My Wiki is your wiki

Aug 22nd 2006 9:22AM

I got this email this afternoon from someone who apparently reads my blog.

"FYI: Gary Weiss, who has been pretty hard on you and Sharesleuth on his blog, is fixing to do some heavy editing on your article on Wikipedia ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Cuban ). His username (he doesn't use his real name) is Mantanmoreland. Unless you or somebody gets on it, you'll look pretty bad by the time he's done."

I hadn't check out my wiki page in a long time, so i go on there and read some history about myself that never happened, other stuff that was just wrong and found out that I admired some guy named Brian and that I was related to some guy named Adam. Two people I had never heard of in my life.

But I digress.

As I go through making some updates, I get to the part about Sharesleuth.com that was entered by someone with a login of "Mantanmoreland". Which of course matched what the emailer had suggested to me. As it turns out , this same login name is an author on the Gary Weiss Wikipedia page.

This is what Mantanmoreland wrote:

"In July 2006, Cuban financed creation of [[Sharesleuth.com]], which will publish negative information about publicly traded companies. Cuban will short-sell shares of companies mentioned in Sharesleuth in advance of publication. That has been widely criticized."

So I edited it to the following:

"In July 2006, Cuban financed creation of Sharesleuth.com, which will set out to uncover fraud and misinformation in publicy traded companies. Cuban's disclosure that he will take positions in the shares of companies mentioned in Sharesleuth in advance of publication has raised controversy"

Now I thought that would be the end of it. Not a chance.

As you can see from the history, 39 minutes later, here comes our friend MantanMoreland to change it all back. (You can see the change history here).

So Mantanmoreland must have had this on his watchlist, keeping an eye out for me. (Does this person have anything better to do with their time?) and he or she edited my changes quickly:

"Cuban's has said that he will take positions in the shares of companies mentioned in Sharesleuth in advance of publication. That has been widely criticized "

Criticized vs Controversial. Is it a big difference ? Doesnt matter.

Now little "Wikiwars " are inconsequential in the big scheme of things. The Wikipedia has a conflict resolution process in place to deal with such matters. But what has happened here leads me to ask a question.

If Mantanmoreland truly is Gary Weiss, is it ethical for a journalist to try to push his point of view on a public document under a pseudonym ?

Wouldn't an ethical journalist publish his or her name ?

Didnt a journalist get fired or reprimanded for taking sides under a pseudonym on Yahoo Message Boards ?

Is Mantanmoreland the pseudonym of Gary Weiss of http://garyweiss.blogspot.com/

And if it is, how much time do you plan on spending trying to update my wiki page gary ?

Reader Comments

(Page 1)

1. BTW, James and Wally. I now have the FOIA data for Global Links up at TheSanityCheck.com - all of it, and it shows that 27 million fails traded at a time when 1.1 million shares were issued and outstanding. 27 times the issued and outstanding shares. That would be an example were massive fraud against investors took place, by Wall Street, and the SEC covered it up. Enjoy your irrational little world where naked short selling doesn't harm investors. How much worse does it have to get when 27 times the outstanding shares are counterfeited, and the perps refuse to deliver the genuine article. What impact does that have for fair markets, or the notion that a stock can ever go up, no matter what good news breaks?

Posted at 11:09AM on Aug 28th 2006 by Bobo

2. Mark maybe you can get your new friends to spam every board on the internet blaming a multigenerational international conspiracy every time the ball doesn't bounce the Mav's way too.

Posted at 11:09AM on Aug 28th 2006 by John Lichtenstein

3. Hey John. I note you too lack any actual rebuttal. Sort of interesting how FOIA data shows massive corruption in the market, and your stance is to ignore it, and pretend it is all kooky. How refreshing.

