Every field has cranks. People, often mentally ill, send pages and pages of crazy theories and writing to professors.

One professor had an idea. Every time a crank wrote to him, he would send them the contact information of the last crank. He said he was too busy to read it right now, but this other person might help him. Instead of getting angry letters back, they wouldn't write back again, or even sent nice letters thanking him for the referral.

That might have helped in this case. This guy might not have time to read these people's works, but surely they can help each other.