My (Difficult) Attempts Efforts to Work Cooperatively With Allan Woodman (on the West Lafayette High School Memorial Blog)
During the summer of 2012
I began my efforts to create a website/blog to memorialize the deceased alumni
of West Lafayette High School in West Lafayette, Indiana. I found Allan Woodman, WLHS ’75, who seemed
to have similar interests and we began talking on the telephone about working
together. This appealed to me a lot,
because Allan clearly had substantial computer/website creation skills; an area
I am not strong in. Allan talked of
having a Facebook Page and I talked of having a website which might complement
the Facebook Page.
Around late July or
sometime in August, 2012, our communication ceased (evidently) related to our
different visions. With the help of a
friend, I created the West Lafayette High School Memorial Blog at:
WLHSMemorial.blogspot.com with a companion email address of: WLHSMemorial@gmail.com.
I then initiated
communication with Allan Woodman via email on October 10, 2012 (all our email
communication that I can locate is below).
Our communication concluded with my email of October 14, 2012. Subsequent to this I worked independently of
Allan Woodman on my blog. Occasionally
I posted things on his WLHS Alumni Facebook page or emailed him giving him
links to obituaries of (new) sites that I found.
I fully respected Allan
Woodman’s requests that I not mention my blog on either the WLHS Facebook
Alumni and Memorial Pages until approximately August 22 or 23, 2018. At that time I (evidently) misinterpreted
the intention of a Facebook response I received from Allan Woodman (see my
email to Allan Woodman of August 26, 2018 below).
On September 7, 2018
Allan Woodman stated in an email (complete email is below also):
“For
your information here is a listing of all the deceased Class mates I have in an
Excel Spreadsheet. You can use this to see if you have them all listed on your
blog, and or you can email me back with additions, and or class years for those
you might have.
Hope this helps in your fine work. “
In the next few days I worked on both the spreadsheet
and the blog, line by line. Where there
were spreadsheet listings and no blog entry, I tried, where feasible, to
develop a viable blog entry that would have at least a little information about
the deceased alumnus. I omitted
obviously impossible listings such as names like: “James Smith”, particularly
where there was no graduation year.
Where there was a faint chance, I made very limited
efforts at finding information online such as obituaries, memorial listings and
other odd things. Where there was a
less common name, I did a lot of Googling seeking information. In many cases I “struck out” and abandoned
my efforts for that individual.
I added about 90 entries to the Memorial Blog. I also discovered several duplicate entries,
as well as a few odd errors like misspellings of names and corrected them.
The spreadsheet that Allan Woodman had sent me had 328
lines in it. Many of the entries did
not have a graduation year. I always
made every effort at having a correct Blog graduation year. Those who went to the blog would find
deceased classmates by looking at the graduation year’s page (or for younger or
much older classmates the page that showed the decade they’d graduated in,
broken down by graduation year within it).
In a minority of cases a graduation year was not
clear. Where the individual had been
born in the last few months of the year and I did not have any information
(e.g. a classmate indicating that the individual had graduated in their class),
I would find another classmate of the potential graduation year(s) and ask them
what year the individual had graduated from WLHS in.
I added over 100 graduation years to entries on the
existing spreadsheet. I also corrected
a few spelling errors, added some maiden or married names, eliminated some
duplicate entries and similar.
Through my methodical efforts I increased the spreadsheet size from 328 lines to 567 lines, a 72.9% increase in size.
I sent an updated draft of the spreadsheet to Allan
Woodman late on September 7, 2018.
After extensive work over the next several days, I sent the final
spreadsheet to him.
Although Allan Woodman indicated to me that he would
post a link to The WLHS Memorial Blog on the Facebook WLHS Memorial Site if I
sent it to him, he has not done this in response to my multiple emails asking
him to do this.
On December 2, 2018 – I sent another copy of the
updated spreadsheet to Allan Woodman in the off chance that he never received
it from me. I asked him to tell me if
he’d not received it already. As of December
7, 2018, I’ve received no response. The
spreadsheet shown on the WLHS Alumni Facebook page has a date of September 7,
2018
I have done my best to
work with Allan Woodman. I am left with
the conclusion that he has not been cooperative and has done his best to “hide”
my work from others (politely stated).
George Marx
------------------------------------
------------------------------------
I'm working with Allan Woodman (WLHS
'75) on an Alumni Memorial Project - towards a new website where we can share
memories of alumni we have lost. IF you: 1.) Know of alums - who have passed
away or 2.) Know of classmates who may have lists of alums who've passed away
in your class, please message me and give me an email address to contact you
(or them) through! Thanks!
