Ladies and gentlemen: these are the facts of the case, and they are indisputable.
July 14, 2009 at 10:06 am
The following comment was placed on a GNU/Linux/FOSS-Activist site:
This is a screenshot of the comment found here, second comment down, still intact. I'm making a screenshot just for the consideration of it in itself.
What does this look like to you? Is it not incendiary? Does it not lie? Does it not make unfounded accusations? Does it not make a pitch for Microsoft Bing? Does it not pretend to be written by an ordinary user with no financial interest in the subject?
Let us click through to the URL linked from the name of one "Jonathan Wong." We currently see (because this is written on 7/19/09 in the AM) a blog called "Armchair Theorist" with a tagline "All conjecture, minimal substance." The current new post is "Using Rich Interactive User Experiences to Market your Brand." Not so different from any personal blog, is it?
Here is his about page. The average public person, the kind whose purchasing decisions may be swayed by blog comments, so far still has no clue as to Wong's agenda. Might be any random teen off MySpace. Like any random personal blog, he links to NSFW content, makes dumb jokes, plays it like he's just another kid enjoying a swim in the social media pool.
The media-savvy and tech-savvy amongst you can decode the message, however. He says he is "a technology evangelist working for the biggest software company in the world." Then asserts that he doesn't know what exactly a technology evangelist is. Note that he is careful NOT to say the "M-word", lest somebody casually Googling for "Microsoft Evangelist" stumble upon this prominent page, with his picture thereupon.
Not until you search and hunt through his entire website do you get to this post, in which, after the misleading title and a paragraph of bubbling to chase any interested readers away, he presumably fulfills his contractual obligation to disclose that he has been hired at Microsoft on an Evangelism Team.
You see that picture of the comment he made on a FOSS blog? THAT'S HIS JOB! That's what a Microsoft Evangelist does. What a Microsoft Evangelist does is what the laws in the United States are rapidly starting to call "Cyber Harassment."
For pointing this out, for outing this travesty, this dishonesty, this dirty business practice, this SPAMMER, Roy Schestowitz of BoycottNovell is under attack. And then, for not even sticking up for him, but for using his case as a jumping-off point to illustrate how calling Linux advocates "zealots" is actually an act of projection on the part of Microsoft, I am under attack.
And if you follow the logic and common sense within your own skull and call the ASTROTURFING SPAMMER an ASTROTURFING SPAMMER, you will be under attack, too.
On the attack: David "Lefty" of "Open Source To Go" (whose comments are appended to the previous post - David, didn't I tell you that you wouldn't like me when I'm angry from being lied to?), the LXer sewing circle (remember them from the Tux500 scam?), and linsux.org. I wouldn't bother linking to linsux - I block and delete them whenever I see them. After the remark one of the linsuxers made about wishing my mom would die, I figure, "Eh, what else needs to be said between us?"
Summary: A blogger pointed out corporate-sponsored cyber-harassment, showed evidence of it, and was met by more harassment. I got involved, just to use the moment for an un-related Aesop, and have received the same revenge in measure. And that's all there is to this story.
Never forget the day that:
- David Schlesinger (his blog's sidebar lists a bunch of memberships in FOSS - are these true?),
- LXer,
- linsux.org,
- And a Microsoft Evangelist...
...stood side-by-side, shoulder-to-shoulder, screaming their foul obscenities to the Free and Open Source community, with their united, single voice. And all to viral-market one stinking little search engine! They would do well to band up. They all mean the same purpose. They all want the same thing. They all want the same corporation to dominate the Earth.
Who else is on their side? Because, as a highly proud member of the Technology Freedom Movement, I'll tell you this today: You're with us or against us.
I know, that sounds really Republican-going-to-Iraq, doesn't it? It isn't often that life provides us such a black-and-white situation. But that's what makes this day so special. This thing is snowballing out of control, picking up more people from both sides every day. Watch the comments, watch the blogs, mine, yours, everybody's. Through it all, we will have a very clear view of what color shirt everybody is wearing.
You're with us or against us. You're with us or against us. You're with us or against us.
UPDATE: The Microsoft Evangelist 'Armchair Theorist' keeps the ball rollin' by writing what I am sure must be the longest single work of writing he has ever done, all trying to back out of it. My, he sure seems more polite on his own website than he does when he's posting flames on somebody else's site, doesn't he?
I'll leave him to wriggle on his hook. It's quite entertaining. Furiously scrabbling like a cat on a hot tin roof looking for any support, he cites linsux.org. I mean, he actually wrote, "Here is a post from the Linux community Linsux.org," as if they're part of the community. (Well, then there are those who suffer from the delusion that the Cult of Helios and LXer.com are part of the community...)
Oh, I give up. Some people mock themselves better than I can mock them.
6 feedbacks
Comments:
3. You're indifferent.
4. You're rational.
When I get too worked up about this stuff, I find a long walk in the woods or along the beach puts things back into perspective. I give thanks every day that there is much more to the world than my computers.
Incidentally, I'm with you. :-)
No, Perlejade, I am sorry to you. I don't know what you're going through lately, but you sound much more upset than your old self. Don't worry about me. These sewage fights come and go through the blogosphere all the time.
This? I was just clearing my throat. Gotta be sure it still works. *Batting eyelashes shyly.*
You know, Pete. Here's what might make you feel better: "Bing" is just Microsoft's desperate response to Chrome OS. They know they could lose the war so they're pushing to take back a battle lost long ago... (one which methinks they can't win now)
You need to calm down before posting about that. Yes, your point is true. But just look at yourself! The comment you're showing is pure astroturf alright - but it's written in a calm, detached tone, attacks without being aggressive, and most importantly is technically true (Microsoft can't be so bad that literally nothing can be said for them, therefore an account entirely made of evidence against them is suspicious). Whereas you're screaming in large, unfriendly letters, using dubious rhetoric (we're at war with Microsoft, but metaphorical war, not actual war that turns a bunch of people into corpses), and generally sounding like a fanatic ("with us or against us"? Puh-lease! That guy in his cabin in the woods sure ain't). If your opponents were stating good arguments (they aren't), you wouldn't know; you're clearly in confrontational mode rather than truth-seeking mode. You aren't going to change your opponents' minds and you know it, you aren't looking for good arguments on their part, and you aren't going to convice your audience with that attitude. You need a break.
Also, you need some perspective. Freedom to compute is pretty damn important, but most of our lives don't really depend on it. There are much more important battles to fight right now, just ask givewell.com. When you start caring more about FOSS than RMS does, you're overdoing it.
Yeah, OK, I'm still pissed off at your comment about my personal problems mattering less than Microsoft. Wanna trade?