Some of the people on this forum, several of them having posted in this very thread, need to take notice of how Stan presents himself and the sport through his posts. Always professional, supportive, good spelling, good grammar. Doesn't get caught up in the BS. Doesn't fall into the traps laid by trolls. He is here representing a product, which makes him a representative of the game. Good job sir, please keep it up.
Well I have never aspired to be a good representative of the sport. Nor do I care how any one perceives my "product" through the posts I make.
I represent the sport in my own way and that's to encourage people to follow the model set by Bruce-Cocobolo Cowboy which is to get out there and find people who can be brought into the game, such as the young people at the Boys and Girls clubs.
Many members here can tell you that instead of giving them a discount on their case orders I pay them instead to go out and volunteer their time.
I care about the truth of things - maybe Stan is to polite to answer the trolls who spout out terms like snake-oil salesman and fraud but I am not.
Stan started this video project partly to clear his name - that was made clear by him in his first post in the thread he started to announce it.
He shouldn't have to clear his name. In this country the burden of proof is on the accuser.
There are many folks here who claim CTE does not work, is not exact, relies on making people hallucinate etc... They then attach that claim to insults of the snake-oil/fraud variety when speaking of people who teach CTE.
Why don't those people go out and learn CTE thoroughly and then do their videos with proper analysis to prove their assertions?
Put it to bed once and for all or at least provide something concrete to discuss.
But not once - not one time has any one of these people posted IN THEIR OWN WORDS what exactly the steps are to use the Center to Edge method of aiming.
So it leads me to believe that they either don't know the steps or are unsure if what they do know is right or not.
Gee, instead of arguing about it, how about Dave Alciatore calls Dave Segal and they schedule a web cam conference where they can both be at the table and figure it out????
My point would be that at the end of the call Dave A would know what Dave S knows and he could ask Dave S all the pertinent questions regarding how to do it.
But no! That would be too nice and too easy wouldn't it?
You would think that a scholar of billiard physics would want to understand every little thing about some aiming system that people are raving about. To me the logical thing is to go to the source if available.
Right now in our little world the three sources who seem to know the most about CTE are Hal Houle, Dave Segal and Stan Shuffet, all three of whom are available and friendly people.
So make nice with them (probably too late) record everything to be sure you got the data saved, work with it and THEN make your own observations based on your own experience.
Who knows maybe Dave Alciatore would have some brilliant insight based on his engineering experience that would be the key to diagramming the how and why this works on the nuts and bolts side. Then if he STILL felt that there are subconscious adjustments going on then he could say when and where these adjustments are occurring.
But as it stands he shows me nothing to indicate that he understands the nuts and bolts of the aiming system but still mocks it while plagiarizing other people's work to describe something that he can't do.
So no, I am not going to be polite and "professional" here. I make cue cases. My cue cases are the best because I take the time to acquire everyone else's cue cases and study them so I can make sure that ours are as good or better than theirs.
I don't make instructional videos for profit so I don't have a financial stake in being right. Dave Alciatore is on record as saying that it's snake oil and that proponents of CTE are frauds. He has latched onto "subconscious adjustments" as his theory of why CTE works. So he has a financial stake in being right since he would like to be considered an authority on all things pool.
Which is completely understandable. I admire the work he has done and whenever I am next in the USA I will acquire a copy of his VEPS. I was instrumental in pushing Sterling to carry to carry his other DVD and I see no reason not to sell the VEPS.
I do disagree with his approach to CTE and how he is handling it. As to the other people who make silly comments about frauds and snake oil salesmen - I will be the one that NEVER EVER allows them the last word in an online debate such as this.
Sincerely,
John Barton
Cue Case Maker
Sterling Gaming Product Development Manager
Pool Player
