01.02.09
Gemini version available ♊︎Gary M. Stewart (aka “Flatfish”) About Microsoft AstroTurfing: “It’s made me A LOT of money….”
“You’re right. Some of the evangelism practices that I taught and executed at Microsoft in the 1990’s were unethical. I didn’t think so at the time — I thought that they were just hyper-competitive — but I agree now.”
–James Plamondon, former Microsoft 'shills chief'
LAST WEEK we showed solid proof that Microsoft was paying people for what's known as "AstroTurfing". It’s part of the company’s strategy and policy — always has been. The men at the very top — those who are responsible for this — are Marshall Goldberg and James Plamondon.
Some people remember “Steve Barkto”, who was exposed by a newspaper for being a Microsoft agent [1, 2, 3, 4]. Gary M. Stewart may be another such agent, who has posted under literally hundreds of names in mediums that include USENET, Digg, Slashdot, even Netscape/Propeller, where he libeled, embarrassed, threatened, gave fake testimonies, stole identities and — above all — viciously attacked everything and everyone that competes with Microsoft. This has gone on for over a decade, and that’s just one person (there are more).
Among the names that he posted under: Moshe Goldfarb, Sandeep Kumar, Abbie Diaz, achmed.jones, Aftab Singh, Allen Cusimano, Allie Perkins, Allison Juergans, allison_hunt1969, Alicia Hunt, Ana Thema, andyschipowitz, Anna Banger, anonymous, arkady.duntov, Archie, Archie Moss Bunker, Archie Watermann, Attila, Baba Booey, Babcock Johnson, babcock.latreen, Babu Singh, ball.cock.the.plumber, banjo.boy69, Bill Thomson, Billy, bill.gates.loves.me, BingoBongo, bison, Bjarne Jensen, bjornstad8800, BklynBoy, bones4jones, bonobo magilla, Boyce Mabri, BSEE, Bunsen Burner, Buster, c.baumstumpff, CBFalconer, Charles LeGrand, Charlie, Choppers McGee, Chris Thomas, Christine Abernathy, Claire Lynn, Clippy, Clock King, collie4roy, Collie Entragion, Colon Singh, common cold, compton.plaines_kid, Connie Hines, Corrie, corry.lebeu, Corrie Titlaand, Cory Dyvik, Curtis Wilson, cymon.says, Damian O’Leary, Dana Bush, Danny Kwong, dbx_boy, Deadpenguin, Debbie, detective48, Devon Dawson, dismoqualifetch, Donn Carlsbad, donna.bunting_tv, dont.pullout, doris.gets.her.oates, Doug Richardson, Dragon.Boy, Dr.Long John Jones, dy.sector, echo.valley_26809, Elliot Zimmermann, Elwin Winters, Emmanuel Arias, Fawn Lebowitz, flatfish+++, foamy, frank boson, Franz Klammer, Fred Simmons, gabriele howorth, Gary Stewart, GayClod, George Cotton, George Littlefield, Gilbert, Gilbert Goiter, Gilbert Hochaim, gilligan, goldfarb44, gooseborg, Greg Finnigan, Greg Laplante, Hans Kimm, Hans Tomlinson, Harry Hilton, Harvey Fogel, Heather, Heather69, Heather Trax, Heddy Seafield, Heidi van Wong, helmut.ginter, hepcat, high_pain_humper, Hugh Himless, hymen.the.jew, llanalott, Ishmeal Hafizi, itchy balls, Ivan Mctavish, IvanaB, Jason, jeff.smiley, Jeff Szarka, jjwassermann, Joe Josephson, John, John King, John Shelton, John