8 ms·

Something doesn't seem right about that detective work - there's a Jonathan Gillette online who is a web developer in Harrisburg, PA who doesn't seem to be _why

Something doesn't seem right about that detective work - there's a Jonathan Gillette online who is a web developer in Harrisburg, PA who doesn't seem to be _why. Obviously it's likely that there's more than one Jonathan Gillette on the internet, but it seems odd to me that this other guy is also a web developer, with a decent online presence, in (somewhat) the same geographic area where _why is suspected to live, that isn't him. But I don't know enough about e-mail headers to provide an alternate explanation if there is one. EDIT: This is that other guy's site, FWIW: http://jonathangillette.net/ http://jonathangillette.net/ And he's on twitter: http://twitter.com/jgillette http://twitter.com/jgillette EDIT 2: The infamous Zed Shaw posted a link to another page which I'm more inclined to believe is the real _why. I'm not going to post the link here, but you can find it in Zed's twitter stream if you really want to.

burke 17y ago
That Jonathan Gillette was also going to school in Pennsylvania (http://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathangillette http://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathangillette) when _why wrote that message, supposedly from Salt Lake City, Utah.
- mosburger 17y ago
  Nice find - you're a more thorough detective/stalker than I. :)
  - burke 17y ago
    Yet more detective work: http://javuh.cvs.sourceforge.net/viewvc/javuh/javuh/Model/Psychoo/Object.inc?view=log&pathrev=MAIN http://javuh.cvs.sourceforge.net/viewvc/javuh/javuh/Model/Ps... He seems to have been working on the same file, in the same day, as Jonathan Gillette. Probably poking around this repository a little more could lead to an almost-definitive answer. Also, here: http://javuh.cvs.sourceforge.net/viewvc/javuh/javuh/Services/Unified/Common.inc?view=markup http://javuh.cvs.sourceforge.net/viewvc/javuh/javuh/Services... the @author is listed as: 11 * @author Why Carlisle (whytheluckystiff@mailcity.com) EDIT: Still going.... He talks about a 14-year-old sister here: http://www.advogato.org/person/whytheluckystiff/diary/14.html http://www.advogato.org/person/whytheluckystiff/diary/14.htm... This being written in 2001, that would make her ~21 now. Searching for Jonathan Gillette, http://www.intelius.com/search-summary-out.php?ReportType=1&qf=jonathan&qmi=&qn=Gillette&qs=UT&trackit=74&focusfirst=1 http://www.intelius.com/search-summary-out.php?ReportType=1&... a few relatives are listed, presumably one of which would be his sister, however, none are in the right age range. Right, back to work now, I promise.
    - cl3m 17y ago
      I'm ended up on http://members.tripod.com/soccer_riot/ http://members.tripod.com/soccer_riot/ which seems to be some early stuff from _why.. From "Collected by Why the Lucky Stiff", http://members.tripod.com/soccer_riot/famous.htm http://members.tripod.com/soccer_riot/famous.htm
      - byrneseyeview 17y ago
        In your second link, at the end, quoting from a response to an email sent by _why: say are you related to francis gillett who wrote that play about the kids who never slept and lived in wyoming.
      - burke 17y ago
