What ever happened to the DUer who was going to start an alternative

[Dover]

news source. It's been awhile, so I don't remember his name. But he posted here in GD alot recruiting the help of DUers and then eventually set up a web site for working on the project?

Anybody here know what I'm talking about.

[Andy_Stephenson]

1. bpilgrim his site is

www.globalfreepress.com

[Dover]

2. Thanks. Don't know why that name doesn't ring a bell.........

Could there be someone else? This was well over a year ago and a lot of DUers got involved. My memory is terrible...

I couldn't get your link to work.

[Elidor]

3. You're thinking of htuttle and another DUer whose name I've forgotten

I was marginally involved in that for a brief period, but real life intruded and I dropped out. I don't know what became of the project.

[Dover]

5. Yes! That's who it was! Thank you.

Last I remember he had collected a number of DU helpers and funding.

What was the project for.....a website, newspaper, or other?

[KoKo]

4. I know who you're talking about. Big Bragadoccio poster who had funding

and was going to hire writers, and artists etc. Kept posting and thanking everyone line by line? Is that the guy you're talking about. it was a couple of years ago. It wasn't Billy Pilgrim because his site is up and he still posts here.

Dude you're talking about had "big hype" folks e-mailing him offering their creative services and he kept saying he had funding coming, and then he disappeared?

Is that the one?

Could have been someone who just couldn't get it all together even though they tried...or just a strange bird. Haven't seen them here, if that's the one you're talking about. So long ago, I've forgotten their posting name. Hope this helps.

Billy Pilgrim's site is good..somebody gave the link above.

[Dover]

6. Yes Koko, see the post above. Is there anyone who knows what happened?

I'm so curious.

[Mike Niendorff]

8. (see post 7)

He went by "Tace". Was going to set up an alternative news-source, solicited names, writers, etc. This is definitely the guy you're thinking of.


MDN

[charlie]

10. Bigass scam

Had studios in NJ, even talked about BUYING ABC, though his collaboration website was hosted on a free Geocities-type server in France. I wrote a long letter to admin complaining about him. Right on cue, as the enthusiasm for his project got feverish, he began pitching it as an attractive ground-floor "investment opportunity", buy in now, be rich later. What an asshole.

[Dover]

11. Oh no! How do you know for sure it was a scam? Did you hear anything

more? If so, please provide the details.

Sounds like you caught what others missed.

[KoKo]

19. Yes! Tace...he/she was a real smoothie...unbelievably good was so kind

and sincere, and it was at a low time here on DU..maybe after the "mid-term" elections where we were all really down. Was that the time..but anyway came on here and even us very skeptical DU'ers sort of got taken in because Tace was so sincere and paid attention to us...

Ugh! bad memories.

[greatauntoftriplets]

28. Doesn't work anymore....

bpilgrim is working to get it online again.

[Mike Niendorff]

7. his DU handle was "Tace"

He was real active for a month or so, and then pretty much seemed to vanish. I don't know what (if anything) actually became of it all, although I remember the discussions were quite lengthy and included more than a few solicitations for employment.


MDN

[Dover]

9. It wasn't "tuttle"? Tace sounds right too. Oh boy, my mind is going...

I assumed he disappeared from DU because he got busy with the project and with setting up the working site online.

I can't believe there's no one here who was involved enough to know what eventually happened.

[scarletwoman]

15. Yeah, Tace. I remember him, I even signed up for his online working group

It was some kind of secure site, that involved special access. Early on I was emailed the access instructions, but I could never get them to work. I still received some email updates after that, but since I never could figure out how to activate my access, and my life got busy with other things, I just let it go.

That was about 2 years ago. The emails stopped after a couple of months.

Funny, I was just recently wondering what ever became of that project too. :shrug:

sw

[KoKo]

21. tuttle still posts and has been in and out of DU and maybe was involved

early on with Tace...but then many of us saw he/she as a hope. tuttle is still with Global Free Press, I think. I check out their web page from time to time. I think Ewing is doing stuff over there, too. But all are probably on their own doing much more independent work, too, I would think. :shrug:

[Paranoid_Portlander]

12. Euwing or Euwing2001?

If I remember correctly, he is now associated with globalfreepress.com? I'm not sure of the spelling. Ewing?

[Dover]

13. Why won't that link work for me? Anyway, thanks PP for the guess, but

the poster above is correct. His name was Tace. Maybe that was before your time here.

But I sure would like to see what globalfreepress is all about. It sounds interesting.

[Mike Niendorff]

14. no, ewing2001 is a completely different guy

ewing2001 was probably the most aggressive 9/11 poster here, at least in the early days of DU, but he was *way* further out on the paranoid fringes than most DUers. His account ultimately got pulled during the big rules-changover that happened just prior to the 2002 mid-term election. Last I heard, he'd moved over to bpilgrim's site.