Posted at 11:09AM on Aug 28th 2006 by Bobo

4. The FOIA data is not the place to discover what's really going on at Global Links. The place to investigate would be in their 10K's and their 10Q's. Anyone who will take the time to investigate those documents will find that what's taken place at Global Links falls precisely in line with the phenomena I've described. A shlock company raises capital. A shlock company burns away the capital they've raised. Insider and promoters get fat and happy off of their shareholders' back. Scammers like you blame "naked short sellers" when the game is over. Next to CMKM Diamonds, I couldn't have hoped for a better company for you to have embraced with your scam.

Posted at 11:09AM on Aug 28th 2006 by James Brownfield

5. James: I read the filings. In Feb. the company had 1.1 million shares outstanding. There were 27 million fails. When those purchasers of 27 million fake shares paid real money for non-existent stock, help me here. What part of that was the company, or the investors' fault? Back to the tired, "It's a bad company" harangue? Just can't separate the issues, no matter how many times it is clarified for you? I guess you are every bit as dim as your screed to the SEC indicated. Apologies. I really thought that had to have been some kind of an act. OK then. Investors were massively defrauded by Wall Street selling 27 million non-existent shares, but that is the company's fault. And when he SEC allows it to happen and covers it up, that is, well, you know, how a securities regulator is supposed to work. Defraud investors to the tune of 27 million shares? Regulator cover up, and no action taken. Investors lose fortunes due to fraud from aforementioned massive selling? Investors deserved it - God had tarted them, and the stock fraudsters selling the fakes are merely his divine arm of retribution. Huh. Why are you so intent upon defending the crooks? Nobody thinks people that sell fake shares are anything but crooks. Why do you try to make being a crook seem like some noble pursuit? Why can't crooks just be crooks, and you admit it?

Posted at 11:09AM on Aug 28th 2006 by Bobo

6. Didn't Dennis Rodman get fired from the Mav's because of saying, "My Wiki is your Wiki!"

Posted at 11:09AM on Aug 28th 2006 by Joe Gakenheimer

7. Can I just publicly thank "Nina's" professor and Nina. >>Posted Aug 23, 2006, 8:25 PM ET by Nina Any real journalist knows that Wikipedia is about of the worst sources there is and that they should never go on what they find there. I just graduated and all of my journalism professors told us to never use that as a source and actually forbade us using it for a source for any story.

Posted at 11:09AM on Aug 28th 2006 by Temple Stark

8. I know it galls you to no end that those of us who can read and understand 10K's and 10Q's will identify the actual culprits with scams like Global Links. There is no question to anyone with even a smidgeon of financial acumen as to what took place with this disaster. Global Links' management bullet-proofed their hold on the company with the Preferred B issue, shored up their supply of shares to dump on the mullets with their S-8 filing, and then kicked off the whole affair with Simpson's fake "buy-out". The Global Links reverse split was an unusual case of a staged pump and dump but it was, nonetheless, a pump and dump. That you would try to paint it as anything else is thoroughly consistent with your track record of diverting attention AWAY from the real crooks. This scam was instigated by her insiders. THEY are the culprits, no one else. As for blaming the investor-victims, there does come a time where an investor has to ask themselves, "What exactly am I buying?" In the case of Global Links, they bought into an enterprise where management had stacked the deck against them long ago. It is unfortunate that so many naive investors fall prey to scams like Global Links and that they can be persuaded by a crook like you that they have no culpability for their own losses. Are they to be blamed? Accepting mistakes is part of being an investor. There is no shame in making a mistake, once, if you learn from it. However, making the same mistake over and over again and never learning from it is something for which these investors do deserve to be blamed. Any investor that continues to buy into these scams without doing thorough due diligence IS to be blamed for their losses.

