[theta98]

I wrote for Officiating.com from the summer of 2002 until January of 2004.

My specific role in the beginning was softball, and over the course of my time with the site I eventually began contributing rugby articles as well.

Over that time, I felt that I provided the premium members of this website with valuable information based on my years of experience as a softball umpire and my years of watching other umpires work.

Dakota, you may remember me.........does the name Adam Powell ring a bell?

However, after a series of articles that didn't satisfy the Editor-in-Chief, I was told that Officiating.com and myself needed to part ways.

That was a year ago............Over that time, I've sat on the sidelines and watched the softball content on this website dwindle down to nothing.

I've completed one book and have started on another over that time, so I haven't been completely eeked out of the publishing business, but I just want to say here and now that the biggest reason there is not more substantial softball content is because nobody wants to deal with the Editor-in-Chief.

Merle Butler, a member of the ISF Hall of Fame and one of the most respected softball umpires in the world, had a similar experience, which is why his time with officiating.com was short-lived.

I don't know why the Editor-In-Chief felt the need to criticize me to the point of telling me that the site wanted to part ways with me, but either way, I've moved on.

He also mentioned that people had constantly been criticizing my work and had been sending him letters about it.

I'm still waiting for those letters, by the way.

I remember a time when there was as many as 5-8 steady softball writers here, but I firmly believe that the Editor-In-Chief's attitude and way of belittling his writers ran them all off, myself included.

Nobody wants to work with someone that thinks they're better than them, and that was my experience as a softball writer here.

I agree with Dakota that the softball content on officiating.com stinks these days, and I think that falls largely on the Editor-in-Chief and the way he handles his staff, by trying to intimidate and push them around.


Adam Powell

[Edited by theta98 on Jan 6th, 2005 at 04:27 PM]