NYT Exposes the Identity of Fake Steve Jobs 166
mattatwork writes "NY Times writer Brad Stone figured out the real identity of Fake Steve Jobs. With classic nick names like 'freetards' and 'beastmaster' Fake Steve captured an audience of 700,000 visitors to the site and around 50 emails a day. According to Daniel Lyons, the senior editor at Forbes magazine who maintained the blog, there is no definite plan for the future of the site. 'Mr. Lyons said he invented the Fake Steve character last year, when a small group of chief executives turned bloggers attracted some media attention. He noticed that they rarely spoke candidly. "I thought, wouldn't it be funny if a C.E.O. kept a blog that really told you what he thought? That was the gist of it." Mr. Lyons says he recalled trying out the voices of several chief executives before settling on the colorful Apple co-founder. He twice tried to relinquish the blog, but started again after being deluged by fans e-mailing to ask why Fake Steve had disappeared.'"
Solved? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Solved? (Score:5, Funny)
Break out your magnifying glass kids, we're off to solve the Mystery of The Fake CEO Blogger!
Re:Solved? (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Solved? (Score:4, Insightful)
I feel a bit pissed at the NYT for spoiling the party, but I guess it was going to get spoiled sooner or later, and if not the NYT, then some other rag. The race was on.
I pretty much can't stand Mr. Lyons as a journalist, but as a parody SJ he was awesome. Thanks for the lulz, Dan. You'll always be FSJ in our hearts.
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TERRORIST!!!!!!
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Solved? Or handed on a platter? (Score:5, Insightful)
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This 'outing' seems to be the ultimate Fake post.
He's either a) bored, b) worried about legal heat, or c) got better ideas in mind.
Has been a great blog, though. I loved the occasional cheesecake photo with the impassioned denunciation of female exploitation.
Actually, it makes a lot of sense... (Score:5, Informative)
Finding out that he's been out trolling some more only makes sense. I mean, the guy is one great big douchbag and he loves getting people riled up. Doesn't Forbes want him publishing under his real name any more? I don't blame them. He's like a Dvorak clone who likes to rile anti-SCO people instead of Apple fans.
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Then he did something that I still can't believe. He picked up a marker and started drawing on my whiteboard. Which everyone knows is a huge pet peeve of mine. It's my whiteboard. Which I was standing at, holding a marker, writing things like, Wrong, Stupid, Clueless, Dumbass, No Friggin way, and so forth. So he started drawing on the whiteboard, things like Money, Mine, and Shut up, and I'm just standing there like, Oh. My. God. I can't believe I'm seeing this. What the frig? I could feel the veins in my eyes starting to swell up like they might explode. And I was like, Put. Down. The. Friggin. Marker. Now. Seriously, man, before I do some aikido moves and rip out your friggin heart and eat it in front of you, still beating. Or take your friggin head off. How dare you? How dare you? This is my whiteboard. That's it. Take your stupid money and don't let the door hit you on the butt on the way out. I'll do my own blog, on my own terms. Now, despite all this, I did say "Peace" as he left.
-- From the post God it feels so good to fire people [blogspot.com].
So, Dan Lyons the reporter? Douchebag should choke on his own cock. Dan Lyons the satirist? Artist. It's too bad he's folding The Secret Diary into Forbes. He should quit his job there, leave the douchebaggery behind him, and strike out on his own.
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Your statements are as libelous as what you accuse Lyons of, if they are not true.
Weaselly posts like this modded up to +5 are why I rarely read
Re:Actually, it makes a lot of sense... (Score:5, Informative)
Don't have much of a memory do you? Try reading some Groklaw. In fact, PJ posted about this just today [groklaw.net]. Mr. Lyons has quite a history around the SCO case. He's also attacked bloggers for being largely anonymous and lacking credibility. Pot calling the kettle something...
Try Groklaw (Score:2)
You don't have to agree with or believe PJ, you just have to take a look at the sources she cites and connect the dots for yourself.