Posted at 11:09AM on Aug 28th 2006 by James Brownfield

9. So I was reading the Weiss blog saying that he isn't matanmoreland. Haven't ever heard of the guy, so I went to his wikipedia page, checked out the history, saw that matanmoreland updated it alot. Then I checked out matanmorelands history and noticed he did a lot of updates to the Patrick Byrne page. I googled "gary weiss patrick byrne" and the first thing that popped up was weiss' blog. Just sayin. http://garyweiss.blogspot.com/2006/08/recent-wit-and-wisdom-of-patrick-byrne.html

Posted at 11:09AM on Aug 28th 2006 by Jared

10. Well Mr.Brownfield I agree with your analysis up to a point.Yes a pump and dump after a phony 'reverse split' and fraudulently blamed on 'naked shorting' THAT WOULD HAVE THE SAME EFFECT in both cases.That's even more reason NOT to blame the investor.It is long past time to blame Chris Cox for pavcing the way for even more of this fraud in 1995 even overiding a Clinton veto to do it !And now he's rewarded be being SEC Chairman.As one who admits he was defrauded in the James Dale Davidson,Dave Patch,Brent Pierce,Grant Atkins,et.al. and Agora Inc and Vantage Point and NAANS,ETC., illegal pump an dump scheme - I resent your insinuation investors such as myself however naive should hide in shame and pretends a fraud did not occur or that I HAVE ENTIRELY MYSSELF TO BLAME !! That's BS. I'd Stanford University and the SEC HAVE SOME BLAME AMONG OTHERS.THERE IS NOTHING IN ENDOVASC SEC FILINGS ABOUT BELLADOR GROUP MUCH LESS THAT ANY MONEY I WAS LOSING IN THIS,I BEIEVE GREATLY BELTWAY FRAUD,WAS GOING TO KUALA LUMPUR OR DUBAI !To not want to bring the criminals to justice is to say not only that you believe some investors (stupid ones in your peabrain)should be defrauded but you are also saying nothing should be done even post 9/11 against worthless U.S. penny stock shares being used for pump and dump and money laundering in the Middle East.On this you are united with the likes of James Dale Davidson,Patrick Byrne,Adnan Khashoggi,Moshe Katsav,W Bush,Al Ali Al Sabah and Chris Cox and his corrupt SEC,et.al..But in this I am glad to strongly disagree with you and them and in agreement with Chris Byron who advocated for cleaning up the offshore fraud with U.S. PENNY STOCKS YEARS AGO. I believe attorneys Wes Christian and John O'Quinn and ex-SEC attorney Brent Baker among others should serve jail time and Stanford University and its researchers Heeschen and Cooke should disgorge among others.They on used a free nicotine research grant for fraud that led to not only fraudulent pump and dump for their personal gain but in the end led to post 9/11 unaudited money transactions with unaudited penny shares in terrorist suspect money laundering regions. Joseph GRUNDFEST SHOULD BE ASHAMED AND GREATFUL I,A DEFRAUDED INVESTOR, TOOK TIME TO LET HIM KNOW STANFORD HAS CONTRIBUTED TO ILLEGAL STOCK TRANSACTIONS AND PROBABLE MONEY LAUNDERING AS FAR AS KUALA LUMPUR AND DUBAI ! � Capische ?

Posted at 11:09AM on Aug 28th 2006 by Tony Ryals

11. This isn't the first time someone with authority on the net uses their position of power to get across their own ideas and agendas and certainly won't be the last. It's really sad too, cause someone like Gary has no business being in that position. Here is a another recent example of someone using their power on the net to either help themselves or push their own agenda. In this case it's a little different cause it's not about getting across his agenda, but about depositing money into his own account. The incident I'm referring to involves a guys from DMOZ who was recently "supposedly" fired for adding certain sites to the DMOZ directory only if he was paid $$. Here is the link to that story... http://www.seoprinciple.com/crooked-editor-got-banned-from-dmoz/21/ The moral of the story is... there needs to be some accountability on these sites. And just because you're put in a position of power, you should still have some type of accountability for you actions. Someone like Gary Weiss shouldn't even be in that position in the first place since he's a journalist. You can't have places like Wikipedia and DMOZ just randomly edited by anyone. Hell, what stops someone from just flaming an old girlfriend or business partner? Or in the case of DMOZ... you can't simply put the lively hoods of people and their sites in the hands of just anyone and then let them run their section without any ramifications. Something needs to be done about this and soon.

