Another day, more drama emanating from a dark, musty basement somewhere in the Philippines. Dr. David Tee, whose real name is Derrick Thomas Thiessen, is upset that yours truly and Ben Berwick called him out on his unethical behavior. It is troubling that Thiessen refuses to use our legal names when writing about us. There’s no reason for him not to do so.
Thiessen explained his boorish behavior this way:
But one thing that has bothered us is that both MM and BG make everything we write personal to them. They continue to use our wrong name as if to get a rise out of us. But their disrespect undermines their points of view.
If they had stopped to think about it, our use of initials was not personal. MM stands for Meerkat Musings which indicates that we are not addressing the person writing the content. Instead, we are addressing the content only and have left all personal aspects out of our own content.
The same for BG. His website is titled ‘The Life and Times of Bruce Gerencser’ So our use of initials again only refer to the website content, not the man behind it. But they do not think about these details in their haste to try and do everything they accuse us of doing to them.
But expecting rational and polite behavior from unbelievers is an unrealistic hope. As we read their content and responses, they are the ones making it personal, not us. But we will try to ignore their badly written responses and focus on the content we can use here.
Unbelievers have nothing to offer the believer except destruction. The believer needs to be warned about them and their views.
Does any of that ring true to you? Of course not. Instead of admitting his childish behavior and amending his ways, Thiessen concocts a ludicrous justification for his refusal to use proper form by typing out our names.
Of greater concern is Thiessen’s refusal to link to our articles when he mentions them, even when he is excerpting large amounts of text. Thiessen’s behavior not only goes against proper blogging conventions, but it is also unethical. Both Ben and I have called him out on his unethical behavior.
Thiessen, of course, responded:
Leave it to the unbelievers to make false accusations and ignore the reality of what took place. We are not techno experts and sometimes when we use technology, things mess up. But leave it to MM to make false accusations because he can:
“has written a couple of posts that relate to my material, but has decided against providing direct links, and even giving credit where it’s due. So, he’s gone from not even being capable of using my name, to not even linking to my site when he quotes me, to not even acknowledging that he’s quoting me!”
It turns out after checking, that we can’t link to his website using the technological aid we have been using. It is a simple mistake but leave it to MM to make a mountain out of a molehill.
Instead of telling us, there was a problem with the links, he leaps to a faulty conclusion and points a finger where a finger should not be pointed. We read his post and we checked so that is how we found out. Having people make such false accusations makes us go slowly to repair the links.
Maybe MM should learn how to give the benefit of the doubt until he hears the truth.
According to Thiessen, Ben and I are acting uncharitably towards him; that the missing links are just a technological snafu. Why, then, if that is the case, has Thiessen not fixed the posts that are missing attribution? How hard can it be, right? Thiessen uses the WordPress platform. He has been blogging since 2012. Does anyone believe that he suddenly doesn’t know how to make an HTML link or that there is some sort of bug in WordPress keeping him from hyperlinking? Not a chance. Thiessen has a minimalist blog and uses the latest WordPress install. I use WordPress, as does Ben. We have been using the software for years. I started using WordPress back in the wild, wild blogging days of 2007. I have never had a problem making a hyperlink, and I doubt Ben has either.
Two years ago, I called out Thiessen on his refusal to give proper attribution and provide proper HTML links. For a time, he was trying to obscure the links by making them the same color as the body text. Cute, right? On both occasions, he said problems with WordPress were to blame. I didn’t believe him then, and I don’t believe him now.
Thiessen later added an addendum to his post:
This just in
MM replied to our comment above and like a true unbeliever, he condemns without knowing any or all of the facts. The owner of MM should know better than to do that as he demands that Christians do better when he makes mistakes.
At best both MM and BG website owners are hypcorites [sic].
Sorry, Derrick, all the “facts” are in. You are behaving unethically. We can’t — well, we could file takedown requests if we had the time — stop you from continuing to do what you do. All we can do is continue to point out your unethical behavior. Thoughtful readers will see your behavior for what it is.
Recently, Derrick Thiessen (aka David Thiessen, aka David Tee) has written a couple of posts that relate to my material, but has decided against providing direct links, and even giving credit where it’s due. So, he’s gone from not even being capable of using my name, to not even linking to my site when he quotes me, to not even acknowledging that he’s quoting me! Derrick, that’s pretty poor form.
Can I be bothered with his lengthy diatribe? No. Suffice to say, he is misconstruing Biblical references and occasional references from external sources, with the idea that the Bible is to be taken 100% literally, which isn’t logical and isn’t an observation-based form of reasoning. I will however reference one particular line from his latest post, which is hilarious!
[Thiessen wrote] The words in the title are found on a website we have visited from time to time.
From time to time? Derrick has routinely tracked my site, posted comments (often unpleasant and unreasonable ones), and made numerous posts out of what I’ve had to say, even when I haven’t referenced him in any way. I have no doubt he will spin something out of this too, and I have no doubt he will continue to make posts about me, and Bruce too, as he won’t be able to help himself.
All quotations were properly linked. See, Derrick? You can do it (think the movie The Waterboy)! If you truly need help figuring your “technical” problems out, please email me and I will be glad to help you “fix” your WordPress software. I’ve been building my own sites for years. Using the scientific method, I am sure I can help you figure out why you can’t properly hyperlink. Maybe I can even show you that evolution is true. Or, you can admit your “malfunctioning” software excuse is Grade-A bovine excrement. May the Holy Spirit lead you to do what is right.
Update
Thiessen used more content from this site today without attribution.
Here is his justification for doing so:
1. BG’s website- we are not linking to the BG or MM websites anymore. We will just acknowledge their words as they have shown they can do nothing but insult., attack, and cause harm to those they disagree with.
We have nothing more to say to them but we will keep looking at their websites to find material we can use here
Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and thirteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
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