MDN

[KoKo]

20. Yes, Mike... remember Ewing and Sterling who first broke speculation about

9/11 and everyone thought they were "Far Out?" But, those of us who read them stayed with it and became the "tinfoilhatters."

I'm a :tinfoilhat: Even though much of it was ridiculed they left folks like me behind who became believers that Bush Admin was up to very dark, dirty tricks. Seems their early :tinfoil: turned to solid gold or whatever one calls something that's solid and doesn't change...

They were onto Bush and the DARK SIDE before the rest of us..but even the most bizarre about the Thugs in DC is proving to be darker than we thought..:D This is my own opinion. Many new DU'ers wouldn't understand what I'm saying.

[CaptainClark23]

29. Indeed

Ewing continues to do excellent research, writing, and activism.
(saw and spoke to him last night at F9-11, on the leaflet brigade)

[Elidor]

16. My bad, it was Tace

htuttle was very involved, too.

As for the negative comments above, there's nothing wrong with soliciting funds for an expensive enterprise. Tace dared to dream big. If he bit off more than he could chew alone, there's no shame in that. I was never subjected to a single message asking for money, and he made it clear that my contributions were welcome no matter.

It's a shame it didn't come off, but there were huge odds to overcome. Tace and htuttle have always impressed me as highly motivated, intelligent people. Honest, as well. It's disgusting that someone would slime their intentions.

[Dover]

17. You seem to know Tace/tuttle well enough to defend their integrity

so do you have any details on what became of them and the project?

Were any DUers burned by becoming involved?

[Elidor]

18. I'm not aware of any such thing

I wish I had stayed in touch regarding the project. Tace had big dreams, and I respected that a great deal. But real life interceded - and as I recall, Tace had at least one small child, so free time was at a premium for him as well.

I remember he used to post eastern philosophy - Jewel in the Lotus? perhaps. Seemed like an enlightened soul. I've wondered what happened to him.

ScarletWoman is right that the site at Mayetic Village was not user-friendly. It had great functionality, but it was as much an impediment as it was a tool.

[KoKo]

24. Symbolman...we were just trying to get to the bottom of this. And no one

was dissing htuttle...I think...but lots of folks had high hopes for Tace because of the kindness when we felt very down and out.

But, being left when such high hopes were promised did leave some of us wondering...I think this is a "nostalgia thread" since Dover asked some of us went digging in our DU fogged brain to remember all we've been through to sort this person out.

No dissing intended..but it may sound like it...when much is promised but we don't know where the person went. :shrug:

[KoKo]

22. Dover the (virgo in me) asks why are you so interested now...does he

owe you money. I know he/she was looking for donations but I don't remember it being something active...just suggestions. Did Tace solicit stuff if you ever got through to the website? Like Scarlett Woman, I never could get anything to work with him, so I gave up.

Why are you looking for this person? :shrug:

[Dover]

25. No, nothing like that. I never even got that involved.

I don't even know why I recalled that exactly. Back then, I was thinking outloud about how this site WAS a think tank in it's own right, and found Tace's idea of using DU as a resource for such an undertaking very interesting at the time...just wondered if the project was a success......wondered if I was missing something. (Bev Harris used DU very successfully and for a great cause soon thereafter). It was just one of those loose ends floating around in my memory, I guess.

But apparently the project never came to fruition. I do find it kind of curious that no one knows more about this considering that so many were involved (or at least attempted to be). I don't remember very much about funding solicitation. What I do recall is that he had gotten some really big investors and had even gotten some big name writers involved (not Palast...but someone associated with him?).

Anyway, that's all. Just curious and wanting to find out what happened. My memory of Tace is all good as regards his manner and ambitions to create a decent news source when there were NONE to be found, but it's also a bit mysterious, no?

[charlie]

26. Big name writers

He claimed strategy meetings with Mark Crispin Miller, had Noam Chomsky aboard, and got a note out of the blue from Paul Krassner about his project. Feh. He wanted $300,000 for the "design phase" (getting off of his free-hosted website and its gratis Lotus Notes package that was giving him heartburn). He also popped up needing $4000 "next week" for a battery of lawyers poised to set up a limited partnership, all loans to be repaid quickly, of course. It was a handjob.

[Dover]

27. Yes! That's right......it was Crispin Miller, et al.

I don't remember the direct solicitation part...I probably just missed reading it. So DO you know what became of this. Did anyone get burned or what's the rest of the story?

[charlie]

30. My recollection is

that over time, when not even the most meager of his grandiose plans came to fruition (He once posted a lament that only 80 or so of 200 invited DU applicants had registered at his site. Then for the next week was inundated with "I registered, how come I can't get in?" posts), his project lost traction here. For about a month afterward, he was just a regular old comment poster, then disappeared.

