Glancing over some more of their writings it's easy to see that there are at least 20+ more lies beyond the initial 30. That's 50 lies. Not little white lies, either, but nasty, malicious lies aimed at drastically misleading people, destroying me, and sabotaging the well-intentioned propagation project that I'm doing for the fig community.
What would you think about someone who was doing this to you, if you were the one being maligned? What words would you use to describe someone who was wrongly bullying and persecuting you on a public forum to such an extent? I don't need to tell you what to think about such people, because you already know how you'd feel and what words you'd use.
Below is a debunking of the first 30 lies.
Defamatory/Libelous
Myths and Lies
Concocted and promulgated
by William Cottrell (Wills)/ourfigs.com
Lie #1 – They claim that I didn’t have many of
the varieties I was selling when I started selling them (i.e. I was selling
varieties before I owned them)
TRUTH – I always
owned every variety before I offered it for sale. I never offered a variety for sale before I
owned it.
Lie #2 – They claim that my sources are highly
dubious
TRUTH – My sources
are overwhelmingly beyond reproach. It’s
a veritable who’s who of trusted sources.
And not only do I use good sources, I further improve accuracy by making
extensive use of cross-referencing using multiple trusted sources. For example, instead of getting Black Madeira
from just one source, I got it from many sources and compared them to each
other. By doing this I was able to
maximize the odds that I would acquire, identify, and propagate true Black
Madeira. I already owned Black Madeira
from 1 source when I started offering it for sale, then diversified and
acquired it from 8 more sources for a total of 9 different sources. 5 of those sources proved true (HarveyC, kk,
fignutty, drivewayfarmer, and Rob); 2 of the sources supplied seemingly dead
wood that never rooted, and 2 of the sources supplied material that clearly was
not Black Madeira. I threw out one of
the false Black Madeira strains, but grew the other one out of curiosity. It turned out to be Smith. I don’t propagate that strain, but I do enjoy
the fruit.
Figo Preto is
another example where one of the sources turned out to be false (it was
Improved Celeste), and I was able to quickly and easily identify it as false
because that strain clearly didn’t fit in with the other Figo Preto plants from
other sources.
The most important
thing to note is that my process of cross-referencing multiple sources is a
good thing, not a bad thing. It is smart
and responsible to utilize such a technique, and it has proven its worth by
helping to sort out true strains of several varieties.
Lie #3 – They claim that if you get figs from
me, they’ll likely be wrong varieties
TRUTH – I have great
sources, a great system of cross-referencing using multiple trusted sources, a
strong history of providing accurate varieties to many hundreds of folks, and
am fanatical about accurately labeling plants.
I have no reason to send out false varieties, and every reason to send
out true varieties. The people who have
received my cuttings and plants have universally said that the varieties appear
to be true.
Lie #4 – They claim it’s impossible to
propagate figs as fast as I estimated I could.
TRUTH – I had already
done it! I had already experimented with
propagating figs in my high tunnel aquaponics system, and had created 6
shippable plants from 1 young mother in just 2 months…plants that were
bare-root from the get-go and could easily be shipped to states that require
bare-root shipping. Those 6 could have
been planted in their own aquaponics spaces and produced 6 more shippable trees
each in just 2 more months. So at the
end of 4 months, there’d be 7 mothers and 42 shippable baby trees. Do it one more time: plant those 42 plants,
and let all 49 total plants each produce 6 more plants each over the next 2
months. Then, at the end of 6 months,
there would be 49 mother trees and 294 shippable baby plants. The mothers, say 46 of them, could also be
dug up and shipped, for a total of 340 shippable trees with 3 remaining
mothers. All I had to do was scale up if
needed, and I had already pre-arranged to do so if warranted.
Lie #5 – They claim I should have listened
to the ‘experts’ who said it was impossible to propagate figs as fast as I
estimated I could.
