Existential crisis at Encyclopedia Dramatica

Jim · Unread post by **Jim** » Fri Dec 18, 2015 1:17 pm

turnedworm wrote:
Poetlister wrote:It's scarcely surprising that most people going to Wikipedia (other than through a Google search or a link) would go to the main page. But it says that "This article ranked 2 in traffic on en.wikipedia.org." What beats it? Jimbo's talk page?
Two of the top 3 are a little... odd. http://stats.grok.se/en/top

Yeah - the SQL query for that report obviously needs fixing, it isn't returning unique rows, all reported lines are duplicated. Weirdly, if you click on the strange "search" term at both #1 entries it only gives 603 hits for the month. Oops...

edit:
Heh - it also says: Most viewed articles in 201403

- so that report is obviously FUBAR, linked, as it is, from the main http://stats.grok.se/ page.

Just for shits and giggles though: محمد بقشان from that strange "search" term in the report translates as Mohammed Buqshan

Which leads me, googling right along, to this 2014 Reddit thread:
Can someone clarify why the most-viewed page on Wikipedia in March is a search for someone named Mohammed Buqshan?

where the most likely answer is:

Bots, there are quite a few names that will appear near the top of the search list but don't exist as articles, I used to run a trending page wikipedia site, had to recode my site just to get rid of them ...

So, botnet searches, most likely. Fun trip, though, thanks...

Mohammed Boqshan (T-H-L) has an article now, but it wasn't created until March 2015.

Anroth · Unread post by **Anroth** » Sat Dec 19, 2015 5:40 pm

Would be a better read without the pot-shots at Eric's personal enemies, but you cant expect that I guess....

Earthy Astringent · Unread post by **Earthy Astringent** » Tue May 30, 2017 3:59 am

I visited the site tonight, and saw a begging link asking for donations. A quick google turned up only two hits. I have no idea if they are credible or not, but thought peeps here might be interested.

http://theralphretort.com/encyclopedia- ... t-5024017/

Rogol Domedonfors · Unread post by **Rogol Domedonfors** » Tue May 30, 2017 10:16 am

Sounds to me like one of those cases where you wish they could all lose.

Moral Hazard · Unread post by **Moral Hazard** » Tue May 30, 2017 11:38 am

Who filed a claim and why?

Was it because of alleged viruses? Or alleged defamation?

Tokenevil · Unread post by **Tokenevil** » Tue May 30, 2017 2:03 pm

Ah Ralph, the wannabe Drudge of Gamergate. He carved his niche pretty well. But wasn't he supposed to go jail for assault or something?

For ED, hard to know if it's effectively some Game Developer whining about criticism of some trolls hinjinks to swindle people.

But it's still a big database about Internet before social media corporate takeover and should be left intact, if only for future historians.

Poetlister · Unread post by **Poetlister** » Tue May 30, 2017 7:52 pm

Yes, I have a page on ED. Some my entry is accurate, some of it is bogus, and some of the content is a mixture of the two. Even though I get a kick out of reading my own page (I also wrote a small portion of it), and others, people who use the site as a primary source are ignorant beyond belief. Why? Because there’s a lot of straight-up bullshit there, that’s why.

There are some remarkable similarities between ED and Wikipedia.

Unread post by **tarantino** » Tue May 30, 2017 8:29 pm

ED can't being sued, it isn't a legal entity (unless Zaiger has quietly registered an LLC). It's probably him that is being sued. He's trying to raise $50,000 to pay for an attorney on wesearchr. Wesearchr, owned by the white supremacist Chuck Johnson, was mentioned a few months ago by Kingsindian.

Kingsindian · Unread post by **Kingsindian** » Wed May 31, 2017 1:33 am

I looked at some of the recent bounties on wesearchr a few days ago; I also read the NY Mag article which tarantino linked and wanted to check what's going on.

Most of the bounties seem to be using the site as a kind of alt-right GoFundMe, raising money for fighting "censorship" etc.