From: George Marx
[mailto:wlhsmemorial@gmail.com]
Sent: Wednesday,
October 10, 2012 11:55 PM
To: Allan Woodman
Subject: Hope -
You are Doing Well - Question - re: Link to Your Alumni Memorial Page
Allan,
I hope that things
have gone well for you since we were last in touch.
I've gotten a
little help and done a lot of work - revising the WLHS Memorial Blog to try to
improve its appearance and usability.
It's not where I want it to end up, but is much closer to that place
than I possibly could have hoped to get it in such a short time.
I've added a tab
link - entitled: "WLHS Alumni Memorial Page (on Facebook)" - which
links to the Facebook page you created.
I think that this is supportive of and cooperative with your recent
work. If you feel differently, and want
it removed, please let me know. You can
see what I'm talking about - if you go to the Blog - at:
www.WLHSMemorial.blogspot.com.
Thanks for your
past support!
George
----------------------
On Fri, Oct 12, 2012 at 1:01 AM,
<722nwtrek@charter.net> wrote:
Clicked on the
link but the page is all distorted and the information and colors are
skewed. What happened ? Please correct and send me another link.
Good to hear from
you !!! I have recieved no newer XLS
sheets, so assume there are no more names added over the preceding 2 months.
Allan Woodman
----------------
From:
George Marx [mailto:wlhsmemorial@gmail.com]
Sent: Friday, October 12, 2012 3:02 PM
-----------------------------------------
To: 722nwtrek@charter.net
Subject: Re: Hope - You are Doing Well - Question - re: Link
to Your Alumni Memorial Page
Allan,
I'm unclear as to the difficulty you've evidently had
related to accessing the blog I created.
I am copying and pasting the URL - which you evidently had difficulty
accessing:
I called up a friend of mine - gave him the URL over the
phone, asked him to log onto Facebook - and he had no problem in accessing both
the blog and the link on it to the Facebook page which you created. He told me that it was entirely clear and
"looked good".
I began working with you initially on the premise that we
were creating something together - either a website or a blog - that would do
what I thought was significant. Perhaps
we had a total misunderstanding, and if so I apologize for my part in this, however
I heard you initially telling me that the spreadsheets were a first step of a
process and that creating the blog or website would take longer. During our last conversation, I heard you
tell me both that you'd created mockups towards this later step and that you
did not intend to go any further with creating such a site.
I recall you saying that a website or blog would be
irrelevant to the younger alumni and that both you and I were "older"
or "getting older" and wouldn't be around many more years and there
was no point in doing more than what you'd already created (e.g. the Facebook
Memorial Page and the spreadsheet).
I told you then quite emphatically that this was Not what I
wanted to do. I said that I'd previously
agreed to what you suggested as a means towards what you'd at one point
described as a site that would use a spreadsheet so that users could access
pages/information or similar on individuals either by a name search or by the
class year. Recently - through a
teacher at WLHS - I saw the site for his alma mater (Delphi High School) -
http://www.oraclealums.com/ - which is a detailed, excellent site, including a
significant "Memorial" component.
I didn't expect something that detailed, but it certainly is something I
can admire.
After our last conversation I was extremely disappointed and
thought things - "hopeless" in this area. Initially I'd been very enthusiastic about
your ideas, your energy, and your evident technical skills all of which I
thought could blend with my willingness to do the "grunt work". A few days later, I woke up very early in
the morning with an idea of how I might be able to make things work out on my
own.
Now, with a little help from a friend, I've created and
modified a site, that while far from perfect or complete, is a good start for
what I wanted to do in the first place.
I certainly want to support your efforts in these
areas. The link that I referenced in my
prior email to you related to my desire to support your work.
At the same time, I see no point, whatsoever, in duplicating
my work with what I've created with your efforts on Facebook. I feel no commitment towards updating the
spreadsheet we worked on together, because my commitment to it was not as an "end
result", but rather as a first step towards a larger goal.
You certainly are welcome to use the blog - to gather data
for the spreadsheet for updates, though I doubt you'd want to make that
effort. On the blog - additions - will
appear near the top of the blog (though the modifications I just made added
some irrelevant posts there).
I wish you luck in your efforts!
