Dave, I wasn't trying to start an argument.
Oh yes you certainly were.
That's ridiculous.
Oh, but there is! You started out by being condescending and insulting to me, to which I will respond in kind because I'm not there in person to do anything further.
That's REALLY ridiculous.
I know you think that. You're wrong. I was there, I was involved. You were neither there, nor were you involved.
Dave, by that logic nobody can ever again write about ENIAC, World War I, the Roman Empire, or cavemen, because we weren't there.
Your bestowal of credit and accolades is misdirected. I can teach you all of this history if you want to learn it, but you have to be willing to listen.
You were an engineer at an early ISP. I get that and I respect it. It doesn't make you the leading authority on the early history of the Internet, and doesn't mean nobody else knows anything.