Unread post by **tarantino** » Wed May 31, 2017 3:19 am

Kingsindian wrote:I looked at some of the recent bounties on wesearchr a few days ago; I also read the NY Mag article which tarantino linked and wanted to check what's going on.

Most of the bounties seem to be using the site as a kind of alt-right GoFundMe, raising money for fighting "censorship" etc.

Their most successful fund raiser at this moment seems to be the Daily Stormer vs. Southern Poverty Law Center Legal Defense Fund. weev, who started that campaign, was an ED sysop for years pre-Zaiger.

The man behind the neo-Nazi Daily Stormer website is being sued by one of his ‘troll storm’ targets

Zaiger is among some good company.

DHeyward · Unread post by **DHeyward** » Wed May 31, 2017 4:18 am

tarantino wrote:
Kingsindian wrote:I looked at some of the recent bounties on wesearchr a few days ago; I also read the NY Mag article which tarantino linked and wanted to check what's going on.

Most of the bounties seem to be using the site as a kind of alt-right GoFundMe, raising money for fighting "censorship" etc.
Their most successful fund raiser at this moment seems to be the Daily Stormer vs. Southern Poverty Law Center Legal Defense Fund.

The man behind the neo-Nazi Daily Stormer website is being sued by one of his ‘troll storm’ targets

weev, who was an ED sysop for years pre-Zaiger, has aligned himself with the stormer.

Zaiger is among some good company.

Is weev still connected to Randi Harper? I thought they paired up for a while.

Unread post by **Midsize Jake** » Wed May 31, 2017 4:22 am

DHeyward wrote:Is weev still connected to Randi Harper? I thought they paired up for a while.

Tipsy, are we?

Unread post by **tarantino** » Wed May 31, 2017 5:05 am

DHeyward wrote:Is weev still connected to Randi Harper? I thought they paired up for a while.

weev (T-H-L) presents a mishmash of "facts" that may or may not answer your question.

Tokenevil · Unread post by **Tokenevil** » Wed May 31, 2017 10:33 am

Wrong crazy SJW. He had a relationship with Shanley.

Unread post by **Zoloft** » Wed May 31, 2017 2:20 pm

Tokenevil wrote:Wrong crazy SJW. He had a relationship with Shanley.

Crazy SJW? That's kind of insulting and over the top.

Tokenevil · Unread post by **Tokenevil** » Wed May 31, 2017 4:01 pm

Well, I have ED as a source to prove she isn't just someone who political positions I heavily dislike. For now.

But Shanley was way worse. You probably had a 25% chance of being a smear target by interacting with her. Clear case of bird of a feather with Born again nazi weev.

Earthy Astringent · Unread post by **Earthy Astringent** » Thu Jun 01, 2017 12:02 am

Zoloft wrote:
Tokenevil wrote:Wrong crazy SJW. He had a relationship with Shanley.
Crazy SJW? That's kind of insulting and over the top.

And often redundant

Unread post by **Zoloft** » Thu Jun 01, 2017 3:16 am

Earthy Astringent wrote:
Zoloft wrote:
Tokenevil wrote:Wrong crazy SJW. He had a relationship with Shanley.
Crazy SJW? That's kind of insulting and over the top.
And often redundant

"No more of that talk," I said sharply. "Or I'll put the leeches on you." -- Hunter S. Thompson

Tarc · Unread post by **Tarc** » Fri Jun 02, 2017 11:44 pm

Earthy Astringent wrote:
Zoloft wrote:
Tokenevil wrote:Wrong crazy SJW. He had a relationship with Shanley.
Crazy SJW? That's kind of insulting and over the top.
And often redundant

Beats the hell out of being an alt-right cock holster (thanks, Stephen Colbert!) for Milo Yiannopoulos.

E.D. dying off would not be a bad thing.

greyed.out.fields · Unread post by **greyed.out.fields** » Sat Jun 03, 2017 4:33 am

Tarc wrote: E.D. dying off would not be a bad thing.

And nothing of value was lost?

