AVOID Pepper Joe's AT ALL COSTS!

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by baileyj

The tone of this thread, from both sides, is what disturbs me.

I also believe all have the right to express their opinion, however it is the accusatory language and non-objective manner and tone used by both sides here that I think is concerning.

I do believe some of the info presented in this thread is helpful and informative, but why does the tone from the administrator have to be so hostile. I thought the moderators and administrators were to be objective and guide the threads.

As I said earlier, I think most following this thread are either involved, or have developed their opinion....I have and do not intend to use the sites mentioned...

Speaking as a Global Moderator here I'd like to make a few comments.

In a screenshot above it was said that it didn't seem that the letters threatening to sue were being delivered. I'm the one they tested that on and received a registered letter and had to sign two forms to be given it.

I opened it and couldn't believe what I was reading. I had made one small post in this thread. So I called Angie, Joe's lawyer, ASAP, and she called me back the same day and we talked for quite a while. She agreed that there were others whose posts were much worse than mine, which wasn't bad at all since everything I said was the truth and I told her that when she asked me if I would consider removing my post to which I said no.

I don't have caller ID so answer the phone when it rings. And yes Joe also called me. He called me a ringleader and recited several vendor sites where he said he'd been told that I was..... I don't remember his exact words, but not good. What he didn't know is that I knew the owners of all of those sites, and knew them well.

Just one example. He mentioned Marianne Jones, but when I told Joe I'd known her since 1990 and we'd always been friends, there was silence and then he said, well, it must be Dean then. I said yes, it must have been,

I think I remember Mischka saying in a post above that he too had a lawyer, and if he didn't, I know he does, and certain issues are being discussed with this lawyer. Is he doing this for himself personally, NO, he's doing it on behalf of all of us here at Tville, and paying for it himself.

This site opened in Jan of 2006 and M had asked both Craig H ( nctomatoman) and myself to be Global Moderators, we both accepted, so have been here longer than anyone else. and now I'm speakkng to Bailey's comments about admins and Mods keeping the Peace.

I have never known M to lie to me or anyone else as far as that goes. Do I always agree with what he says and does? Of course not for I'm Carolyn and he's M, and we both have our own opinions and neither of us are shy retiring type individuals.

TV has become a haven for many since no threads or posts about partisan politics or religion have been allowed. And membership has increased tremendously from year to year b'c many have found a home here and have interacted with others to the benefit of both.I know that I, for one, have made many new friends here.

Have there been other contentious threads here in the past, of course. Some have been closed and some have been deleted, for various reasons, but I do approve of M trying to warn folks, especially in this thread, about how their names, addresses and phone numbers are being obtained.

I haven't bought tomato seeds since 1998 when I had to buy seeds for the variety Dr. Carolyn, ahem,, from Linda Sapp at TGS for growout for pictures for my tomato book but my information that allowed me to be sent the letter comes directly from my prior interaction with Dean where he sent me seeds a few years back and needed my address, also has my phone number and Marianne has always had my phone number and address since the early 90's since she used to make huge SSE requests from me. Lots of folks have my address from my seed offers here, where they have to e-mail me to get it to participate in my seed offers and I give the link right on the first page of the seed offer.

Once someone has your address it's easy to find your phone number at several online sites.

Summary? I feel terrible that so many have been sent the letters, and not all have indicated so publicly, that Joe has invaded the privacy of individuals homes with his phone calls and sometimes accusatory e-mails. I would not have known that Dean and Joe , together, have vowed to shut this site down without the screenshots shown here to prove that to all.Finally, there were several other links given that showed that Joe does not have the best of reputations in the pepper seed arena and I wouldn't have known that either without the screen shots since I've never been to his pepper site and only know him via his letter to me from his lawyer, and his phone call saying he'd meet me in Myrtle Beach, SC for a deposition,etc.

I could have written this last night but decided to sleep on it until this morning and just wanted to let others know that I too have been a part of the picture here, not as a ringleader as Joe accused me of being, but one who joins the others bearing the brunt of unwanted, unneccesary and malevolent verbiage sent our way.

Carolyn, and now back to packing tomato seeds for her offer and it's going very slowly and part of the reason is the number of phone calls and e-mails tangential to this thread that have come her way this past week. And she doesn't know how this upcoming week with the brutal cold is going to impact her ability to pack seeds in the backroom, we'll see.