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Who is Steven M. Scharf, and why does he hate us so much?

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He claims to have stocks of company who owns foveon. National Semiconductor have stocks on Foveon. I think that is what he means.
pvs said:
I did a bit of research today, on that SIGMASD10.COM site as well
as this new "Fair and Balanced View of the Sigma SD10", and found
that they are both the demon-spawn an individual named Steven M.
Scharf, registered as:

The Nordic Group
P.O Box 467
Cupertino, CA 95015-0467
[email protected]
(408) 202-7910

I am quite surprised, as I thought these two similar sites were
going to belong to Ken Rockwell, but unless the Scharf name is an
alias, they are different people.

Does anyone on the forum know ... What is this guy's problem? And
why is he out to spread negative (and not at all honest) publicity
regarding Sigma and Foveon? What's worse, is that he seems to have
good contacts with Google, since he gets these lying webpages to
display very high in their result listings, and that is often not
an easy thing to do, even for legitimate sites that offer TRUE
information.

He also mentions this forum in particular, stating that WE post a
lot of mis-information.

So, does anyone know what his problem is? Did he get burned by
Sigma or Foveon in the past? He claims to own stock in Foveon, but
I doubt that myself, because every time I searched that avenue,
Foveon wasn't selling stock to private entities.

I'm confused as to why anyone would take the time, trouble, or
$4.99 to attack a company and/or product with this type of
slanderous, misguided, one-sided, and repetitive drivel. What the
heck is he afraid of?

Anyone wish to take a stab at his motivation?
-pvs

--
The Mayan Calendar predicts that the world will end on December 21,
2012. Be sure to have your camera ready and your batteries charged.
Click to expand...
 
Sean said:
Mr. Scharf,

I'm interested in knowing if you have any financial interest in
Canon, the manufacturer(s) of its chips, etc.
Click to expand...
I do not. And I must say, the whole schtick about people owning stock in any company they say anything positive about (or saying negative things about its competitors) is not an effective argument technique.
 
ChromeLight said:
ChromeLight said:
ChromeLight said:
In fact I'll even host it for you for free, as long as the material presented in it is factual and well-referenced
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
What a nice and lawyerly way to weasel out of that one . . . Now
who thinks that if there was a site that ran counter to Steve's
that he would deem it factual and well-referenced and host it? It's
nice of Steve to offer. But I've a feeling that he ahead of time
does not believe any information that runs contrary to his opinions
could be fact: hence no hosting.
Click to expand...
Just try me. Send me the html. Again, no personal attacks, and you have to provide references for claims, i.e. if you can find a refernce that states the photodetectors = megapixels, go for it. Hosting it costs me nothing. If you want a URL that forwards to it, rather than a subpage URL under my domain, that's your nickel.
 
David Hughes said:
Why do you have a hotmail account if you have so many hosted sites
with A Rec domain registries? Too much veiling going on here.
Click to expand...
Hotmail accounts cannot be registered at dpreview.

But I do have web-based e-mail accounts, it makes it easier to check mail while travelling.
 
ole thofte said:
David Hughes said:
Touche'. Get 'em talking. You bet. Some people will do anything.
15 minutes, er, something.
Click to expand...
Agreed! The reason why this guy surfaces here in this discussion is
mainly that he wants more hits to his site.
Click to expand...
I gain nothing from more hits from my site. I posted here because of the subject of the post.

You can attack the messenger, or you can provide solid arguments that refute what's on the site. Since no one can do the latter, the choice is obvious.
 
Kendall Helmstetter Gelner said:
The guy has earlier vresions of his pages at geocitie (not the
Sigma stuff though).
Click to expand...
Yes, the problem with Geocities is that I was routinely exceeding their bandwidth limitations.
Kendall Helmstetter Gelner said:
I checked out his business name (Nordic Group) and there's no
registered business by that name in the county that contains
Cupertino. Which is probably why he makes such a point of saying
he has nothing for sale.
Click to expand...
Wrong.
Kendall Helmstetter Gelner said:
As for beefs - he did say he was a "foveon investor", a claim I
doubt mightily.
Click to expand...
Again, read the disclaimer more carefully. I never said that.
Kendall Helmstetter Gelner said:
His site would not be so bad, but he has some things just plain
wrong. Almost none of his links for pixel definition work, and he
says the SD10 has no flash sync at all! What kind of data is that?
It's one thing to subtly twist facts from reviews to suit an end,
but towards the end he just resorts to fabrications. Like saying
that the entry level Sigma lenses were far worse than entry level
Canon glass.
Click to expand...
I'll check the pixel links and remove or fix the bad ones.

