Who is Joe Martell? Story Breaks Record On Chris Craft Antique Boat Club Boat Buzz.
It all started out as an article in the latest issue of Classic Boating. Preservation vs Restoration Page 24. March – April issue. A very well written article, with lots of knowledgeable information. The story would have stayed in the background like most of these inside baseball stories do except for two tiny things. One, it took a personal stab at some well respected folks. And two, no one… NO ONE knows the author, a Mr Joe Martell. In this very small community, there is no way in H. E. Double hockey sticks that no one has heard of Joe Martell. No way. Add to that he used specific phrases that certain folks have used in previous documents, speeches and articles created suspicion regarding weather Mr Martell was really, .. well real. So a thread was started on the Chris Craft Boat Buzz, the largest classic boat forum on the web. WHO IS JOE MARTELL!!!!!!!!!!! Well! If you ever want to see the power of the web and social communities, check it out. Go to Boat Buzz Look at Subject category “research related”.
Pow, 5 pages of threads in just a couple of days. Fights, jokes and a long… too long denial from Don Danenberg saying it ain’t me! The thread was like a freight train of comments. Finlay the boat buzz had to, for the first time in it’s history mercifully shut down the thread. To quote Bill Basler the moderator and Director of Marketing and Membership for the Chris Craft Antique Boat Club, “For the first time in Boat Buzz history, I am taking it upon myself to lock this post. It will not be censored and removed. Nor will I let it continue into a death spiral.”
Looking at it from a pure entertainment point of view, a little Jerry Springer every now and then is fun, but on a club forum is not productive and strays off course from what the forum is all about. So good call Bill, you did the right thing. Jfprops said it best. “Wow, thanks Bill, what a relief!” But as for me, Woody Boater, I am a web count whore, I have no standards when it comes to tabloid journalism as long as it gains readers. There is never juicy stuff like this in this community. It’s just to darn clean, and full of really great guys. Debates happen in very cordial ways. Not this one, it just gets better the more you probe. So, Woody Boater is going to probe, dig, sniff and find out who Mr Martell is. The story from Classic Boating is that Joe Martell is very old and in a home. We are not buying that. It does not add up. But we are open to proof. Since Mr Martell is so articulate, than speak up. We are eager to hear from you. Because in the end it’s good for the hobby, and, well good for readership. Come on Joe! Speak up. I got gigabytes of available space waiting for your point of view.
It’s been fun following the drama of the ‘Joe Martel Show’ on Boat Buzz. It will be more interesting to see if the story unfolds further through your blog…
The question still remains… “Who is Joe Martell?”
Looking back on that thread now, I’m surprised at how many posts that I had popped in. Actually, with a burning furry inside and a calm exterior, I felt that what I said may calm others as well. There’s obviously a deep rooted grudge in the core of this between just two individuals that’s not going to be resolved easily, possibly not at all.
One of the individuals is now playing out his trump cards he’s been saving up in a planned and strategic manor, the other is waiting it out, no doubt with his own well planned offensive.
Interesting to watch but not at all productive.
Oh Boy!!! (or Oh Well!!!)
I agree, it was the least productive thing regarding a chris craft on the buzz. Sad but true, yet it hit a nerve, and the boat buzz has become a place for all classic boat lovers to gather. So this stuff is going to happen there first. I also suspect that Classic Boating understands this, and in the end makes that publication more relevant. A stroke of genius on there part. Way to go Norm and Jim. It has had the desired effect, and in a strange way, this blog post is what they need to make it work. If it had been a player that we all knew of , we would have blown it off as more of that persons opinion. So if a Joe Martell needed to be invented, all the better. The one good Productive thing is maybe we can bury the whispering and back stabbing. That is counter productive. One ready suggested Young Researchers and old researchers as a name change. That is the sort of thinking that is productive. So I suppose we all play are parts in this drama. I for one am having a ton of fun with it, and will til I have found my man!!!Martell. I’m look’n for ya Joe. I’m look’n