This history of my $10k offer to Dan Peterson, which was initially declared "null and void" but then, secretly between us over email, re-initiated as follows: I agreed to donate ~half of the $10k in exchange for nothing but Dan's good word to stop trash talking against this message board and members, and to moderate such activity among his guests. Simple deal. No other terms. He accepted eagerly! He was "good" for a few weeks and then just gradually slipped back to old habits. He was reminded, and insisted, against evidence, that he was trying to get there. It's not hard to be nice, and this deal did NOT involve Dan having to "do something extra" -- only to do less (of saying bad things about this board) and to convince his guests (especially, Kiwi57 and Louis Midgley) to do the same.
Links below give most of this history. In some of these, or the threads they're in, I've shared the original and subsequent emails between Dan and me. I paid the money, so my side of the agreement was fulfilled 100%. To this day, he whines and gripes that it isn't fair for me to demand he hold up his end of the bargain, that he "tried" or "tries" and that it isn't fair because people here still talk bad about him. But if you read the emails and all, you can plainly see, he anticipated people would still talk bad about him and he made a personal statement of intent to pretty much ignore this board. He's made such statements before, and since, and yet he helicopters over this board - it's probably one of the few always-open tabs in Safari or Chrome - and just seems incapable of doing the simple thing he promised to do (to not bad mouth this board).
Doesn't matter why that was his end of the deal. Some of the context you can find for yourself in the history. The bottom line is, that was the deal and he willingly and eagerly entered into that deal, for money.
Around mid 2020, after I posted a number of evidences proving beyond question that Daniel had gradually neglected to hold up his end of our deal, he made a half-assed plea in the comments of one blog post:
Sounds great, right? However, in the 2 years since that comment, he's allowed more and more bad behavior to creep back in. And not just his favorite guests, but himself too. He's back to old ways, as if nothing ever happened. He's back to dropping "Peterson Obsession Board" like it's 2018. He upvotes his favorite board-bullies for writing about the "sty," "sewer," and "scumbag central." So his 2020 comment plea was a toothless request, and one that Daniel himself has not held up, as he continues to obsessively follow every thread and cranny on this board, looking for villains to justify another childish, irrelevant excuse to break his agreement with me.Daniel Peterson wrote: I'm asking everybody here to ignore them, more or less. Occasionally, I feel it necessary to respond (e.g., when, as they recently have, they level very grave accusations of anti-Semitism and religious bigotry against me). Still, on the whole, I hope that they will be ignored. I absolutely don't want their message board and its themes to dictate the tone or focus here in the comments section of my blog.
There is a fellow over there who made a substantial donation to the Interpreter Foundation with the expressed accompanying hope that I would do what I could to tone things down between his board and the comments on this blog. I'm trying to do that. (I keep my promises, and not only as a matter of public honor.) I have no control over that place, of course. The fury against me and you, and so forth, burns fiercely there and is likely to continue to do so until sometime after both you and I have been gathered to our ancestors. But I do have some influence here.
So for anyone who cares, here are a bunch of links that chronicle our deal, and the documented history of Dan's ongoing (2.5+ years now) failure to act like a serious adult in good faith, regarding a very simple agreement that he eagerly made with me, for money, benefitting the Interpreter, in late 2019. (no particular order)
viewtopic.php?p=2792028#p2792028
viewtopic.php?p=32954#p32954
viewtopic.php?p=2741305#p2741305
viewtopic.php?p=2722816#p2722816
viewtopic.php?p=2722525#p2722525
viewtopic.php?p=2730297#p2730297
viewtopic.php?p=2730306#p2730306
viewtopic.php?p=2730322#p2730322
viewtopic.php?p=2730405#p2730405
Original thread that started it all
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=152176
And for those looking for more current evidence that Dan continues to write - and permit/celebrate - the same bad mouthing of this board, here are some fresh examples which I found in a quick look this morning. You can find most of these by using the Patheos search function on words like "sty" or "sewer" or "swamp" or "obsession" or "scumbag."