I doubt if you'll find anyone, outside this forum, that agrees with you about Canon glass versus Sigma glass, except in maybe one or two instances.
Kendall Helmstetter Gelner said:
It looks like he's just another crackpot that will drop off the
face of the earth afer a while. That he started out at Geocities
speaks volumes about him.
Click to expand...
I started off at Geocities because it was free. Some of the web sites I put up quickly became far too popular for Geocities, which limits your bandwidth and temporarily cuts off access when you exceed your bandwidth (in the hope of selling you their upgraded service). $10 per month for unlimited bandwidth and unlimited MB, was worth it, considering the money I get from the affiliate payouts. I left the affiliate links off of the http://sigmasd10.com page, to avoid any accusations of trying to profit from more hits.
 
Steven,

That is BS and you know it. When someone posts something that clearly shows how wrong your site is, you don't respond but float off to some other haven. You did it several times over at google.
scharfstevenm said:
You can attack the messenger, or you can provide solid arguments
that refute what's on the site. Since no one can do the latter, the
choice is obvious.
Click to expand...
--
Laurence

There is a tide in the affairs of men,
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries.

http://www.pbase.com/lmatson/root
http://www.pbase.com/sigmasd9/root
http://www.pbase.com/cameras/sigma/sd10
http://www.pbase.com/cameras/sigma/sd9
http://www.beachbriss.com (eternal test site)
 
Steven,

Financial interest does not mean owning stock.

Let's go over this again. You have nothing to do with Canon? A quick check shows that you are pushing a lot of their stuff (along with some Nikon, Fuji and other riff-raff). Are you seriously saying that you are only pushing that stuff for great prices out of the goodness of your heart? That seems more incredible than most of Preddy's claims.
scharfstevenm said:
Sean said:
Mr. Scharf,

I'm interested in knowing if you have any financial interest in
Canon, the manufacturer(s) of its chips, etc.
Click to expand...
I do not. And I must say, the whole schtick about people owning
stock in any company they say anything positive about (or saying
negative things about its competitors) is not an effective argument
technique.
Click to expand...
--
Laurence

There is a tide in the affairs of men,
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries.

http://www.pbase.com/lmatson/root
http://www.pbase.com/sigmasd9/root
http://www.pbase.com/cameras/sigma/sd10
http://www.pbase.com/cameras/sigma/sd9
http://www.beachbriss.com (eternal test site)
 
scharfstevenm said:
pvs said:
I am quite surprised, as I thought these two similar sites were
going to belong to Ken Rockwell, but unless the Scharf name is an
alias, they are different people.
Click to expand...
I have not now, nor have I ever been, Ken Rockwell. I have seen his
site, and he presents solid and logical arguments as well.
scharfstevenm said:
Does anyone on the forum know ... What is this guy's problem?
Click to expand...
The "problem" is that there were a couple of people on
rec.photo.digital, posting under many aliases, that were spreading
a lot of misinformation about the Sigma D-SLRs. There were
literally thousands of responses correcting the misinformation that
was posted; I simply gathered the coherent responses together into
a single location. Initially, there was some concern about people
being misled by Steve Gionovella and his imaginary friends, though
this fear was overblown.
scharfstevenm said:
And
why is he out to spread negative (and not at all honest) publicity
regarding Sigma and Foveon?
Click to expand...
I am not aware of any incorrect or dishonest information on my
site. I have made numerous corrections in response to feedback that
I have received, though most of the corrections were very minor
nitpicks. Certainly there is a lot of negative information on the
site, but all of it is accurate, as far as I know. And I'm happy to
correct anything that isn't accurate.
scharfstevenm said:
What's worse, is that he seems to have
good contacts with Google, since he gets these lying webpages to
display very high in their result listings, and that is often not
an easy thing to do, even for legitimate sites that offer TRUE
information.
Click to expand...
I have no contacts within Google. Google result listings are all
automated, and Google doesn't disclose the algorithms for obvious
reasons. I have some very esoteric and popular sites that come up
high in the listings because there are few sites presenting the
same subject. And while I realize that a few individuals in this
forum may not agree, my sites are legitimate and do offer true
information (as well as informed opinion).