Smith, johnnyscotrun, jolt.n.pizza, Jorge Jorgensen, jorge_shillingford, Jose Lopez, juke_joint, kaptain kaput, Karel Olish, karen.bullfinch, Karen Hill, Karla Snodgress, kathy_krantz, Kaylie Solomon, Kendra, Kenneth Downs, Kenny Dugan, Kent Dorfman, Ken Johnson, Kim Coinop, Kinglen Wang, Kristen, kumba killington, Kurt Janker, Kyle Cadet,  lafferty6, L Didio, Laura Shillingford, Le Farter, Le Yammy, Leaking Onion, Leo Diaz, Les Cramer, Les Turner, Les Walton, Leslie Bassman, Lilly, Lindy, linux.curious, Linux Exposer, linux.freak.detector, Lisa Shavas, Lisa Cottmann, Lois Hunt, Long, long_tong_ling,  luisortizhome, Lukumi Babalu Aye, Luna Lane, Major Mynor, Manny, mark.kent.is.owned, Mario Fermin, McSwain, mista twista,Mogumbo, Moses, Mooshoo Bong Singh, mr.macfeelme,  mycarisfast, narrows_whitefish, nate_mcspook, Navid Shakibapour, oh.bama.da.rack, okto_pussy, opensource.sucks, organ.creep, OSS KDE User, Paddy McCrockett, Paul Wannamaker, Paris Marriot, Patricia, Patrick Landrum, Patty LeGrange, patty pippins, Patty Poppins, percy samson, Peter Gluckman, Peter Kohlmann, peter.traphagen, Phil, Phillip Cornwall, phoung, phoung quoak, pickle_pete, Piss Clam, Polly Ester, Poopy Pants McGee, pus.boy99, pyles69, Quimby, Quinton Magee, Quizno Backer, Ray Schitzmepantz, Reporter, Rich, Richard P. Johnson, Richie, Richie O’Toole, Richie Spano, right.wanger, Robert Strunk, rodolfo.garcia44, rothstein_ivan, Roy_Pestowitz, Roy.Schakemetitz, Roy.Schavedmenutz, Roy.Schavesmewankz, roy.shysterwitz, Roy.Schitzowitz, roys.testicles, roy.the.spam.king, RP Modell, ryebra, Sally Vadi, Sammy, Sammy Whalen, Saul Goldblatt, schavemetitz, Schestertitz, schestowizzle, schestowitz, schitzmepantz, schisterwitz, Schlomo Smykowski, Sharon Cackle, Sharon Hubbasland, Sean, Sean Fitzhenry, Sean Macpherson, Sewer Rat, sewer_clown, Shelly K., Sherlock Holmes, Schlomo Rabinowitz, Simon, Simon Lewis, simply.lisa, Singer, sista sledgehammer, slacker.mcspritze, Spammy_Davis, spanny_davis, Stefan Karstensen, Stephan Simonsen, Stephanie, Stephanie Mannerz, Stephen, Stephen Olsen, Stephen Townshend, stomach.pump, SuckyB, Sue, sue quinterra, sully1999, SunnyB, Susan, Susan Bladder, Susan Lapinski, Susan Wong, Suzi Wong, suzie.linux, Suzie Wong, Swampee, swing.cock, sylvano12tegriorgriach, Ted Bennington, Terri Sorensen, Terry Porter, The Beaver, Thorsten, Thorsten Thigpen, Timmy Luncford , Toby Rastus Roosovelt III, toe.mein, Tomas Bicsak, tomas.bozak, Tomas Dunton, Tomas Lucatorto, Tori, Tori Wassermann, Torre Stanslaand, Trace Dennison, Tracee, Traci, traci.alicock, traci.manicotti, traci.pusey, Traci Spritzendrainer, trailerpark, Trina Swallows, Trolly, Trudi Simpkins, Tryxie Lustern,  udayshankar29, Uday Shankar, victimizedb, victimizedbyms, Vince Fontain, Vladimir Yepifano, Walter Bubniak, Wang Mycock, Wasser, Waterskidoo, wendy, Wendy Duzz, Wendy Toiletwater, Whizzer, Wilbur J, willy watkins jr, Willy Wong, wiltons_pypes, Winnie Septos, wizard.shot, wm_walsh, Wobbles, wylbur.horseman, Yanick Schmuley and zyklon_C.
