mustardman

Please see this post:

https://www.reddit.com/r/ModSupport/comments/16qek6o/i_desperately_need_someone_from_reddit_to_contact/

Reddit (Automated)

[Bunch of automated bullshit]

mustardman

This is urgent. This is going to be a pretty sensational news story because it involves the inventor of the iPhone’s multi-touch technology. I will be happy to tell news organizations that Reddit did nothing to control this violent sociopath.

Reddit Admin (Name Redacted)

Hey there - will you please send links here to what you’re referring to? That would be very helpful.

Cheers

mustardman

Thank you for getting back to me. I’m in a very extreme situation where I discovered fraud with a company called Clean Air Kits and put out a well sourced report that starts here. The owner in question is Wayne Westerman, who is a high level profile employee at Apple. For a lack of a better word, he has been torturing me for a year from his account named /u/valpres.

He admitted to circumventing bans back in June and I reported it to Reddit, and all I got back was a notification that no evasion was detected.

I have been getting so many ban evasion alerts from multiple accounts that I have had to shut my subreddit down. I honestly am not joking about any of this, this is an honest to god serious issue. There is a lot more information that I have not made public, [REDACTED]. Because I have received so much harassment, I’m planning on reporting it to local law enforcement to get a restraining order against Wayne.

I’m really struggling with how bad this has been. Please help me.

mustardman

And I honestly think that there is very strange activity going on in my /r/ModSupport thread:

https://www.reddit.com/r/ModSupport/comments/16qnlya/please_help_me_with_a_sociopath_who_is/

Reddit Admin (Name Redacted)

Have you reported the account for ban evasion?

mustardman

I reported the account /u/valpres back in June, which has been his main account for attacking me. I only got an automated email saying no ban evasion detected. You guys let me down with that and could have prevented a lot of psychological pain.

This user has made at least 4 posts from /r/AirQuality attacking me and encouraging brigading, the first of which was back in May/June after I banned him from /r/AirPurifiers.

mustardman

Read these mod logs to understand his psychology:

https://mod.reddit.com/mail/all/1i99jt

Reddit Admin (Name Redacted)

Having taken a quick glance, there aren’t any signs of ban evasion going on just as your report response noted.

I recommend using our report forms or the report button to report specific pieces of content that violate sitewide rules.

mustardman

This was an unsettling message chain that occurred after he partially doxxed himself using /u/valpres.

[https://www.reddit.com/r/AirQuality/comments/16o6pk5/statement_on_mustardmans_a_moderator_on_air/k1nzg1x/]

He is a very unstable individual and has been trying to manipulate me into relenting, such as this offer of “peace”:

https://mod.reddit.com/mail/all/1pppnd

mustardman

Here is the last thread attacking me as u/valpres, where he doxxes himself to try to make me seem like I’m having paranoid delusions:

https://www.reddit.com/r/AirQuality/comments/16o6pk5/statement_on_mustardmans_a_moderator_on_air/

Honestly, I know what he is doing. He is doing a dark pattern that I read about on Reddit a decade ago where you harass moderators from numerous accounts, have good accounts that are “willing to help”, the overwhelmed moderator accepts that help, the accounts say “take a break, we got this”, and then they overthrow the moderator. I am horrified to see how it works in practice as a victim of it.

mustardman

| Having taken a quick glance

Take a longer glance:https://www.reddit.com/r/AirPurifiers/comments/13dpyen/measuring_ozone_levels_in_the_home/jjsogl9/

| mustardman24, a moderator, just banned me from the site, so I am posing under another name.

Do something. This is your website and these are insane patterns of abuse.

mustardman

Please tell me that someone is looking into this. I’m really sorry that I pulled you into this on a weekend.

I feel like the same bad actors are involved in /r/ModSupport, look at this comment chain:

https://www.reddit.com/r/ModSupport/comments/16qnlya/please_help_me_with_a_sociopath_who_is/k1zm4n9/

Reddit Admin (Name Redacted)

Hey there - the post has been deleted so, unfortunately, I can’t view what was written. If it came from the account u/CleanAirKits the account has been actioned.

I encourage you to report any harassment you’re experiencing so our Safety team can investigate.

mustardman

As a software engineer, I find it hard to believe that Reddit does not have the deleted comments still preserved in an internal database. This interaction has been unsatisfactory because I have used Reddit’s reporting services many time with no action taken, even when I have concrete evidence of ban evasion done with the intent to harass.