Cedric · Unread post by **Cedric** » Sat Jun 03, 2017 2:40 pm

greyed.out.fields wrote:
Tarc wrote: E.D. dying off would not be a bad thing.
And nothing of value was lost?

Poetlister · Unread post by **Poetlister** » Sat Jun 03, 2017 4:00 pm

Cedric wrote:
greyed.out.fields wrote: And nothing of value was lost?

What's this? A catfight?

Tarc · Unread post by **Tarc** » Mon Jun 05, 2017 12:43 pm

greyed.out.fields wrote:
Tarc wrote: E.D. dying off would not be a bad thing.
And nothing of value was lost?

To be fair, there is some amusing content there still, anything that makes fun of Bronies is useful. But the rest is either mean-spirited and potentially libelous or terribly out-of-date. Like, article after article about livejournal dramas ~2010.

I created one stub of an article for them ages ago, that was the extent of my involvement.

Poetlister · Unread post by **Poetlister** » Tue Jun 06, 2017 8:20 pm

Tarc wrote:But the rest is either mean-spirited and potentially libelous or terribly out-of-date.

And in many cases both, of course.

The Garbage Scow · Unread post by **The Garbage Scow** » Thu Jun 08, 2017 3:08 am

I'm not sure if Monsarrat will ultimately prevail, but it may be interesting to watch this lawsuit unfold.

Brian Zaiger is begging for monies for his defense fund...

MoldyHay · Unread post by **MoldyHay** » Thu Jun 08, 2017 3:30 am

Based on Brian's choice of legal representation, I'd say Monsarrat is pretty fucked.

Kingsindian · Unread post by **Kingsindian** » Thu Jun 08, 2017 3:47 am

Should be merged with this thread.

Unread post by **tarantino** » Thu Jun 08, 2017 4:57 am

MoldyHay wrote:Based on Brian's choice of legal representation, I'd say Monsarrat is pretty fucked.

Really?

Bribery, gay porn, and copyright trolls: The rise and fall of lawyer Marc Randazza
Arbiter says Randazza "negotiated" a bribe, lied to employer, and must pay $600k.

Kingsindian · Unread post by **Kingsindian** » Thu Jun 08, 2017 5:55 am

Marc Randazza (T-H-L) is fairly well-known lawyer dealing with First Amendment cases. I don't know much about him, but he is a co-contributor to the website popehat.com, where I've read a few of his posts.

The Adversary · Unread post by **The Adversary** » Thu Jun 08, 2017 9:18 am

Kingsindian wrote:Marc Randazza (T-H-L) is fairly well-known lawyer dealing with First Amendment cases. I don't know much about him, but he is a co-contributor to the website popehat.com, where I've read a few of his posts.

...and that article has been "owned" by a number of single purpose editors; one of their standard jobs is to remove that link Tarantino just gave...

MoldyHay · Unread post by **MoldyHay** » Thu Jun 08, 2017 12:35 pm

Yeah he did piss off a former employer and an arbitrator. But he was not subject to any disciplinary action, so it had no effect on his ability to practice law. And he has a bit of a reputation for scorched earth litigation tactics. I definitely wouldn't want to have him representing my opponent in a lawsuit.

The Garbage Scow · Unread post by **The Garbage Scow** » Thu Jun 08, 2017 2:16 pm

Randazza is unsavory, but a heavy hitter.

Monsarrat's claim is based on copyright, so I guess the argument will come down to whether ED can use the satire defense.

On the other hand, the longer this drags out the greater the chance Zaiger's personal info will become public, so it may be in his best interest to settle even if he could win. In a way, he's kind of in a tough spot... try to fight it out and hope he can remain relatively anonymous, or settle and look like a wimp.

The filed complaint itself is a pretty good read.

Unread post by **tarantino** » Sun Jul 09, 2017 3:54 am

There's a story on The Daily Dot, The lawsuit that could kill Encyclopedia Dramatica.

Poetlister · Unread post by **Poetlister** » Sun Jul 09, 2017 9:22 am

tarantino wrote:There's a story on The Daily Dot, The lawsuit that could kill Encyclopedia Dramatica.

