I found this in my inbox this morning, submitted via my contact page. Perhaps it’s a bit self-serving of me to publish the note and my response here, but as The Dude says, “This aggression will not stand, man.” From some idiot with the address stace_sisco@@yahoo.com:

thanks for ruining a number of pages on baseballreference.com. nothing like being full of one’s self. dork.

To which I replied:

Dear Ms. Sisco,

I’m sorry you feel as though my sponsorship of several pages on baseball-reference.com detracts from your experience there. But I think that you should stop to consider the fact that it’s sponsors like me who give that site the money ($[X] a year in my case) to not only stay in business but to reach millions of people every month, even idiots such as yourself. That sponsorship is also the only form of advertising I use to draw people to my little not-for-profit site. If a sentence or two of text which points people to my site chafes your ass so much, I think you’ve got larger issues for which you should seek professional help.

Get bent,

Jay Jaffe

Mess with the bull and you get the horns. There are few sites on the web that mean as much to me as Baseball-Reference.com, and I strongly believe in putting my money where my mouth is. The way in which B-R lets people show their support is unique, and in my case it’s brought a lot of new readers to this site, and some nice email along the way. So Stace, if you’re reading this, just know that I’m not going to let one rotten apple spoil the barrel. In fact I’m going to sponsor another page. It’s that of Daffy Dodger Babe Herman. This is how it will read:

This page is dedicated in loving memory of my grandfather, Bernard Jaffe (1908-2000), who became a Dodger fan upon watching Herman get hit in the head by a fly ball, and who handed down his love for the game in more ways than anyone can ever know.

I’ve since had another, even angrier exchange with Sisco which I’ll spare my readership except to add that this person (who may not be a Ms. after all) “openly debate[s] the legitimacy of Carlton Fisk‘s installation in the Hall of Fame.” If 2,356 hits, 376 homers (including the most for any catcher as a catcher, 351), eleven All-Star appearances and the all-time record for games caught aren’t enough for this ass-clown, I guess my lowly site has no chance of fulfilling her (or his) expectations either.

Tough shit, Stace.