Re: 4/28/05 - NCANS.net: Bob O'Brien's Email Exchange with William Alpert of Barron's
Bob O'Brien's Email Exchange with William Alpert of Barron's
The following email exchange took place the morning of April 28. In the interest of open and full disclosure, I felt that it would be worthwhile to air it, in the same spirit of the prior discussions with the WSJ and such.
The tenor of the exchange is that I somehow have threatened Marc C. by posting what I am guessing was his address and family names and inquiring as to their continued disposition, on Yahoo. I obtained that information by googling his name and using a search engine that scans publicly available data. Now, if Marc or Barron's finds that sort of thing to be threatening, I have to disabuse them of that notion - it wasn't intended as such, merely as an indication as to the kind of data that is out there and the facility with which it can be had. Now, the written word can sometimes lose nuance, and thus perhaps Mr. Alpert felt that I was being threatening. How so is lost on me, and not immediately obvious, unless the posting of public info is somehow threatening - in which case the phone book must be a hotbed of threat.
So not stellar behavior from your's truly, but also understandable, I think. Certainly in the context of the overall tone of the board during that period, it fits. As well as in response to despicable attacks on a woman who is doing nothing more than attempting to shine a light on the cockroaches who are engaging in an illegal trading activity. If I've offended anyone I apologise - but if you don't want your data up, take it off the web. Duh.
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Dr. Mr. O'Brien.
I'd like to hear from "Mr. O'Brien" and ask him about the recently posted (and deleted) Yahoo message board threats against the family of M C, of RXXXXX Partners. My phone number and email are below.
I'd be very grateful for a speedy response.
Thanks,
Bill Alpert
Sr. Editor
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Mr. Alpert:
There weren't any threats. None. I would defy anyone to find any - that is an inaccuracy, and one that is being deliberately propagated in order to demonize and libel me.
I posted what is publicly available as Mr. C' home/office address in Marin, after a number of presumably paid bashers posted a number of the board regulars' CV on that message board. I felt that Mr. C' address is much like that of public figures in Hollywood, where they sell maps and take buses around to show you where the "stars" live. Given Mr. Cs' prominence and many TV appearances, I likened his celebrity to one of any other TV personality, and given the ease with which one can find his address using search engines such as Zabasearch, not exactly a state secret or high level confidence. If Mr. C doesn't want his information available on the web, I would suggest that he should take steps to remove the information - the complaint is akin to whining about having his number listed in the phone book, and then being shocked when it makes its way into another public forum.
Hint: If Brad Pitt doesn't want his number out there, take it off the search engines. Simple.
In retrospect it was not my finest moment, however context is important - several retired folks whose only offense is to post on the Yahoo message boards have had their lives paraded around those same boards by the bashers, who work in organized shifts. One woman is having her dead sister's name used as an ID now, and her brain damaged nephew's name used as a different alias, by the same crew that published her address.
I consider Mr. R and Mr. C to be prominent public figures - celebrities of a kind, given Mr. R's appearances on numerous investment talk shows, including on that of Jim Cramer, who indicated that he'd only met Mr. R at a grocery store - and before Congress, where he testified. And as discussed before, Mr. C has also been on numerous programs. That makes them celebrities. If their addresses are on the web, I have no problem sharing publicly available information. I didn't realize that it was against Yahoo's TOS, still haven't had a chance to read that entire tome - you should know that they also will remove your posts and ID if enough people complain, which the bashers did a year and a half ago and successfully had my original ID removed, so it's nothing new in terms of intimidation and harassment techniques.
I presume that this entire tempest in a teacup is the latest in an attempt for multi-millionaire hedge fund managers to play the role of aggrieved victims? You might think that they had better things to do with their time - they must view me as quite a threat to their game. I can only take that as flattering.
Let me know if you have any other questions.
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From Bill Alpert:
Thanks for your response. Other questions:
1) Is there any reasonable interpretation of your messages about C' wife and kid, other than as threats or incitements to others?
2) If this is all innocent repartee, why don't you identify yourself and your interest in the Novastar debates?
3) Can you refer me to the "basher" postings of personal/family info about other message board members? Did C make those postings?
4) In your last graph, you sound like you're encouraged by the reaction to your postings about C's family...Is that so?