If you would ever wish to re-start working with me on this,
your expertise could obviously make it significantly better. Though I'm using HTML - in my updates now,
my knowledge of it is close to zero - and I'm befuddled with things like the
red dot - I can't figure out - why it's there at the top of the postings on the
site.
George
-----------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------
I was shocked by your letter George
722nwtrek@charter.net
Oct 13, 2012, 5:32 PM
to me
My good sir:
Your message is rather arrogant and presumptuous is it not ?
The facebook accounts related to the Memorial Page will
stand. Your excellent work at creating an XLS sheet will stand. However it will
not be updated unless I am afforded the data to add. It is not a priority of
mine......as it seems to be for you. Your rhetoric in the email just sent to me
suggests you will not be affording me data as "your" web page is
enough since "you" decided. That is okay. Kindly remember that the
Facebook Account for WLHS is for facebook people. If "you" wish to
create "your" own personal following to look at "your"
records on "your" web site, then of course you have.
When the link is clicked as you have mailed to me, the blog
does not choose to present itself. I am using an advanced IE9 and perhaps I
will need to fire it up in Chrome instead. I am sure the work is excellent. I
look forward to seeing your blog when possible.
As for a comprehensive duplication website, I decided not to
bother and informed you as to my reasons. Perhaps they were not plain enough to
afford you meaning. If you look at the Facebook site, you will a dedicated page
with pictures. But, I have not heard from you in months, and thought you had
ended our partnership in production. Your message says as much here.
You inflate and value your personal efforts and
accomplishments to me, yet you spice them with barely hidden negative
references toward my character. If you need to build yourself up at the expense
of another, than I thank you for the compliments. It really is what they
represent. Try being less pushy, less egotistical and less a showman. (I
suspect you have been told this many times before in your life.) People will
value your efforts for the work you produce.....just do not expect to be made a
King. Live in humble servitude and divine peace with others through charitable
works and deeds. Your rewards should be reflected from within for your service.
Also feel free to call me for an appointment George. (you
have my number) I have colleagues near where you reside who may be able to meet
with you. You seem to crave a lot of attention and you have a real need for
praise and recognition. (in your letters at least)
Good Tidings to you George.
----------------------------
----------------------------
Oct 14, 2012, 12:20 AM
Allan,
I see no purpose in either one of us creating any more
negativity - related to our respective efforts and interests. I don't believe that either of us are in
opposition to what the other is trying to do.
I apologize for the offense you've felt from what I said to
you in my most recent email to you. I
see no need to discuss what I said in any further detail because further
animosity is likely to occur with any such effort.
It seems pointless for my blog effort to involve you in any
way, because further animosity is likely to occur with any effort in this area.
Because - I have no interest in further working on
spreadsheet updates - and you have no interest in doing such work that -
further updates are unlikely to be developed - unless someone else begins
working with you.
I have deliberately made no mention - on the WLHS Alumni
page - related to what I've created - because in the past when I mentioned work
that we were doing together there you asked me to stop posting things there
related to the efforts. While I would
certainly welcome any positive publicity there - I will respect you
"leading" that site - and not - post anything related to the blog -
there - unless you should indicate anything different from what you've said in
the past.
I would have preferred that things have ended up more
positive, however I've tried to be honest with you - and my "honesty"
is clearly too blunt or otherwise feels negative to you.
George
********************************************************************************
Between the 2012 communication and the August 23, 2018 communication below, Allan Woodman and I had
no direct communication that I am aware of.
The entry below explains what transpired in 2018 beginning then and
ending with my last email to Allan Woodman on September 24, 2018.
-----------------------------------
Thu, Aug 23, 7:54 AM
|
Allan,
It is difficult for me to write to you today!
I do not like to confront others and deal with disagreements
directly. My four step-siblings sued my mother's estate
asking initially for over half a million dollars and it took me quite awhile
to feel true, deep anger towards them. Thankfully, the
lawsuit eventually settled after much difficult work and despite financial
costs they were resoundingly hurt as their case fell apart.
I hope that what seems to be between us is a serious
misunderstanding which can be resolved with dialog resulting in positive
solutions which benefit us both.
Initially when we communicated some years ago I hoped that
with your technical expertise and my time commitment we could create together
a website which would build a user-friendly resource that could help our
classmates find information about other, classmates who have passed away and
share their memories of them. It was important to me that such a
resource be a lasting memorial.
