Stopburningman.org: This be a hoot!

Neutrality · Post by **Neutrality** » Sun Oct 16, 2005 9:37 am

I've been lurking over on the stopburningman list, wondering what that was all about, and what it's been about lately has been hysterically funny. And I do mean hysterical.

Ed, Rex and the rest have made a number of claims about things they said they saw, including the alleged results of one particular transect walk. Somebody wrote in and asked them if they had any independent witnesses to that transect walk, or if we were expected to just take what they had to say about what they saw "on faith". Yes, they said, naming as their witnesses Maid Marian of the Burning Man LLC (!), an ePlaya regular whose name I don't recall, and "Dave Cooper", saying that the results had been attested to in a public document available through the Freedom of Information act.

Our questioner then asked them if they could give the reference information needed to look up this particular document, a reasonable enough request when one considers just how many documents go through the BLM offices. They refused. Could he have the domain name for the e-mail address for this Dave Cooper, because the yahoogroups privacy function had just munged it, and he'd like to send a letter of introduction to Mr.Cooper pointing him in the direction of the page he's going to be asked about? Refused, with an even greater show of attitude.

Finally, somebody who had been friendly toward Ed and company ran out of patience with the evasiveness, and called Dave Cooper himself, sometime toward the beginning of the man's workday. About 8 am his time, I think, but it's hard to be sure because the archives have been purged. I'll get back to that.

While the Winnemuca Field Office Homepage was down, the main Nevada BLM homepage wasn't. He called the main Nevada office, asked them for the number for the Winnemuca field office, called that office and asked them if them if they had a Dave Cooper working there. They did, and to his surprise, he says, he soon found himself on the phone with a very friendly if slightly uneasy sounding Dave Cooper, who seemed to become a lot more relaxed when he explained that he had no real connection to the stopburningman.org site, that he was just a private citizen who had heard a few claims that he wanted to check out. He asked Mr.Cooper if he had indeed been on that transect walk with Ed and Rex, and if he would vouch for what Ed and Rex were saying, the way they said he would.

Cooper did not support their version of events, saying that the stopburningman.com site was full of mininformation. One example he gave was of a photo allegedly showing paint left on the Playa surface at the site of Burning Man, after the cleanup. In fact, according to Cooper, that photo was taken at the location of a desert golf event, several miles away from the location of Burning Man, well beyond the trash fence. In at least that one case, we already had Ed et al. offering alleged "photographic evidence" in an act of outright fraud. This left any attentive reader wondering in how many other cases our friends had fibbed about where they took those photos.

Ed was quickly losing a potential ally. Our boy thanked Cooper for taking the time to talk to him, hung up, and wrote to the stopburningman.org list about what he had just heard. "And why do you take Cooper's word over mine", Ed asked. "Because you chose to call that witness to the stand, counselor", somebody responded in a sarcastic tone, "and you don't get to have it both ways". Ed said "You said he said the our site is full of inaccurate information, but that thing about the photograph is just one piece of misinformation. So which is it? Is our site full of misinformation, or does it have just that one piece? Make up your mind". Our boy responded: "Is English your first language, Ed? Anybody reasonably familiar with the language could tell that Cooper was offering that as an example". A fairly telling one, too. Ed went on the offensive, in a curiously defensive way. "So you're saying that we painted those lines out in the desert?" The now thoroughly irritated former supporter said "Ed, nothing I wrote could reasonably be interpreted that way. You can continue this discussion without me. You're clearly nuts." He then unsubscribed, after which Ed tried to prove that he was lying about having called Dave Cooper, by claiming to have called Cooper's office at 2:45 pm (almost seven hours later), and being told that Cooper was out of the office. This, supposedly, proved that he hadn't been in at 8 am.

Ed then responded in the way any reasonable, mature moderator would, when he discovered that the discussion wasn't going his way. He deleted the posts for the entire discussion from the archives, and then (having destroyed the evidence) he and his friends proceeded to lie about what had been said in the now deleted posts. A third party, somebody who had been willing to dialogue with these people, sent out a post entitled "WTF", asking where the large number of posts now missing from the archives had gone. Apparently, Ed had forgotten that when a moderator deletes posts from the archives for a yahoogroup, the posts that follow don't get renumbered, so while a dishonest moderator can destroy the evidence of the contents of a post, he can't destroy the evidence that a post had been there. Oops. "Shades of Richard Nixon", somebody said a short while later, joking about the incident via a private e-mail.