If you have a different view, then I suggest that you create your
own site that presents it. I'll be happy to link to it. In fact
I'll even host it for you for free, as long as the material
presented in it is factual and well-referenced, and not simply
personal attacks. I have no axe to grind.
scharfstevenm said:
He also mentions this forum in particular, stating that WE post a
lot of mis-information.
Click to expand...
Yes, I do state this. Not everyone here posts mis-information, but
there are several frequent posters on this forum that continually
post misinformation, i.e. "DaSigmaGuy."
scharfstevenm said:
So, does anyone know what his problem is? Did he get burned by
Sigma or Foveon in the past?
Click to expand...
I have not been burned by either company. In fact I had great
respect for Foveon in their days of studio cameras (Canon lens
mount, prism, three sensors). I hope that they are able to bring a
higher resolution version of their sensor to market as soon as
possible.
scharfstevenm said:
He claims to own stock in Foveon, but
I doubt that myself, because every time I searched that avenue,
Foveon wasn't selling stock to private entities.
Click to expand...
I do not claim to own stock in Foveon. Read the statement in the
disclaimer again.
scharfstevenm said:
I'm confused as to why anyone would take the time, trouble, or
$4.99 to attack a company and/or product with this type of
slanderous, misguided, one-sided, and repetitive drivel. What the
heck is he afraid of?
Click to expand...
Don't be confused. The $5 is insignificant. I wanted a logically
named URL. I obviously don't share your view of the content on the
page, nor do most people who are able to view things objectively. I
took great care to be accurate, fair, and balanced. I do understand
why the content on the page upsets some people; there is a natural
defensiveness when someone explains why a product you own may not
be the optimal choice in a given product category.
scharfstevenm said:
Anyone wish to take a stab at his motivation?
Click to expand...
How about me? The motivation was to provide accurate information
and to discredit people such as Steve Gionovella (aka George
Preddy, Georgette Preddy, Oroville Wright, Suzie Quinn, Don
Gentile, Lex Mathews, etc.). I believe that the site has
accomplished that goal. rec.photo.digital is being destroyed by
trolls like Steve Gionovella, though the people that respond to him
are partially to blame as well, and I have kill-filed him, and all
his aliases to avoid any temptation to respond. I felt that the web
site was a much more effective way to get the facts out.

Finally, I do not hate you, or anyone else in this forum. You are
taking this too seriously It's just a camera.
scharfstevenm said:
The Mayan Calendar predicts that the world will end on December 21,
2012. Be sure to have your camera ready and your batteries charged.
Click to expand...
Preferable Li-Ion batteries.
Click to expand...
Who's taking it too seriously? You're the one who has posted the website, methinks it is you who are taking it too seriously. BTW, IIRC, that is the "taking it too seriously, it's just a camera" is a comment I made about you regarding this site.
 
scharfstevenm said:
Sean said:
Mr. Scharf,

I'm interested in knowing if you have any financial interest in
Canon, the manufacturer(s) of its chips, etc.
Click to expand...
I do not. And I must say, the whole schtick about people owning
stock in any company they say anything positive about (or saying
negative things about its competitors) is not an effective argument
technique.
Click to expand...
Perhaps, but it was you who first brought up the subject with your "disclaimer".

--
http://www.pbase.com/fivesolas
http://www.pbase.com/fivesolas/morepictures
http://www.pbase.com/sigmasd9
 
