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[Neil Jones]

In article <5.0.0.25.0.20001012174034.00a433d0 at mail.airmail.net>
           llrogers at airmail.net "Linda Rogers" writes:

> 
> Neil, how wonderful you are to set us all straight.  After all, I don't 
> know fact from opinion, nor honesty from dishonesty.  It's great to have 
> someone who can see straight into people's hearts and minds and know their 
> motives and what they are all about, perfectly and without question.

As I said the challenge is to demonstrate what I am saying is wrong.
It is easy to make insults.
If I really did believe that my opinions were always correct I wouldn't
post them in such a public place where they could be easily refuted were
they to prove incorrect. People will make up their own minds. I am often
in possession of pertinent facts. I make them available. You have chosen
to respond publically. I am making use of my right to reply.

You are right I don't like your business practices. You know, I was actually
stimulated into studying butterflies in my youth by a real butterfly Farmer.
(Not someone selling them as decorative baubles.) I have had a keen interest
in butterfly breeding since my youth, and had your business associates not
 been clearly associated with an obvious anti-conservation agenda  so
obviously detrimental to butterflies, you might have found me an ally.
Then of course there are other matters with which I disagree with you.

You say that you are not a monarch expert. This is a point on which we obviously
agree. You are however involved in what some people call "The Butterflies
as Baubles Business". You are the co-author of a "book" on the subject.

Let us look at JUST ONE example of how you conduct your business with which
I am unhappy. Your book is on sale on the internet. It is priced, if
I remember correctly, at ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY FIVE DOLLARS!
It is available on a non-returnable basis and is designed as a manual
for NEWCOMERS to your "industry".

I have gone to the trouble of getting to see a copy of this "book".
It is not, as you know, usually available except by mail order.
For this high price, what people actually get is a RING BOUND
folder full of papers which have every appearance of being PHOTOCOPIES.
(Just to prove I have seen it. There is a black and white photo of you in there
and you are wearing a hat.)

Now I have a very extensive collection of books on butterflies. Quite
a few of them cover breeding them. I would be very reluctant to 
spend that amount of money on a single book. If I then were to discover
I got an unbound volume for this price I would not be pleased.
Especially since one of the authors says that she is not an expert. 
Having seen the book I do not consider it would be worth the money even
if it were a proper book. However I am biased and I would invite others
to judge for themselves. I consider that you should include in your
advertising the full nature of this book. Perhaps the laws in America
are more lax on this than they are in the UK  and I am making a cultural
judgement.

It does seem to me that in your industry a lot of the money is being made
by those who promote it to others as a way of making money. However
perhaps I am being unfair and this is the American Way.
I will leave others to judge.

-- 
Neil Jones- Neil at nwjones.demon.co.uk http://www.nwjones.demon.co.uk/
"At some point I had to stand up and be counted. Who speaks for the
butterflies?" Andrew Lees - The quotation on his memorial at Crymlyn Bog
National Nature Reserve