If improper use of copyrighted photos is grounds for suing, ED could certainly be killed. There must be hundreds of such photos.

Kingsindian · Unread post by **Kingsindian** » Thu Sep 28, 2017 9:13 pm

Btw, Randazza is also defending Andrew Anglin, the publisher of The Daily Stormer.

Also, AP reports:

The Daily Stormer used a crowdfunding website, WeSearchr, to raise more than $152,000 in donations from nearly 2,000 contributors to help pay for Anglin’s legal expenses.

This refers to the bounty tarantino linked above.

To clarify, this doesn't have anything to do (I think) with the domain name stuff. This is about some Montana woman and the SPLC who say in their lawsuit that Anglin harassed her. Apparently, they can't find the guy to serve him papers. Anglin's lawyer (Randazza) says that it's just a stunt. weev, on his website claimed that he will personally serve Anglin if SPLC is serious about it.

Poetlister · Unread post by **Poetlister** » Fri Sep 29, 2017 3:58 pm

Kingsindian wrote:Btw, Randazza is also defending Andrew Anglin, the publisher of The Daily Stormer.

Fair enough. ED and the Stormer have a lot in common.

Ca$hBag · Unread post by **Ca$hBag** » Mon Oct 16, 2017 8:46 pm

tarantino wrote:ED can't being sued, it isn't a legal entity (unless Zaiger has quietly registered an LLC). It's probably him that is being sued. He's trying to raise $50,000 to pay for an attorney on wesearchr. Wesearchr, owned by the white supremacist Chuck Johnson, was mentioned a few months ago by Kingsindian.

Hard to believe given that Wesearchr sounds like a Jewish name.

Poetlister · Unread post by **Poetlister** » Tue Oct 17, 2017 8:45 pm

Ca$hBag wrote:
tarantino wrote:ED can't being sued, it isn't a legal entity (unless Zaiger has quietly registered an LLC). It's probably him that is being sued. He's trying to raise $50,000 to pay for an attorney on wesearchr. Wesearchr, owned by the white supremacist Chuck Johnson, was mentioned a few months ago by Kingsindian.
Hard to believe given that Wesearchr sounds like a Jewish name.

thekohser · Unread post by **thekohser** » Tue Oct 17, 2017 8:47 pm

Poetlister wrote:
Ca$hBag wrote:
tarantino wrote:ED can't being sued, it isn't a legal entity (unless Zaiger has quietly registered an LLC). It's probably him that is being sued. He's trying to raise $50,000 to pay for an attorney on wesearchr. Wesearchr, owned by the white supremacist Chuck Johnson, was mentioned a few months ago by Kingsindian.
Hard to believe given that Wesearchr sounds like a Jewish name.

It's a stretch to convert that to 'Wexler', though.

Poetlister · Unread post by **Poetlister** » Tue Oct 17, 2017 9:18 pm

thekohser wrote:It's a stretch to convert that to 'Wexler', though.

Wexler is a German name. It is a corruption of "Wesseler," meaning "money changer." Donald Wexler (T-H-L) and Harry Wexler (T-H-L), for example, weren't Jewish. William Wexler was, though surprisingly he has no article.

thekohser · Unread post by **thekohser** » Wed Oct 18, 2017 3:24 am

Poetlister wrote:
thekohser wrote:It's a stretch to convert that to 'Wexler', though.
Wexler is a German name. It is a corruption of "Wesseler," meaning "money changer." Donald Wexler (T-H-L) and Harry Wexler (T-H-L), for example, weren't Jewish. William Wexler was, though surprisingly he has no article.

But I thought all money changers were Jews?

(I kid, I kid.)

Randy from Boise · Unread post by **Randy from Boise** » Wed Oct 18, 2017 2:56 pm

thekohser wrote:
Poetlister wrote:
thekohser wrote:It's a stretch to convert that to 'Wexler', though.
Wexler is a German name. It is a corruption of "Wesseler," meaning "money changer." Donald Wexler (T-H-L) and Harry Wexler (T-H-L), for example, weren't Jewish. William Wexler was, though surprisingly he has no article.
But I thought all money changers were Jews?