Posted at 11:09AM on Aug 28th 2006 by Bryan Hauer - Official Blog

12. James: I think I can help everyone with understanding what you are saying. Translation: I have no documents I can cite nor data to point to that would make anything bobo says be shown to be false. I am trying as hard as I can to blame the company for the actions of Wall Street and the SEC, however the filings don't support my innuendo. The filings do show a 1 for 350 split, a symbol change, and then massive selling culminating in being on the SHO list, with 25 times the issued shares sold and failed. These annoying facts are easily verifiable, and the latest blogs at thesanitycheck, as well as today's Forbes article, show that to be the case. I am desperately trying to spin this with hand waving and such, but the facts show my position to be specious, and my reasoning flawed. I think that about does it. You are an empty suit, just like Jeff was in the Byrne debate. You got nothin, and you hit like a baby girl. I'm done with you. Buy "Elements of Style" and a dictionary, and perhaps hooked on phonics, and come back in a few years. Ciao.

Posted at 11:09AM on Aug 28th 2006 by Bobo

13. On the contrary, BooBoo, I have LOTS of documents. These first two were available for any investor to review long before Global Links did their 2005 reverse split and Simpson staged his fake buy-out stunt. http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/949728/000101540205000011/0001015402-05-000011-index.htm The S-8 that explicitly stated the size of the offering would not be affected by any future splits. http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/949728/000094972804000016/0000949728-04-000016-index.htm The last 10Q that was released prior to the reverse split. Details about the Preferred B issue are included in the notes. (You will also note the 87% dilution for the first nine months of 2004.) This next document merely demonstrates the predictable outcome that anyone should ahve been able to foresee had the read the S-8 and the 10Q referenced above. http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/949728/000094972805000018/0000949728-05-000018-index.htm Voila! Less than two months after the reverse split, Global Links management has diluted their new common by over 70%. There is no innuendo, Scam Monkey. These are cold, hard facts. Global Links' insiders have built themselves a bunker with their Preferred B holdings and quarter after quarter, year after year, they pound the daylights out of their common shareholders. And how nice that they have a scammer out there like you to help cover their tracks.

Posted at 11:09AM on Aug 28th 2006 by James Brownfield

14. James, you can't reason with a professional con artist like the Scam Monkey. BooBoo's job is to tell a lie. His job is to convice people that stocks decline because of a conspiracy involving "counterfeit stocks." It is impossible to prove a negative, so you can bring out facts and logic as much as you want and it doesn't matter. It's like arguing with a Muslin fundamentalist or someone from the flat earth society.

Posted at 11:09AM on Aug 28th 2006 by Wally Miller

15. Wally, I don't expect BooBoo to become an upright citizen any time soon, but I disagree with your conclusion that bringing out the facts doesn't matter. These scammers have had some success in their attempts to influence people. Their arguments hold a superficial allure to those investors who won't do research. For some people, for whatever reason, it's psychologically more comfortable to see themselves as a victim of external forces than to face up to a mistake, recognize it as such, and then go forward armed with the tools they need to avoid making the same mistake over and over again. By telling the real story about what happened at Global Links, I would hope that past victims would at least visit the EDGAR site, get filings, and ask themselves some pointed questions before they invested another dollar in a company's stock.

Posted at 11:09AM on Aug 28th 2006 by James Brownfield

16. No disputing that. I'm just hoping that people realize that the Scam Monkey and his crew stick with their lies no matter what.

