Don Murphy brings the Apocalypse! Options

[carbuncle]

After User:Erik added a picture to Don Murphy, the following note appeared on his talk page:

Don Murphy Photo
Dear Erik

Cropping a photo does not make it a derivative work. You do not have the copyright to that photo you inserted. You can avoid personal litigation by removing it within 48 hours. The Foundation cannot avoid it. Thank you. SharkJumper 15:44, 23 April 2010 (UTC)

Enjoy WP while you still can!

Never mind - Apocalypse cancelled.

[Daniel Brandt]

Today I spoke with Erik Kraft for about 30 minutes. I left my telephone number on his answering machine yesterday and identified myself fully. Now he's back in Chicago. He says that he was tempted to not return my call (he's still getting harassing messages), but then considered my contributions to this thread and dialed my number. He said he did talk to the police. Now he's back in Chicago.

I'm more convinced than before that he's innocent, and I was thoroughly convinced before. Any strange behavior over the last few days (like deleting some of his web pages) was due to the fact that all hell broke loose when "Don" (no last name) called him. He said that Don's attitude was rather in-your-face (I find this believable), and Kraft had no idea who "Don" was at that time.

Initially Kraft had very little familiarity with Wikipedia and how it works, but he dove right in because he needed to find out what the hell was going on. Now he knows more about Wikipedia, but still seems unfamiliar with consulting a recent archive, or with researching edit histories. He has computer smarts, and I'm sure he will learn a lot more about navigating Wikipedia very quickly if he remains interested. At the moment he says he's jet-lagged (14 hours of travel) and is tempted to forget about the whole thing. I encouraged him to stick it out.

He said he'd be willing to talk to the press. I responded that we need to try and identify User:Erik first, because the press doesn't respond well to user names only. I mentioned Essjay and Seigenthaler, and the Essjay thing rang a bell slightly after I described it, but the Seigenthaler story was new for him. He clearly does not know a whole lot about Wikipedia, but he says he's learned a lot in the last few days.

He will probably be deleting more of his web pages. He is amazed by all the information that we dug up on him, and is now having second thoughts about his entire web presence. He said he just deleted his Facebook page.

Someone recommended to him that he contact Mike Godwin, and he said that he did this, and is waiting to hear back. I encouraged to him to pursue this and ask for User:Erik's checkuser data specifically. If he doesn't hear back, I recommended that he pay an attorney to send a formal request to Godwin.

I still feel that Murphy should do the same thing, and stop being so in-your-face, and stop insisting that the two Eriks are the same person. He should get his lawyer to send a formal, competent request to Godwin for User:Erik's checkuser data.

I asked Kraft if he had the sense that User:Erik was using him as a target of convenience, as in some sort of shield, in order to protect his own identity. He hadn't made up his mind on this, and hasn't had the chance to consider it. He mentioned that his girlfriend had been clicking around some, and she commented at one point that it was starting to look like a setup. He did express dismay that User:Erik has now disappeared, which leaves him (Kraft) hanging, unresolved and unsatisfied.
____________

As I see things, Murphy is at a fork in the road. For the first time he has strong standing for a formal request for checkuser data on User:Erik. If this is pursued in a professional manner (no insults, no swearing), Godwin will be on the spot. It's quite possible that pursuing this will not only produce the desired information, thereby giving us more clues for further research, but could also alert the cabal that now Murphy is a problem (i.e., more trouble than he's worth for a semi-notable BLP). This could eventually result in the deletion of his bio. If I had to describe my experience of how I got my page deleted in one sentence, then it would look like this: "Cabal to Wikipediots: Attention! This bio is not worth the trouble. Let it go."

At a minimum, obtaining User:Erik's checkuser data will scare the basement-dwellers, and they won't be messing with Murphy's bio in the future. You cannot out-troll a basement-dwelling Wikipediot teenager — there aren't enough hours in the day. Murphy comes close because he has his own forum and his own collection of teenage counter-trolls, but is this really what he wants? Does Murphy want to play Grand Anti-Wikipedia Counter-troll Master for a few more years, or does he want his bio deleted?

What is this anyway, a fuckin' movie? It's time for Murphy to decide, in my opinion.

[A Horse With No Name]

He said he'd be willing to talk to the press. I responded that we need to try and identify User:Erik first, because the press doesn't respond well to user names only. I mentioned Essjay and Seigenthaler, and the Essjay thing rang a bell slightly after I described it, but the Seigenthaler story was new for him. He clearly does not know a whole lot about Wikipedia, but he says he's learned a lot in the last few days.

Being in Chicago, he should get in touch with the Tribune. As a local story, it is dynamite. Plus, the newspaper runs a news syndicate that is picked up all over the country.

Actually, if he hits the right editor, this could be a great story that will toss a lot of mud at Wikipedia.

[BelovedFox]

He said he'd be willing to talk to the press. I responded that we need to try and identify User:Erik first, because the press doesn't respond well to user names only. I mentioned Essjay and Seigenthaler, and the Essjay thing rang a bell slightly after I described it, but the Seigenthaler story was new for him. He clearly does not know a whole lot about Wikipedia, but he says he's learned a lot in the last few days.

Being in Chicago, he should get in touch with the Tribune. As a local story, it is dynamite. Plus, the newspaper runs a news syndicate that is picked up all over the country.

