Sockpuppets and Nymshifting
- Dr. Roy Schestowitz
- 2011-01-25 18:38:38 UTC
- Modified: 2011-01-25 18:38:38 UTC
Summary: Response to libelous accusations against yours sincerely and the Techrights community in general
The rule of thumb is that in Techrights we ignore trolls, avoid naming them, and definitely abstain from linking to them. In 2009 we just spent too much time and space addressing their claims and this whole process fed them. Another implicit rule is that when lies are being repeated they must be rebutted and a correction posted somewhere visible. While many lies were addressed in Identica, it would be handy to have them posted in this blog too.
Mono boosters and other people whose interests are stifled by this Web site have been making accusations against myself and against this site, despite having no evidence whatsoever. The claims are of course false and they help show how dishonest our adversaries are. I have no 'dirt' that can be used against me (some people go all the way to the distant past and still can't find any), so the trolls make some stuff up and repeat it
ad infinitum, sometimes citing one another as 'proof'. One of the more shameless claims is that I change names or have multiple accounts. These are lies. In order to promote and give credence to such libel someone appears to be creating sockpuppet accounts or agent/s provocateur who pretend to be me or pretend to represent this Web site. So to clarify again,
official accounts of this site were listed last week. Anything else is fake and since
I never comment in other Web sites (due to fakers), anyone who claims to be yours truly in some blog post is probably an imposter looking to cause trouble. One lie related to this is that I'm on Reddit when in fact I never was and never will be
because it's filled with Novell employees, Microsoft boosters, and Mono lobbyists.
Techrights challenges many institutions and people, so it expects this sort of flak. It is not going to impede future efforts to shine a light on bad behaviour and malevolent individuals. There is another strand of attacks on this Web site right about now and we might cover it shortly.
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Comments
wallclimber
2011-01-25 21:36:19
You say that "people within the FOSS community" hold Roy in "contempt?"
Which people do you mean, how many? Just a few? Just you? Or do you somehow believe you are speaking for the entire FOSS community?
You say that Roy should "admit that many of these attacks come from people within the FOSS community."
I know quite a few people within the FOSS community, not one of them would ever "attack" anyone, much less condone such behavior.
Apparently there are posers who merely claim to be part of the FOSS Community, but they are more interested in disrupting conversations and causing discord than anything else.
I think that description may apply to both you, "Clanky", and "techwrongs".
And yes, I've seen the Linsux stupidity in action on the Ubuntu Forums Cafe.
Since the UF Community Cafe has been closed for several days now, and likely won't be opened again for a while, I'm thinkin' the nasty little Linsux brats have become bored and decided to find other places to cause trouble.
Roy is correct, those who honestly DO support Free Software are generally smart enough to see through such childish nonsense as yours.
I don't always agree with Roy's opinions, but I've never known him to be dishonest. He's certainly shown courage in continuing to maintain this website, in spite of the onslaught of ugliness from trolls, like the Linsux gang.
I don't usually comment here, but it just didn't seem right that Roy should have to put up with this sort of nasty foolishness. Especially not from a pack of brats that are clueless about the Community they claim to be part of.
Just sayin'...
Dr. Roy Schestowitz
2011-01-25 21:46:23
twitter
2011-01-26 00:28:01
As a side note, a reasonable proof of Linsux's attention to Roy can be found at the Urban dictionary which currently has the following definition and use for the word linsux.
The user Linxus in the Ubuntu forums is not very active but was trolly enough and racked up some kind of positive community feedback before terminating a year ago. If we look through the comments, we might find some Boycott Novell bashing, but I'm not going to waste my time that way.
Dr. Roy Schestowitz
2011-01-26 00:30:08
techwrongs
2011-01-25 20:44:19
You will not prove it because you cannot prove it because it is a lie, and that sir is a fact as proven by your inability to defend your case.
Dr. Roy Schestowitz
2011-01-25 20:47:39
techwrongs
2011-01-25 21:12:18
Dr. Roy Schestowitz
2011-01-25 21:13:21
techwrongs
2011-01-25 21:16:50
Dr. Roy Schestowitz
2011-01-25 21:47:03
Clanky
2011-01-25 20:26:25
"You know darn well what you did, yet you play naïve. People can judge for themselves"
And they will Roy, they will.
They will read this and they will see your outrageous claims, your continued failure to back them up and your continued attempts to divert the conversation away from the real issue at hand which is the fact that you are doing more harm than good by your ridiculous actions.
Goodnight.
