I think it's odd that people would sneer at the idea of a childhood friend of Barton's writing a book about him. It just sounds like people are reaching for any weird excuse to bash the OP and his project. I for one would welcome the unique insight that such a connection provides. ^

And, if I may wax philosophical for a moment, I think a lot of the reason that some FTers are so uncomfortable about seeing Barton Watson exposed for what he was, is that we see something of ourselves in Barton Watson. FT unfortunately seems to encourage incredible snobbishness and elitism; there is a tendency to trash and bash service providers for any and all ridiculous and trivial reasons, to whine about not getting upgrades, to rant and rave about being left out of targeted offers, to b!tch and moan endlessly about "status dilution," etc. All of which makes us feel superior, I guess. So maybe we're all self-important, self-deluded phonies like B Watson himself? OK, not really, but there's at least a grain of truth there.... @:-)