(I kid, I kid.)

Oy vey...

::facepalm::

RfB

Unread post by **tarantino** » Thu Feb 15, 2018 9:40 pm

The lawsuit against Zaiger was thrown out last December. The judge ruled that Monsarrat waited too long to file.

Zaiger was recently ousted from ED, apparently for being incompetent and spending ED donor money on himself. He was also arrested last Friday on some unspecified warrant.

Kingsindian · Unread post by **Kingsindian** » Thu Feb 15, 2018 10:24 pm

Tangentially related: The Atlantic published a very long story on Andrew Anglin, the founder of the Daily Stormer. He is being represented by the same lawyer (Marc Randazza). Both were mentioned in the thread above.

Poetlister · Unread post by **Poetlister** » Fri Feb 16, 2018 1:46 pm

tarantino wrote:The lawsuit against Zaiger was thrown out last December. The judge ruled that Monsarrat waited too long to file.

I like the quote "Encyclopedia Dramatica, a Wikipedia-like Web site, only more consistently obnoxious." I expect that the admins of ED would treat that as a compliment.

Kingsindian · Unread post by **Kingsindian** » Sat May 18, 2019 12:43 pm

Not exactly related, but some similarities.

I have mentioned the website Wesearchr and its owner Charles Johnson before. One of his websites GotNews.com filed for bankruptcy recently. Mark Randazza was their attorney as well.

Daniel Brandt · Unread post by **Daniel Brandt** » Fri Oct 04, 2019 10:49 pm

Check out @eddotse on Twitter. This Rockenhaus guy keeps saying that he's "almost got it fixed." Encyclopedia Dramatica has been down now for about five weeks.

Here's a post by @RockRockenhaus on October 2 on the @eddotse Twitter account:

"Alright, here’s the deal. Sibin’s RAID failed. All data was lost. He didn’t have any backups. What we’ve been doing is recovering DB backups we can find, building a new backend, and then building the frontends. So basically we’re rebuilding ED."

The images posted by Robert Crawford on October 3 on @eddotse have to do with the court martial of Rockenhaus from the U.S. Navy in 2014, where Rockenhaus was a technician. He was court martialed for seven counts of making false official statements and four counts of wearing an unauthorized ribbon or device.

Sounds like Rockenhaus will be a good replacement for Ryan Cleary. I think Cleary by now has lost his appetite for ED. I read that he got a 34-month sentence for DDoS activities (he was arrested in mid-2012), but that was just a comment by someone so don't quote me on that.

Unread post by **tarantino** » Fri Oct 04, 2019 11:41 pm

And nothing of value was lost.

Unread post by **Midsize Jake** » Sat Oct 05, 2019 12:03 am

Just for a bit of background, Mr. Rockenhaus (Conradrock (T-C-L) on Wikipedia) apparently was unhappy with one or more of the people at the naval hospital he was going to, and wanted to get into a special program for wounded veterans instead. Unfortunately, he had never been wounded, and had never even been deployed into a combat zone, so he felt compelled to try and forge some documentation showing that he had received four medals - including a Purple Heart - hence the four counts of "wearing an unauthorized ribbon or device." The case docket is available on the US Navy's website.

Unfortunately, the docket doesn't provide any details about the medical condition he wanted better treatment for, so we might never know if God actually looked into the future, realized Mr. Rockenhaus would someday attempt to bring Encyclopedia Dramatica back online, and then decided to smite him pre-emptively.

Daniel Brandt · Unread post by **Daniel Brandt** » Sat Oct 05, 2019 1:17 am

Midsize Jake wrote:Unfortunately, the docket doesn't provide any details about the medical condition he wanted better treatment for, so we might never know if God actually looked into the future, realized Mr. Rockenhaus would someday attempt to bring Encyclopedia Dramatica back online, and then decided to smite him pre-emptively.

Don't bother asking God about this. All we have to do is get SlimVirgin to start a biographical stub on him.