Changes: You're Not Helping

Revision as of 12:35, 21 May 2012

You're Not Helping was a group blog, which largely consisted of people whinging and whining and wailing about how disgusting and repulsive the New Atheists were. Their declared enemies included PZ Myers, Jerry Coyne and Ophelia Benson. The words "group", "people" and "their" should not be taken literally, as in June 2010 it emerged that the entire membership was in fact a network of sockpuppets operated by a lone individual, later outed as Walter "Wally" Smith.

Tom Johnson story

As Wally's sockpuppet network unravelled, it was revealed that he was also behind the "Tom Johnson" story (a tragic ballad of cruel persecution at the hands of the wicked New Atheists) trumpeted by pseudojournalist Chris Mooney on his Intersection blog. It was also revealed that Wally's sockpuppets were producing a substantial fraction of the Intersection comments (including attacks on people who dared to point out how ridiculous the Tom Johnson story was).

Identity

After the collapse of You're not helping, his identity was largely kept secret, as part of a deal to not resume trolling. For some time, this deal appeared to be holding, but then Ophelia Benson started to become suspicious of a poster named "Hammill", who would follow her and Jerry Coyne around the internet, posting malicious lies. A month later, she obtained proof that "Hammill" was indeed the same person, and outed him as Walter "Wally" Smith, a graduate student at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa.

List of sockpuppets

Directly Admitted

(Confessions made here and here.)

Bilbo (One of several people to use this name on Pharyngula.)
Milton C.
Patricia
Petra
Philip Jr.
Polly-O!
Seminatrix
Tom Johnson
William (Pseudonym used for above confession.)

Confirmed

Brandon (Observed to be using the same IP address as admitted sockpuppet "Polly-O!".)
Hammill (Caught out by Ophelia Benson.)
Michael L. Thomas (A post under the name of admitted sockpuppet "Milton C." was five weeks later edited to give it this name.)
WHS (A post under this name was later edited in the same time-frame as the above "Milton C." to "Michael L. Thomas" switch. The name matches Wally's initials, and the posts contained then-private details of his life.)

Suspected

The YNH comment section absolutely swarmed with "individuals" who did little else but echo the original post, and attack any dissent. While some of these could be traced to real people, it is probable that the majority were sock puppets. The most suspicious of these included:

The Accuser
Bad Monkey
Bill S.
EDK
Julie
PJ
Vindrisi
Vyspyr

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-'''You're Not Helping''' was a group blog, which largely consisted of people whinging and whining and wailing about how disgusting and repulsive the [[New Atheists]] were. Their declared enemies included [[PZ Myers]], [[Jerry Coyne]] and [[Ophelia Benson]]. The words "group", "people" and "their" should not be taken literally, as in June 2010 [http://thebuddhaisnotserious.wordpress.com/2010/06/19/the-curious-case-of-the-youre-not-helping-blog/ it emerged] that the entire membership was in fact a network of sockpuppets operated by a lone individual, ([http://www.butterfliesandwheels.org/2011/hammill-the-prodigal/ later outed as]) Walter "Wally" Smith.
+'''You're Not Helping''' was a group blog, which largely consisted of people whinging and whining and wailing about how disgusting and repulsive the [[New Atheists]] were. Their declared enemies included [[PZ Myers]], [[Jerry Coyne]] and [[Ophelia Benson]]. The words "group", "people" and "their" should not be taken literally, as in June 2010 [http://thebuddhaisnotserious.wordpress.com/2010/06/19/the-curious-case-of-the-youre-not-helping-blog/ it emerged] that the entire membership was in fact a network of sockpuppets operated by a lone individual, [http://www.butterfliesandwheels.org/2011/hammill-the-prodigal/ later outed as] Walter "Wally" Smith.
+==Tom Johnson story==
 As Wally's sockpuppet network unravelled, [http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2010/07/holy_crap_we_were_all_played.php it was revealed] that he was also behind the "Tom Johnson" story (a tragic ballad of [http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/intersection/2009/10/22/exhibit/ cruel persecution at the hands of the wicked New Atheists]) trumpeted by pseudojournalist Chris Mooney on his [[The Intersection|Intersection]] blog. It was also revealed that Wally's sockpuppets were producing a substantial fraction of the Intersection comments (including attacks on people who dared to point out how ridiculous the Tom Johnson story was).
-==Identities==
+==Identity==
+After the collapse of You're not helping, his identity was largely kept secret, as part of a deal to not resume trolling.  For some time, this deal appeared to be holding, but then Ophelia Benson [http://www.butterfliesandwheels.org/2011/and-then-a-stranger-rode-into-town/ started to become suspicious] of a poster named "Hammill", who would follow her and Jerry Coyne around the internet, posting malicious lies.  A month later, [http://www.butterfliesandwheels.org/2011/the-prodigal-returns/ she obtained proof] that "Hammill" was indeed the same person, and [http://www.butterfliesandwheels.org/2011/hammill-the-prodigal/ outed him] as Walter "Wally" Smith, a graduate student at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa.
+==List of sockpuppets==
 ===Directly Admitted===