Dan P is welcome to return the money, if he has any integrity at all. Otherwise, there is no way he can avoid history judging this transaction as a brazen act of bad faith, and a childishly reckless flaunting of one's good word, on his part.
https://www.patheos.com/blogs/danpeters ... tment.html
I notice that a few folks on the Peterson Obsession Board have taken aim at the fireside that I presented in Calgary on Thursday night.
https://www.patheos.com/blogs/danpeters ... arity.html
Louis Midgley: He (or those) from a certain sewer, the name of which I no longer know, since it has, I believe, had to change its identity, really have come to sic et non to entertain itself or themselves with mischief.
https://www.patheos.com/blogs/danpeters ... lilee.html
MKWhitmer: Dan, I don't know how long it took to make this post, but it was definitely worth it... At least for us. I'm confident many from the "sty" are apoplectic after reading. Keep up the GREAT work.mw
(comment upvoted by Daniel Peterson)
https://www.patheos.com/blogs/danpeters ... -days.html
Kiwi57: You do? Wow, stop the presses! One inmate of the Sty agrees with another! Who would have ever seen that coming?
Kiwi57: It's a reference to your natural internet home: the Mos Eisley of the internet, the Peterson Obsession Board, Scumbag Central, Shades's Sty.
https://www.patheos.com/blogs/danpeters ... a-why.html
Kiwi57: They don't have "critical thinking" over at the Sty. They just have hypocritical thinking.
(comment upvoted by Daniel Peterson)
https://www.patheos.com/blogs/danpeters ... -dead.html
Kiwi57: Apart from that, since you find your host "frankly disgusting," maybe you can take your virtue-signalling back to Scumbag Central, where you clearly belong.
(comment upvoted by Daniel Peterson)
Daniel Peterson: Why not? My mustache didn't save me from service as a bishop. And yes, I notice what you're doing. Several of the folks over at your Peterson Obsession Board obviously made far more out of that little reference that it warrants. But then, that is their métier, is it not?
Seatimer: As we contemplate the sweet, loving, endearing and inspiring messages provided by our dear false Doctors and Professors, many of whom can be observed on this very board and even more so at the Peterson Obsession Board, a.k.a. the Sty, the words of a true Doctor, Professor and Gentleman ring true:
Kiwi57: Yes he's working too hard, but he gets brownie points at the Sty whenever he can find an excuse to slip in a bit of standard anti-Mormon propaganda, even if it is as thoroughly debunked as that bogus Kimball quote.
https://www.patheos.com/blogs/danpeters ... rpose.html
Daniel Peterson: I think you're aware that that is what that handful of weird conspiracy nuts over at the Obsession Board imagine you to have done with regard to Ms. Gina Colvin in New Zealand. You couldn't possibly have had any other reason to visit Aotearoa, right? I mean, it's so miserable a place, and you've never had any other contact with it or any other interest in it.
https://www.patheos.com/blogs/danpeters ... craft.html
Kiwi57: Indeed you are, but you may still have some redeeming qualities. But you won't find them by merely being a conduit for the nasty prejudices of your worthless friends at Scumbag Central, none of whom can even be imagined to measure up to the status of a Martin Harris.
(comment upvoted by Daniel Peterson)
https://www.patheos.com/blogs/danpeters ... -noah.html
Kiwi57: Most "members" you know hang out at Scumbag Central, don't they?
(comment upvoted by Daniel Peterson)
https://www.patheos.com/blogs/danpeters ... yment.html
Daniel Peterson: I expect the series to be quite thought-provoking. And I note that it’s already drawing attacks and derision at the Peterson Obsession Board (and very possibly elsewhere), so that’s . . . well, something.
https://www.patheos.com/blogs/danpeters ... archy.html
There is an entire message board that is largely dedicated to misreading what I write. This blog, however, is ill-suited to that effort.
Daniel Peterson: There is an entire message board that is largely dedicated to misreading what I write. This blog, however, is ill-suited to that effort.
Daniel Peterson: Please don't try to portray me as a bigot. There's an entire anonymous message board already dedicated to that noble goal.
https://www.patheos.com/blogs/danpeters ... -ship.html
Daniel Peterson: The Interpreter Foundation is failing fast. I know, because I read it on the Peterson Obsession Board in 2012. By this point, there can't be more than two or three days left.