Actually, the most recent Groklaw story already provided covers most of my allegations. The fact that SCO cited DL's blog is a matter of public record (it's in
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Re:Bill Gates (Score:5, Funny)
And as they say on Ebaum's World (Score:5, Funny)
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Link NYT article@news.com (Score:5, Informative)
John Howard: Prime Minister (Score:5, Funny)
Re:John Howard: Prime Minister (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:John Howard: Prime Minister (Score:5, Funny)
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question from los angeles (Score:2)
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USA:
Area:
total: 9,826,630 sq km
land: 9,161,923 sq km
water: 664,707 sq km
note: includes only the 50 states and District of Columbia so this inclides Alaska
Area - comparative: about half the size of Russia; about three-tenths the size of Africa; about half the size of South America (or slightly larger than Brazil); slightly larger than China; more than twice the size
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Darn. (Score:2)
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Could you imagine what Apple could do by creating a "Fake Steve Jobs" blog now?
Can you imagine Mr. Lyons trying to sue Apple for using the name "Steve Jobs" in a fake blog?
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It's rather like running around Disney World and pulling the heads off the characters. We know they're fake... but do you have to completely ruin it for everyone?
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Re:Darn. (Score:5, Funny)
Good job, New York Times. (Score:5, Insightful)
Almost as good, Forbes. (Score:2, Insightful)
Now, if only we could get those investigative journalists of yours to apply their talent where it really makes a difference...
Or if Daniel Lyons and Forbes could really understand technical issues and provide informed reporting instead of tired satire. Really, this guy's bad attitude comes across in his day job too.
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We have Pakistan (our ally) collaborating with the Taliban [indianexpress.com], there are Over 20 million displaced homeless [npr.org] due to floods in India, and let's not mention the hypocrisy of the government at home.
If The New York Times feels that this is a worthy exercise for their investigative reporters.... what has the world come to. Rupert Murdoch owns the WSJ, a
Re:Good job, New York Times. (Score:5, Insightful)
You do know that the New York Times has more than one reporter, right? And that it's possible for them to write stories on silly little things like this and still cover the Taliban, homeless, floods, and government? Oh, and even give us a nifty new crossword every day?
Re:Good job, New York Times. (Score:5, Insightful)
If The New York Times feels that this is a worthy exercise for their investigative reporters....
Maybe it's the only kind of investigative reporting that they can do these days without being arrested.
Don't scoff - Bush himself went on a rampage after the NYTimes outed his little "go around the courts" wiretapping program.
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Re:Good job, New York Times. (Score:5, Funny)
Well, none of us have real Jobs.
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That was old news in 1999. The Taliban are what happens when the kids that grow up in brutal refugee camps back over the border from Pakistan and come home to turn the entire country into a brutal refugee camp. The links are very deep to different factions in Pakistan - but you can't blame the entire country for it. Other allies such as Algeria get up to far nastier things.
When it comes down to it this article probably only needed a few hours of
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You've got to be kidding. Perhaps you can find some good journalism there, underneath all the bile, slant, and anonymous sources.
He had one big story, and has been trying to recapture the magic ever since.
Re:Good job, New York Times. (Score:5, Insightful)
That its did this says nothing about the quality of its coverage of other items. You can't look at every use of a resource as wasteful just because it's not devoted to the single most important item of the day; the breadth of coverage is important too.
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They did such a good job... (Score:2)
Re:Good job, New York Times. (Score:5, Interesting)
So, if I were an investigate reporter trying to find out who minimsft is, I'd start by moving anyone who is not a current or former blue badge to the bottom of my suspects list. The stuff about being a manager and being male may be true or may be obfuscation, so I wouldn't put too much stock in it It's not hard for a non-manager there to make the same observations mini-msft makes. I accept that minimsft is probably male, if for no reason other than most of the people working there (at least in coding jobs) are men.