TRUTH – I was
planning to handle large amounts of demand using my tunnel aquaponics concept,
and I am far more of an expert on tunnel/greenhouse aquaponic growth rates of
figs than Wills and the rest of the supposed ‘experts’ on ourfigs put together. I had 5 years of hands-on experience running
a tunnel aquaponics system when I made my $7 tree offer just before Christmas
2015; how much of that kind of relevant tunnel aquaponics experience did the
supposed ‘experts’ have? None, or close
to it. I had also already tested
propagating figs with terrific success in my tunnel aquaponics system; how much
had the supposed ‘experts’ experimented with propagating figs in a large tunnel
aquaponics system? Most likely none.
Fact is, I’m the
expert on high tunnel aquaponics fig propagation, not them, and it’s not even
close. The Kansas Farmers Union sought
me out and toured my facilities as the keynote for their annual meeting a few
years ago. Professional farmers come to
me because I’m a talented problem solver and creative outside the box thinker with
years of demonstrable results to back it up.
When was the last time the professional farmers of Florida sought out
Wills for cutting-edge expertise on innovative agriculture? I doubt it has ever happened.
When supposed ‘experts’
without adequate tunnel aquaponics fig propagation experience act like
know-it-alls with regard to fig propagation rates in such systems, they sound
like uninformed horsemen declaring to Henry Ford that he’d never be able to
break 90 mph because horses can’t run that fast. The horsemen didn’t understand that Ford was
planning to break 90 mph using an internal combustion engine. It was a game-changer, just like large-scale
tunnel aquaponics propagation is a game-changer capable of obliterating typical
propagation rates.
Lie #6 – They claim I knew I couldn’t
propagate figs that fast, and therefore was deliberately conning people when I
told them I could.
TRUTH – I already
knew darn well that I could propagate figs that fast because I’d already done
it. All of my time estimates were
completely honest and made to the best of my ability given the information I
had available to me at the time each estimate was made. I never conned anybody about anything.
Lie #7 – They claim I am a thief/I stole
people’s money
TRUTH – I haven’t
stolen anything from anyone. The advance
order money was used to grow the figs for those orders, and I never wavered in
my efforts or commitment. All stories to
the contrary are malicious fiction.
Lie #8 – They claim I’m a liar and a con
man
TRUTH – I have been honest
throughout this entire 2.5 year project.
I have never lied and have never conned anyone about anything. If anything I have been too honest, since my
words commonly get twisted, spun, and misrepresented. Being wrong about time estimates is not lying,
especially when there are valid reasons for falling behind.
Lie #9 – They claim I’m a scumbag/slimeball
TRUTH – I’m the good
guy in this, and I’m being falsely painted as a scumbag/slimeball by Wills and
his accomplices.
Lie #10 – They claim I’ve shipped very few
orders
TRUTH – I’ve shipped
many, many hundreds of orders. I shipped
100+ orders of cuttings prior to the $7 tree sale, and have shipped hundreds
more orders of cuttings and trees over the past 6 months as I’ve worked through
the backorders. There was also a trickle
of orders in between those periods.
Lie #11 – They claim I could have shipped
the $7 trees in Fall 2016 or in Spring 2017, but didn’t because “I’m greedy”
TRUTH – In Fall 2016
I had to spend all of my time building the orchard tunnels in a race to beat
freezing temps. I had no time to ship
out partial orders like I had hoped to do. And then in the next shipping window, Spring 2017, I badly
injured my right foot the day after I sent out a group email telling customers
that I was ready to start shipping out the bulk of the orders. The foot injury incapacitated me, slowing me
down to where I had to spend 16-18 hrs/day straining just to do the basic daily
chores (it took me 10 hrs/day on average just to do the watering). And every step was an excruciating painful
struggle. I was on crutches for 6 weeks,
and had ongoing serious foot problems for many months after that. It was a mess, and still isn't right over a year later. There was literally no time for shipping or
for responding to the overwhelming avalanche of emails and phone calls during that time period.
