Right, this is pretty much how that thread over at mu-43.com went, with people initially being really impressed with the work he showed, then seeing his "instructional" videos and just reacting on a visceral level that "hey, I'd level that guy if he approached ME like that" and find their opinion of the guy changed for the worse. I'd seen those videos before I'd seen that thread OR any of his photography and didn't like him from those. I didn't know he was the same guy when he started that "Ask me about street photography" or whatever it was titled, and I was slightly put off by the holier than thou approach of the thread but I liked the photography I saw a lot. Then I made the connection to the videos and that combined with the whole approach of the thread ('ask me', rather than 'let's discuss') really put me off of the guy again.
This thread starts with Andy seeing his work and liking it, many of us here having the same reaction, then either seeing the videos or making the connection to the videos and/or previous thread, and we naturally react to those. Although I try to judge artists by their art rather than by what I know of them as people (because face it, LOTS of great artists are egotistical jerks), once you DO know, it's difficult or impossible to separate the two. This guy and Bruce Gilden are two people who's work I'd like a LOT more if I didn't know anything about them. And when I just see the work without making the connection to the person that made it, I react quite well to it. And then I'm reminded... Clearly I'm not alone in that reaction...
-Ray