It depends on what one is trying to evaluate.This drifts the thread a bit, which is fine, but wouldn't it really boil down to what you can demonstrate and/or teach? Wouldn't that be more of a factor for legitimacy-testing than whether or not you belong to this or that org. Or whether or not you belong to one at all? I can think of quite a number of people that belong to a 'legitimate' organization that don't really know much about the art they profess to be a master in.
I'd say yes, it matters.As far as my HKD org, does it matter? It is backed by a Korean GM...but does that matter? He's legite and one of the original seniors...but does it matter? What does matter is, can I use Hapkido for SD? Have I ever used it in SD? How many times and what was the outcome? That would speak more to my Hapkido skills than would a piece of paper with a certain persons name on it. Or what I wear (or in my case, don't wear) around my waist. Can I teach? How well do I teach? Those are the types of questions that should be asked. For the record, the last time I used Hapkido (or Kong Soo Do) against a real person, who was determined, violent and resisting was last Monday. I won, he lost. That speaks more than paper. That isn't me patting myself on the back, the same goes for anyone.
If you're willing to take swipes at the Kukkiwon/WTF, if you're willing to post things like this and call attention to another hapkido organization, and if you're willing go after a long standing hapkido GM (GM Ji) and question his qualifications, you should be willing to share your own.
While you're not obligated to share your hkd org., it certainly does undermine your credibility; if you didn't share any organizational information at all, I'd say that you're consistent. However, you are ready, willing and able to promote your KSD organization, so that is an inconsistency. If you're willing to tell people who you're ranked with in one art, why hide who you're ranked in in another? Especially given that you aren't shy about posting in the hapkido section.
If you don't want to share, then you don't want to share, and I'm not going to press the issue any further. But your comment above would lead many reading it to question whether you are being honest about having a hapkido background, as it reads like something a politician would say when they don't want to answer an uncomfortable question.
The only way to answer that is to put in for some time off, dent your visa or master card and go to the seminar and see first hand.As far as the thread, do I really care if a bunch of TKD guys/gals get a BB in HKD without really having trained in HKD? Not really. More power to them. What I actually care about is that whatever they've learned is practical and can really be used in self-defense. But it is interesting to see what others are going to say.
Unless you (or anyone else) are willing to do that, then anything that we say about it is speculation. Given that the organization in question is the one that my hapkido lineage is through, it does raise my eyebrows. But since I'm not willing to go to Oklahoma to investigate first hand, I'll stick with what I've said about it thus far and go no further.