Lie #12 – They claim the only way you’ll
get a refund from me is by submitting a complaint to the Kansas Attorney
General (and by putting lots of exaggerations and ourfigs rumors in it)
TRUTH – I gave in
the neighborhood of 80 refunds prior to becoming insolvent in March 2017, and
almost all of those refunds were given within 24 hours of being asked (since
my policy has always been to refund any unfilled order for any reason asap if
asked). I have also been slowly working
my way through the remaining list of refund requests. I already put practically all revenue toward
refunds and shipping out overdue orders, so there’s nothing else I can do in that regard.
It is illegal to
exaggerate on the complaint. It is also
illegal to regurgitate 3rd party rumors and present them as facts. Such exaggerations and false claims are classified as perjury.
Lie #13 –They claim that the consent judgment I
signed with the Attorney General proves that Wills is right and that the nasty narrative he’s pushing
about me is true.
TRUTH – It does
nothing of the sort. It memorializes the
charges of the 4 complainers and reiterates my current and long-running refund
policy that I’ve had since day 1. It
says that I do indeed owe refunds to the people that I already fully admit I owe
refunds to. There are no findings of
guilt of anything nefarious whatsoever.
The use of ‘unconscionable’ in the language is a vestige of the legalese
in the Act being cited. According to the
Act, being late on delivery (for any reason, for any duration, and even if
everyone agrees that there was no ill intent and nothing nefarious afoot) is
considered an “unconscionable” act. Note
that this is a legal use of the term and does not have the same charged
connotations as the colloquial use of the term (which would be something like
‘nefarious’). But all it amounts to is,
“James is late on deliveries and is accountable to ship the orders or provide
refunds,” which was already what I was adhering to anyway.
Lie #14 – They claim that my PayPal accounts
were locked because I was committing fraud.
TRUTH – That’s just
more BS spin from Wills. I never
committed fraud of any kind, and PayPal did not lock my accounts for such a
reason. They were locked because of the
high number of claims filed against me, and they stayed locked because 1)
PayPal wanted proof of delivery for orders I was still growing and therefore
couldn’t provide, and 2) because they wanted me to send them bank statements
showing a certain threshold of money (that I didn’t have, because I was
insolvent by then). It's worth adding that one of my accounts was closed at least partially because Wills engaged in an illegal activity called tortious interference by calling PayPal and telling them his malicious false narrative (and urging others to call and tell PayPal the same malicious false narrative) in an attempt to disrupt and destroy my business.
Lie #15 – They claim it was wrong to keep
taking advance orders for 2017 when I was behind on 2016 orders.
TRUTH – Believing
that myth is dependent on not adequately understanding the mathematical concept
of exponential growth and how it applies to this situation. For example, say I needed to grow 100 figs of
variety XYZ for 2016 orders, starting with just 3 initial small plants. And let’s say that the actual overall propagation
rate for XYZ ended up being 10-fold per year (which was far behind my estimated
schedule), so at the end of Year 1, I only had 30 plants. 30 is not enough to serve the 2016 demand,
not even close, so I would need to do it for another year. But notice what happens: at the end of the 2nd
year, I have 300 plants…which is enough to serve the 2016 demand AND the 2017
demand without really slowing down the 2016 deliveries. See how that worked? I had to do the 2nd year of
propagation anyway just to
create enough trees for the 2016 deliveries (30 wasn’t enough, I needed 100),
and at the same time created enough trees by the end of that 2nd
year for the 2017 deliveries, too.
People are just
misinformed and flat-out wrong if they think that the 2017 orders significantly
slowed down the shipment of 2016 orders.
Lie #16 – They claim I have hoodwinked or
paid off the Law Enforcement Officers who have come here to investigate the
‘scam’ claims and who have said that I’m clearly growing everyone’s figs just
like I said.
TRUTH – These Law Enforcement Officers from the local police department and sheriff's office
were intelligent, rational, professional, high-character individuals. I didn’t hoodwink or pay them off, they came
to their conclusions using their own eyes and brains. I would never even think to try such a thing,
and they certainly wouldn’t engage in it either.
Lie #17 – They claim I never responded to
customers and always just ignored them.
TRUTH – I responded
to as many calls and emails as I could, literally thousands.