Posted at 11:09AM on Aug 28th 2006 by Wally Miller

17. Israeli President Katsav pardons Rabin assassin insider,aids fraud of Mohamed Hadid ! http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2006/08/344986.shtml I'm sure they,(the 'Islamic charity folk'), have been quite impressed that Palestinian-American Mohamed Hadid and British-Israeli Michael Zwebner have been able to use not only Katsav's as well as IFA founder Gal Lusky's name in 'pump and dump' fraud using worthless U.S. penny stock shares but also with Moshe Katsav's willingness to pretend he doesn't notice they also 'drafted' Israeli soldiers and the whole of the Israeli army into their scammy press releases claiming the Israeli army would buy 'UCSY's' or Universal Communications Systems' non-existent 'air-water machines', (sometimes supposedly manufactured in Israel itself or sometimes in Brazil or sometimes in China, etc.,etc.)..... Actually I may be underestimating Mr.Mohamed Hadid's influence in Saudi and Islamic extremist circles.Mr.Hadid has bought substantial real estate holdings for his Saudi friends and allies in the Washington D.C. area and was once even able to 'out trump' Donald Trump and obtain substantial funds overnight to buy coveted Vail,Colorado property before Mr.Trump could raise the cash for the purchase himself.Hadid and his Saudi and 'Islamic charities' colleagues have also bought real estate in South America including some of the largest apple orchard holdings there and have one of the largest poultry operations in America in the state of Georgia. And sometimes the press releases claim these non existent 'air-water machines' are being shipped to Israel or to the U.S. military in occupied Iraq or to the tsunami victims in Sri Lanka using Gal Lusky's IFA,and apparently with her permission,IsraAid,in their fraudulent press releases. Sometimes a hundred or so 'air-water machines' are being shipped to Texas or Australia or South Africa,etc., etc..The corrupt SEC of the corrupt Bush regime does notthing.Fraud and money laundering with worthless U.S. penny stocks at home or abroad is good for the W Bush 'economy'.................. Even the head of the Kuwait National Guard,Al Ali Al Sabah,'royalty',has now been found in a 'business' deal with far right Jew and Kach Party subscriber Michael Farkas.Small world. And they all have ties to that DC-9 confiscated by the Mexican Army in Ciudad Del Carmen,Campeche, Mexico on April 10 ! I wonder why none of these brave souls steps forth to claim it !?........

Posted at 11:09AM on Aug 28th 2006 by Tony Ryals

18. Golly James, that's fascinating. What exactly does it have to do with 27 million FTDs the SEC allowed to happen? Are you saying that because the company diluted their shareholders, scamsters and fraudsters on Wall Street should also be allowed to perpetrate a seperate fraud? That's kind of really, really dumb. That can't be what you are saying. Is it?

Posted at 11:09AM on Aug 28th 2006 by Bobo

19. Hey Booboo OOO'BBBrien, Who touted CXN highest with their fraudulent 'naked shorting' claim for that scammy pump and dump scam,you or James Dale Davidson ? Did you ever get to take a dump ? I bet James Dale Davidson did. Hee Hee Your pal, Antonio

Posted at 11:09AM on Aug 28th 2006 by Tony Ryals

20. Yeah, Booboo OOO'Brien would never 'fail to deliver' his worthless shares to defrauded 'investors', would you Booboo ? Do you approve of your role model James Dale Davidson running penny stock scams out of Dubai,etc. as well ? Do you guys give to the Republican party like the China Wireless CEO who dumped out of Bellador Group of Kuala Lumpur and Dubai,(just like your Endovasc scam coincidentally) ? Or Skyway Communications with its support from Jeb Bush,Titan Corp,Tom DeLay,that Republican business council and over 20 Saudi and Kuwaiti 'angel investors',that got its DC-9 caught in Ciudad Del Carmen,Campeche,Mexico with over 5.5 tons of cocaine on board ? They even took some of their Kentucky investors to the White House I believe.....The Kovar's Skyway Communications penny stock fraud of Lakeland, Florida and DFW Airport screams of its close Republican and White House connections. Does your criminal organization,aside from Patrick Byrne,bribe politicians as well Booboo ?

Posted at 11:09AM on Aug 28th 2006 by Tony Ryals

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