Comments: Slashdot "Editor Upgrade" citizen-journalism inquiries come to naught

that page still contains Simoniker's bio. He left months ago.

Posted by Anonymous Coward at February 5, 2005 04:23 PM

Don't know that it's trustworthy, but it's a good yarn nonetheless:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=138099&cid=11570041

Posted by brian at February 6, 2005 08:50 PM

I heard about that post, but I don't believe it at all. It's too inconsistent with what's known. Moved to Canada over the Bush presidency? OK, it's amusing at some level, I'll grant that, but it's a troll.

Posted by Seth Finkelstein at February 6, 2005 08:58 PM

Here's an idea. Call up an HR lacky posing as an employer that is interested in dipshit, I mean Michael, and ask if he left on good terms, left a notice, is eligible for re-hire, etc. Maybe not the most honest things in the world to do, but it's better than hacking his hotmail account. :-)

Posted by TechnoLust at February 9, 2005 08:24 AM

Regrets, that's not an option for me - it doesn't work either morally or practically.

I think it's right and proper, even necessary, to make an issue of someone who domain-hijacked a group's site, broke legal confidences, and then smeared to blow smoke over it all. Were I to lie myself even in a small way, aside from the ethical violation, this would give ammunition to the attempts to make attack and defense be morally equivalent.

Moreover, such a scheme would be prone to unravelling if the person contacted checked into the reasons.

Thanks for thinking about the problem though.

Posted by Seth Finkelstein at February 9, 2005 11:50 AM

Here's a thought.

Don't pretend to be an HR guy trying to hire him, just don't say that you're not.

Call up OSDN HR.

"Hi, this is Seth Finklestein calling from [whereever you're calling from]... I was hoping you'd have a few moments to answer some questions of about Michael Numbnuts"..

Maybe the person will bite, maybe they won't, but calling someone up, properly identifying yourself, and asking your questions point-blank doesn't really strike me as immoral.

Posted by wes at February 9, 2005 06:57 PM

I already tried that approach twice, got bounced around, and finally dead-ended when someone wasn't in their office and didn't call back. I suppose I could give it yet another whirl. I suspect though, that the trail will eventually again lead being told to speak to the people in charge of Slashdot. And they aren't talking.

Posted by Seth Finkelstein at February 10, 2005 01:24 AM

Update: CONFIRMED!

Posted by Seth Finkelstein at February 15, 2005 03:02 PM