The twin problems were that there was an overwhelming amount of them,
and that the time demands of the actual hands-on nursery work left no time for
it. Especially in Spring 2017 when I
broke my toe and badly injured much of my right foot in March. At that time I had to start working 18+ hour
days every single day just to keep the trees alive and growing.
Lie #18 – They claim that since I’m behind on
production and deliveries, it’s okay for people to post rampant lies about me
that contradict my pictures, my reports/updates, and the reports of the LEO’s
who have visited.
TRUTH – It is
immoral and illegal to engage in defamation and libel. Being frustrated by the delays does not give
you free license to engage in those behaviors.
Lie #19 – They claim that the fact that I bought
some fig plants/cuttings from HarveyC after I’d already listed those varieties
for sale proves that I was selling varieties before I owned them.
TRUTH – That’s bad
reasoning. If I’m getting fig
plants/cuttings from HarveyC for a variety I’m already selling, that means I’m
getting additional material from him to complement what I already
own. This happened many times: sometimes because I was trying to ramp up
production with more stock, and sometimes to cross-reference varieties in an
effort to help ensure accuracy. Those
are both perfectly acceptable and smart things to do.
Lie #20 – They claim that I blame everyone else
for everything and won’t take responsibility, and that I won’t even apologize.
TRUTH – That’s
ridiculous and the opposite of reality.
I have publicly apologized dozens of times, and have apologized many
hundreds of times (thousands?) to people individually. I have refrained from discussing 99% of the
libel, defamation, tortious interference, sabotage, and threats I’ve been
subjected to. And then when I do speak
up even the tiniest bit, it gets written off and twisted into the false
narrative.
Lie #21 – They claimed that my Fall 2017 cuttings
sale was a likely scam. (Kelby’s PSA)
TRUTH – As I said at
the time, the cuttings being sold were extra cuttings above and beyond what I
was setting back to fill the overdue 2016 orders of cuttings and trees. I explained that I was broke and needed to
use these new Fall 2017 cuttings orders (which were shipped right away) to fund
the shipping of the overdue 2016 orders, which would ship concurrently. I published many pictures of the huge orchard
proving my quantities, and had been building to that point for 2 years so it
was common knowledge that I had been swelling inventory and that that ship was
finally coming in. Furthermore, law
enforcement officers came by and verified it, and this was reported back to
members of ourfigs.
Lie #22 – They claim it’s okay to steal
refund money that is intended for other people’s refunds
TRUTH – It’s both
immoral and illegal to do that. It’s
also immoral and illegal to publicly urge people to steal refund money that isn't theirs, as some at ourfigs
did. And it’s also immoral and illegal
for Wills to publish and condone it.
That theft slowed
down refunds for other people, causing a ripple effect that hurt the other
folks who are still in line for refunds.
Lie #23 – They claim it’s okay to run a
defamation/libel campaign against me since it’s being done under the guise of
vigilantism (but really motivated by $$ and greed).
TRUTH – It is neither morally nor legally okay. I’m done turning the other cheek and not responding to the dishonest profiteers who attack me and
poison the minds of others with lies, malicious misrepresentations, deceptive
spin, and other techniques of manipulation. Those folks should print off what they've written and take it to their own trusted attorneys to get their legal opinions on whether it's illegal defamation. Their blood will run cold when their attorneys tell them how guilty they are and how much potential financial liability they have if I choose to pursue it.
Lie #24 – They claim that if lots of
people corroborate the fact that their orders are late, then that corroborates
the additional claim that the reason the orders are late is because I’m
supposedly a lying thief who intentionally deceived and scammed them from the
beginning.
TRUTH – The former
does not imply the latter. The orders
were late for valid, legit reasons.
Lie #25 – They claim I have plenty of money
for refunds but just withhold it out of greed unless I’m forced to disburse it
by the Attorney General.
TRUTH – I don’t have
the money. Going the AD route is just a
way to cut in line in front of the other people who are already in line and
respectfully waiting for their refunds.
