While I am currently working on a lengthy post about recent allegations Fecund Stench and others have leveled toward local webloggers and blog related entities, Roch Smith Jr. and Ed Cone as well as some researcher named "History" have already begun to refute some of the charges in the comments to my original post on the matter.
One of Stench's many allegations was this one, addressed to Cone: "Tara Sue and her gaing have alleged that you and Roch have used their work to achieve your supposed successes". To which History retorts...
...Do some homework. The first-ever web statement from Tara I could find on the web, from the comments at Ed Cone's blog, August 16, 2002 (right under a suggestion from another reader that she get a weblog and a paypal account): "Hello Everybody! Unfortunately I am simply ignorant when it comes to web creations etc...Who can tell me about this "paypal?" My husband was too busy downloading music on the PC to show me." Tara again (later in the thread): "Thank you for your helpful comments. I must admit I was ignorant of the outreach the internet can provide."
And in a quote to Wired News, 8/23/02: "I'm not a techie," she said. "I was looking at Ed Cone's weblog and some others, and they were saying, 'Well, what's keeping her from downloading (weblog editing software) Radio?' So I did."
Roch and Cone also weighed in on the allegations against them. First comes Roch:
...It was Ed and I who encouraged her to get online in the first place. It was during a lunch at Osaka years ago (2002), during her run against Howard Coble. I'm sure she remembers. But again, a simple test can apply: Is there something Tara Sue or "her gang" had, or even have, online that could have possibly been "stolen" by Greensboro101 or are we just getting a lot of slanderous hot air from malcontents?...
Then Cone:
"The history of local aggregators is all on the web... The first mention of a Greensboro aggregator that I'm aware of was made by me on November 19, 2004. The Shu said in the comments to that post that he was working on such a thing. Roch quickly said he was, too, and showed a test version.
Greensboro 101 launched on November 30, 2004. Triad Blogs launched on December 30, 2004. I have never heard anyone claim that Roch used anyone else's work for his project; if anyone wants to make that claim they should step forward.
Jeff has shown himself to lack a working knowledge of some very recent history. It is wrong to publish allegations that challenge without basis the honesty and intellectual property of others. If he or anyone else, including whoever has been telling him stories, can point to facts that support his allegations, now would be an excellent time to put up, or shut up."
Theft of intellectual property is a serious charge and one that the subject of the charges are obviously not taking lightly. Other charges and innuendo have been leveled as well and all of it needs to see the light of day either to be substantiated, refuted or otherwise explained.
I have offered Tara Sue, TheShu and Ross Myers the opportunity to review my upcoming post on the subject before publication. Perhaps together we can try and sort this all out and sing some Kumbaya next week. We'll just call it the Greensboro BlogTruth and (Hopefully) Reconcilliation effort.
4:12:58 PM 
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