Steve, if that is really your name, so nice of you to drop by...
scharfstevenm said:
I have not now, nor have I ever been, Ken Rockwell. I have seen his
site, and he presents solid and logical arguments as well.
Click to expand...
If you consider ignorance rock-solid, yes. How can you critique something you've never even tried?
scharfstevenm said:
The "problem" is that there were a couple of people on
rec.photo.digital, posting under many aliases, that were spreading
a lot of misinformation about the Sigma D-SLRs. There were
literally thousands of responses correcting the misinformation that
was posted; I simply gathered the coherent responses together into
a single location. Initially, there was some concern about people
being misled by Steve Gionovella and his imaginary friends, though
this fear was overblown.
Click to expand...
So a more honest name for your site would be "A Bunch of Opinions From Posters at alt.rec.phot.digital", instead of the complete misnomer you chose. In your eyes, two wrongs equals a right, I guess??? (I see YOU post with more than one name, as well) Did you actually confirm any of the statements you contend are true? (i.e.: print sizes, ergonomics problems, that lack of an AA filter is a detriment, lens quality, pre-focus lag, low res sensor, cost, sensor dust (why is this different from any other brand), post processing effort). You obviously only took these misinformed peoples' words for it, and did no research on your own ... much less TRY a camera. So how can this be "fair" OR "balanced"?
scharfstevenm said:
I am not aware of any incorrect or dishonest information on my
site.
Click to expand...
Obviously, you are not aware ... that's the problem, Steve. (See my above list for a start, if you care to educate yourself on the topic before you profess yourself to be some type of expert).
scharfstevenm said:
I have made numerous corrections in response to feedback that
I have received, though most of the corrections were very minor
nitpicks.
Click to expand...
How can anyone have possibly sent you feedback ... they ALL searched out your DNS records like I did to figure out how to contact you?!? You conveniently leave ANY contact information off the site. Makes you come off as very sincere (NOT!).
scharfstevenm said:
Certainly there is a lot of negative information on the site,
but all of it is accurate, as far as I know. And I'm happy to
correct anything that isn't accurate.
Click to expand...
Total BS here. If you want to start making corrections, begin with the site's name.
scharfstevenm said:
And while I realize that a few individuals in this
forum may not agree, my sites are legitimate and do offer true
information (as well as informed opinion).
Click to expand...
No ... just make that "True Opinion" I see very little basis in fact in your writings, and since you don't provide contact information, I doubt your intellect and your sincerity.
scharfstevenm said:
If you have a different view, then I suggest that you create your
own site that presents it. I'll be happy to link to it. In fact
I'll even host it for you for free, as long as the material
presented in it is factual and well-referenced, and not simply
personal attacks. I have no axe to grind.
Click to expand...
Nice offer, Steve. We already have sites, and don't need to bother you with this. But your link to this forum IS an attack. Be fair and balanced and remove that silly warning.
scharfstevenm said:
scharfstevenm said:
He also mentions this forum, stating that WE post a
lot of mis-information.
Click to expand...
Yes, I do state this. Not everyone here posts mis-information, but
there are several frequent posters on this forum that continually
post misinformation, i.e. "DaSigmaGuy."
Click to expand...
Yeah, DaSigmaGuy is a real strong proponent, and Jarvic7 is our resident opponent, so we have one for and one against. I'd say that's pretty fair and balanced.
scharfstevenm said:
I do not claim to own stock in Foveon. Read the statement in the
disclaimer again.
Click to expand...
Another very illustrative example of how ambiguous/untruthful you are. OK, to quote your statement: "I have a vested financial interest in the success of the SD10, because I am a stockholder in the company that fabricates the Foveon X3 sensor used by Sigma in this camera." Sorry, I thought a stockholder held stock. I guess this is MY wrong.
scharfstevenm said:
I obviously don't share your view of the content on the
page, nor do most people who are able to view things objectively.
Click to expand...
So you're saying that most objective people disagree with your writing??? Interesting.
scharfstevenm said:
I took great care to be accurate, fair, and balanced.
Click to expand...
Please repeat it again, you might start to believe it yourself. Then you might even have the courage to put a ByLine on the page, huh?
scharfstevenm said:
I do understand
why the content on the page upsets some people; there is a natural
defensiveness when someone explains why a product you own may not
be the optimal choice in a given product category.
Click to expand...
Especially when it is so inaccurate and purposely one-sided.
scharfstevenm said:
The motivation was to provide accurate information
and to discredit people such as Steve Gionovella (aka George
Preddy, Georgette Preddy, Oroville Wright, Suzie Quinn, Don
Gentile, Lex Mathews, etc.). I believe that the site has
accomplished that goal. rec.photo.digital is being destroyed by
trolls like Steve Gionovella, though the people that respond to him
are partially to blame as well, and I have kill-filed him, and all
his aliases to avoid any temptation to respond. I felt that the web
site was a much more effective way to get the facts out.
Click to expand...
You sound like the pot calling the kettle black, here Steve, please don't even go this route.
scharfstevenm said:
Finally, I do not hate you, or anyone else in this forum. You are
taking this too seriously It's just a camera.
Click to expand...
Amen to that, Steve, have a great life.

-pvs
 
Dominic ...how the h3ll do you find this stuff??

That's great! I'm chilled now.
-pvs
Dominic Groß said:
chill out and...

"Place two yellow objects in the southwest corner of your office."

If anybody does not get it, enter the above in google and hit "I'm
Feeling Lucky."
--
http://www.pbase.com/dgross (work in progress)
http://www.pbase.com/sigmasd9/dominic_gross_sd10

Click to expand...
--

The Mayan Calendar predicts that the world will end on December 21, 2012. Be sure to have your camera ready and your batteries charged.
 
pvs said:
I did a bit of research today, on that SIGMASD10.COM site as well
as this new "Fair and Balanced View of the Sigma SD10", and found
that they are both the demon-spawn an individual named Steven M.
Scharf, registered as:

The Nordic Group
P.O Box 467
Cupertino, CA 95015-0467
[email protected]
(408) 202-7910

I am quite surprised, as I thought these two similar sites were
going to belong to Ken Rockwell, but unless the Scharf name is an
alias, they are different people.

