Hi Mark,
This gesture, although appreciated, was totally unnecessary. My reason for being a part of this group is to converse about the bikes we all love (obviously some more passionately than others...). I don't remember feeling slighted at the time and still do not.
The reason that I haven't responded to e-mail questions may be the fact that I changed ISPs about a year and a half ago. I have also been extremely busy building my new company from scratch. As any entrereneur can attest, it's a more than full time job. Also, as a digest member, I don't add much to the discussions because someone has usually answered the questions asked before I can finish reading my day's digests.
Again Mark, thank you for your apology, and feel free to contact me at this address with any questions about ItalVega you may have.
Mark Ritz Who really enjoys the trips down Memory Lane that the CR List brings in Arcata, CA, USA http://www.kinetic-koffee.com
P.S. I now have a 1975 ItalVega Super Speciale in the Mercedes Sea Foam Green and needs a set of decals!
Mark wrote: <snip> This probably won't matter in the least to anyone here ... but me, and hopefully to (listmember still?) Mr. Mark Ritz. I just discovered a huge faux pas I made almost two and a half years ago. Peter Bridge posted a question about an Italvega on Ebay in January of 2004. Mark Ritz responded to his question with some good information. I copied Mark's reply post and added on a bit more info. No big deal. However, somehow, I cannot fathom how, I did the "Peter wrote:", and then the "Mark Ritz wrote:" thing for each of their texts, and then went on to talk about Mark Ritz's contribution to my knowledge base as if he hadn't just posted on the subject ... and I left him anonymous (even though it was RIGHT above my text)! After my post, Sheldon privately asked if he could include the meaty middle section on his webpage covering Italvega, giving me credit, and I accepted.
Now, I want to say for the record and for the archives that a great deal of what I have grasped about Italvega came from posts and emails by Mark Ritz. Mark worked for Ben Lawee in the late 70s, as you will see in my faux pas post copied below. Mark is the inside man who brought things to the table that we would not otherwise have access to, and Mark deserves the credit for much of what I wrote, except for the comparisons I was making of bikes in my basement. I am sorry that I got lost and confused in writing my post, by alluding to Mark in the middle of it, but not specifically mentioning him, and that it was not even necessary, since he had text already in the body of that same post. I even mentioned him again at the conclusion of my post! This all looks simply scatterbrained and un-thought out to me, and I feel like an idiot. The only thing I can think of as to how I did this, is that I began writing the post, properly attributing text to each individual, and then was distracted by something else causing me to have to return to my writing later on. And, that when I came back to writing my email, I failed to remember what exactly was already in the copied text body, and failed to read it and be reminded of who had posted on the subject thus far. Or perhaps, I wrote the middle of my email and was distracted, and in finishing I attempted to be more thorough by then using Mark Ritz's name at the beginning and the end, forgetting about the anonymous mention in the middle. Sigh ... I dunno...
This probably sounds like a bunch of mumbo-jumbo, and I'm not sure if I'm explaining myself clearly, but in short, I accidentally partially disregarded Mark Ritz's direct and immediate contribution, utilized info I gathered from him without giving him direct credit, and then went on to let it be published at Sheldon's site with only my name.
Mark, I have sent emails to you in the last year or so that went
unanswered, and now I suspect it is because of my error. I was not aware of my error
until just last evening when I checked the archives to find your email address
for someone else to ask you about Italvega, and stumbled upon my own post. I
did not intend to post in that fashion, and am embarrassed by my blind
stupidity associated with my posting. Please accept this public apology ... I am
truly, very sorry!
<end snip>