J. Wyatt Ehrenfels: Do Not Believe the Libelous Campaign against J. Wyatt Ehrenfels

I am compelled to compose this, not in response to any message or to
communicate with anyone in particular, but for the archive.
Apparently, some of the regular patrons of UseNet -- one flaming thug
in particular -- knew what he was doing when he composed a series of
rapid-fire deceptive posts, leading the subject header with my full
name. At first, I wondered, "How does such a post serve him? No one
responds to them. The posts appear disproportionate to the rational
and temperate tenor of my previous posts if they do not appear
entirely unprovoked. And the 'free-floating hate speech' does not
appear to be directed to me personally, nor is it remotely on-topic
when we consider the context that is the current thread." But now I
know: this individual, who goes by the name of Iceman, was simply
making sure that his derogatory and deceptive records would be first
in the list of those posts returned to anyone searching my name on
UseNet.

THE LIES

      This individual is not simply engaged in idle speculation, not
simply spreading rumors, and not simply venting his frustration
through inflammatory rhetoric. What this person is doing is libelous
fabrication. Pretending to have access to a private font of knowledge
about me, he is simply writing what he wants UseNet patrons to believe
about me, and my wife is apparently not outside the scope of his
mudslinging.

BOOK IS REAL

      Initially, he contended with aplomb that my book is a fraud and
a hoax. Then, after I provided him with ISBN data, he revised his
story, claiming my book to be self-published without recanting the
statements about the fraud and the hoax. Then, after I provided him
with links to publisher web sites, he revised his story yet again,
claiming (again without withdrawing previous prevarications) that my
book is a vanity project. Guess what? My book is not a vanity project.
There is no truth to any of his claims, and yet he conveniently shifts
back and forth between these three positions when it suits him. He
will not even recant one claim to buttress another, as this would be
evidence in the archive of his fabrication.

PHD IS REAL

      He may have acknowledged that HIS PhD is a self-conferred
honorary title (like a wrestler's handle [e.g., "The Ambassador of
Pain" or "The Iron Hippie"), but my PhD IS real. I may have appended
it to a pseudonym (and I have always been upfront about my assumed
name), but the PhD is real, and all he could reasonably do is raise
speculation as to whether my PhD is real. But he purports to know for
a fact that I do not have a PhD, and this is a fabrication.

      Time (the imminent release of my book, Fireflies in the Shadow
of the Sun), will prove him wrong. But he is unswayed by that, because
all he cares is that UseNet's record will reflect his lies in as great
a number as the truths. He is liable for libel, and I, or any of his
other targets, might actually consider a lawsuit if any of his posts
could be traced. Beware what you read on UseNet!

J Wyatt Ehrenfels