That’s just a sample, a fraction of the names that he has used (about 200, among many more). Gary was mass-mailing my colleagues and bosses. He did the same to other people whom he tried to get in trouble, or get fired. That’s because they advocated GNU/Linux. Gary also posted inflammatory and libelous stuff, sometimes ‘on behalf’ (forging) of posters whom he was discrediting. The severity of this is very high. The allegations, once tied to Microsoft, would have enormous consequences because the number of victims of high and the damages high too.
The identity of Gary was exposed several years ago back when one of his victims, “mjcr”, found out his identity and posted:
#################################### ###### Begin Original Message ###### #################################### He mainly focuses on /comp.os.linux.advocacy/ but he regularly (cross-)posts to other groups, & to non-computer related groups. Gary Stewart on c-24-60-155-178.hsd1.ma.comcast.net This was investigated & tied this very same address to the "linux-sux troll. This address is a cable user in Mass. Apparently Gary Stewart IS the linux-sux troll as well as being the flatfish troll. He lives at one of these addresses: 93 Thayer St, Millville, MA 30 Chickatawbut St, Dorchester, MA 229 N Brookfield Rd, Barre, MA [...] ############################### ###### End Original Message ### ###############################
That was years ago, so it’s possible that the address/es have changed. As for the name, this was confirmed last year, again. He accidentally had his Windows username, “Garys” (as in C:\Documents and Settings\Garys), displayed to the public. It’s a case of sloppiness. He posted under the name “Polly Ester” (like polyester) in MSG-ID 46fd58dd$0$26405$88260bb3@free.teranews.com
####################################
###### Begin Original Message ######
####################################
From: "Ms. Polly Ester" <pes...@gmail.net>
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.advocacy
References: <46fd2a49$0$26379$88260...@free.teranews.com><ii00t4-98l....@dragon.myth>
Subject: Re: Linux users and COLA posters blatantly break the law
Date: Fri, 28 Sep 2007 16:32:21 -0400
X-Priority: 3
X-MSMail-Priority: Normal
X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.3790.3959
X-RFC2646: Format=Flowed; Original
X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.3790.4073
Lines: 49
Message-ID: <46fd58dd$0$26405$88260bb3@free.teranews.com>
NNTP-Posting-Date: 28 Sep 2007 19:41:17 GMT
X-Complaints-To: abuse@teranews.com
"Jim Richardson" <warl...@eskimo.com> wrote in message
news:ii00t4-98l.ln1@dragon.myth...
- Hide quoted text -
- Show quoted text -
> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
> Hash: SHA1
> On Fri, 28 Sep 2007 13:13:36 -0400,
> Ms. Polly Ester <pes...@gmail.net> wrote:
>> Here we see that two of the major scumbags on COLA are sharing one
>> internet connection between them. Yet the terms-of-service (TOS)
>> forbids this sort of thing.
>> http://www.demon.net/helpdesk/producthelp/aup/thusfup/
>> Why is it that both Mark Kent and Roy Schestowitz are posting from
>> the same internet connection? Doesn't the lowly community college
>> that Roy goes to have internet access yet? If so, why isn't he
>> using that instead of breaking the law?
>>http://groups.google.com/group/comp.os.linux.advocacy/msg/256384be674...
>>http://groups.google.com/group/comp.os.linux.advocacy/msg/ebbd4b4b2ba...
> That's because they are both posting from demon.co.uk you pillock.
No. It's because they are both posting from the same machine at
ellandroad.co.uk
The IP address for the news server (news.demon.co.uk) is:
C:\Documents and Settings\Garys>tracert news.demon.co.uk
Tracing route to news.news.demon.net [158.152.254.254]
> Honestly, some of the trolls we get around here are really dumb.
The lintards are even dumber.
###############################
###### End Original Message ###
###############################
Keeping his name secret is a lost cause to him (and it’s not enough anymore). Moments ago he also let it be known that he is paid for it, assuming he is not lying on purpose, but why would he?
