I almost did not get involved in this, as it requires speculation about the semi-private affairs of an individual blogger. However, the issue here, to me, is sloppy thinking on the part of many, as well as public conclusions being drawn where evidence is not as clear as some would make it out to be. Further, the entire situation is one of using personal attacks as a proxy for reasoned debate. Since in my own fantasy world, I would like to see less personal discussions and invective, and more reasoned debate in the world of blogs, it seems worthwhile to jump into this, to at least illustrate how things may not be what they seem, and to caution against publicly drawing conclusions about personal actions without a complete set of facts.
There is much talk this morning in the Blogosophere that Glenn Greenwald has been caught engaging in “sockpuppetry” (i.e., using different pseudonyms to leave comments on various blogs defending himself).
There is much joy in certain rightward-leaning areas of the Sphere over this (e.g., “I’m going to enjoy this schadenfreude for awhile.”)
Now, I will say that if Greenwald engaged in such behavior, it would be a strange thing that would qualify for some serious public criticism.
Still, I must confess, that when I first read the comments in question in this post at Patterico’s blog, I was struck by the fact that the writing was not as fluid as Greenwald’s usually is–further, it struck me as odd that someone who normally has no trouble putting forth their ideas under their own name would stoop to such tactics.
However, upon reading Greenwald’s lengthy defense of himself to a set of accusations, I have formulated an alternative theory to the sockpuppet allegation: what if the comments were written by someone else in Greenwald’s household? Certainly his partner would have the opportunity and motivation to post defenses of Greenwald on the blogs in question. Such a theory also explains the writing style difference, especially given that, according to Greenwald’s post, his partner is Brazilian, and English would therefore be a second language.
So, before the schadenfreudefest gets totally underway, perhaps a little thinking about possibilities is in order.
Now, could the comments in question all be from Greenwald? Perhaps so, but we really don’t have proof of that. Further, given Greenwald’s rather strident writing style, I find it oddly out of character for him to engage in this kind of behavior (since when a re bloggers shy about defending themselves? Specifically, can anyone accusse Greenwald of being shy about defending his views in public?). That someone with whom he has a close relationship might do so, however, makes a great deal of sense. At a minimum, conclusive proof of the allegation does not exist.
For the record: I don’t know Greenwald, although I do read his blog on occasion. I will confess to being sympathetic to a number of his concerns about the administration, especially in terms of the expansion of executive power. However, my main goal here is simply to point out that jumping to conclusions based on incomplete evidence because it might embarrass a political rival is juvenile.
Sphere: Related Content
July 20th, 2006 at 10:25 am
The partner theory is the one I posited this morning. Othershave suggested that he may actually live with his mom.
July 20th, 2006 at 10:25 am
I think you’re onto something here. Really.
July 20th, 2006 at 10:36 am
Greenwald is a great guy and a bestselling author. No one debates that he is very smart. His writings have been read on the Senate floor! Those people making these allegations are just jealous of him.
July 20th, 2006 at 10:44 am
There have been at least 5-6 different identities with the same ip address.
How many partners does the guy have?
Even so, if it was only one other then it would be a dinction without a difference.
July 20th, 2006 at 10:46 am
Well, no.
It matters if the comments were left by Greenwald or by someone else. That is a distinction of significance.
July 20th, 2006 at 10:56 am
Get Ready For The Latest Blog Dustup!
Heh. A little fancy detective work by some righty bloggers may have Glenn Greenwald looking a little silly.
From Patterico:
Boy, we sure do have a dedicated Glenn Greenwald fan there.
Or should I say “fans”?
Because these comments are, af
July 20th, 2006 at 12:10 pm
I think you’re probably right, Steven. (though I also leave room for the possibility that co-workers are defending him; that could explain one IP address and multiple names) I think his partner is probably defending him while trying not to be connected to him. It’s understandable that a spouse might want to defend his significant other.
That would also explain why, though he denied personal authorship, Greenwald did not deny knowledge of the author. I suspect he posted that and had a little “look, thanks for trying to help me, but there are certain protocols to this blogging thing” conversation with his partner.
July 20th, 2006 at 12:58 pm
Glenn Greenwald’s IP Address Stolen
Last night, I posted of Rusty Shackleford’s coming under simultaneous assault from the Islamists and the Indian government. This morning, I learn that lefty blogger extraordinaire Glenn Greenwald–who is a famous constitutional scholar, has…
July 20th, 2006 at 1:29 pm
I MIGHT believe the partner angle. However, his behavior of the last couple of weeks kind of diminishes the “benefit of the doubt” that might have built up in his favor.
July 20th, 2006 at 1:47 pm
Greenwald = Sock Puppeteer?
James Joyner and his cobloggers round up the blogosphere kerfuffle over whether lefty blogger extraordinaire Glenn Greenwald–who is a famous constitutional scholar, has a bestselling book, is quoted by important Senators and media types alike, and ha…
July 20th, 2006 at 1:48 pm
I find one posting especially odd. A commenter (with GGs IP address) claimed to email him requesting clarification of his CV. Now it could be that it was his housemate, and Glenn was traveling at the time, but I wonder why that wasn’t mentioned in his defense? Otherwise - it appears as an especially blatent attempt to appear third party.
July 20th, 2006 at 1:58 pm
Recognizing that I don’t really know what happened, I will say this: I can understand why he wouldn’t want to directly bring his partner into the discussion.
