Speaking as someone who's not at all a fan of TSL and its methods:
Other skaters swiftly validated the tweet by responding to it in a positive way, similar to what we saw happen when TSL leaked the Gadbois moves this off-season. Skaters are certainly at liberty to ignore these coaching change reports -- a "neither confirm nor deny" scenario -- which would at least keep them in a sort of limbo until official announcements are released. That's not what tends to happen.
True, but it is DL stirring the pot and wringing the heck out of the platform he has control over now, largely as a result of Jenny Kirk's status and connections (and because she apparently left it all to him). Stirring the pot is all part of DL's infective influence right now, which is a shame. I used to be one of those who enabled DL by tsk-tsking yet still engaging and tuning-in because of the dearth of figure skating coverage, and because of TSL's overall value (which has little to do with DL at all).
The problem is that DL has never changed and he's never learned from his mistakes, nor has he learned anything by the fact that a number of people have kept trying to give him chances. Yes, a lot of people are not fully aware of all of DL's egregious and petty offenses. There's more than one reason why Jenny exited TSL, not all of those reasons had to do with her going to law school. DL is definitely burning his bridges and turning off a lot of people, but he's being kept afloat by the platform, by his bullish tenacity, and unfortunately by those continuing to give him chances. There are also people who may in fact not care about DL's addictive bent for scooping and the petty nastiness of his digs and slams.
I would also point out that seemingly DL has access to a number of sources within rinks and well-placed sources in the community that he's acquainted with. Therefore, he has access to gossip which he can then float by others. Even if he gets a noncomittal response, he's like a tabloid leech able to sniff out skinny and go with it even if he's asked to hold off a bit from tweeting anything. Social media itself then of course begins to lend itself to insider cryptic tweets that ordinarily might remain harmless and cryptic, but not in our current environment of no viable, in-depth fs coverage coupled with information-starved fans.
Very much agreed. The only thing that will "put him out of business" is a legit news outlet that is going to report on the sport, and do so in a standup way that garners the trust of the skaters and coaches and officials which leads to them going to the outlet to break news. Unfortunate as it is, I don't particularly see something like this happening any time soon.
That is the state of affairs. Someone has to be bold, and as I said it usually comes from fans who love the sport. DL used Jenny to get where he is, and the platform is extremely valuable, largely due to the archives. I think DL knows that and he's all about taking advantage of everything at his disposal. Plus he blocks criticism on the platform, and then he's slippery about not owning up when he's called out elsewhere for his offenses. Again, he doesn't even learn anything from his guests who admonish him that they aren't there to dump on people in the sport.
The guests go on because of the platform and the archives, and the fact as I said before and as you have reiterated, there's a dearth of viable outlets. And that's even more the case with the demise of IceTalk and IN. However, Jackie Wong may be returning soon with another version of IceTalk. But we need something beyond Wong & Co too. More people have to begin to care enough to not just ignore DL, but to call him out in an organized and united way. But again, who has time for that? Skaters and coaches surely do not. Unfortunately, some fans may sneakily agree with DL or enjoy his petty approach in a guilty pleasure way. Not me, I never did. I only cared about the positive coverage, but the bad is now far outweighing the good. I can't turn my head and hold my nose any longer.
... he'll say anything for "attention".
