Source of threatening emails regarding Serpo has been discovered to be Netchicken

I've been reading this whole Serpo stuff on this and other sites and this to me at least seems like a disgruntled former employee trying to settle one last score. It has nothing to do with Serpo except that it help to unite Bill Ryan with a very strange and shady but non the less interesting woman named Laura J. As someone watching this from many windows, I see this particular incident as a personal grudge with this netchicken person against Bill Ryan and his former bosses at ATS. Non the less, I'm enjoying reading every line of all the drivel from around the net. Way better and much less expensive than buying novels from the bookstore.

[edit on 15-3-2006 by tropicallee]

Originally posted by John bull 1
How is it you're able to edit my posts !!!!!!!!

Ummm, you quoted that from one of HIS posts and just didn't put it in the quotes.

You're too paranoid.

Originally posted by John bull 1

Originally posted by John bull 1

Originally posted by rdube02

In this case, I don't mind being a punching bag and being called an oily salesman - I volunteered to make what we discovered public because I felt it needed to be made public. And I still do.

I've just sat here for hours watching one of my best online friends being dragged through the mud and banned so he couldn't defend himself. Really what has that gained ?

You say you felt it needed to be made public and you still do

What the hell has it achieved ?

And, perish the thought, what were you trying to achieve ?

Take care everyone.

Till next time,
-Ry

Oh no you don't! I know you're reading this. I want a public apology afterall his humiliation was public. I'm sure somebody can knock one up.




[edit on 15-3-2006 by rdube02]

As Colombo always used to say.............

Just one more thing......................


How is it you're able to edit my posts !!!!!!!!

He didn't Jb...that edit tag was in the post you quoted. You just didn't get your close quote tag at the right place...Are you okay?

LOL! I didn't get my quote close tag in the right place either!....lmao

Originally posted by ZeddicusZulZorander

Originally posted by John bull 1
I've just sat here for hours watching one of my best online friends being dragged through the mud and banned so he couldn't defend himself. Really what has that gained ?

John, I have to disagree here. If he had ANY intent on defending himself...why didn't he come clean when it first happened weeks ago? Why use the spoof address of admin@abovetopsecret?

I don't think there is a defense here and the only mud...is the mud he made himself.

I agree. I'm not sure why you, John bull 1, are still attacking rdube02...

It's not as if what Netchcicken did has no relevance to the membership of this site. He tainted information directly related to subject matter found in this site.... Rdube02 exposed that- which is what we expect here, however uncomfortable it might be for some.

Rather than deny ignorance, Netchicken unfortunately chose to perpetrate disinformation... I'd say he made his own misfortune here...

(BTW, I would seriously reconsider the "friend" notion.... If the guy was prepared to harass SO's family members, and even potentially jeopardize SO's job, I'd think that would be reason enough to disassociate yourself from him... What was he thinking??? That kind of behavior is almost criminal. I don't keep friends like that....and neither should anyone else, imo. )

[edit on 15-3-2006 by loam]

Originally posted by loam.... If the guy was prepared to harass SO's family members, and even potentially jeopardize SO's job, I'd think that would be reason enough to disassociate yourself from him... What was he thinking??? That kind of behavior is almost criminal. I don't keep friends like that....and neither should anyone else, imo. )

SO said someone else was stalking him but, for the record, stalking is illegal in the states.

it really is cut and dry, nc perpetrated a hoax and hoaxers are banned from ATS, isn't that the case?

Loam, the problem is you only gain one view of it.

As I pointed out above, if Netchiken was to say "sorry" people wouldn't care and if he didn't do it, nobody will now believe him. If you were banned tomorrow, staff members said something on information from an external source - which anyone could gain- who are we going to believe?

You'd not be there to defend yourself...the fact Netchicken gave me his e-mail address, in chat off of the cuff, shows how easy that would be to gain and much information can be gathered from this - including an IP. Which seems to be the only "proof" he did it. Yet, we have those involved with Serpo jumping on the boat to slam ATS - not Netchicken, the site which showed Serpo to be a joke and a poor one at that.