#################################### ###### Begin Original Message ###### #################################### From: "Gary M. Stewart" <gmstewart1953@gmail.com> Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.advocacy Subject: Re: Another user loves Ubuntu Date: Thu, 1 Jan 2009 21:01:48 -0500 Organization: none Lines: 14 Sender: "Gary M. Stewart" <> Message-ID: <gjjshp$bmi$1@reader.motzarella.org> References: <gjghnv$8nh$1@news.motzarella.org> <20090101023941.8948.12285.XPN@this.domain.or.that> <gjitqs$1kn$1@reader.motzarella.org> <20090101235423.6856.87320.XPN@this.domain.or.that> <gjjn30$u92$1@reader.motzarella.org> <rkt0mzx92zt4$.dlg@this.domain.or.that> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Trace: news.eternal-september.org U2FsdGVkX1/K1Ea/u9N8jKKTeyYqQ4pFmMR2F+LH9Y PREqV5vHq6bswC7KaMj972XoV7KXxIriiqyxWOWbhA0hzlG+PVbDmG5LI+ni4ItSOd7I96I7fP H7tU+8/7H1+6vwhF1Lrv9F/Q0s4oi/veqw== X-Complaints-To: Please send complaints to abuse@motzarella.org with full headers NNTP-Posting-Date: Fri, 2 Jan 2009 02:01:29 +0000 (UTC) X-No-Archive: YES X-Auth-Sender: U2FsdGVkX19PQtA/61uYgbfuWjJAJC02f9YP9JHlZJehYOEWppwmig== Cancel-Lock: sha1:1rf9QHT9NQ/m+m/DD+Z8hczaryI= User-Agent: 40tude_Dialog/2.0.15.84 Xref: news.motzarella.org comp.os.linux.advocacy:31558175 On Thu, 1 Jan 2009 20:58:05 -0500, Don Zeigler wrote: > Gary M. Stewart wrote: > >> "How Windows Ruined My Life" >> >> By "Fairy Tale" > > How I Wasted My Life Trolling COLA > > by Gary Stewart, aka flatfish and about 600 other nyms It's made me A LOT of money.... A Best Seller you might say...... ############################### ###### End Original Message ### ###############################
“It’s made me A LOT of money,” he says. Well, this is just the beginning of what could soon develop. Does he, like James Plamondon, spill the beans on Microsoft? █
Update (03/02/2009): I was sent more details about this person. Here is the message that I posted:
Hey Gary,How are you feeling? Okay?
How’s that flatfish?
Remember Merril Lynch and Smith Barney?
Many of you worked on those accounts.
You would often, like every day, get take out chicken from a truck which parked in front of Smith Barney and devour it. The chicken, not the truck! The truck was filthy and several people ended up getting very sick, never to eat there again, but it didn’t seem to affect you at all. Your buddies used to joke that a germ wouldn’t stand a chance in your fat body.
How do I know? Someone told me.
“Seeing that you are still alive,” he said “it seems we were better at predicting the future than we thought. Gary was always one of those types of people where the lightning bolts would strike all around him, destroy everyone else but never singe him.”
Sounds like a perfect recollection. Right, Gary?
Let’s get more personal.
——–
I Thought you might like to know a little about your uber troll Gary Stewart. I used to work with him as a consultant to IBM back in the late seventies and at that time he was one nasty person who would do anything to get ahead in the company we worked for including selling his co-workers down the river when he could get away with it. The company was really a sub-company of IBM but we were billing IBM even though we effectively worked for IBM. Ultimately IBM spun the company off as TSS (Technology Systems Services) and let most of us go. I went to work for one of IBM’s clients where I still work to this day although retirement is looming assuming I don’t get fired due to the awful economy.Gary ended up going to work for Amdahl in the early eighties and finally was fired from that company under a cloud of suspicion. It seems that computer telcom equipment was disappearing from the customer shipping inventory and somehow being directed to fake address he had set up. It was rumored that he was at the time running some kind of online dating service with a BBS of some sorts. I was never able to confirm this however I heard that Amdahl asked him to leave quietly and they would not prosecute him. I don’t know for sure what he did though but the above is what we heard from the grape vine.