Our original questioner confronted Ed onlist about the sudden deletion of all of this material. Ed had "gotten his back up" about his suggestion that having a large number of Burning Man people visit the stopburningman list to discuss matters there might be a bad idea, because one would be in a place where Ed would have control over the archives, and would be free to delete anything that didn't fit in with the mythology he was trying to create. "Where is the evidence that I'd ever want to do such a thing", Ed asked, but now he had clearly done just that. "Do you still want to get your back up about that, Ed", he asked.

Somebody calling himself "Phoneboy" then went completely insane, denying that anything had been deleted, saying that this was an insane conspiracy theory, and that somebody needed to stop watching so many episodes of "Lost". "Really? Is basic arithmetic a conspiracy theory, Phoneboy", their critic asked. One couldn't get past the fact that there was a sudden jump in the message numbers in the archives, going from one line to the next. "Wow, Ed, you can hack yahoogroups", our friend Rex wrote. "Rex, get a grip on it", wrote another once friendly party. "Anybody who has ever moderated a yahoogroup knows that any moderator can delete any message in any group he moderates". Then this guy unsubscribed as well.

It was one of the most bizarre things I had ever read, almost like being dropped into the middle of "Alice in Wonderland". One of the problems dealing with people on the Internet is that you know so few of them, and you get to see so little of them, that sometimes it can be hard to know who's telling you the truth and who's BS-ing you. Maybe sometimes the solution to the problem is to do what stopburningman.org's questioner did, and just hand the liars enough rope with which to hang themselves. Not only do we have them getting caught in a lie, and then trying to cover it up, but then we have this pathetic attempt to pretend that they couldn't delete messages in a list they moderate, a lie so easy to see through that one can't imagine how anybody watching all of this could ever take them seriously, again.

I'm writing this from memory, and I'm really not a good enough writer to do justice to everything that was going on, but I was rolling on the floor. If you haven't signed up for that list, yet, do. You just can't buy entertainment like that.

spectabillis · Post by **spectabillis** » Sun Oct 16, 2005 2:43 pm

Its nothing new here.

This is a fairly open board, the people behind this frequently post.

dj big E · Post by **dj big E** » Mon Oct 17, 2005 10:01 am

If the people on that site truly cared about the playa there would have been 2 pics one of the paint and then one of the playa scraped clean. Lmao BIG E

Neutrality · Post by **Neutrality** » Wed Oct 19, 2005 7:10 pm

Hey! Credit where credit is due! Who's to say that they aren't working on that very problem, even as we speak?

"Hey, Ed? Have I rubbed it all off, yet?" "No, Rex, keep going"

This may all be a moot point, however. The stopburningman list seems to have vanished. Thinking that somebody might have just renamed it to throw burners off the track, I went to the Stopburningman site and found nothing but Rex munching down on something unappetizing.

and the words "So long, and thanks for all the fish.", suggesting that the site and group may be history. Whether these guys are serious and this is all an elaborate prank on their part has yet to be seen.

TheJudge · Post by **TheJudge** » Wed Oct 26, 2005 5:34 pm

More of Rex and his race car:

Kinetic IV · Post by **Kinetic IV** » Wed Oct 26, 2005 6:34 pm

Gawd, that thing reminds me of that ugly windows color scheme called hotdog many years ago. Those yellow wheels are UGLY. Surely he could come up with a better color than that.

TheJudge · Post by **TheJudge** » Wed Oct 26, 2005 8:40 pm

This was when he still lived in Illinois. Many moons ago, but I just love the car. Its just so choice!

Dustbuddy · Post by **Dustbuddy** » Mon Mar 13, 2006 10:36 am

I was unrendering the stopburningman page to pull out a link to this memorable pic

when I came across a nondisplaying comment in the code for the page. I thought I'd reprint it for your enjoyment. It was vintage Ed and Rex, bravely venting in the comments for the page, where almost nobody could see their remarks.

