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Infoworld journalist fired over fake alter ego
- michael_dorfman 17y agoThis "Win7 memory usage" story keeps getting weirder... Here's an excellent investigative piece by ZD.net which exposes the shenanigans: http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=31024 http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=31024 And here's Randall C Kennedy ("Craig Barth") claiming that Microsoft is out to get him. http://exo-blog.blogspot.com/2010/02/when-microsoft-attacks-again.html http://exo-blog.blogspot.com/2010/02/when-microsoft-attacks-...
- monkeygrinder 17y agoWow, he lied to his employer and colleagues, and now he claims that it was a Microsoft plot? This guy has utterly ruined his credibility and was exposed - thanks to ZDnet and also Gregg Keizer at Computerworld US. (Full disclosure: I work for IDG).
- Tichy 17y agoMicrosoft should change their "available memory" widget ASAP to make it clear what is just used for caching and what is really "used up". If not, they should fire some people from marketing.
- kingkawn 17y agoWhat is a real alter ego?
- aw3c2 17y agoyeah, edited headline and I guess he meant "secret alter ego". Actual headline is "Infoworld journalist fired over Windows 7 claims"
- mwexler 17y agoRobert X Cringely was an alter ego for years; PBS gave him his own show under the name. I guess this fellow carried it a bit too far, but it's not the first time it's happened. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_X._Cringely http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_X._Cringely
- wmf 17y agoThe difference is that Cringely wasn't promoting his own products.
- deleted 17y ago[deleted]
- whyenot 17y agoIt was a pen name, and as Wikipedia mentions, was used by several different writers. It was made clear in his (their?) columns, at least in the early days, that the name was fictitious. What happened here is a little different. Someone was claiming to be two different real people. In at least one case he even interviewed himself.
- altano 17y agoBecause that't the extend of the "deception" that everyone is so excited about. This guy's a journalist, you say?
- moron4hire 17y agoWhat is the deal here, that he used an alter ego at all or that he didn't reveal that he was using an alter ego to InfoWorld? Personally, I don't have a problem with it, even in the latter case. If you're creating an alter ego, you want to protect your real identity. The fewer people who know your real identity, the more protected it is. If we claim to care about technical matters, we should evaluate claims purely on their technical aspects, not on who made the claims (both for positive or negative).
- pmichaud 17y agoI guess people are upset because he didn't make it clear that it was a pseudonym. I don't see the beef, really.
- pmichaud 17y agoEr... ok Mr. Downvote guy, then what beef should I have?
- ajju 17y agoHe wrote controversial articles around data he claimed to have gotten from another individual. This alleged source was his own fabrication. That itself is a serious violation of journalistic ethics. The fact that the data itself seems suspicious is the cherry on that stinking pie. FWIW, I am not the down-vote.
- raganwald 17y agoPart of a reporter's job is to evaluate the veracity of a source. I did that, but failed, for which I'm sorry. Proper respects to Gregg Keizer for the apology.