In a message dated 7/8/01 8:23:38 AM Eastern Daylight Time, tr4play@home.com writes:
<< My observations and SUGGESTION for whatever you deem them to be worth:
Summary: .....(snip)...... the Confente thread is exceptional and should be handle accordingly.... ......(snip)......The Confente topic was a gross exception to the normal CR content in that it was, comparatively speaking, without end along with an obvious tone that was beyond simple and civil difference of opinion. My observation was that that emotion was getting the better of some contributors which was seriously detracting from the credibility of what was being presented. Once the percieved credibility of the contributions began to deteriorate, the thread unwound.
So how do we move on from here?....(snip)...... Many agree that the Confente story is historically important. History is filled with all sorts of differing opinions and recollections of what had in fact happened. Why not think of this as a documentary with the "history of Mario Confente" being the quest. Why not handle this extraordinary thread by asking Jim, Brian, and anyone else with firsthand knowledge to submit (offline to someone like Dale?) their most detailed account of the full history, from beginning to end. Then have someone (Dale?) pull these accounts together, not picking and choosing what to include, but simply placing all submissions in chronological order of events, by paragraph, with the author identified at the end of said paragraph. This could then be submitted back to the contributors for further clarification and response, all of which could be added into the document to help make it flow better and to jog memories of accounts missed in their earlier contributions.
It seemed clear to me from the previous Confente posts that there will never be a consensus on all aspects of events. That's ok isn't it? Let's get the story down on paper - agreements & disagreements both. Mario and those of us interested in his life will get the benefit of those who were around him, we'll get to hear first hand where there is a difference of opinion and we can choose to judge or simply accept the differences.
Sure, this would be a large undertaking.....(snip).....
Eric "I care" Elman >>
Eric Elman's ideas are excellent in that the concept of having Confente/Masi history somewhere would be beneficial to all bike fans. It occurred to me that it would be good to have something like the "ME" or Marque Enthusiast as have our chums in the UK.. Perhaps a "non-aligned" person on the CR list would volunteer to receive any & all info and distill it to a single bit? I have enough on my plate already, but I would be happy to publish it in the CR...
Dale Brown <A HREF="http://www.classicrendezvous.com/main.htm">Classic Rendezvous</A>