My recollections are that at the time we seemed to be
moving forward towards a joint effort. We hit a logjam when you
insisted to me that the only way to reach our fellow alumni, particularly the
younger ones, was through social media - in this case through Facebook.
I saw serious obstacles to what I envisioned in what you told me was possible
at that time. I thought then and I think now that such an effort
could involve Facebook, but not be limited to Facebook.
Unfortunately at that time our communication ended and we
separately created two distinct Memorials. On the positive side
we both have excellent products which our alumni are using.
Since that time from my perspective we have had
distinctively opposite - public - reactions to each other's
efforts. At the top of the blog/website that I have created -
there is a highly visible web link which states: "WLHS Memorial
Page (on Facebook)". I have done my best to support your
effort. On a few occasions I have contacted you or your site and added
information that I had to help your site.
You have never, to be best of my knowledge acknowledged
the existence of the site I have created on either the WLHS Alumni Facebook
Page or on the Facebook Memorial Page. Until several days ago I
fully honored your evident desire to not support the site I created by never
posting anything on either of the sites that you have developed or otherwise
did anything to make the site I created more visible to WLHS alumni through
Facebook.
The only thing that I did in "opposition" to you
was to privately express distaste and concern at your failure to support my
effort to several individuals.
Recently, I thought that you sent me a communication which
complimented me on my efforts and indicated that you would support my
efforts. Perhaps I'm imagining things and received no such
communication or I misinterpreted what you meant in the communication.
I don't know.
Based upon what I thought you had said to me, several days
ago I posted a lengthy entry on the WLHS Alumni Facebook Page - providing
readers of the page with information about the site I have created and built
up - giving them a better opportunity to connect with and support the
blog. I received one communication which I suspect came from my
posting.
I was seriously disturbed by your evident removal of my
posting which happened within a few hours of it going on
Facebook. It seemed in direct contrast with what I saw as your
recent positive communication with me. I have no idea why you did
what you did. I would like to believe that you did nothing and that
Facebook somehow screwed up and deleted my posting.
Such a conclusion seems improbable to me.
I am not a person who likes being in the
limelight. My social skills are not very good. I
prefer being in the background. I have never sought acclaim for
my efforts nor had any hidden agenda.
I am 67 years old. I have a heart condition
which seems to be under control. My doctors tell me that in the
long-term I am a good candidate for having a stroke. I have long
hoped to find someone younger to take over the blog.
The blog has close to 450 entries. Not all of
the entries have significant details like obituary notices, but a lot
do. I am particularly proud of the entries for Walter Taylor
(1960) and Joe Stuntz (1970) - where I found substantial information about
these classmates from online searches and posted them.
I would be very, very happy to - work with you on
transferring the "ownership" of the site and its accompanying email
address to you if you will continue to build and maintain the
site. Obviously you could technically improve the site and have
links between it and the Facebook pages as well as promotion of it through
the sites. You could modify anything and improve things however
you were able to.
Absent - communication towards transferring my effort to
you - (which would be my first priority) - I would like to resolve your
issues with the site that I have created. I do Not know - what your
problem is with my effort. I do not know what I can do - to bridge the
evident gap between us. It seems irrational and petty for you to
seemingly pretend that this site doesn't exist and to "protect"
classmates from it.
I'm confused!?
I would appreciate a thoughtful response from you!
------------------------------------------------------------------- |
Aug 26, 2018, 5:46 PM
|
Allan,
I have heard no response to my email
(below). If you are busy or it otherwise is taking you time
to respond, I can respect that, but would appreciate hearing that from you.
If you are choosing to Not Respond, that speaks a lot about
who you are. I prefer to hope that that is not the case.
|
--------------------------------------
Sun, Aug 26, 6:24 PM
|
Dear Mr. Marx:
You were correct in
your assessment of my involvement with business endeavors. I am reading your
emails now and responding to your latest letter.
I was at first
somewhat confused as to your point. The only relevant topic which seems to
cross our paths was an advertisement you posted on the West Lafayette High
School Facebook page, I administer.
I looked back at
the history files and do indeed see where a posting from you was
"deleted". This was intentional and automatic only from the
standpoint that certain criteria will automatically flag and remove some
content posted. This removal was automatic as it were and I am now seeing your
posting to evaluate its content personally.
1. Any posting
needs to be done by a member of the group. I assume you are a member.
2. Any posting
"authoring" a self adopting internal link will also be flagged.
3. Of course
anything profane or attempting to "sell" a service or product (i.e.
sunglasses) will be flagged.