I lost track of Gary up until last year when I ran into a mutual colleague at a convention and we started telling war stories and Gary’s name came up. As it turns out, his parents left him a small fortune in real estate consisting of several run down tenements in NYC as well as Camden N.J. which he rents out to social services recipients for whatever the going rate is. He has them managed by property agents, does only the minimum repairs on them and sits back and watches the money roll in. From what I have been told he has become very wealthy because of his real estate business. He was married at one time and had 4 children which based on his approximate age are all grown up by now.
Gary would be approaching 60 years old or so from what I know. My former colleague heard that his wife left him due to his clandestine anonymous homosexual encounters as a cross dresser. We all knew that he liked to swing both ways and back then it was pre-AIDS so random encounters like that were not life threatening like they are now. He showed up at a Halloween party once dressed as Jane Mansfield complete with fake breasts. He looked like a complete fool because he is a big man towering tall at 6 feet 4 at least and quite overweight. At some point during the party one of his fake breasts broke and the water sprayed all over him. We didn’t know if we should laugh or cry but the company had a policy of not gossiping about what went on a parties so it was forgotten at least at work.
Last my colleague heard, Gary was living somewhere in Massachusetts near Hyannis Port but I took a look online and don’t see him listed in the phone directory for that area. Honestly I am surprised he is still alive because he was always in very bad health due to his obesity. Gary weighed in at 300 lbs easily when I last saw him. I’m a poor judge of weight and age but he barely fit through the elevator doors that’s how large he was. That is all I know about Gary Stewart except what I have read on Google which is where I saw your name as well. You may or may not know all this information already but I just thought you might not realize that he is a very sick individual.
Respectfully,
Anonymous
——–X-No-Archive?
No, thank you.
Update #2 (09/02/2009): the message above (in the update) was fake and sent by Gary and his friends as bait to muddy the well.
ᶃ Gemini Space
This post is also available in 
Content is available under CC-BY-SA
Needs Sunlight said,
January 2, 2009 at 5:45 am
Hmm. Interesting. I recognized several of those pseudonymns as being astroturfing accounts. It’s not a surprise to find it’s the same shill behind them. I’d bet that if the astroturfing were to fully stop for one week, even from M$ staff, that’d be one week there’d be *no* positive comments about or defense of M$, it’s products or business methods.
oiaohm said,
January 2, 2009 at 5:45 am
I always had fun with some of those turfs. Worst thing for them is a pure logical argument without felling for or against a particular OS and being known for it. Instead they have to fight because all people were doing was building a better and better case not to use particular products. Failed attempts by turfs to under mine the case was just making it stronger.
Lot of them try calling me a lintard. Only to find out I rip all OS’s apart equally. If there is a flaw in a OS I will attack it.
Microsoft treats this as a war and there AstroTurfers are there army.
Problem for them there is a mirror army. Far worse. People like me who use logic and truth to win. I am more than prepared to accept any error I have made if you can back it up with valid documentation.
Truth wins in the end. Vista has made it hard for AstroTurfers and has created a breading ground for creating people like me to undermine them.
Really I am surprised no one has sued Microsoft for supporting AstroTurfers yet.
Roy Schestowitz said,
January 2, 2009 at 6:00 am
They seem to be unleashing more of them whenever there is a major release of Windows. This was pointed out by several people in USENET and yesterday I published this exchange from Gates (private mail to Ballmer):
Mind the words “software evangelization”. You know what Microsoft refers to by “evangelization” and the “Barkto” story serves as a lesson.
Don’t bet on it yet. I received some E-mails from high places after this post. The evidence is out there now.