Dr. Roy Schestowitz
2011-01-25 20:31:09
techwrongs
2011-01-25 20:36:18
Dr. Roy Schestowitz
2011-01-25 20:42:05
techwrongs
2011-01-25 20:45:15
Dr. Roy Schestowitz
2011-01-25 20:48:24
techwrongs
2011-01-25 20:50:45
Google is my buddy, and it shows that you are nothing but a lying fool.
Dr. Roy Schestowitz
2011-01-25 20:53:48
techwrongs
2011-01-25 20:59:34
I see you are still wearing the foil hat. Probably want to loosen it a little.
Dr. Roy Schestowitz
2011-01-25 21:02:24
techwrongs
2011-01-25 21:11:21
Dr. Roy Schestowitz
2011-01-25 21:12:47
Clanky
2011-01-25 20:20:48
If you make claims in writing which you cannot provide evidence for then that is libel, pointing out the fact that your posts above a very close to libel is not a threat.
Yet more smoke-screens to avoid the issue. Seriously, I don't want to get into mud slinging here, I made a point in my initial post and I think you would do well to look at what I said and address the points there.
Dr. Roy Schestowitz
2011-01-25 20:22:23
Dr. Roy Schestowitz
2011-01-25 20:13:39
Nice threats you got there. Our commenting policy generally forbids threats.
techwrongs
2011-01-25 20:18:17
Dr. Roy Schestowitz
2011-01-25 20:21:18
techwrongs
2011-01-25 20:35:05
Dr. Roy Schestowitz
2011-01-25 20:42:41
Clanky
2011-01-25 20:10:53
All of this smokescreen over my me,bership of linsux does not address the issue though, the reason you attract such negative attention on the internet has much more to do with the people within the FOSS community being horrified at the damage you and your fellow zealots are doing to FOSS than "Mono boosters and other people whose interests are stifled by this Web site". As I said above, the very existence of Linsux is a reaction to this kind of zealotry.
Clanky
2011-01-25 20:01:56
Neither of these facts however change the truth in what I am saying in that the religious zeal of you and others within the FOSS community are harming FOSS. Linsux, despite popular opinion is not an anti-linux site, many of us are Linux users, I generally use Fedora, however, we are anti-zealotry, we believe that Linux needs to address the technical issues which are making it technically inferior to other operating systems before it can make an issue out of the moral superiority of free software.
Dr. Roy Schestowitz
2011-01-25 20:04:56
Enough said. You deny the actions of a site which would not deny it.
techwrongs
2011-01-25 20:10:07
zomglol
Dr. Roy Schestowitz
2011-01-25 20:11:24
gnufreex
2011-01-25 20:05:39
techwrongs
2011-01-25 20:08:49
gnufreex
2011-01-25 20:14:53
Dr. Roy Schestowitz
2011-01-25 20:19:38
techwrongs
2011-01-25 20:38:00
You will not prove it because you cannot prove it because it is a lie, and that sir is a fact as proven by your inability to defend your case.
Dr. Roy Schestowitz
2011-01-25 20:41:33
Dr. Roy Schestowitz
2011-01-25 20:10:16
techwrongs
2011-01-25 20:12:56
Dr. Roy Schestowitz
2011-01-25 20:14:37
techwrongs
2011-01-25 20:17:43
So, again. Evidence, or you are lying.
Dr. Roy Schestowitz
2011-01-25 20:23:38
Clanky
2011-01-25 19:55:11
To the best of my knowledge Linsux has never done this. I can't speak for individual members, but the site as a whole really doesn't care enough to orchestrate any kind of smear campaign.
Dr. Roy Schestowitz
2011-01-25 19:59:59
gnufreex
2011-01-25 19:42:35
gnufreex
2011-01-25 19:42:54
Dr. Roy Schestowitz
2011-01-25 19:50:14
techwrongs
2011-01-25 19:47:10
Clanky
2011-01-25 19:50:11
Does it not tell you something that the people who you say are trying to boost mono etc. are pretending to be you on the internet and acting like you do?
Yes, you may have thousands of followers, but so do other minor religions which is what you appear to be trying to turn FOSS into and those thousands of followers do not hide the fact that many within the FOSS community feel that you are doing more harm than good with your crusade.
Like I said, take a long hard look at what you are doing and what your actions are doing to the image of FOSS in general and ask yourself what you are really achieving.
And just for the record, I am not an employee of Microsoft, or Novell, or anyone else involved in software for that matter.
