<html><head></head><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:Helvetica Neue-Light, Helvetica Neue Light, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, Sans-Serif;font-size:13px"><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474345260322_38143"><span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474345260322_38156">Dear Frank,</span></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474345260322_38143"><span><br></span></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474345260322_38143" dir="ltr"><span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474345260322_38205">let me ask you a direct and brief question. Which specific examples hitherto listed by the participants of the dispute do you consider "less convincing" or "just completely off," and for which specific reasons? If you can provide us specific arguments about why the problems hitherto enumerated do not need investigation, and why our concerns are not justified, we will certainly listen to your arguments. If we find your arguments convincing, we will remove them from our list. This I can promise as the person most directly affected by this problem. If, however, you are of the opinion that the matter should not be discussed in public even if our concerns are legitimate and justified, please say so. Let me also ask you to provide some specific examples when my posts violated the written or unwritten rules of academic decency, either against Professor Armstrong or any other person. </span></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474345260322_38143" dir="ltr"><span><br></span></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474345260322_38143" dir="ltr"><span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474345260322_38496">With many thanks in advance,</span></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474345260322_38143" dir="ltr"><span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474345260322_38506">Dr. Balazs Szalontai </span></div><div class="qtdSeparateBR" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474345260322_38144"><br><br></div><div class="yahoo_quoted" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474345260322_38197" style="display: block;"> <div style="font-family: Helvetica Neue-Light, Helvetica Neue Light, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, Sans-Serif; font-size: 13px;" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474345260322_38196"> <div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, Sans-Serif; font-size: 16px;" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474345260322_38195"> <div dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474345260322_38194"> <font size="2" face="Arial" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474345260322_38193"> <hr size="1" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474345260322_38200"> <b><span style="font-weight:bold;">From:</span></b> Frank Hoffmann <hoffmann@koreanstudies.com><br> <b><span style="font-weight: bold;">To:</span></b> koreanstudies@koreanstudies.com <br> <b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Sent:</span></b> Tuesday, 20 September 2016, 12:01<br> <b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Subject:</span></b> Re: [KS] Re-revised posting "Revoking a Recommendation"<br> </font> </div> <div class="y_msg_container" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1474345260322_38657"><br>No balls, no decency, no academic conduct, and swarm mentality?<br clear="none">Is this really were we are now? Is this were we really want to go? Is <br clear="none">this what you teach your students? <br clear="none"><br clear="none">If you want to slice someone's work up, you can do so all by yourself, <br clear="none">all alone, by writing a book review, and you can even do that online, <br clear="none">even post that here on this list. Look me in the eye, baby! A book <br clear="none">review, or better yet, a review article would have to get into the core <br clear="none">arguments of a publication, would need to state why those maybe <br clear="none">convincing or less convincing or just completely off (in which case you <br clear="none">may reconsider writing anything about that publication at all). That is <br clear="none">then where the appropriate place is to list all the shortcomings of a <br clear="none">publications, and where you connect those to the book's arguments and <br clear="none">evaluate the book. <br clear="none"><br clear="none">Is this happening here? Most obviously not. Looks to me more like a <br clear="none">shit storm and swarm-bashing action on Facebook or Twitter. But it does <br clear="none">not come from your students or sons and daughters, it comes from you <br clear="none">guys with your full academic positions. So, you lean back in your <br clear="none">armchairs and sit comfortable next to your monthly pay or retirement <br clear="none">check and your free flight tickets to conferences around the world and <br clear="none">then still feel you need to hide behind the swarm? Is that the new <br clear="none">style now? Be aware that this is far more than just a shabby and <br clear="none">tasteless style. You help changing essential rules of conduct and guide <br clear="none">us into very muddy waters, and that is scary, in my view. I understand <br clear="none">you did not invent that style, you saw and copied that on Facebook and <br clear="none">Twitter, but still ... you are the ones in the armchairs supposed to <br clear="none">analyze this, to see through this crap, and to act differently -- not <br clear="none">to copy the generation that follows you.<br clear="none"><br clear="none">My two cents' worth.<br clear="none"><br clear="none"><br clear="none">Frank<div class="yqt7118693175" id="yqtfd71165"><br clear="none"><br clear="none"></div><br><br></div> </div> </div> </div></div></body></html>