Basically it just screws over the other customers and causes them to all
have to wait longer. It does nothing to
solve the underlying problem of my insolvency.
Lie #26 – They claim that I don’t respect my
customers because I stopped replying to them individually for a while.
TRUTH – I paid my
respect every day with effort and dedication totaling close to 10,000 hours
now. The ultimate respect I can show to
the customers is to successfully finish the project and grow/ship what they
wanted. I have always aligned my actions
with the principle of ‘Always do that which is best for the customers’…period! That principle has often required me to spend
my time doing actual hands-on farm/nursery work rather than replying to emails
and phone calls. I spent my time doing
that work precisely because I respect my customers so much, and it’s
maliciously dishonest to try to twist that into a show of disrespect.
Lie #27 – They claim that I “promised” to have
the plants ready by the estimated delivery dates; and I therefore “lied” since
the plants weren’t ready in time.
TRUTH – I didn’t
make promises about delivery dates, I just made estimates, and they were my
honest best estimates. Being wrong does
not equate to “lying.”
Lie #28 – They claim that I ripped off Wills,
raking in a lot of money on a fundraiser and not passing his share along to
him.
TRUTH – Another
false garbage claim by Wills. I made 3
perfectly accurate donations, and the totals were completely in line with my
projections prior to the fundraiser. He
received around $15 total. There is an
additional $3 that was to be the 4th installment, and which was
never made, since Wills ostracized me from the ourfigs forum prior to
disbursement. He will concede that he
doesn’t care about $3 and that he believes I owe him far more because he
believes that 1) my fundraiser’s sales were far higher than they actually were,
and 2) it’s apparently unfathomable that people donated more to the F4F
Foundation than they donated to him. The numbers
are verifiable: not only do I still have the spreadsheet I made to track
relevant sales, the sales records are still in my PayPal account and can be
used to corroborate my spreadsheet.
Lie #29 – They claim that I never had a plan for
handling a ‘runaway’ large volume of sales, and just kept taking orders anyway.
TRUTH – Oh yes I
did! I had already held discussions with
the realtor handling the vacant 10-acre field adjacent to my home, and had even
already negotiated the deal and was pleased with their offer (2 year lease with
an option to purchase at the end; they'd dig a new water well and run electricity in from the
road; all for just $400/mo total). In the
event of runaway sales, the plan was to lease the land and put up larger
versions of my successful high tunnel aquaponics system. I almost called the realtor on day 1 of the $7 tree sale due to the huge positive response, but the shade/aspersions being thrown by Wills ('James might just steal your money and go to Vegas', etc) had
such a chilling effect on my sales that I decided to wait. When I finally decided much later to do the
lease and put that part of the plan into action, I learned that the owner had been forced to
make a sudden sale during that time due to serious health problems. The new owner doubled the sale price and
wasn’t interested in leasing to me. If I had signed the lease early on and put up the additional full-size high tunnel aquaponics systems, I would have been able to meet the original estimated delivery dates rather easily and everyone would have been happy (well, everyone except for the greedy profiteers of course).
Lie #30 – They claim that the fig community
should ostracize and refuse to do business with any collector who engages in
significant immoral and illegal activities; therefore, since I supposedly
engaged in such activities, I should be ostracized and people should refuse to
do business with me.
TRUTH – I
wholeheartedly agree with the general principle underlined above, and I think
it’s great that there are a bunch of good folks who have committed to adhering
to it. But folks need to understand 2
things. First, I’m completely innocent
of all the claims of immorality and nefarious illegality that are being hurled at me by Wills/ourfigs in
the false narrative they concocted.
Second, William Cottrell (Wills) actually HAS been engaging
in rampant immoral and illegal activities, as have a number of the moderators
and members at ourfigs. They have shown a reckless disregard for the truth, painting me with a false brush and engaging in malicious defamation and libel
to a ridiculous degree, all of which is morally reprehensible and highly illegal. Therefore, if you believe in the principle underlined above and truly want
to adhere to it, you’d need to ostracize Wills (and his accomplices), refuse to
do business with him, and denounce ourfigs.