Dr. Roy Schestowitz
2011-01-25 19:53:39
Dr. Roy Schestowitz
2011-01-25 19:27:51
gnufreex
2011-01-26 15:02:35
Clanky
2011-01-25 19:30:37
It is very easy to put the tinfoil hat on and claim that all the negative attention which you attract is due to Microsoft and Novell being so terrified of the power of FOSS that they are forced to lower themselves to tactics like this, but surely it would be far more productive to take a long hard look at yourself and think about why people within the FOSS community hold you in such contempt?
Dr. Roy Schestowitz
2011-01-25 19:35:46
That's another one of those lies mostly repeated by people whose interests are stifled by this site. I have thousands of followers who are part of the "FOSS community" (not a clearly defined community) and they can tell smears apart from truths.
techwrongs
2011-01-25 19:46:26
twitter
2011-01-25 23:56:40
Dr. Roy Schestowitz
2011-01-26 00:28:07
Robotron
2011-01-26 04:58:45
On the other side of the isle is PJ, an anonymous woman (or man) who spends almost as much time as Roy tirelessly collating legal documents because she was "offended" by attacks on Linux.
Reasonable indeed. -_-
twitter
2011-01-26 19:15:05
PJ is an award winning journalist.
You can call any person passionate enough to excel "unreasonable" if you are lazy and unaccomplished.
Dr. Roy Schestowitz
2011-01-26 19:20:32
Adrian Malacoda
2011-01-27 10:52:35
Dr. Roy Schestowitz
2011-01-27 11:03:15
techwrongs
2011-01-25 18:47:09
ZOMGLOLOL
Clanky
2011-01-30 23:30:24
The reason we bash Linux is not because we don't understand it, but rather because sites like this (and others) have created such a religious zealotry about Linux that the only way to be heard is to scream from the top of the hill.
Linsux, Linux Hater's Blog, the TM repository and other sites which are labelled as anti-linux only exist as a reaction to zealotry and to the Linux communities refusal to admit to any faults in Linux or to respond to any criticism of Linux with cries of $hill, troll, FUD, idiot.
It is very easy to label everyone who disagrees with you as a troll, it takes a little more effort to actually debate the issues.
Dr. Roy Schestowitz
2011-01-31 05:47:28
The sites you speak of tend to attract people who spread libel and generally dislike GNU/Linux. Maybe it's more diverse than that.
techwrongs
2011-01-31 15:47:45
Dr. Roy Schestowitz
2011-01-31 15:49:43
techwrongs
2011-01-31 15:53:11
Dr. Roy Schestowitz
2011-01-31 17:35:12
techwrongs
2011-01-31 17:44:24
Your response however offers no denial that you are either ignorant of the facts about the sites you are libeling, or are you are simply lying for personal gain.
twitter
2011-02-03 06:40:26
A rough translation of the above is, "free software has technical problems and people who advocate it are aggressive lunatics". Years ago I bothered to read some Linxux "criticism". It was all general bullshit like that found in the comments above and it was clear that the people there were simply trolls.
Dr. Roy Schestowitz
2011-02-03 06:45:30
twitter
2011-02-05 04:29:29
Dr. Roy Schestowitz
2011-02-05 06:01:40
twitter
2011-02-05 07:06:57
PR is not all about being nice and making your company look good, it's also about making other people look nasty. At least one Microsoft TE was caught trolling this site. That too is a form of PR, Microsoft style. The same jerks have been harassing you for years if not decades.
Dr. Roy Schestowitz
2011-02-05 07:15:19
Clanky
2011-01-30 23:15:43
There is a lot of inanity and vulgarity, but in amongst it all is actually some quite serious discussion about things that we feel are wrong with both Linux and Free Software, but as i said the majority of people there do actually use Linux.
Dr. Roy Schestowitz
2011-01-30 23:18:49
Clanky
2011-01-27 09:14:06
See this is part of the problem. Roy runs a website which spreads FUD, he has set himself on a crusade and he trolls the interwebz with nonsense like "Vista 7", if you are going to behave like this then you will attract the kind of negative activity that Roy attracts.
I certainly don't condone someone else pretending to be Roy and smearing his name, but my point is that every time this sort of thing happens Roy immediately starts blaming the nasty proprietary software people, news for you Roy: if Microsoft are even aware of your existence they would do nothing to hinder you because you and your ludicrous, extremist, jihadist stance do more to ensure that Linux will remain in obscurity for ever than any amount of ridiculous Microsoft lawsuits could ever do.
For me the really sad part of the whole story is that having spent a bit of time reading this site there is actually some very good and very valid content, but it is all lost amongst the petty finger pointing and name calling.