[Dover]

32. Yeah, that all fits with my memory too. So where are the 80 that

DID get signed up? Was that a fiction? Did anyone work closely with this guy? Did anyone get financially ripped off? Would Crispin or any of the others validate Tace's claims?

In order for this to be considered a 'scam', someone has to have lost some money....unless Tace just wanted to get hold of DUer's personal info/emails.

[RetroLounge]

34. I was one of the 80 who originally signed up

The site sucked to use, but that is a Lotus Notes issue, nothing to do with Tace. And never was there a solicitation for cash, at least not to me. I particpated a bit, but got sidetracked and had actually forgotten all about it until now.

No bad memories, no bad feelings, at least on my end.

RL

[Dover]

37. Was any personal info required in order to work on that web site?

What kind of 'work' was going on? What was the project?

[scarletwoman]

31. I'm curious, did he ask YOU for money?

Because I don't remember him EVER soliciting funds on DU. What I remember is his talking about lining up some big (but anonymous) investors, and my impression was that this was something he was doing outside of DU.

I thought him likable and sincere. I wondered a bit about his veracity in regard to those mysterious investors, but since he didn't appear to be hitting up DUers for money, I figured he was pretty harmless.

As I said, I signed up for a working group -- at the time, I figured I'd be better able to tell whether he was just blowing smoke or was really onto something if I got a closer look at his setup. Since I never successfully accessed his site, I just let it drop away.

But I truly don't recall him ever hitting up DUers for money -- I would have immediately been suspicious if he had, and would definitely NOT have tried to sign up to work with him.

sw

[Dover]

33. Are you asking me? If so, the answer is no. As I said in response to

'Charlie' I really don't have too much memory of the money end of this. But apparently Charlie has a better memory than me.

I considered getting involved at one point, but had more pressing personal work to do. Tace sent his web site signup info to my DU inbox, but I didn't sign up. That's really the end of the story for me.

Except for my nagging curiousity about the outcome...

[charlie]

35. No, he didn't

I never posted in his threads. He didn't make direct appeals for money, except for the time he needed cash for lawyers (Oddly, that came after he claimed to have gotten $50,000 in seed money). What he did though, was project how much the "phases" of the effort would cost, then what a grand opportunity it would be for pre-IPO investors at DU, noting how Time-Warner got magnificent returns in their investments in minor cable networks. It was soft sell, but he was selling.

[Dover]

36. In retrospect I think you're probably right about this.

Maybe your letter to the admin. and possibly other complaints nipped it in the bud.

The best way to find out for sure would be to contact Crispin Miller or some of the others and see if they were involved at all, or have any hard knowledge of the funding situation.

[scarletwoman]

38. I guess I never picked up on the "soft sell".

I naturally wouldn't pay attention to any money talk anyway, not having any money to spare for much beyond bare survival. When he posted about the business/investment part of his proposal, I basically tuned out since it was irrelevant to me. I was only interested in helping out with the research and writing end of things.

For awhile afterward, I kept watching for a big announcement that the project was up and running. When it never came, I simply forgot about it.

sw

[KoKo]

39. Agree Charlie..he never directly asked for money but as it went along ther

were sort of "implied suggestions." So, while I can't say he ever directly asked for money...it wasn't until a late stage that there was a "vague suggestion" and most wouldn't even have seen it as that..

Wow...really pulling stuff out of my memory over this...it seems so long ago..

[symbolman]

23. Well

Take Back the Media in now involved in creating a Media Summit and are going to hold it a few days before the Democratic Convention in Boston.

We're inviting some of the top Progressive people on the web, directors, filmmakers, innovative thinkers, media and radio people, etc

and trying to get them all on one page.

let us know if you have contacts and are interested.

http://www.takebackthemedia.com

this is for real.

[darkstar]

40. I was involved w/ tace and htuttle for a bit

and remember being suspicious at the outset, mostly b/c of the claims as to funding and size of the project. But that's my nature. I always thought the dream was too big, the extent of backing likely overblown, etc.

I demoed a phone interview style, weekly environmental issues radio show for them. (I've got some home studio gear and already work in environmental outreach, so it was no big deal.) They had some critiques for me and asked me to do some network IDs, something I think they asked several others to do.

I don't recall the DU appeal for money, but believe those who wrote about one above. However, I was never personally solicited for money in email, and for a while there was e-ing back and forth a lot about nature of show I wanted to do, technical matters on my end re: compressing the MP3 demo etc.

For what it's worth, that's my experience. Some degree of effort--perhaps wholly out of sync w/ the stated ambitions--was being put forward on their end.