        Well look at that, it was him: http://imgur.com/yq9o1 http://imgur.com/yq9o1 dolphins.ram has "Jonathan Gillette" as the author. Yet another reason to hate Real Player. I would feel bad about posting this, but since everyone's apparently going to go around assuming it with almost-proof already, I guess it can't do much harm.
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    - byrneseyeview 17y ago
      Kristin Marie Gillette is 21 now. She's on Intelius.
      - burke 17y ago
        But only Kristin C Gillette was listed as a relative. Could be though.
    - infodig 17y ago
      Kylie is a relative. He hosts a site by one Kylie Gillette using the alias Whytheluckystiff. If he is NOT Jonathan Gillette he has very, very close ties to him.
- burke 17y ago
  Also (too late to edit): Why apparently went to the University of Utah in Salt Lake City: http://web.archive.org/web/20010518151731rn_1/deathstar.eng.utah.edu/~kroford/ http://web.archive.org/web/20010518151731rn_1/deathstar.eng....
  - codekitchen 17y ago
    Intresting! Also that implies his real name is K. Roford (I went to the University of Utah as well, so I'm familiar with their naming scheme).
    - burke 17y ago
      Googling "kroford" returns a few results related to Star Wars, and the server is named "deathstar". I thought that at first too, but now I doubt it.
      - samfoo 17y ago
        http://www.facebook.com/search/?q=roford&init=quick#/profile.php?id=1548865386&ref=search&sid=27207907.3864688386..1 http://www.facebook.com/search/?q=roford&init=quick#/pro... Ken Roford has an account on facebook, but no details revealed to the outside world.
mmaaxx 17y ago
http://jonathangillette.net/ http://jonathangillette.net/ is defiantly not him. The site runs on PHP.
- doki_pen 17y ago
  http://www.advogato.org/person/whytheluckystiff/ http://www.advogato.org/person/whytheluckystiff/ There are a few PHP apps there. Apparently he did PHP work before. There is also a Java project called javuh that he maintained. Archive.org for these projects reveals that the outing previously mentioned was in fact correct.
  - lylejohnson 17y ago
    Please see the information posted by "burke", a couple of posts up from here. There was a Jonathan Gillette who graduated from Parkland High School in Allentown, PA, then went on to Kutztown University (also in PA). All of this around the time that _why was apparently posting from a company in Salt Lake City.
lylejohnson 17y ago
The person that Zed is linking to is an art professor who was at Union University in Jackson, TN, now apparently a visiting professor at Lipscomb University in Nashville. You can see that Jonathan Gillette's photo in some faculty photos from a year or so ago (http://www.uu.edu/centers/faculty/faculty/new/0607newfaculty.htm http://www.uu.edu/centers/faculty/faculty/new/0607newfaculty...). It's not _why.
bowman 17y ago
He mentions his friend Dustin in: 12 Oct 2002 http://www.advogato.org/person/whytheluckystiff/diary.html?start=48 http://www.advogato.org/person/whytheluckystiff/diary.html?s... This furthers the belief he is Jonathan Gillette as the band Jonathan Gillette was in contains a Dustin. With all the other evidence I am calling this a case closed. It is interesting to note how different he seems from _why. Maybe the Fight Club analogy (read above) is not too far from the truth.