Like I have said all along, Roy, I challenge you to look, really look, at what you are doing and at how your crusade makes the entire FOSS community look, man up and at least admit that there are people within the community who have legitimate concerns about this site and address those concerns rather than using smoke screens and hiding behind the idea that you are being persecuted by Microsoft / Novell / et al.
Dr. Roy Schestowitz
2011-01-27 09:34:12
@Wallclimber: did you get my mail about a month ago? I sent it to Gmail.
twitter
2011-01-28 05:29:32
1) “people within the FOSS community” who have anything bad to say about Roy who do not also make a living through Novell or Microsoft.
2) any “damage” that Roy’s careful research does to “Linux / FOSS”.
Complaining about "Vista 7" and "petty name calling" mostly proves your lack of humor and hypocrisy. Roy's research is solid and he presents it in a way that appeals to a wide audience. You and other sockpuppets are here calling him names because he's effective.
Clanky
2011-01-30 22:59:10
firstly an apology for the delay in replying, Linsux is not actually anti-linux ( I know this seems hard to believe, but go and actually read some of the content there), while in general most of us have issues with both the technical aspects of linux (and free software in general) as well as much of zealotry surrounding it, I would say that most of the users there actually do use and believe in the ideals of free software.
Linsux (and other sites like it) exist because of the fact that many people within the FOSS community are sick of the fact that anyone who raises there head above the parapet and complains about any aspect of Linux (admittedly some distros are worse than others) is automatically shouted down as either an idiot who doesn't know what they are talking about, a Microsoft troll spreading the FUD, or a misguided soul who needs to be shown the true path to enlightenment.
As an example of this I have just been called a sockpuppet above, everything that i post on the internet goes under the name of clanky, I make no secret of the fact that I post on Linsux, so where is the sockpuppetry?
If people where not so quick to see evil Microsoft trolls everywhere then maybe some of the genuine issues with Linux would be addressed rather than shouted out of existence as if they are some kind of fabrication by Microsoft, the idea that if everyone says "Linux is perfect" enough times will somehow make it so just won't happen.
The same thing applies to "Micro$oft Windoze" and all the other nonsense, when you try to make a huge issue out of every tiny little flaw in Windows as though it were the end of the world, people will look at the system they have, realise that it works for them 99.9% of the time and shrug, when you then raise something which is genuinely awful about Windows they will shrug their shoulders and say "meh, it's just those crazy FOSS zealots again".
The reason all the so-called anti-Linux sites exist is because there is such a defensive attitude within the FOSS community to any criticism that the only way to be heard is to be more ridiculous than the zealots and hopefully let the zealots see what their own behaviour looks like to others.
Dr. Roy Schestowitz
2011-01-30 23:09:14
wallclimber
2011-01-26 13:46:07
You say you "are not now nor have ever been affiliated, employed, or endorsed by any technology company."
I actually believe you, since it's very hard to imagine any real technology company wishing to endorse, be affiliated with, or employ you. But take heart, someday you might grow up enough to be employable. Anything's possible. I hear McDonalds will hire just about anyone.
You say that you "simply don’t like Roy’s kind." By "kind" you mean someone who's actually employed in a real technology job? And who is also endorsed by, and affiliated with, a real technology community?
Robotron, there's no need to continue feeling jealous or inadequate. With enough time, a lot of hard work, dedication, education and bit of moral fortitude, even you might make something of yourself someday. It's certainly worth a try.
Your little rant also seems to indicate a lot of frustration. Apparently you're upset that all your mean-spirited bullying hasn't been able to stop the sharing of news and information on Techrights.
Perhaps someone needs to explain to you that the Universe is a mighty big place, and that you really aren't the center of it.
I know, it's a shock to you now, but you'll get over it eventually.
tristam.green
2011-01-26 13:25:38
Long-time listener, first-time caller.
Roy, I gotta say. You come across as a world-class, grade-A jerk. Trying to libel websites and members thereof, then when confronted with requests for evidence of your accusations, demanding that the accused "Google it"? How pretentious can you get?
I've read plenty of your vitriol on BN/Techrights.org -- take it from someone who has no stake in either "side" of your perceived war between Proprietary and "Free" software -- your mean-spirited and acid-laced arguments are excessively damaging to what you profess to love.
Robotron
2011-01-26 04:28:27
My problem with Roy is simple. He’s an extremist bigot and a partisan douche bag. Don't think for one moment Roy can be beaten. He’s more dedicated, more focused, and more committed than any outside critic. In a word, he’s sick. This is his life: Typing articles, chewing the fat in IRC, trolling usenet forms, spamming social networking sites. Anyone against him is an evil troll. You cannot win. He fights for good, you stand for evil. He has followers, you have the silent majority. You can't reason with the unreasonable.