Until now, that is.

and a hearty FUCK YOU to Burning Man, the black Rock City LLC, the losers at the Black Rock Rangers (You fucktards were WAY off on the closure area, and you're lucky we didn't fucking beat the unholy shit out of you when you came rolling up on us when we were driving in a perfectly legal & open part of the playa, you IDIOTS) and the rest of you mindless fucking trendy braineashed SHEEP that go to Burning man. You are all idiots. I hope you all die of cancer. Fuck you all. Oh, by the way, this isn'a a 'victory' to you fucking assholes at all. We've realized that trying to talk truth to you idiots is a waste of time because half of you are too stupid to understand it. Besides, that stupid Maid Marion will just put up more LIES, just like she did with the 2004 After Burn. Did any of you shitheads believe that crap? If you are, then you're even stupider than any of us could have imagined. That's saying something, because y'all are stupid enough to blow over $200 per ticket and an average of $1500 per person to go to what you think is some big happy free event in the desert. None of you give a crap about any environmental damage. Look at all of the fuel that you dipshits exhaust dragging 20,000 pound nose picking "art" sculptures up there. No wonder people think that artists are idiots. Most of them are. Oh, and yes, we've been to the event a few times, actually. One of the trips was to return a big fucking pile of GARBAGE that one of your dipshit "Perimeter Guard" morons threw out on the playa. Yes, we returned your goddamn road sign (6th & Hysteria, if I recall correctly. Ask the barista that was on duty at the coffee shop about it.) Oh, don't even get me started on the coffee shop. I heard stories about people working there laughing at anyone that ordered a "venti" mocha or anything, but the fact still remains - you assholes have a fucking espresso bar in the middle of center camp! So much for the commercial free event, eh? Did you notice that Larry Harvey & friends have been selling t-shirts, calendars, and DVDs on the burningman.com website? Non-commercial my ASS. You fuckin fuckin morons. You pay a ridiculous amount of money to worship a false idol. If you're one of the people that blows a few hundred bucks on the trip just so you can try to get laid, that's ok. In fact, we've even been tempted. Occasionally we've seen some pretty hot chicks there. Problem is that they're probably not single, and their unwashed boyfriend is probably there too. Man, that's fucking lame. If there was ample poontang at Burning Man, we might have gone. remember, lots of you have said that we just don't understand the experience. Did anyone offer free tickets? Well, one person did, but it turns out that was a lie too. Burning Man staff members like to lie to people, don't they? Like the Gate & Perimeter chicks that rolled up on me (Liz was one of them) and claimed that I was in a closed off area and that the BLM would ticket me. Well, they were full of shit. Intimidating people is pretty lame. But I digress... our free tickets were a lie. We even called out anyone that wanted to meet with us to discuss the issues at hand. How many of you Burning Man assholes showed up? What shape is an asshole? That's right.. round.. like the number ZERO. NOT ONE of you motherfuckers showed up. Some knuckle dragging idiot on the now dead yahoo group called "Observer" tried to comment on that by saying something stupid like "Well look how you people act!" I tried seeing things from his point of view but I couldn't ram my head that far up my ass. "How we act" is totally irrelevant. The fact remains that we offered to have a nice meeting with any interested Burning Man participants, and nobody showed. Fucking cowards. Oh, and Badger, you fat fuck.. nobody seems to have any proof of your stupendous work with the BLM. Pissed off homosexuals that have their own agenda irritate the crap out of me, and pretentious liars are even worse. Go fuck yourself, Badger, you fucking mensa wannabe.

That being said, fuck you all.

Just unrender their page and there it is, right above the "/body" tag. Weren't these the same guys who compared us to "a herd of deranged antelope"? Gotta say, when I passed a mirror a few minutes ago, I didn't see any foam on MY lips, but somebody might want to hand a napkin to Ed and Rex.

Paragraph breaks, guys, give them a try.