Actually, if he hits the right editor, this could be a great story that will toss a lot of mud at Wikipedia.

In terms of local color who would take it up, it's too bad he doesn't live in Detroit. I know a guy at the Free Press who would love that kind of story (IMG:smilys0b23ax56/default/tongue.gif)

Honestly though, what's with all the mud-loving? Most people don't pay attention* to Michael Moore because his "documentaries" are full of ridiculous stunts and side-shows. You can make a balanced, well-reasoned piece about Wikipedia and still provoke important questions and dialogue.

*In the context of actually trusting his movies, or actually getting more informed about an issue in his movies. I'm sure lots of people know *him* without actually knowing jack about the issues.

This post has been edited by BelovedFox:

[A Horse With No Name]

Honestly though, what's with all the mud-loving? Most people don't pay attention* to Michael Moore because his "documentaries" are full of ridiculous stunts and side-shows. You can make a balanced, well-reasoned piece about Wikipedia and still provoke important questions and dialogue.

Mud sells, and Moore's documentaries bring in tons more money than serious stuff. (IMG:smilys0b23ax56/default/ermm.gif)

I used to write for the Chicago Tribune Syndicate through their Hartford Courant newspaper. If the real Erik needs tips on who to call, just whistle for Horsey. (IMG:smilys0b23ax56/default/evilgrin.gif)

And by the way...where is Tarantino? We could certainly use him to clarify who User:Erik really is.

[tarantino]

And by the way...where is Tarantino? We could certainly use him to clarify who User:Erik really is.

I'm watching from the sidelines :)

Nobody's mentioned that User:Erik is deaf. He probably doesn't take many cell phone calls.

[Daniel Brandt]

Nobody's mentioned that User:Erik is deaf. He probably doesn't take many cell phone calls.

Thank you tarantino!

He had a "This user is deaf" user box on his user page in his early days. I even made a note to myself when I first saw it. But it was only there a short time on his user page. I thought, for about 30 fleeting seconds a day later, "Why don't I check this out?" It would have taken three minutes to check it out. But then I thought to myself, "How does he watch all those movies if he's deaf? Maybe he was just figuring out how to stick user boxes on his page, and that's why he deleted it!" (As I recall, it was the first fime a user box showed up on his user page, looking at them in sequence.)

This web research is so weird. You short-change just one clue and it can turn out to be the one clue you should have checked just one step further, instead of wasting an hour chasing something else. This is why we need a lot of people searching and sharing simultaneously, and a lot less trolling.

If we get geolocation from an IP address, then wikipedia + deaf + city + films might be a useful search.

That settles it once and for all (for me, at least). I spent 30 minutes talking to Erik Kraft today, and he heard everything I said. Two different people. I suppose there are machines that can transcribe, but the back-and-forth was pretty fast at times.

[CharlotteWebb]

He added at least one stub about the spider-man sound-track:

The film's original score was composed by Danny Elfman. The score combines traditional orchestration, ethnic percussion and electronic elements. A CD release of the score came out on Sony's label.

I realize it doesn't prove anything as a deaf person could have copied that information from somewhere else, or through the help of a friend's ears. I haven't seen the film so I don't even know whether it's accurate, only that I wouldn't post something like that without at least listening to a sample. Too much potential to look like an idiot. Others' mileage may vary.

I notice User:Erik has edited several articles related to deafness and sign language, but only one time each and without any attention to the content, which seems a bit unusual: [1][2][3][4][5][6]

Not a smoking gun but I'd hesitate to take his word for it, particularly if he's been playing the shell-game regarding his identity.

If you have reasons to believe he's impersonating another Erik you're probably right, but if he says your mother loves you, check it out.

[Somey]

I realize it doesn't prove anything as a deaf person could have copied that information from somewhere else, or through the help of a friend's ears. I haven't seen the film so I don't even know whether it's accurate, only that I wouldn't post something like that without at least listening to a sample...

He probably got it from a fan-review site (he seems to like those a lot), but it's also possible that he's only partially deaf (i.e., hard-of-hearing). Some people with partial hearing loss can hear music, movies, TV etc. reasonably well if they put on headphones and really crank the volume, whereas if you're trying to have a conversation with them and they're not wearing some heavy amplification gear, they can't hear much at all.

I obviously have no idea one way or the other, but in theory that could conceivably explain why he likes movies so much...?

[Ottava]

He probably got it from a fan-review site (he seems to like those a lot), but it's also possible that he's only partially deaf (i.e., hard-of-hearing). Some people with partial hearing loss can hear music, movies, TV etc. reasonably well if they put on headphones and really crank the volume, whereas if you're trying to have a conversation with them and they're not wearing some heavy amplification gear, they can't hear much at all.

I obviously have no idea one way or the other, but in theory that could conceivably explain why he likes movies so much...?

I was born deaf (middle ear problems and various tube defects) but had surgery at the age of 3 to correct it. I do have tonal loss (probably about 20-30%) and there are times where my hearing is completely gone. I can hear on good days, I just sometimes have a problem if there is poor annunciation (and forget foreign languages, there are many sounds I just can't hear). Legally am I deaf? Well, I could easily apply as such under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The categories are rather broad. Who knows if he has any of the same problems or whatever. I'm just throwing it out there as a possibility.