Originally posted by loam
If the guy was prepared to harass SO's family members, and even potentially jeopardize SO's job

To clear things up... NC wasn't involved in any way in anything like that. However, one of his jokes inspired some already disgruntled former members to go down that path.

Originally posted by SkepticOverlord

Originally posted by loam
If the guy was prepared to harass SO's family members, and even potentially jeopardize SO's job

To clear things up... NC wasn't involved in any way in anything like that. However, one of his jokes inspired some already disgruntled former members to go down that path.

Good to see you clear it up, people thinking he stalked you - from New Zealand - will only make things worse.

Question: Why is this thread still active? Most threads involving the discussion of banning a member, is shut off straight away?

Originally posted by Valhall
LOL! I didn't get my quote close tag in the right place either!....lmao

Are you OK Valhall ?

I quoted my own post. Go back and check and you'll see it.

I quoted it in full because I knew if you could edit it once you could edit in again and remove the edit tags.

Now you've got to it edit it three times because you've quoted me.

Bah nevermind

[edit on 3/15/06 by FredT]

Originally posted by John bull 1

Originally posted by Valhall
LOL! I didn't get my quote close tag in the right place either!....lmao

Are you OK Valhall ?

I quoted my own post. Go back and check and you'll see it.

I quoted it in full because I knew if you could edit it once you could edit in again and remove the edit tags.

Now you've got to it edit it three times because you've quoted me.

Do what? You lost me three quotes back. What are you saying?

#975 here.

RESPECT.

Originally posted by John bull 1

Originally posted by Valhall
LOL! I didn't get my quote close tag in the right place either!....lmao

Are you OK Valhall ?

I quoted my own post. Go back and check and you'll see it.

I quoted it in full because I knew if you could edit it once you could edit in again and remove the edit tags.

Now you've got to it edit it three times because you've quoted me.

Wait, are you accusing me and rdube of editing your posts?

Sorry for being offtopic but I Personally think Simon is the Creator and Founder and every one who made ATS what it is, is also a founder. Just as Bill Gates was the Creator and Founder of MS, his first employees and CEOs were also founders, with out them, success would not have been found.

The reason Victor got the info too was probably an issue of trust, not drama.

Originally posted by John bull 1
and remove the edit tags.

I'm the only one that can do that... and it involves a (painful) complex process of logging into the server management console, accessing the database, selecting the posts table, finding the post, striping out the quotes (ask anyone that codes PHP), making the edit, pasting it in...

er... it's not easy.

In defense of Netchicken,

(I have the skin of a Rhino, sticks and stones bounce off, but I listen well to logic and reason)

"we realized something much more sinister was going on" == rd02

Maybe more levels there. When folks tend to start putting serious effort into something, it also attracts
scavengers.

"In the first case, the spoofed (faked) address was ..."

Spoofing email is more difficult now than it used to be, but still easier than most think. The base protocol,
SMTP, was never designed to be complicated, and came from days where spoofing and hacking had not
yet been concieved. Anyone literate in TCP/IP and mail protocols could do it.

"Being that the IP address traced to New Zealand"

I admit that this would be a streach and would require hacking skills/contacts, but Sharpmail's listed IP contact
can be spoofed but would require expert assistance. A complicit ISP technical person could provide his IP as
the end contact on a bounce (false IP set appended to the primary IP contact.) Unless the registration checks registrants
by full route trace, this would not be detected. I notice you do not list the IP address itself. That would be crucial evidence
to prove and locate sources. (Unless spoofed at the ISP level.)

"we discovered an online forum where a person named (netchicken's first name removed) (netchicken's last name removed) was asking a question about ..."

Not a difficult thing if you know how to use advanced search functions. Meaning this could have been discovered
long before you folks found it.

"we now had solid proof who the hoaxter was ..."

