Joe Simpson of the Bakersfield Californian/The Elitist Press speaks out against N.L. - By N.L. Belardes

Got a nice email from Georgetown University's CS today:

paperback writer has become required reading here in the "we're not a
state" state.

Always good to be recognized.

As some of you know, "The Elitist Press accuses N.L. of working for Bakotopia" also appeared on Bakotopia.com. They also chose to run all photos.

Joe Simpson, who works for the Californian, but strangely didn't want his photo taken at the second meeting of The Elitist Press, has a second response to my article that can originally be found in the comments of my posting of the article on bakotopia:

Sat Oct 21, 2006 13:33:56 PDT
This is in response to the lies and exaggerations being spread by N.L. Belardes, and all 4 of his friends. My name is Joe Simpson…. Yes the very “Pappa Joe” from the lame article posted by the morons mentioned above. Yes- I do work for the Bakersfield Californian, and I have for many years. No- I do not work for The Elitist Press. However, I know most of the people on the staff. They asked me to come and share my expertise at their meeting. I’ve been in the print and design business for almost 12 years now. A captive audience and free pizza.. why not. The twisting of the truth in this so called article are too many to mention and too ridiculous to even to dignify with a response. In fact to a reasonable person they are laughable. As far as Nick goes, he was not invited because of his attitude at the first meeting. Before you monkeys start flinging poo at me again, I DO NOT DO THE INVITING. I was a guest speaker. From what I was told, at the first meeting Nick made it clear he was his own media and that Bakotopia was going to print soon. He also made statements like, “I am Bakotopia.” This whole big deal is a bunch of, “You’re not playing my way. I’m taking my toys and going home!” junior high crap. They didn’t want Nick and his endless self promotion. He rants about all of the egos in the room. There wasn’t room in there for anyone’s ego but his own. As for The Elitist Press, I’ve been told that they are not going to print. It seams Bakersfield is not yet ready for an alt press that wants to do more than cover local bands and blog fights. Too bad, they had a lot of good writers in that room. This will be my only response… now you can go about your poo throwing.


And my response:

I probably said something more hurtful Matt, like, "I took over Bakotopia." But Bakotopia is set up that way. You can battle for the most friends, you can add all kind of media and promote, promote, promote... and yes, I did say that Bakotopia was one of the entities who could and should go to print. Why not, Bakotopia is an alt news source. It would be a natural progression in what Bakotopia is doing.

I also mentioned in that first meeting that I heard another group might be going to print. I didn't follow up.

Why did Joe want his identity hid?

Why be so paranoid?

Sure seems like an entire group of people are worried and allowed their world to crash because of one little blogger calling them elitists.

My source revealed to me that people for that press accused me of working for Bakotopia. I set the record straight through my blog because The Elitist Press already ceased contact with me except through Black Dog who said himself that his ideas weren't being heard. So how could my concerns about who I didn't work for ever fall on those deaf ears... by expressing myself.

I've stated on my blog how I discussed the power of nlbelardes.com. It's not boasting. It's simple: it can be used as a cross promotional tool. That's the power of blogging. And I am my own press.

Joe sure didn't have a problem with being employed by the Californian and helping (wink wink) the Elitist Press, and practically running the second meeting. So what was the problem with me being with another press: my own.

Instead, Joe wants to focus now on what? Poo throwing? What exactly have I said wasn't true? He claims I speak untruths. Well whatever he counters I will just say "My source said otherwise".

What it comes down to is the first meeting: was N.L. a pompous ass to some weird degree that meant it wasn't worth inviting me back? Not to mention they didn't have the balls to tell me not to show up. Why?

Sounds to me like this is another response to save face because he was exposed. Black Dog tried that by calling me a muckraker, even though over the phone he never called me one... I countered, and now where is his blog? Disappeared...

All of this because of a single blogger?

But they're a whole group!

It's the uncivil bully accusation all over again. I got the same reaction from the Californian for picking on Belton. I have more respect for the Californian. They didn't close shop. They built Bakotopia even better than it was, and Bakersfield.com is a damn Central Valley blog empire.

And let me just say that I admire the tenacity of Steve Swenson, their web moderator, who can battle and not back down like the Elitist Press.

Throwing poo is what monkeys like Joe did at my back when I walked from his monkey cage...

And more from me regarding Joe Simpson's post:

Lies being spread by four friends? Sorry, but what the heck is Joe talking about? It is pretentious of him to continue to be a paranoid jerk who is probably making the Bakersfield Californian wonder why he won't just open up and talk to them about his split personality.

Joe's wife was running The Elitist Press. And he didn't try to get her to change the name or her hatred for his employer? Because that's a lot of what I heard at meeting #1: hatred for the Californian. Shouldn't he have consulted against such?

I ignored the hate and turned that into: COMPETE!

I spoke about ways to compete in multi-user blogs. MULTI-USER! And I offered to help that blog gather strength by cross-promoting through mine.

I guess when Joe offered to come and talk and dictate regarding his wife's paper he didn't stop to think that there was a conflict of interest, especially when the anti-Californian ranting started up in the second meeting.

I wonder if he signed a contract with the Californian regarding the level of participation he was doing while speaking for The Elitist Press in meeting #2. Not sure consultants should run conversations in journalistic settings about story ideas. Shouldn't he have just been speaking with the main heads of state at The Elitist Press?

Sure looked to me like he was representing them. Otherwise, why would he spend time shooting me down? Oh yeah, I wasn't invited. He had formed some kind of kooky notion that I was just about me...

Whatever.

The Elitist Press are dead and that's sad. Just shows they had problems from within. It's not like I'm shutting my blog down just because I'm getting hatemail from them. Hatemail is natural. Not everyone will agree with you. Read the Californian blogs. It gets wayyyyyy more vicious over there... and yet the Californian isn't scared to shut their doors either...

This entry was posted by N.L. Belardes, on Sunday, October 22, 2006. You can leave your response.