This said, some
content is allowed. Fundraisers for WLHS and "official"school
organizations such as my partner the West Lafayette School District can post
requests for plays, sporting events, and other school related functions.
Now to your message
directly.
-Read the bottom,
you will see I will post a link to your site if you choose.
-Below is some
editorial to make my point clear as possible.
The West Lafayette
High School Alumni Group does have a spawn page titled West Lafayette High
School Memorial Page, and the West Lafayette Reunions Page. Both pages serve
the function of imparting information in their respective categories.
Information is supplied from the School Districts Administration Office and
other public sources. You may have even contributed to this database in the
past?
You detail that we
have had some past connections of emails? I do recall some of them. You and I
have moved in different directions since long ago. Frankly, I am surprised
you are so interested in this venue I manage. I have maintained this Facebook
presence and the membership has grown from around 100 to 1030 presently. The
facebook page you attempted to post on is not a memorial site for processing
deceased files however. Brief notices may appear from time to time and
eventually I migrate them to the Memorial Page itself. The Group is for posting
current activities and connecting with each other on some school related
business etc. Your site no doubt also gets many visitors who want to see who
has passed away. I suggest posting a link to your site on the School's
Memorial Page itself. ( West Lafayette High School Alumni Memorial. ) Also,
add your link to the following Group: "You know you are from West
Lafayette Indiana if..." The admin is a friend of mine. Join the group
and list your site. A lot of people visit.
I see you have your
own Blog? This is related to deceased Alumni. Very admirable. Thank you. But,
you and I are not collaborators. I make NO claim to your work and place no
links on your site. I would respect the same from you.
I do not see the
need for combining or re-directing alumni to each others sites to see
duplicated information.
HOWEVER: Please
forward me a link and I will get your Blog information posted on the West
Lafayette High School Memorial Page. I feel you will be better served from
here and it will be less confusing for each of our followers.
Thank you for
writing me. I conclude this matter as settled.
Allan Woodman
West Lafayette High
School Alumni Group
FB Administrator
|
--------------------------------------
Sun, Aug 26, 6:39 PM
|
Mr. Woodman,
Thanks for your response to my emails.
http://wlhsmemorial.blogspot.com/
- a Link- as you suggested/requested
|
(It
was pointed out on Facebook – that there was a problem with the WLHS Memorial
Blog that made it impossible for some to access it.)
Tue, Sep 4, 6:49 PM
|
||||
Allan,
Thanks for your assistance! Dave Curry - has
fixed the WLHS Memorial Blog. Access to it should be
through a link to:
WLHSMemorial.blogspot.com
- Only. Do not list or use: "www.W..." for the
site.
Your support on the Facebook Memorial site - as you
suggested - would be most welcome now!
Thanks!
|
Ok. Good job.
|
-------------------------------------------
Sep 6, 2018, 10:56 PM
|
Allan,
In case it hasn't been clear - I would be very happy to
have a link to:
Thanks!
George
|
|
Fri, Sep 7, 7:48 AM
|
|||
George:
For your information here is a
listing of all the deceased Class mates I have in an Excel Spreadsheet. You
can use this to see if you have them all listed on your blog, and or you can
email me back with additions, and or class years for those you might have.
Hope this helps in your fine work.
Allan Woodman
Administrator - FaceBook
West Lafayette High School Alumni
West Lafayette Memorial Page
-------------------------------------------------------------
Sep 7, 2018, 10:07 AM
|
No further communication between Allan Woodman and myself
has occurred besides a December 3, 2018 follow-up I sent with the updated
spreadsheet.
There has been no listing/link noted on the WLHS Memorial
Facebook Page as Allan Woodman indicated would be added, despite multiple
requests by me (see above) to have it added.
As of today, January 23, 2019, the latest spreadsheet I have saved has 557 lines of text, while the listing by Allan Woodman remains at 328 lines. It should be noted that the spreadsheet with 328 lines is 58.89% of the size of the current available spreadsheet. The larger spreadsheet also has considerably more graduation years listed and has a few errors corrected from the smaller spreadsheet.
-------------------------
As of today, January 23, 2019, the latest spreadsheet I have saved has 557 lines of text, while the listing by Allan Woodman remains at 328 lines. It should be noted that the spreadsheet with 328 lines is 58.89% of the size of the current available spreadsheet. The larger spreadsheet also has considerably more graduation years listed and has a few errors corrected from the smaller spreadsheet.
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