Nope. If someone had a vendetta against Netchicken and paid a few bucks to a complicit partner on an ISP, you
have figured out how it was done. But I will grant that given the ATS admin responses in here, there is sufficient
doubt on Motive to allow that what you have said is most likely the case. Just do NOT forget that internet tracking,
especially by those who do NOT have access to ISP logs and etc., is a pointer only, NOT PROOF. There is still
a possibility that Netchicken was set up. But being somewhat of a prankster, he has little hope of defending himself.
That part is his fault, true. If Netchicken actually WAS setup, then this mess is getting into multiple levels that will
catch my own interest. So until now SERPO has been a total joke to me, but I must admit the personalities involved
are becomming interesting.

Originally posted by SkepticOverlord

Originally posted by loam
If the guy was prepared to harass SO's family members, and even potentially jeopardize SO's job

To clear things up... NC wasn't involved in any way in anything like that. However, one of his jokes inspired some already disgruntled former members to go down that path.

Then it appears I owe Netchicken an apology for that portion alone... I am relieved to hear that.

I simply misread Springer's post:

Originally posted by Springer
As S.O. said, his family and colleagues were "stalked" by a freak who was enraged by Netchicken's antics elsewhere a couple years ago.

Well, back to where we started, imo.... It's unfortunate the way things went with Netchicken... I think everyone drank too much of the SERPO....

What's in that stuff?

"Hope this is cool guys, if not i imagine it'll be deleted. Didn't post a link to the board because i wasn't sure about that either. " == Rren

Rren, those who want to find it, will do so. Leaving out the link shows a real "people" skill on your part. For me, your
quote segment was the real dissappointment. Netchickens post sorta kills the part of SERPO that would have become attention getting.
Thanks for that. I was too lazy to go looking. Now, back to my nap, nothing more to see.

The Spirit Of Denying Ignorance

Kudos to rdube02 and his "co-conspirators" for exposing this hoax, sub-hoax or "prank", if you prefer.

That was some excellent detective work, and while some false assumptions have tainted what was otherwise a sterling effort, tracking down the perpetrator of this hoax is still an accomplishment to be proud of.

In light of how important exposing this sort of fraud is to maintaining the integrity of AboveTopSecret.com and the ATS community, I think it's reasonable to cut a significant amount of slack for rdube02 and associates.

While I can understand rdube02's concerns about whether you could trust SkepticOverlord in a case like this, I recommend giving him and the staff the benefit of the doubt unless and until they should demonstrate they don't deserve it.

For what it's worth, I've had my own little dramas with some staff members in the past, and hey, we're all only human (most of us, anyway).

But so far, I have never regretted giving them the benefit of the doubt, and they are among the very, very few people on the Internet who have earned my trust.

And I assure you, it must be earned well.

But sometimes, trust can be violated...

Yes, Netchicken Did It

It's him, he did it, and he has admitted it on his website in a thread titled, "To all the ATS individuals, an explanation". I'm not posting a link, but people can find it if they want to based on the information in this thread.

Apparently he has had some disagreements with Springer, and claims he never swore at him.

As far as I'm concerned, there is no reasonable doubt that Netchicken authored the hoax emails. I had held open the possibility that there could have been a mistake or a setup, but that is gone, now that he has admitted to the hoax on his own website.

Personally, I am extremely bummed about all this. I have long been a fan of Netchicken's incisive wit, and loved the way he could inject the kind of multi-layered irony into a discussion that had the power to make me stop and think about a topic in ways I would not have otherwise considered.

I like a little drama now and then, but not this kind.

Netchicken, if you should chance to read this, please know I that will miss you terribly, but I also agree with the decision to ban you. Deception and trickery is not the sort of thing any ATS member should indulge in, especially under circumstances as sensitive as these.

Nobody's perfect (especially me, and I have my own wicked streak to contend with, so I'm not preaching from an ivory tower on this), but this went too far.

I know it's trite as hell to say it, but I really do think of ATS as an online family, and this whole episode has brought a lot of grief to a lot of people I care about.

This was a game in which there could be no winners.