DiscussMormonism.com

I don't know if anyone else has been following this story, but it's pretty amazing:

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/7053 ... ories.html

Basically, this guy was the mayor of West Valley City, and he got tired of negative news coverage of his town, so he adopted a bogus pen name and began submitting stories to the Des News, which published them. Some of the quotes from this are classic:

"While we appreciate that Mayor Winder would, of his own accord, quit writing under the assumed name and then detail the error to us, we remain highly concerned that someone would purposely misrepresent himself," said Clark Gilbert, president and CEO of the Deseret News and Deseret Digital Media.

"The Deseret News believes in giving voice to the community, but that must be done in the context of transparency and honesty. We deeply regret that Mayor Winder would do this," Gilbert said.

Well, maybe this mayor was simply following advice about getting out there and fighting the good fight in the marketplace of ideas? After all: you can't just "lie down and die." Criticism demands response!

Also, as I read material such as this:

Winder had seven articles published in the Oquirrh Times as Richard Burwash between September and December 2010. The news stories included a three-part series in October 2010 touting reasons voters should approve a $25 million bond measure for parks and trails.

Winder quotes himself in each of those stories and also uses anonymous city employees as sources.

I couldn't help but think of the name "FreeThinker."

It is an interesting story and has been picked up here in on the east coast as well. Is it true that Winder is thinking of running for mayor of Salt Lake?

Blixa wrote:It is an interesting story and has been picked up here in on the east coast as well. Is it true that Winder is thinking of running for mayor of Salt Lake?

This Des News story mentioned something to that effect, I think.

Doctor Scratch wrote:

Blixa wrote:It is an interesting story and has been picked up here in on the east coast as well. Is it true that Winder is thinking of running for mayor of Salt Lake?

This Des News story mentioned something to that effect, I think.

That's pretty odd. I also read the fellow whose name and image he borrowed for his alias is suing him: I think he had put together a fake Facebook profile and a few other online bits to substantiate his alter ego. I'm am surprised, though, that none of his editors ever appeared to have met him face to face.

Blixa wrote:It is an interesting story and has been picked up here in on the east coast as well. Is it true that Winder is thinking of running for mayor of Salt Lake?

Doctor Scratch wrote:This Des News story mentioned something to that effect, I think.

Blixa wrote:That's pretty odd. I also read the fellow whose name and image he borrowed for his alias is suing him: I think he had put together a fake Facebook profile and a few other online bits to substantiate his alter ego. I'm am surprised, though, that none of his editors ever appeared to have met him face to face.

Different I know, but it made me think of Stephen Glass and the New Republic episode of the late 90's.

uh. hmmm.

Is that Winder?

MrStakhanovite wrote:Is that Winder?

yep. from his wikipedia page...

lol, he has a wikipedia page?!?! Jeeez.

That's how sock puppets are *really* done, bitches!