Dan O'Brian said,
January 2, 2009 at 10:34 am
Sounds like this guy is taking lessons from your friend, twitter.
Roy Schestowitz said,
January 2, 2009 at 10:37 am
I have no friend called twitter. There are a person in IRC called “twitter” and he comments here too. So do you, but I don’t consider you a “friend”.
G. Michaels said,
January 2, 2009 at 7:52 pm
I know a lot of people who have made a lot of money off Microsoft, mainly by writing software for their operating system, using their development tools to write applications, creating add-ons for their office suites, etc.
That… didn’t cross your mind for a second? At all?
First Shane and now Will? Soon you’ll be left only with “Diamond Wakizashi” or whatever his name is, posting repeatedly about how Novell is Microsoft’s “bitch”. That should be fun to watch
Note: writer of this comment adds absolutely nothing but stalking and personal attacks against readers, as documented here.
Robert said,
January 3, 2009 at 1:45 am
G michaels, or should we call you flatfish? or Gary, or any of the 300 nyms you post with?
Roy, i honestly believe that this is Gary Stewart. it would not bother me if you delete his post from your blog.
Roy Schestowitz said,
January 3, 2009 at 3:32 am
They are similar characters but not the same person. Both are vandals.
Dan said,
January 3, 2009 at 4:00 pm
Roy, what worries me about this site is that, as far as I can see, it’s the only one. I must ask, not out of hatred, but out of reasoning, if what you say be true; then why arent there other websites coming to the same conclusions as yours?
Roy Schestowitz said,
January 3, 2009 at 4:04 pm
I’ve researched this for years.
Dan said,
January 3, 2009 at 4:25 pm
Good, good…sorry Roy, I just had to make sure.
Happy new year.
Peter2 said,
January 10, 2009 at 8:16 am
And another post of yours publishing name and adresses.
This time with some ‘evidence’ of someone astroturfuing for Microsoft.
Actually evidence is to much because this stament could mean anything. It does not state any connection between this person and Microsoft of Novell nor do you privade any evidence of such a connection between this person and Micrsoft or Novell.
You use your blog for some kind of anti Microsoft and Novell warfare and in the process have lost the entire concept of what prica means and how this important for the FOSS community.
You are not a fried of FOSS but an enemy of FOSS.
I am not surprised people use fake names when publishing on your blog or the COLA newsgroups. If people don’t hide you are going after them to expose their private information on your website.
Sickening behaviour.
Roy Schestowitz said,
January 10, 2009 at 8:26 am
Let’s keep our eyes shut and pretend that Microsoft does nothing that harms us by intention. Sure, that would be easier.
“Geeks like to think that they can ignore politics, you can leave politics alone, but politics won’t leave you alone.”
–Richard Stallman
Dante said,
January 10, 2009 at 8:56 am
Peter2, I must admit, some of Roy’s postings are a little unbelievable, so much so my optimistic side wants me to believe there can be no such foul items in the world. Some of the stuff on here, though, can be independantly verified. Though I would like to see some more in the way of independant evidence then relating blog posts.
I’m also aware this is about the only anti-MS site on the net, considering you should judge both extremes to come to a reasonable conclusion, I can safely say we’d be throughly buggered if it weren’t for Roy.
Roy Schestowitz said,
January 10, 2009 at 9:09 am
A lot of Web sites recite conventions (“…Windows is easy to use … Cuba is a terrible dictatorship … Iraq has weapons of mass destruction… the economy will continue to grow through 2008 and 2009…”), but those who are not indoctrinated are able to see past the smoke screen and help establish truth, not marketing (which is a trillion-dollar industry in the US). People who strive to tell truth risk lawsuits even if they say the truth. Editorial control will prevent you from seeing non-conventional (read: not conformist) arguments due to concision constraints, fear, and advertising.
There is no money to be made from exposing corruption.
In this week’s news:
Sri Lankan newspaper editor shot dead http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/08/sri-lankan-editor-killed
He alleged corruption.