burke 17y ago

That Jonathan Gillette was also going to school in Pennsylvania (http://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathangillette http://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathangillette) when _why wrote that message, supposedly from Salt Lake City, Utah.

mosburger 17y ago
Nice find - you're a more thorough detective/stalker than I. :)
- burke 17y ago
  Yet more detective work: http://javuh.cvs.sourceforge.net/viewvc/javuh/javuh/Model/Psychoo/Object.inc?view=log&pathrev=MAIN http://javuh.cvs.sourceforge.net/viewvc/javuh/javuh/Model/Ps... He seems to have been working on the same file, in the same day, as Jonathan Gillette. Probably poking around this repository a little more could lead to an almost-definitive answer. Also, here: http://javuh.cvs.sourceforge.net/viewvc/javuh/javuh/Services/Unified/Common.inc?view=markup http://javuh.cvs.sourceforge.net/viewvc/javuh/javuh/Services... the @author is listed as: 11 * @author Why Carlisle (whytheluckystiff@mailcity.com) EDIT: Still going.... He talks about a 14-year-old sister here: http://www.advogato.org/person/whytheluckystiff/diary/14.html http://www.advogato.org/person/whytheluckystiff/diary/14.htm... This being written in 2001, that would make her ~21 now. Searching for Jonathan Gillette, http://www.intelius.com/search-summary-out.php?ReportType=1&qf=jonathan&qmi=&qn=Gillette&qs=UT&trackit=74&focusfirst=1 http://www.intelius.com/search-summary-out.php?ReportType=1&... a few relatives are listed, presumably one of which would be his sister, however, none are in the right age range. Right, back to work now, I promise.
  - cl3m 17y ago
    I'm ended up on http://members.tripod.com/soccer_riot/ http://members.tripod.com/soccer_riot/ which seems to be some early stuff from _why.. From "Collected by Why the Lucky Stiff", http://members.tripod.com/soccer_riot/famous.htm http://members.tripod.com/soccer_riot/famous.htm
    - byrneseyeview 17y ago
      In your second link, at the end, quoting from a response to an email sent by _why: say are you related to francis gillett who wrote that play about the kids who never slept and lived in wyoming.
    - burke 17y ago
      Well look at that, it was him: http://imgur.com/yq9o1 http://imgur.com/yq9o1 dolphins.ram has "Jonathan Gillette" as the author. Yet another reason to hate Real Player. I would feel bad about posting this, but since everyone's apparently going to go around assuming it with almost-proof already, I guess it can't do much harm.
  - deleted 17y ago
    [deleted]
  - deleted 17y ago
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  - byrneseyeview 17y ago
    Kristin Marie Gillette is 21 now. She's on Intelius.
    - burke 17y ago
      But only Kristin C Gillette was listed as a relative. Could be though.
  - infodig 17y ago
    Kylie is a relative. He hosts a site by one Kylie Gillette using the alias Whytheluckystiff. If he is NOT Jonathan Gillette he has very, very close ties to him.
burke 17y ago
Also (too late to edit): Why apparently went to the University of Utah in Salt Lake City: http://web.archive.org/web/20010518151731rn_1/deathstar.eng.utah.edu/~kroford/ http://web.archive.org/web/20010518151731rn_1/deathstar.eng....
- codekitchen 17y ago
  Intresting! Also that implies his real name is K. Roford (I went to the University of Utah as well, so I'm familiar with their naming scheme).
  - burke 17y ago
    Googling "kroford" returns a few results related to Star Wars, and the server is named "deathstar". I thought that at first too, but now I doubt it.
    - samfoo 17y ago
      http://www.facebook.com/search/?q=roford&init=quick#/profile.php?id=1548865386&ref=search&sid=27207907.3864688386..1 http://www.facebook.com/search/?q=roford&init=quick#/pro... Ken Roford has an account on facebook, but no details revealed to the outside world.

mmaaxx 17y ago

http://jonathangillette.net/ http://jonathangillette.net/ is defiantly not him. The site runs on PHP.

doki_pen 17y ago
http://www.advogato.org/person/whytheluckystiff/ http://www.advogato.org/person/whytheluckystiff/ There are a few PHP apps there. Apparently he did PHP work before. There is also a Java project called javuh that he maintained. Archive.org for these projects reveals that the outing previously mentioned was in fact correct.
- lylejohnson 17y ago
  Please see the information posted by "burke", a couple of posts up from here. There was a Jonathan Gillette who graduated from Parkland High School in Allentown, PA, then went on to Kutztown University (also in PA). All of this around the time that _why was apparently posting from a company in Salt Lake City.

lylejohnson 17y ago

The person that Zed is linking to is an art professor who was at Union University in Jackson, TN, now apparently a visiting professor at Lipscomb University in Nashville. You can see that Jonathan Gillette's photo in some faculty photos from a year or so ago (http://www.uu.edu/centers/faculty/faculty/new/0607newfaculty.htm http://www.uu.edu/centers/faculty/faculty/new/0607newfaculty...). It's not _why.

bowman 17y ago

He mentions his friend Dustin in: 12 Oct 2002 http://www.advogato.org/person/whytheluckystiff/diary.html?start=48 http://www.advogato.org/person/whytheluckystiff/diary.html?s... This furthers the belief he is Jonathan Gillette as the band Jonathan Gillette was in contains a Dustin. With all the other evidence I am calling this a case closed. It is interesting to note how different he seems from _why. Maybe the Fight Club analogy (read above) is not too far from the truth.