Stephen Paul's name DOES mean a great deal over at r.a.p. to some of us who know his work. Unfortunately, I don't think Stephen fully understood the way the r.a.p. community operates when he last visited there. Certainly I, Fletcher, George Massenburg, Al Schmitt, Bob Ohlsson, and many other who are familiar with Stephen's work, all respect the hell out of him.
If people challenge Stephen in newsgroups, his first reaction is "I've got better things to do than cast pearls before swine", and he's probably right. Rather than explain why a person's ideas are wrong, it's easier for Stephen to basically say, "Shut up and learn something, or teach the class yourself".
Considering all that Stephen Paul knows, it's probably a good way for him to approach imparting his knowledge without him wasting a lot of time - to the right class. But, it didn't sit too well with the people here, and it didn't sit too well at r.a.p.
Kinda like Stephen Hawking giving an advanced course on "black hole formulations" to a group made up of graduate students and inner city high school kids. Sooner or later, someone in the back of the room is gonna say, "Yo man, you talking about my girl friend?". I imagine Mr Hawking would mutter the scientific equivilent of "Fuck it, I don't need this shit!" and motor off the stage.
