An Open Letter about Comments Regarding Richard Simring

Our post on The Rise and Fall of Richard B. Simring, Esq. has gotten a lot of attention.  It has also generated a lot of comments – some of which we’ve posted and some we haven’t — and we want to address these comments in this “open letter.”

We do not know Richard Simring.  We wrote about him because we found his story compelling and perhaps instructive.  A large part of what makes Simring’s story compelling is its moral ambiguity – before his current troubles stemming from his invovement in Ed Okun’s 1031 exchange scam, Simring had an admirable record of achievement and community service, yet he was indicted for (and pled guilty to) participating in a fraudulent scheme that stole millions of dollars from innocent people.

We encourage comments on Richard Simring, as on any other topic.  But we have some minimal conditions that must be met for a comment to be posted.

Here are some guidelines:

Do not use all capital letters.  No one wants to be shouted at, in life or in print.  We do not want our comments section to degenerate into shouting, flaming, and name-calling.

Do not repeat the same opinion over and over. There is no reason to post a comment that simply repeats what you’ve said before. 

Do not libel anyone.

Tell us why you care, and tell us why we should care about your comment.  If you have some inside information or some special insight, let us (and our readers) know.  If you have personal knowledge of the situation or the people involved, share that will us, and be specific.

We hope this explains why some comments have been posted and some not, and that we’ve provided you with guidelines for future comments on our blog.

Thanks.