Does anyone on the forum know ... What is this guy's problem? And
why is he out to spread negative (and not at all honest) publicity
regarding Sigma and Foveon? What's worse, is that he seems to have
good contacts with Google, since he gets these lying webpages to
display very high in their result listings, and that is often not
an easy thing to do, even for legitimate sites that offer TRUE
information.

He also mentions this forum in particular, stating that WE post a
lot of mis-information.

So, does anyone know what his problem is? Did he get burned by
Sigma or Foveon in the past? He claims to own stock in Foveon, but
I doubt that myself, because every time I searched that avenue,
Foveon wasn't selling stock to private entities.

I'm confused as to why anyone would take the time, trouble, or
$4.99 to attack a company and/or product with this type of
slanderous, misguided, one-sided, and repetitive drivel. What the
heck is he afraid of?

Anyone wish to take a stab at his motivation?
-pvs

--
The Mayan Calendar predicts that the world will end on December 21,
2012. Be sure to have your camera ready and your batteries charged.
Click to expand...
Hi Everyone

This person is a want a be. He wants to be important and wants attention and with all the threads on this subject this person is getting it. Lets move

on. The company or companies he/she or it are working for are scared of the changes that are taking place, and they should be.

Have fun and enjoy your Sigma SD's. Sigma/we are moving up fast. They/he have every reason to be scared.
Enjoy
Roger J.
 
pvs said:
I hope newbies finding his site recognize his
totally fraudulent posting, and keep on searching for REAL fair and
unbiased opinions.
Click to expand...
I think most folks will see the site for what it is. :-)

There will also be some who find it and get spooked.

I should also clarify my point about looking at sample images. The samples from Sigma and from professional camera reviewers are important but people should also seek out some samples from regular folks like the members of theese forums.

In the hands of an average joe how does it perform? If you're going to shoot "auto-everything" then Sigma probably isn't for you. There are better choices out there.

I'm not that photographer.... I shoot custom white balances, I shoot RAW, I see the digital file from the camera as a starting point.

Just like a film photographer has to manipulate the negative or slide to produce a print I think the image captured by the digital camera needs tweaking and adjustment to realize it's full potential.

The difference between Sigma and most other cameras is that Sigma gives you less of a choice. Since you've got to open everything in SPP to convert it, why not switch off auto and use your brain for the best possible conversion?

Now I'm off topic. Sorry about that.

I'll shut up now. Thanks y'all for making this forum great. :-)
--
Obscura
Join the GRAY CARD ARMY!
 
scharfstevenm said:
ole thofte said:
David Hughes said:
Touche'. Get 'em talking. You bet. Some people will do anything.
15 minutes, er, something.
Click to expand...
Agreed! The reason why this guy surfaces here in this discussion is
mainly that he wants more hits to his site.
Click to expand...
I gain nothing from more hits from my site. I posted here because
of the subject of the post.
Click to expand...
Perhaps not financial, but egowise, and in the 'cameraderie' around the mobbing of mr Preddy...
scharfstevenm said:
You can attack the messenger, or you can provide solid arguments
that refute what's on the site. Since no one can do the latter, the
choice is obvious.
Click to expand...
I have no wish to refute your site or search for counter arguments, that's yout interest. I'm perfectly happy with my camera and don't need to reinforce my choice by refuting you. I honestly don't give a lake ... I was merely speculating about your motives, which is the topic of this thread. And I think I've hit pretty well motivewise... considering I actually didn't think mr Preddy was a troll, but merely a bit too dedicated trying to convince the unconvincables.

It's just a camera and a laked good one..so I'll go out and shoot some more...

ole thofte
--
http://www.pbase.com/thofte
 
That's where I sit. Are you asking Belenko to join me?

L
Dominic Groß said:
chill out and...

"Place two yellow objects in the southwest corner of your office."

If anybody does not get it, enter the above in google and hit "I'm
Feeling Lucky."
--
http://www.pbase.com/dgross (work in progress)
http://www.pbase.com/sigmasd9/dominic_gross_sd10

Click to expand...
--
Laurence

There is a tide in the affairs of men,
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries.

http://www.pbase.com/lmatson/root
http://www.pbase.com/sigmasd9/root
http://www.pbase.com/cameras/sigma/sd10
http://www.pbase.com/cameras/sigma/sd9
http://www.beachbriss.com (eternal test site)
 
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