Dustbuddy · Post by **Dustbuddy** » Mon Mar 13, 2006 10:39 am

So, what is the dynamic duo up to, these days? Does anybody know?

hunter S · Post by **hunter S** » Mon Mar 13, 2006 4:50 pm

I hope.....cowering under a very large rock!!!! they only seem to surface just prior to the burn, I'm sure we'll hear from them sooner than we all want too! think of it as the sighting of a white-out pryor to it making BRC.
I would guess that having to BLM permit in hand takes alot out of idea they might actualy be a thorn in the creation of "BRC 06"

Ugly Dougly · Post by **Ugly Dougly** » Mon Mar 13, 2006 4:55 pm

That picture cries for a Photoshop like a lamb for its mama.

theCryptofishist · Post by **theCryptofishist** » Tue Mar 14, 2006 10:13 am

Somebody please email that poontang comment to rex's wife.

As if any of the girls wouldn't have plenty of better offers.

Isotopia · Post by **Isotopia** » Tue Mar 14, 2006 6:09 pm

That picture cries for a Photoshop like a lamb for its mama.

That photo is of Rex's colon after the first round of his bullshit posting to this group.

spectabillis · Post by **spectabillis** » Tue Mar 14, 2006 10:22 pm

spectabillis wrote:This is a fairly open board, the people behind this frequently post.

And thats what you get for being open to other views and criticism? Both Badger and Observer didn't deserve that.

Observer · Post by **Observer** » Wed Mar 15, 2006 6:36 pm

spectabillis wrote:
spectabillis wrote:This is a fairly open board, the people behind this frequently post.
And thats what you get for being open to other views and criticism? Both Badger and Observer didn't deserve that.

Thanks, Spec. By the way, experience in dealing with these two on their own turf has taught me the value of keeping a little documentation handy, just in case they try to make the evidence go away, so I'm posting a link to a cached copy of that page at Google. The comments can be found by unrendering the page, near the bottom of the screen.

I'm glad to see that Rex didn't miss the chance to shoot himself in the foot and just as glad that Ed helped him to reload. For years, they've been posturing as being these nice, reasonable, misunderstood people and when a lot of their argument can be summed up by the words "please take our word for it", perceptions about such things do matter. This time, they made themselves and their cause look bad and all they achieved at my end is that they made me chuckle for maybe about a second. I'm guessing that Badger will be feeling about as devastated.

I appreciate the support, but I view this incident as being a small victory handed to us for free.

Bob · Post by **Bob** » Wed Mar 15, 2006 10:47 pm

The winter fur on that playa chicken looks pretty thick this year.

TheJudge · Post by **TheJudge** » Fri Apr 07, 2006 9:07 am

Being one of the "braineashed SHEEP," mentioned, its fun to watch the desperation of someone so completely ignorant.

theCryptofishist · Post by **theCryptofishist** » Fri Apr 07, 2006 9:25 am

HOw do you eash the brain of a sheep?

Neutrality · Post by **Neutrality** » Mon Apr 17, 2006 7:41 am

Time to collect on a few of your bets!

I just dropped by the stopburningman.org site, and found that it was back to looking like its old self. Whether this was Rex playing games (let's see if the site quickly vanishes again) or the dynamic duo have decided to bless the Burning Man community with their presence again remains to be seen.

Oh, and I believe that eoap is often used in eashing the brain of a sheep. It's not too good for the sheep, though.

theCryptofishist · Post by **theCryptofishist** » Mon Apr 17, 2006 1:13 pm

INterferes with the natural lubricant of the lanolin. No wonder those guys couldn'g thing their way out of a wet paper bag.

Lassen Forge · Post by **Lassen Forge** » Mon Apr 17, 2006 2:18 pm

theCryptofishist wrote:INterferes with the natural lubricant of the lanolin. No wonder those guys couldn'g thing their way out of a wet paper bag.

I think, after careful anal ysis of their site, it's evident... they've been drinking the sheep dip.

bb

spectabillis · Post by **spectabillis** » Mon Apr 17, 2006 4:30 pm

so our favorite little friends have more time to waste again? oh-fuckin-great.

