Saturday, June 15, 2013

Setting the record straight on today's Texas BBQ Posse post

Today, the blog Texas BBQ Posse has a post in defense of Mike Leggett, the Austin American-Statesman staff writer who created a buzz last week with his piece lamenting the popularity of Texas BBQ. The Texas BBQ Posse piece quotes me as follows:

Drew Thornley, who publishes the popular Man Up Texas BBQ blog and runs tours of his own,  called Leggett "petty," "weirdly jealous," and a "grumpy old man."

Drew is an acquaintance. I've helped judge one his barbecue sauce contests. But Drew, you're wrong here.

For the record, I said NONE of those things. These quotations were made by OTHER people via Facebook and Twitter, in response to my asking people their thoughts on Leggett's piece. I copied and pasted them and left them as comments below my blog post. That's why I am the "commenter." That's the reason the blog comments begin with "Facebook:" or "Twitter:" and are followed by comments in quotation marks. If I wanted to comment on anything, I would do so in the post, not in comments below my own post. Also for the record, I always repost every reply that people make to me, not just comments from one side or the other. I don't pick and choose comments to repost. 

I have always left other people's Facebook/Twitter comments in this manner. This is the first time I have ever been misquoted as a result. I would think that it would be clear to a reader that the comments are from multiple people, given (in addition to the reasons cited above) the differing language/style/etc. However, I am more than happy to make it crystal clear, moving forward, that I am quoting other people. 

I haven't editorialized at all about Leggett's piece. I simply posted his piece and sought reactions. I certainly didn't say ANY of the words in today's Texas BBQ Posse piece.

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