Like I said, I have already contacted federal law enforcement and I’m currently contacting local law enforcement since you can’t apply basic protections for your users nor provide assistance during astroturfing campaigns by proven bad actors.

I urge you to do the right thing and stop making me jump through endless hoop for basic protection. I don’t get paid to run this site, you do, so please do the right thing.

mustardman

I just met with the local investigator. He is a Redditor himself and poignantly stated that “they won’t give a shit until they start losing money”, which is true.

The person that is harassing me is Wayne Westerman, most famously known for inventing the multi-touch gestures used in the original iPhone and is currently the Multi-Touch Architect at Apple. I believe there is financial fraud that occured between Mr. Westerman and a major non-profit in IAQ, the Corsi-Rosenthal Foundataion, who are the namesakes behind the Corsi–Rosenthal Box.

I have contacts at the FBI because I have previously worked with them in taking down another form of public corruption in my local City government. This has already been forwarded off a senior financial crimes case manager at the FBI so I’m requesting a preservation of evidence on anything, such as deleted comments, from being removed from databases by your normal order of business (such as data archiving or pruning).

I’m pretty mad at Reddit. You guys let me down back in May when you let a hostile user continue to harass me with impunity and have only allowed the situation to become inflamed by not controlling what has literally turned into criminal behavior.

I really hope that Tim Rathschmidt has improved on his public speaking skills after the API fiasco, because I plan to make this all public as well.

mustardman

Why are there so many sockpuppet accounts in an admin-sponsored subreddit? If you genuinely cannot tell that most of these accounts are sockpuppets, Reddit is not a viable company:

https://www.reddit.com/r/ModSupport/comments/16qnlya/please_help_me_with_a_sociopath_who_is/

mustardman

Also, I find it incredibly odd that for the past few days, I lost access to a small number of moderator functions that are highly specific to this situation. For example, I cannot pin nor unpin announcement posts.

mustardman

I don’t think that Reddit messages is the appropriate venue for this any more. Please follow up with on email address of mine that you have on file.

  • Lvxferre@lemmy.mlM
    101·
    9 months ago

    I shall be locking this post for 24h, to be fair with the OP who was issued a short ban.

    EDIT: unlocked. For everyone here:

    • If claiming something with certainty, be prepared to back it up. Doubly true if pointing fingers. Witch hunting and similar behaviours will not be tolerated here.
    • If you suspect that there are bad faith agents in this comm, report and let me handle it.
  • Lvxferre@lemmy.mlM
    73·
    9 months ago

    [Speaking as a mod]

    OP, I’m letting this post on because it happens to be related to the topic of this comm. However, chill - you’ve been posting this even in 196, Linux and Memes, and your behaviour is bordering spam.

    Also be sure to be reasonable while discussing with other posters. Do not claim “they’re sockpuppets” or “they’re astroturfing in Lemmy” without having evidence for that. (And no, “chrust me” is NOT evidence.) Refer to rule #4.

    This is an official warning.

        • givesomefucks@lemmy.worldEnglish
          10·
          9 months ago

          Also be sure to be reasonable while discussing with other posters. Do not claim “they’re sockpuppets” or “they’re astroturfing in Lemmy” without having evidence for that. (And no, “chrust me” is NOT evidence.) Refer to rule #4.

          This is an official warning.

          It seemed pretty obvious, but if they read your post, theyd probably have realized it wouldn’t work.

      • Lvxferre@lemmy.mlM
        29·
        9 months ago

        OK. Now speaking as just another user:

        It’s useless to speak with Reddit admins. They don’t give a fuck. Harassment goes rampant in that site.

        If you’re seeing astroturfing in Lemmy, I suggest you to gather evidence and submit it to the admins of the instance where the astroturfing accounts are registered to. Do it through a direct message, make sure to be succinct and well-organised, and when possible archive/screenshot content instead of direct linking. (And save those screenshots and archive links in your computer, too - your lawyer will thank you.)

  • Million@lemmy.zipEnglish
    31·
    9 months ago

    This shit unhinged. You have spam posted this to like 10 different lemmy communities. I doubt thats a way to get any positive attention.

