it took Don so
> long to pull the plug. It is however a bit
> unfortunate, because there are also a lot of
> good and normal people in the room. People
> who do not know any better and as a result
> will take much of what the nut-jobs say and
> run down to the nearest casino and use the
> new found knowledge they SINCERELY think
> they have.

Yes, I argued that way. Wong scoffed and laughed it off. Bottomline: that's not his problem!

> This is borderline criminal. When somebody
> gives bad information on BJ21, the person
> who scans the posts should eliminate them.

Unless the person scanning doesn't know any better him/herself! this, of course, is in addition to the libel printed by certain posters who impugn the integrity and honesty of others without a shred of evidence to back them up. Don't forget that SW is condoning that, as well, on a daily basis. As currently constructed, the free pages of bj21 are open to virtually anyone to say virtually anything about someone else, as long as the post is "tasteful"!

> They are giving real information to real
> people. Kind of reminds me of the movie
> Boiler Room. Indictments to follow.

Only, in this case, there are no indictments, just innocent players being duped, with no recourse.

> Anyway Don, I am what I am (in the BJ
> world) because of you, and quite frankly I
> thought it was a long time coming. I don't
> understand why anyone with access to both
> rooms would want to go in that room anyway.
> In here if you have a question, you get a
> real answer. Isn't that what it's about?

We try. We don't have the volume, and this site isn't about producing revenue (I get nothing), but we have the quality and the integrity, and that matters more than the money (obviously!) to me.

> A person has to do a lot of reading in
> there, in order to weed out what is or isn't
> real. My god, who has the time or patience.
> Nah, i'm staying put.

It's a shame that it has to be that way, but once again, it's all about hits. If it were about quality, 90% of the crap on bj21 Free would be gone.

I appreciate your support. Thank you for writing.

Don

[GarryBaldy]

Hi Mr. Shlesinger.

I want to put my two cents into this problem.

First, I should say that I'm really not a frequent contributor on any BJ site. But I read several sites EVERY day. It's a process of some filtration of information - I read only posts wich do have some interest for me. But I should admit that I already cannot call myself as a novice at BJ so it's simpler to me to filtrate information then to the beginners.

Second. I really admire both with you and SW. Your names really made me BJ fan.

So now I don't know what to do. If I want to ask some question about BJ - where shoul I go for the answers? To you? To bj21? I think that here and there I can get some valuable info.

So it looks to me that I will post here questions about scoring the games, indices questions, ODP, risks and bankrolls. At bj21 I'll post mostly hard theory questions, and some questions about simulations, on a par with questions about conditions in various countries. At bjrnet.com I would ask for shuffle tracking advices (but I'll have no assurance in quick answer but I have nowhere to go with it - I'm not a subscriber of Black Chip or RGE Pro Network). In searching for some tough calculations, programming simulators and for help in BJ math I'll go for bjmath.com. And, if I want to know more about ace location, card steering and partially bonus hustling an internet I'll go to the May's cafe.

Despite I really like that there are so many places to go and ask questions it will be very hard to me to decide which question on which board should I post.

I agree completely with you that information at bj21 is going worse. But anyway there are a lot of great information. Now, after you leaving SW site, I really can't imagine what kind of information will remain at bj21.

Thank you Don for all your efforts, thoughts and writings. I really appreciate your frequent participation in the internet (that's where Wong lacks; very pity).

Luck and pardon my English.

Garry Baldy.

[Don Schlesinger]

> I want to put my two cents into this
> problem.

I'm happy to hear from you.

> First, I should say that I'm really not a
> frequent contributor on any BJ site. But I
> read several sites EVERY day. It's a process
> of some filtration of information - I read
> only posts which do have some interest for
> me. But I should admit that I already cannot
> call myself as a novice at BJ so it's
> simpler to me to filtrate information than
> to the beginners.

Yes, that's true. I used to read and enjoy all of your posts; they come from a knowledgeable player! I hope we'll see you over here, from time to time.

> Second. I really admire both with you and
> SW. Your names really made me BJ fan.

Thank you.

> So now I don't know what to do. If I want
> to ask some question about BJ - where should
> I go for the answers? To you? To bj21? I
> think that here and there I can get some
> valuable info.

I guess you should continue to do what's best for you. BJ21 is not all garbage -- just the Free pages. You can pick and choose the spots that you visit. I refused to do that, because I felt it was dishonest to purposely make the free pages unreadable, so as to "chase" serious players to the paying, Green pages. I feel it is a rather cheap marketing ploy, and I spoke out against it.

> So it looks to me that I will post here
> questions about scoring the games, indices
> questions, ODP, risks and bankrolls. At bj21
> I'll post mostly hard theory questions, and
> some questions about simulations, on a par
> with questions about conditions in various
> countries. At bjrnet.com I would ask for
> shuffle tracking advices (but I'll have no
> assurance in quick answer but I have nowhere
> to go with it - I'm not a subscriber of
> Black Chip or RGE Pro Network). In searching
> for some tough calculations, programming
> simulators and for help in BJ math I'll go
> for bjmath.com. And, if I want to know more
> about ace location, card steering and
> partially bonus hustling an internet I'll go
> to the May's cafe.

Sounds like you're an Internet veteran and that you know the specialties of the various sites. Richard Reid's bjmath is particularly good, by the way. He deserves more visitors than he gets. It's a wonderful site.

> Despite I really like that there are so
> many places to go and ask questions it will
> be very hard to me to decide which question
> on which board should I post.

Well, I won't be reading bj21 anymore, so if you want a response from me, or from some of the experts here, I will no longer see your post on bj21.

> I agree completely with you that
> information at bj21 is going worse. But
> anyway there are a lot of great information.
> Now, after you leaving SW site, I really
> can't imagine what kind of information will
> remain at bj21.

It depends on if anyone else steps up to take my place at keeping the nuts in line. It takes a lot of time, effort, and energy to do that, and, as you can see, the work isn't always appreciated -- especially by the host, who prefers to have as many "hits" as possible, regardless of quality.

> Thank you Don for all your efforts,
> thoughts and writings. I really appreciate
> your frequent participation in the internet
> (that's where Wong lacks; very pity).

You're welcome. Wong does lack in that area, because he doesn't devote the same amount of time to his own site that others do. I imagine he's too busy with other projects.

> Luck and pardon my English.

Thank you for writing. Your English is considerably better than my Russian! :-)

Don

[Cyrus]

I am after the truth, as you know, and when it gets trampled one must become more vocal than is the norm. (Whom I also miss from Stanford's website, by the way. ..Norm, that is.) As to whether you should have stayed or left, you know my views, Don, and we have agreed to disagree.

No one caught on the "more space" zinger by the way.

[Don Schlesinger]

> I am after the truth, as you know, and when
> it gets trampled one must become more vocal
> than is the norm. (Whom I also miss from
> Stanford's website, by the way. ..Norm, that
> is.)

Yeah, I got it the first time! :-)

> As to whether you should have stayed or
> left, you know my views, Don, and we have
> agreed to disagree.

No problem. If you knew more of the details, you might change your mind, but no matter.

> No one caught on the "more space"
> zinger by the way.

I laughed my head off, the second I read it! Slow crowd over there!

Thanks for dropping by. Do visit often.

Don