July 20th, 2006 at 2:37 pm
Does Glenn Greenwald like my poetry? Because if so, I'm flattered. After all, he's a NYT bestseller! And Russ Feingold reads him. All after only 9 months of writing measured, reasonable arguments of the sort lauded by like-minded co…
In a post I did a last Wednesday taking Glenn Greenwald to task for being such a disingenuous hack, a chap named "Wilson" showed up and wrote the following in response to another commenter's curiosity about why so many "on the extre…
July 20th, 2006 at 2:56 pm
The Greenwald Controversy And The Bitch Of The Day
But, a while ago he started attacking ‘rightist’ bloggers on a daily basis. I often call it the “Bitch of the Day” routine. Almost every single day, attacking conservative bloggers. To be honest, I consider it to be a shame. I simply don’t underst…
July 20th, 2006 at 6:13 pm
So what you’re saying is the dog really did eat his homework?
I don’t buy it for a second. Now I know that an IP address doesn’t constitute airtight proof, but I don’t think that either the content of the posts or the act itself are out of character for Greenwald at all. And the excuse just sounds so lame. “No, I’ve not been posting comments that sound like me, praising me, under multiple names, from my computer. Bob did it!!!”
July 20th, 2006 at 6:43 pm
Somebody should introduce the good doctor to one Mr. Occam.
There is much to discuss.
July 20th, 2006 at 7:20 pm
Actually, I think Occam’s Razor points to the partner:
1) I don’t find the writing style of the comments to be similar to Greenwald’d. (Indeed, when I first read them, it struck me that they were poorly written in places–and that was before I knew that Greenwald’s partner was Brazilian, and therefore English would be his second language).
2) As a blogger, and someone who clearly doesn’t have any trouble expressing his opinion, why go pseudonymous? It makes no sense.
3) A loved one is likely to take umbrage at criticisms and want to tout their loved one’s accomplishments.
Of course, none of this proves anything–nor does the IP address evidence, for that matter (which is ultimately my point).
July 20th, 2006 at 8:03 pm
I think that Steven is correct and that Greenwald’s partner (or family) is the most likely culprit. To Steven’s list of reasons I would add that I have seen Greenwald post in comments on others’ blogs using his own name.
By the way, it occurs to me that I believe that if I were to post a comment here using the computer in my study, and then move to my son’s bedroom and post again from his laptop, those posts would probably have the same IP address. I believe this is the case because the outside world only knows the IP of my router, not each node on my home network - which has a built-in DHCP server that assigns IP addresses to nodes as needed. Am I right about this, or is there more sophistication to this than I am aware of?
July 21st, 2006 at 1:07 pm
[...] own household’s internet access point, his defense of those IP addresses is just as likely to be true as not; Occam’s Razor does not apply. So — Will CY’s application of lo [...]
July 23rd, 2006 at 2:31 pm
It doesn’t require there to be two people in the same household. It could also be a proxy server. AOL uses proxy servers, businesses often use proxy servers, and ISPs sometimes use proxy servers. I’d be surprised to hear of a major US ISP using a proxy server (except maybe those high speed dialup ISPs), but the IP tracks to Brazil.
Do Brazillian ISPs use a lot of proxies? I don’t know, but it wouldn’t surprise me. I haven’t heard that one of the internets main hubs were in Brazil, so proxies would make sense.
If it is a proxy server in Brazil, it means that there are multiple people living in the same area as Glenn who have similar things to say about him. Well, is this any surprise at all?
July 27th, 2006 at 3:18 am
[...] laim) that it is someone else in the household — presumably his boyfriend. Some have argued that it is more likely that Greenwald’s boyfriend posted the sock-puppet comments [...]
July 28th, 2006 at 6:00 pm
“If it is a proxy server in Brazil, it means that there are multiple people living in the same area as Glenn who have similar things to say about him. Well, is this any surprise at all?”
I don’t know. Go ask your neighbors down the block which blogs they read and post on. Then see if there’s any overlap at all to yours.
Then see if they’ve ever heard of you.
Then see if they’ve googled your name and/or do technorati searches on you.
Then see if they’ve done so to help defend you in blog flame wars.
I’m guessing (wildly with no information) that there are few people who both defend Greenwald and read Conservative blogs at all. Fewer still in a country other than USA posting on US centric conservative blogs.
How many people do you run Technorati searches on in any given week? Regularly check up on your friends & family on Google?
As “why would GG do this himself?” well, there’s a difference between “blowing your own horn” and having someone else be impressed with you… he wanted the appearance of the latter as it carries more weight for an argument from authority (i.e. based on credentials, not substance).
I’m still having trouble beieving a native Brazilian with a small sports blog suddenly decides to research his housemate on US Conservative blogs via technorati, post responses on all of them using different names; and use standard US Liberal talking points… Maybe I misunderstand Brazilians; do they really watch US Politics that carefully?
August 1st, 2006 at 2:44 pm
Patterico writes that the comments are a “carbon copy in personality, writing style and verbal tics” to Greenwald’s work.
Really? I would challenge Patterico to support his assertion. I have never seen Greenwald write so carelessly, nor use idiomatic Portuguese formulations like ‘Greenwald only has a New York Times Best Selling Book’ or sentence fragments such as ‘Maybe that has something to do with why.’
To my mind, Patterico made that accusation precisely because a comparison to Greenwald’s ordinary writing style is unsupportable, and because the boyfriend-as-hothead thesis was gaining credibility.