Yesterday, I wrote an article titled "Why Have All The Skateshops Gone...?". In it, I pointed out some of the errors that today's skateshops are making that are [quite possibly] hastening their demises. One example that I used, was the recent article on The Temple News (written by Stephen Rose) that quoted Steve Miller at Exit Skateshop in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. We also used a few publicly-accessible quotes (things that Steve had written himself, on Temple's website). This morning, we got a swift e-mail reply from Steve Miller, himself. And, this is what it says (we added the boldface yellow type to the stuff that seemed the most important to us... but otherwise, it's totally unedited):
Hello Bud,
I wanted to reach out to you to make something clear. Not only was I misquoted in the recent article posted in the temple news, but was straight up quoted saying something I would never say in a million years. I have made several phone calls to the temple newspaper to clear this up, and hope they will soon. The reason I even talked to the student in the first place was because he was a 19-20 year old skateboarder, not a member of the press, and although I was upset when I saw what he wrote I know he was just a kid doing an school assignment, but after I had read some of the comments from fellow skateboarders I felt the best thing to do was give them my phone number and give them an opportunity to get the facts for themselves.
I am not the kind of guy to slave away on some message board or argue with someone online. This was clearly a mistake on someone else part and I stepped up and gave anyone the ability to go straight to the source and get the facts and just ask me what happened (tons of people did). So you can imagine how upset I was when I checked your blog (I am a fan and read it often) and read your uninformed rant and judgement of myself and my business. The problems you claim to continue to have are wrong, and could have been cleared up in minutes if you had the common courtesy of asking a question before wrongfully throwing another skateboarder under the bus. I NEVER made a comparison of longboards to hummers! I told the kid stocking longboards can be risky in my shop because "i have heard my customers say longboards are a waste of wood and material, big, bulky, and useless like a hummer" (this of course was while staring at the long boards I STOCKED IN MY SHOP!) There is clearly a big difference in what I said and what he wrote!
I know its easy to read things about people on the internet and have a total disconnect and forget they are real people, and I hoped to remove that by immediately posting my contact info for fellow skateboarders or anyone concerned to contact me. I have been running a core shop in a city I love for 10 plus years, and if anyone in this area or anyone in the industry were to read that article they would known something was wrong immediately, and at the end of the day those are the only people who count, they are the ones my shop is here to serve, but after retraction is printed one fact will remain. You are an asshole who ran your mouth about another skateboarder before you even got your facts right. Next time pick up the phone and talk to someone like a man and at least try to act like a skateboarder not some online drama queen.
--
Steve Miller
Exit Philadelphia
T: 215.425.2450
I highlighted the yellow stuff for very important reasons. One: Steve's contention is that he never said these things in the first place (because he was quoted as saying things that he would "never say in a million years").
Secondly: Apparently, he didn't even know that he was talking to a member of the press, when he was being interviewed (with the "The reason I even talked to the student in the first place was because he was a 19-20 year old skateboarder, not a member of the press" quote).
And thirdly: Apparently, I'm an asshole! Which is actually perfectly cool with me.
Here's my problem with all of this: I did, indeed, have "my facts right". I referenced a verbatim quote, that was directly attributed to Steve Miller, that was written by Stephen Rose, and published by The Temple News [online]. By the standards of the media, when someone is directly quoted as having said something... then you can be assured that they actually said those things. Because they are a direct quote, and attributed directly to a source (in this case, Steve Miller).
I further pointed out to Steve Miller that we here at The Solitary Life go through great pains to insure that we quote our sources accurately at all times. Example: At The Solitary Life, before we quote people or run an interview... we actually send the final draft to the subject for final approval. To be absolutely sure that we have quoted our subject accurately, and that they approve of what we wrote. It's a pain in the ass, but it saves us a lot of "drama".
We did not do that with Steve, because we used a publicly accessible, previously published, verbatim quote reported by another member of the media... along with things that Steve had said online, himself.
By the way Steve tells it, he [apparently] didn't say those things in the first place. As such, we decided to immediately print Steve's [very well-written] response. And, I'm still totally cool with being an asshole. So no worries on that one, Steve.
In light of all of these pretty serious allegations that Steve Miller makes regarding media misquoting, we did send a quick letter to Stephen Rose (the writer of the Temple piece) to outline Steve's arguments, and to get his side of the story.
I guess all we can do from here on out is sit and wait.
As Brooke likes to say, "Welcome to the World Of Media...!"