Lassen Forge · Post by **Lassen Forge** » Mon Apr 17, 2006 4:49 pm

They are, if you'll pardon the scientific analysis... proving themselves to be highly esteemed f***ing idiots. In my humble opinion, of course. Especially with their concocted "evidence" and stating false statements as fact. Like the "man" painted on a window of a car that looks suspiciously like... a... Neon? And the airplane at the springs being "burners". Um Hmmm...

The funny part is that so-called "legal notice", upper left corner.

OH... WAIT a minute. I get it. Silly me. It's an attempt at HUMOR. HA HA HA ha ha ha ha ha ha...

tregocamper · Post by **tregocamper** » Mon Apr 17, 2006 6:36 pm

Observer, I'd like to quote you here, as I think a recent statement of yours rings very true... Please let me know if you'd consider it to be out of context:

he kinda left in a huff, might be back...

Sensei · Post by **Sensei** » Mon Apr 17, 2006 7:14 pm

Kee-rist, what's that smell?

This can only mean one thing: Rex is about to post something.

Excuse me while I step outside for awhile...

Sensei · Post by **Sensei** » Mon Apr 17, 2006 8:55 pm

Well, dang! I saw Allanon2 logged on and got all ready for a big laugh, then... nothing.

I'll bet the spell checker has him befuddled.

Kinetic IV · Post by **Kinetic IV** » Mon Apr 17, 2006 9:09 pm

WTF is this?

Last edited by spectabillis on Mon Apr 17, 2006 8:43 pm; edited 1 time in total. (88 percent)
Last edited by tregocamper on Mon Apr 17, 2006 8:36 pm; edited 1 time in total. (1 percent)

It's all in Tregocamper's post. As for the StopBM asshats, who gives a rat's ass about a bunch of fucking failures who's only claims to fame are bitching about playa serpents, scoring a few minutes of airtime on NPR, filling up the eplaya with typos and generally accomplishing nothing?

People, it's time to move on. Let the fuckers rot at the bottom of the eplaya thread list, buried in obscurity where they belong.

Lassen Forge · Post by **Lassen Forge** » Mon Apr 17, 2006 9:41 pm

To answer your last question first - GO, DAMNIT!!! >grins<

Then the add-ons - yep, bulls*** from this "trego" sock, if it was a legit edit footer, it won't show up. Bad form, old boot, but then again, as full of questionable material the rest of your stuff is, this continuation of your typically poor-quality fabrication doesn't surprise me.

And to end - yep. As much as I admire free speech, I think this yahrkov should be dumped to the bottom of the ePlaya injection pond, buried and given the due respect it deserves (i.e. ignored).

That's why I'm *not* an admin on the list - nor would they let me - I see something this legally questionable, I might enforce the TOS and suspend the sockaccount. >>sorry...<< As such... this thread is hereby, on my list of officially ploinkables. >grins<

bb

tregocamper · Post by **tregocamper** » Mon Apr 17, 2006 10:53 pm

[quote="Kinetic IV"]WTF is this?

[quote]Last edited by spectabillis on Mon Apr 17, 2006 8:43 pm; edited 1 time in total. (88 percent)
Last edited by tregocamper on Mon Apr 17, 2006 8:36 pm; edited 1 time in total. (1 percent)[/quote]
[/quote]

This is spectabillis editing out 88% of my very rational post that should not have been censored, but this one will probably suffer the same fate. This is the first time I've seen this kind of behavior by a moderator on ANY forum...

Totally juvenile.

EDIT: I just realized that you think I made that edit footer, as if to accuse him wrongfully of censoring my post... LOL.... WOW. Un friggin' believable.

spectabillis · Post by **spectabillis** » Mon Apr 17, 2006 11:47 pm

aw fucking damnit!

very sorry trego, after stepping off a few days i have not got back to being used to the switching of buttons. this is the *third freakin time* i have done that so i think i am going to get emily to disable that ability for me. the edit button is in the place of your quote button, so when i think i am quoting... its editing your post. my reply was that observer sorta went off in a huff and i dont know if he is reading things here.

it was nothing intentional.

Stopburningman.org: This be a hoot!

Stopburningman.org: This be a hoot!

Lmao

Rex has taken his marbles and gone home!

Re: Rex has taken his marbles and gone home!

They're back, kind of