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Mr. Alpert:
What threatening messages about M's wife and kid? Kindly direct me to the threatening messages that you are referring to. I don't recall threatening anyone, and that certainly has never been my intention. The notion that a multi-millionaire hedge fund manager can be threatened by a lowly anonymous message board poster is somewhat laughable, truth be told. But I'll play along.
There are a host of entities that are interested in locating and identifying me, some of whom presumably do not have my best interests in mind.
There is no way of knowing who made the offending postings - the boards are anonymous. Again, M's address is a matter of public information. Can you identify to me how or why it should be viewed as somehow sacrosanct, given that fact?
I don't view the reaction to my postings as flattering in the least - again, I freely admit that it is not my finest moment. I am flattered by the apparent level of attention that full page articles in the WSJ (your sister pub, and one that has written conspicuously negative pieces about NFI, among other RP shorts) would imply for a humble message board poster - that seems completely unwarranted.
Look, there is no threat intended to M or his group. His address is part of the public record. That is fact. You can look it up. Anyone motivated to do so can. What's the big secret? Why is this in any way newsworthy, especially from a senior editor of Barron's? Am I missing something here?
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"What threatening messages?" Help me understand the meaning of messages like these:
04/19/05 04:07 pm Msg:
How is the weather up in Ross, anyway? Sunny days" Todo Bien? Is XXXX well? XXXXX good? Everything working out OK?
Wanna talk about XXXXXXXXXXXX as well?
Still feel like playing?
This is coming up on game over time. Figure it out. Your playbook is known.
***
04/22/05 10:03am Msg:
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX, Ross CA
MXX doing well today, I trust?
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Mr. Alpert:
Context. There are preceding messages where MXXy's brain damaged nephew is being mocked, by name. And her dead sister's name being used by another basher. I believed that I was responding to M or one of his lieutenants, and wished to let them know that public information could easily be displayed about his loved ones as well. Here is a fun example of the type of posts to which I am referring:
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mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmfff
by: mTTTTTT_turnip_bXXXXX (M/Vegetable Farm) 04/27/05 08:48 am
Msg: 296920 of 297463
duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuh
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If you click on the profile, you get as one of his hobbies "drooling."
I could spend some time to dig up the ones where MXXy's deceased sister is mocked as well, if you are particularly interested. MTTTT is MXXy's brain damaged nephew. Starting to get a feel for the lay of the land?
I inquired as to how M's folks are doing, in a spirit of reciprocity. I believed that I was responding to him. Given your unusual interest, I now suspect I was correct.
The message boards are sometimes an ugly place. I usually try to take the high road and ignore these kinds of things. I lost my temper given that MXXy is a sweet, elderly woman who loves her deceased sister and her nephew. In retrospect I would have chosen my response with more care. I suspect we all have things we would go back and do differently. Again, the context was in response to equally ugly posts attacking someone who is helpless, by someone that I believe could well be Marc or one of his quislings.
As to the part about the game book being known, that IS intended to be a warning - it is a reference to what I believe is a systematic manipulation of NFI's share price. I could be wrong, but it is my opinion that someone is gaming NFI's price, and M is known to be one of the groups that is involved in shorting it. Do I have definitive proof? Nope. Not unless one can review the trading records and see. Is there a smoking gun? Yup. I believe that there are plenty of indicators that manipulation is occurring. Other ID's that have been associated to M's group have been seen bashing NFI, so it isn't a stretch that he might be on the boards doing so. And I reserve my right to express my opinion.
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Mr. Alpert:
Here's another gem, which has since been removed by Yahoo - but you can read the memo field and get verification of what the message was about:
Yahoo! ID: lXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Subject: Impersonation
Message Board: nfi
Message ID Number: 294049
Type your feedback here: COMPLAINT: This guy is stalking me and using my late sister's personal information, including her name, her address etc. Please act immediately.
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This is from a woman in her 60's. Now, you may believe that she doesn't count, or that two wrongs don't make a right, but at the end of the day, these are the kinds of antics that are going on at that board - and to single my messages out and ignore the context of the overall tone and abuse going on is disingenuous, IMO. Again, this is a private citizen, not a public figure, that people I strongly believe are associated with M are doing everything they can to violate, and I got annoyed, and posted his publicly available data. There is no there there. End of story. Nothing more. It was a response to many prior incidences of terrible behavior by the basher crew working the boards, and eventually I had enough. Clear?
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