Wikipedia talk:Articles for deletion/Bob Dobbs

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Time Magazine’s list of phonies and frauds (2000) was talking about the real Bob Dobbs because the other Bob Dobbs is the cartoon “religious leader” of the Church of the Subgenius. As you will see on their website, (http://www.time.com/time/time100/phonies/index.html) Time excluded religious leaders from the countdown:

Over the past 100 years, in the midst of all the wonders of progress, there grew a thing called hype. Hype swirls and obfuscates, both hiding the truth and creating the lie. It can be as harmless as the latest pop star saturation, and as insidious as a two-faced government official. In recognition of this phenomenon, TIME.com has built a list, based on nominations from its web users, of individuals who are candidates for the title of the century's worst scammer, con artist, media manipulator, grifter, liar or charlatan. This list originally included a number of religious leaders. But we are convinced by protests from offended supporters that their inclusion, no matter how well justified in some cases by their behavior, might well stimulate an attitude of contempt for others' religious beliefs. - Tina-Bob

• Comment In fact, here is the exact quote from TIME Magazine two weeks after the Jan 1 issue: "A few weeks ago, we published the results of our online poll in which folks submitted their two cents' worth on the movers and shakers, frauds and bloopers of the 20th Century in "Readers Speak: Down with Geraldo" (NOTEBOOK, Jan. 1). Under the category "Phoney or fraud of the 20th Century," we listed as first-place winner J.R. ("Bob") Dobbs, who earned 20.46% of the vote (Geraldo Rivera was second, and OJ Simpson third.) Just who is J.R. Dobbs?, some of you wanted to know. Unfortunately, an explanatory footnote failed to make it into print. Here's what it said: "J.R. is so phony that he doesn't exist." Dobbs is a very imaginary modern evangelical Protestant created online by an irreverent band that set up a website in his honor. You can find out about him at subgenius.com" ((End TIME quote.) This article in TIME was accompanied by our trademark picture of J. R. "Bob" Dobbs.--RevStang 19:36, 7 August 2006 (UTC)

• Delete. I am Douglass St. Clair Smith, pen name Rev. Ivan Stang, main author of The Book of the SubGenius (1983), subsequent SubGenius books, the SubGenius RPG, the movie ARISE!, The Hour of Slack syndicated show and the earliest SubGenius materials from 1980 and even before. I would swear in a court of law or anywhere else that the character of J. R. "Bob" Dobbs is not in any way based on this fellow calling himself Bob Dobbs. His story that he met Dr. Philo Drummond and myself in the 1970s is simply not true. There is no evidence that the person I know as Bob Dean started calling himself Bob Dobbs before 1987 or so. In 1988 he and his wife visited me in Dallas, and he announced to me that, because of various supernatural powers which he claimed to have, he was therefore the embodiment of the "Bob" character and would henceforth play "Bob" Dobbs on his Toronto radio show. I considered him a kook and politely asked that he not go around saying he was "Bob" Dobbs. He did not take my advice. Evidently it angered him to learn that rather than being fellow believers, the Church of the SubGenius was actually composed of skeptics and mockers, because since then, in his every interaction with "SubGeniuses" he has behaved like an angry spurned fan. It is distressing to me to think that this person has used the popularity of our work to convince gullible unfortunates that he is the "Bob" referred to in our books. But, were this guy the real "Bob," wouldn't we who write the SubGenius books and produce the radio shows RESPECT him? In fact, he is has been a long-time laughing-stock to the SubGenius fans at large. To me he seems at best a depressing casualty and at worst a deliberate con man. --revstang 13:23, 7 August 2006 (UTC)