Minimsft may well be exactly what he describes himself as. OTOH, I wouldn't be surprised if he were actually a mid or senior-level manager. Turning an oil tanker can be hard, even for someone with a lot of clout, and revolution is sometimes easier to start from the bottom than from the top. Microsoft is certainly an oil tanker, or perhaps an aircraft carrier might be a better description. They, too, take a lot of time and space to turn, but once turned can move pretty quickly and bring a lot of power to bear on the target.
Can Microsoft be turned? Now that's an interesting question. The corporate culture there so powerful, pervasive, and seemingly immutable. Turning Microsoft may not be impossible, but it would be very, very hard.
Tragedy (Score:5, Funny)
Next assignment: (Score:5, Funny)
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Anonymous Coward has already been revealed (Score:2)
On another note, I can't believe I've been reading slashdot long enough to remember such a thing....
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This needs quoting (Score:5, Informative)
"You put the pieces of the puzzle together. You went through my trash, hacked into my computer, and put listening devices in my home. Now you've ruined the mystery of Fake Steve, robbing thousands of people around the world of their sense of childlike wonder. Hope you feel good about yourself, you mangina."
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A better quote (Score:5, Funny)
thanks NYT! (Score:5, Funny)
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NYT guy wanted revenge (Score:1)
"Lyons clearly used the Fake Steve persona to further some of his own interests and positions. For example, articles in other business publications and their journalists were a frequent target of criticism from Fake Steve, while Forbes got off comparatively easy."
He was mad that this obviously fake Steve, which nobody was really taking seriously, was making too much fun of him.
Seriously, that looks like a kid wrote it. I can even hear the whiny voice...
Re:NYT guy wanted revenge (Score:4, Insightful)
Shoot. (Score:2)
Yeah, no one really believed it was the real Steve Jobs, but it's still one of those things where now that it's out things aren't quite the same.
Secret Diary of Bill Gates (Score:5, Interesting)
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Fine, but Wayback appears to have no actual content beyond the front page.
I'm surprised how thoroughly this once-popular site has been erased from the Internet. The PDF I linked appears to be on one site only. No other mirrors of the content that I could find. Looks like the real Billg has almost managed to wipe it out.
Well, that's ok... (Score:2)
--
BMO
This is borderline lolcat! (Score:4, Funny)
“Fake Steve Jobs is fake!” Shocking!
The Real Question /.ers Want to Know... (Score:5, Interesting)
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Who cares? (Score:2)
He wrote well and confidently, and mimicked the Apple point of view very well. But I'd guess that he had as much connection to Apple as FSJ does.
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As Seen on TV not seen at Apple anymore (Score:2)
IIRC he was busted by Apple management for leaking confidential info here and shown the door. That sucks, but so do comprehensive confidentiality agreements as conditions for employment.
Tell me if I'm wrong about this, I'd certainly like to be.
the senior editor at Forbes? (Score:1)
Forbes sponsorship (Score:2, Informative)
Fake Steve Jobs comes clean [forbes.com]
Forbes' phone interview with Daniel Lyons [forbes.com] (has annoying commercials)
Dan Lyons (Score:3, Insightful)
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His freetard posts are pretty funny. If you don't think so, it could be because you take yourself and the FSF much
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'Freetards in deep denial
"Freetard fails to notice the huge hole in his argument which is that -- imagine Sam Kinison screaming now -- fucking Linux is fucking free you fucking idiot! Linux is even cheaper than Windows"
"Think, jackass. Why is it okay for IBM and its Linux puppets to give software away free but not Microsoft?2
"And you guys are starting to sound like the world's biggeest whiner
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And other than the abusive language, what fault do you find with his reasoning? Perhaps you find the name calling so offensive that you don't even want to try and decipher his point. Fair en
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No, I say that the secret diary was done by a professional journalist with an agenda. Someone else don't agree with the 'humour' either.
Why I Don't Think Dan Lyons is Funny [chattablogs.com]
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No, I say that the secret diary was done by a professional journalist with an agenda. Someone else don't agree with the 'humour' either.
Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're out to get you. I guess. Also, humor is subjective, so it's no surprise that some do not see humor where others do. However, the link you provided is a criticism of Lyons' other blog, so I don't see how it is apropos.
I still don't understand your argument against The Secret Diary. So, Lyons is a professional journalist with an agenda by day. By night, he's Fake Steve Jobs. Are you proposing that Batman shouldn't be allowed to be Batman because he's really B
men in tights .. (Score:2)
was: Re:Dan Lyons (Score: weird)
off topic (Score:1)
Monty Python Version (Score:2)
Pantomime Steve Jobs: iHello, everyone!
Bigels: Back in the closet, you pantomime CEO person!
[Pantomime Steve Jobs, still waving, walks backwards back into closet]
[Real Zonk appears]
Bigels: Begone, you pantomime editor person!
[Bigels thwacks Zonk with big foam cluebat]
[Zonk runs off in tears, with kdawson close behind, licking Zonk's posterior]
The original true fake Steve Jobs' blog (Score:4, Interesting)
the real Daniel Lyons in his own words .. (Score:2)
'In other words: The cat-lady personal-injury [forbes.com] lawyer in Iowa who's been running the shakedown on Microsoft finally decided to take the money and scoot'
Shilling for SCO
"the Free Software Foundation doesn't want royalties--it wants you to burn down your house [forbes.com], or at the very least share it with cloners"
Providing a unique interpretation of GPL licensed code
"For the past two years Fleury's company, Atlanta, Ga.-based JBoss, has been stealing business from IBM (nyse: IBM
This confirms the theories of L. Detweiler. (Score:2, Interesting)
Some cypherpunks [jargon.net] discovered that Detweiler was using his own theories, and that he had several tentacles of his own.
This incident confirms the Detweiler theory.
Oy - mod parent up, y'all! (Score:5, Interesting)
Actually, given who it turned out to be, the motives and biases are rather clear in hindsight. I'm almost willing to bet that Steve Ballmer wasn't among the "other CEO voices" Mr. Lyons tried out...
But then, maybe it was a means for ol' Dan to get out his juvenile side?
I dunno - this is starting to sound too much like a flamebait -ish pack of conspiracy theories. Don't get me wrong, I thought it was funny here and there - but seeing who's behind it makes me wonder if it wasn't just a larger propaganda campaign on Lyons' part.
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Somebody should start a Fake Dan Lyons blog...
Re:Best known. (Score:5, Informative)
http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20070805
sums it up pretty well.
An "analyst" who supported SCO Group and is suspected as an MS front man. You wonder why there are conspiracy theories about MS being behind SCO Group's actions?
With 20/20 hindsight, it had to be Lyons, MOG or Dildio.
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FSJ used the term "People Ready" once in a blog and Bill Gates mentioned FSJ in a recent interview so
of course the whole thing is a conspiracy on Microsoft's part and Bill Gates was in on it?
I don't see how that necessarily follows.
The way I read the Groklaw article, they are merely reporting on the guy that's throwing this theory out there. I don't see Groklaw themselv
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The point PJ made was about "unbiased" journalism. She was stalked and outed in a mean-spirited attack. Lyons, MOG and Dildio have been consistent supporters of SCO Group in the face of community debunking of SCO Groups claims.
PJ has voiced a valid concern that one of the SCO Group's supporters and a possible MS shill was caught in a fake blog, as he wrote about bloggi
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It seems to me to be overly conspiratorial the way people (and I think you too, if I understand you correctly), are immediately blending all this stuff together into a story about FSJ being some kind of astroturf blogger for Microsoft.
I have a lot of experience with con
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Despite looking as though he's taking the piss out of Microsoft most posts concerning them seem to end up with them looking quite good and he obviously doesn't like open
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Anonymous personal attack on PJ (Score:2)
That's the end of my anonymous attack - you see despite the name I am not really a crappy old database program.
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I am glad to know it is a Forbes guy because Forbes has always been at the low rung on the ladder when it comes to understanding the computer industry.
Well, now he's