  • jeffhykin@lemm.ee
    24·
    9 months ago

    Can someone (e.g. @OP) please TLDR this

    I’ve read it like three times and still don’t understand what’s going on. I don’t see any of the attacks (links require login), and I’m not sure why quitting reddit and using Lemmy instead isn’t a valid soltuion.

    • Lvxferre@lemmy.mlM
      211·
      9 months ago

      From what I’ve understood:

      • OP is a moderator of r/AirPurifiers;
      • OP posted in Reddit criticism against Clean Air Kits, claiming that the company is fraudulent
      • accordingly to OP, as a result of the above, u/valpres (The owner of Clean Air Kits, Wayne Westerman) has been torturing OP for a year, using ban evasion for that. OP also claims that u/valpres is an [ipsis digitis] “violent sociopath”
      • OP has been contacting Reddit through multiple channels, and Reddit did nothing.
  • Brkdncr@artemis.camp
    156·
    9 months ago

    I’m reading this and seeing possible paranoia and delusions. If you’re right, what do you get out of it? If you’re wrong, you have a mental health issue to deal with. I suggest showing this all to a shrink.

    I’ve seen this in a few people before.

  • Adeptfuckup@lemmy.world
    52·
    9 months ago

    Words are meaningless to narcissists. They will use tactics like triangulation to harass their targets. They are counting on raising an emotional response from you because in their eyes it’s a sign of weakness. The best course of action is to not play their emotional mind games. These people are fucking morons. Use that to your advantage.

  • vivavideri@lemmy.world
    3·
    9 months ago

    Would waybackmachine help in any way with the possibility of pulling old comments?

    (I’ve seen people on Reddit pull old threads this way but haven’t attempted it personally, I hope you get this all sorted out)

    • merridew@feddit.ukEnglish
      28·
      9 months ago

      These accounts somehow were able to fully understand an incredibly complex story in less than 10 minutes

      What is easily understandable, in far less than 10 minutes, is that a) this is incredibly hard to follow, and b) your mass-posting this everywhere does not comes across well.

      If, as you allude to, you have retained legal counsel, I urge you to ask them if posting this all over the place and getting into internet bunfights is likely to impact your case… and I also urge you to follow their advice when they advise you to stop.

    • givesomefucks@lemmy.worldEnglish
      202·
      9 months ago

      Ok Kanye…

      Making four posts in less than an hour and saying everyone who disagrees with you is a sockpuppet is definitely letting people know you’re the rational one.

      • Adeptfuckup@lemmy.world
        58·
        9 months ago

        Calling him Kanye… again. Why dismiss it outright? Aren’t you the least bit curious? Whatever happened to ‘trust but verify’ ? It’s irrational to to believe that a person’s own anger is created in a vacuum. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction

        Edit: spelling

        • givesomefucks@lemmy.worldEnglish
          9·
          9 months ago

          Calling him Kanye… again

          Because they keep acting like it…

          Why dismiss it outright?

          Because I wouldn’t care even if I was still on reddit.

          Whatever happened to ‘trust but verify’ ?

          If you try to “verify” the ramblings of every person on the internet… you’re going to spend all your time going down rabbit holes.

          You have to exercise a bit of selection in what’s worth “verifying” and a reddit conspiracy about the effectiveness of an air purifier isn’t high up on the list of what warrants attention.

          Especially when the person claiming it is incredibly unhinged.

        • harmonea@kbin.social
          20·
          9 months ago

          Why do you feel this is news that needs to be spread?

          Like, I feel for you if all this is true, but we here already left reddit and you’re already pressuring the admins and claiming to involve law enforcement and reporters. There is literally nothing the rest of us could do to contribute to this even if we were inclined.

          This was just morning drama popcorn. It doesn’t need to go anywhere and especially doesn’t want crossposting to large communities where it was off topic, nor does it warrant the spam in unrelated comment sections.

          And if that opinion happens to make me a sock puppet, well…

          Looks back over verifiable same-name online persona in niche interests for years and shrugs

          Okay then.

          • Adeptfuckup@lemmy.world
            510·
            9 months ago

            Drama popcorn? I am curious what your state of mind was when you posted that comment. It makes one suspect your intent…

            • harmonea@kbin.social
              122·
              9 months ago

              It’s the mindset of someone who just woke up and was browsing sleepy as hell from bed and is already tired of hearing about this after finding it in like 8 communities and in several comment sections of unrelated posts. If you want to suspect my intent, go for it, nothing I say could stop you.