Stefan de Rothschild, 17 year old philanthropist Options

[tarantino]

This elaborate hoax was set up with several articles created by User:Womblethereof.

It was mentioned at the Biographies of living persons/Noticeboard yesterday and all the articles have been deleted.

His 238 twitter followers and the folks at the Huffington Post (where he wrote an editorial that received 130 comments) have yet to catch on though.

Mirrors of the deleted Wikipedia articles
http://www.wikiwak.com/wak/Stefan_de_Rothschild
http://www.wikiwak.com/wak/Andrew_de_Rothschild
http://www.wikiwak.com/wak/Nathaniel_Mayer_de_Rothschild
http://www.wikiwak.com/wak/James_Mayer_de_Rothschild_II
http://www.wikiwak.com/wak/Rothschild_Estates

His current websites that are being used to perpetrate the hoax
http://www.stefanderothschild.com/
http://www.rothschildarts.org/
http://www.rothschild-estates.com/
http://www.rothschildglobalfoundation.org/

This post has been edited by tarantino: Fri 29th January 2010, 7:01pm

[EricBarbour]

This is too damn bizarre.

Why in hell would anyone, sane or insane, do all this?
(Don't answer that. Nevermind. It's Wikipedia.)

And what really amuses me: the photo in that TED profile
bears a remarkable resemblance to my friend John Atwood.........

This post has been edited by EricBarbour: Sat 30th January 2010, 6:06am

[tarantino]

This is too damn bizarre.

Why in hell would anyone, sane or insane, do all this?
(Don't answer that. Nevermind. It's Wikipedia.)

And he's been doing it since 2005..

The 2008 version of The Stefan Roberts biography lasted for 73 days before deletion, and was created shortly before he started blogging on the Huffington Post. Likewise, the Stefan de Rothschild article was created shortly before he switched to blogging under that name. He's using WP and his cheap websites to give the appearance of credibility to use on HuffPo. It's one of, if not the most visited and linked to blogs, so he's probably doing it because he wants to be read.

This post has been edited by tarantino: Sat 30th January 2010, 10:01pm

[MZMcBride]

And he's been doing it since 2005..

For reference, the page Stefan Roberts was originally created on September 29, 2005 by Pikelet04 (T-C-L-K-R-D) . It included an image that was deleted along with the article: File:Stefan Roberts.jpg.

It appears the article was re-created by the same user on January 31, 2006. Pikelet04 was never blocked.

[Milton Roe]

And he's been doing it since 2005..

For reference, the page Stefan Roberts was originally created on September 29, 2005 by Pikelet04 (T-C-L-K-R-D) . It included an image that was deleted along with the article: File:Stefan Roberts.jpg.

It appears the article was re-created by the same user on January 31, 2006. Pikelet04 was never blocked.

Eh? Then where did he GO?

[the fieryangel]

And he's been doing it since 2005..

For reference, the page Stefan Roberts was originally created on September 29, 2005 by Pikelet04 (T-C-L-K-R-D) . It included an image that was deleted along with the article: File:Stefan Roberts.jpg.

It appears the article was re-created by the same user on January 31, 2006. Pikelet04 was never blocked.

Eh? Then where did he GO?

To a "champagned-fuel New Year's party", from the sounds of it :

So I started the new decade all excited about, well, everything. From the champagne-fueled party on New Year's Eve to that ecstatic countdown up to midnight (this year, with BBC Radio 1 being patched in through the house's sound system so that we could hear Big Ben chime 12), and that oh-so-special kiss to start off 2010!

Actually, even if this isn't even remotely believable, it's really a shame that this guy is a fake...since his position about arts funding makes perfect sense...However, I wonder just how much of the money he was obviously fishing for with these websites would have actually gone to working artists?

Has anybody tipped off the Huffington post about this guy?

[Milton Roe]

And he's been doing it since 2005..

For reference, the page Stefan Roberts was originally created on September 29, 2005 by Pikelet04 (T-C-L-K-R-D) . It included an image that was deleted along with the article: File:Stefan Roberts.jpg.

It appears the article was re-created by the same user on January 31, 2006. Pikelet04 was never blocked.

Eh? Then where did he GO?

No, I meant how did Pikelet04 (T-C-L-K-R-D) get off WP? Are you sure you have the name right? You say he wasn't blocked, but he doesn't have a userpage. Not even one with a "banned editor" tag.

[the fieryangel]

I was talking to some French friends tonight about this, and the general consensus (there's that word again...) is that there is no way in Hell that the Rothschilds' would ever name any of their kids either Stefan or Andrew. He might as well have chosen Kevin or Dylan. It's really a huge tipoff that this is a hoax, at least to French people...

[Milton Roe]

I was talking to some French friends tonight about this, and the general consensus (there's that word again...) is that there is no way in Hell that the Rothschilds' would ever name any of their kids either Stefan or Andrew. He might as well have chosen Kevin or Dylan. It's really a huge tipoff that this is a hoax, at least to French people...

How about this guy, born in 1949? Of course, he appears Swedish.

http://www.ngo-fundraising.com/75585/eng_background

[Trick cyclist]

How about this guy, born in 1949? Of course, he appears Swedish.

Sweden is another country. They do things differently there.

Anyway is there any reason to assume hes related to the French Rothschilds? I know they have relations in England but why would they want to have Swedish ones?

This post has been edited by Trick cyclist: Mon 1st February 2010, 12:18pm

[the fieryangel]

How about this guy, born in 1949? Of course, he appears Swedish.

Sweden is another country. They do things differently there.

Anyway is there any reason to assume hes related to the French Rothschilds? I know they have relations in England but why would they want to have Swedish ones?

This guy is Stefan Rothschild. The other guy is Stefan de Rothschild.

The de changes everything. It's not even the same name, really...

[Trick cyclist]

This guy is Stefan Rothschild. The other guy is Stefan de Rothschild.

The de changes everything. It's not even the same name, really...

Yes, the "de" makes it all so French doesnt it? But this noble French family was originally from Germany so the "de" isnt original. The name means "Red shield" in German. And the English branch of the family doesnt use "de" either.

[the fieryangel]

This guy is Stefan Rothschild. The other guy is Stefan de Rothschild.

The de changes everything. It's not even the same name, really...

Yes, the "de" makes it all so French doesnt it? But this noble French family was originally from Germany so the "de" isnt original. The name means "Red shield" in German. And the English branch of the family doesnt use "de" either.

The French Rothschilds were made barons by Emperor Francis I of Austria in 1822, in the aftermath of the Napoleonic wars. That's where the "de" comes from. Yes, it means quite a bit in these here parts....

If this guy hadn't used the "de", it might have been a little less obvious....but he still got caught.


From the Valleywag comments :

Despite his network of web sites, this guy doesn't really seem to have been trying all that hard. For instance, based on an extremely quick Google, significant chunks (and perhaps ALL) of the primary text on his RothschildArts.org site was lifted without modification from the Warhol Foundation web site. Even the little press release about the re-design of the site, crediting LA-based firm Hello Design, was lifted directly from the Warhol Foundation. I'm not sure if the De Rothschilds will think it's worth their while to address this guy, but I'm guessing that the Warhol Foundation and Hello Design might be willing to take him on . .