All you can do is trap him in his own illogical bias. Roy cannot and will not acknowledge any technical or factual mistakes in his material that could reflect positively on any proprietary software company. With this in mind, I hereby issue an official challenge to Roy. Allow me to be a guest on Techbytes. I will outline everything wrong with his crusade, the mistakes he makes and the facts he spins. I will even send him an outline showing in detail the points I will raise, so he can’t later claim he was caught off guard.
But will Roy accept? No, because ultimately he is a coward who knows how to avoid the questions that will show his flaws. On Techrights/Boycott Novell, comments that expose his wrongs can be safely ignored and his small but loyal followers will just brush them off, safely buried under the next day’s pile of articles. In a discussion, Roy will fold like faster than a lawn chair in a hurricane.
vexorian
2011-01-26 04:08:10
Oh the mono lobby is part of the FOSS community which is a rather mixed bunch of people with different agendas. We have Novell, and you wouldn't come to pretend that their agenda was not to destroy Linux as a side effect of attempting to become MS' pet. In 2007, the guys that bashed Roy for causing division in the community and many other accusations merely because of his work and reporting against Novell could have gotten away with it. But nowadays, in 2011 it is rather confirmed that basically all of the stuff speculated by this site turned out to be so horrifying true.
I mean, we have Miguel "superb" Icaza, whom in his time pretended to be just a nice guy working for a nice company that spread disinformation and boosters for OOXML just because he liked the format and never bothered to disclose that Novell got paid by MS specifically to promote OOXML. Who knows if Icaza had an effect in the OOXML ISO fail, but it was so harmful to the community. And I mean seriously, we have a guy who got paid by Microsoft to promote a standard who was in part made to destroy Linux' competivity by making sure office documents stay microsoft-only. The whole money trail is confirmed and the "superb" debacle is still rather archived.
Hey, did you read that last paragraph? We have a documented case of a person getting paid by MS to attack FOSS, but apparently some FOSS guys prefer to come Roy and bash him for being one of many messengers of these sad, sad news. Because that's just ultimately what Roy is doing, he is merely reporting these things. Or what, do you think Roy makes those things up? Here's Rob Weir twitting what Groklaw's Pamela Jones said about the same thing: https://twitter.com/rcweir/statuses/17242705654456320 . But I guess you still think that Roy is the devil, that or you probably also think that PJ and Rob Weir are part of the party that is out there to damage the FOSS community.
If you guys think that the reporting of these things is harmful to FOSS, then maybe you should go after the people that cause these events to happen.
Oh, and calling everyone that disagrees with you a zealot really denigrates your own position.
Robotron
2011-01-26 04:42:52
An example of this? http://techrights.org/2010/07/03/amazon-reviews-for-microsoft/
The article claims OpenOffice is ranked higher than Microsoft Office on Amazon.com. 5 out of 5 stars. Fantastic, right? Except that 5 star rating is based on....
wait.... wait for it...
5 reviews. Just 5. Only 5. Now six months later, one negative review has been added. Not to mention, what kind of idiots get OpenOffice from Amazon in the first place?
But.... why? Why didn't Roy take into account the number of votes? Did he simply forget to make note of this? No, because he doesn't care about being factual, truthful, or honest. He only wanted to make Microsoft look bad, and showing only the number of "stars" without any other background information does just that.
What little "truth" Roy might uncover, or disclose, or whatever you choose to call it, is drowned out in the sea of poisonous garbage he generates on an almost daily basis.
Roy can't be trusted to be honest, reasonable, fair, and balanced. He only cares about doing whatever it takes to make his enemies look bad. Those against him are labeled trolls, or worse. Don't buy into this fantasy game of good vs evil.
vexorian
2011-01-29 16:08:09
Sure, it seems like Roy is over optimistic about Open Office vs. Office, but I don't see how would that exact issue paint him as the demon as the people resorting to name calling "He's an extremist bigot and a partisan douche bag" want him to look.
Oh, look! ah guy that likes open office more than office 2010!!!11 That must be harmful to the FOSS community, I guess...
vexorian
2011-01-29 16:10:54
Dr. Roy Schestowitz
2011-01-30 06:14:49
My personal blog contains a lot of the technical posts, whereas Techrights looks mostly at events and ethics, e.g. should software be patentable?