Fact-Checking the "PRT Boondoggle" Blog
A project of the PRT NewsCenter

Monday, July 31, 2006

Maybe one of them wears glasses

I haven't seen the new "Superman Returns" movie yet, but that doesn't mean I haven't been watching a mild-mannered nerdy guy masquerading as a crusader.

I refer of course to the Minnesota anti-PRT propagandist, who has recently revived his blog Minneapolis Confidential. Ken Avidor is listed as Mpls Con's author, but for some reason his posts are signed by a "Ned Luddington."

Which is very interesting, because for a long time Ken Avidor & Co. have carried on as though he and Luddington are different people:

1. Eva Young of Lloydletta Nooz:

"Ned Luddington disagrees... I appreciate Ned's kind words though." *
It may not have been evident at the time to Young that
Avidor was "Luddington," but when she brought him aboard
LLN as a contributor, one would think she had to know then.

2. Avidor thanking himself in the third person:
"Thanks to Ned Luddington for much of this information."
3. "Ned" referring to Avidor:

a. "Ken Avidor's got it on his new blog"

b. "Ned Luddington said... This message from Avidor"

There are also examples of forums where "Ned" refers people to Road Kill Bill-related pages as if he's an interested third party. There's also one forum where I, Mr_Grant, debated Luddington--and he refers to his own online material as though he didn't write it:
"Ned Luddington[:] A Google search turned up these skeptical links: http://www.roadkillbill.com/PRTisaJoke.html..."
Oh! says the creator of PRT is a Joke, I would never have known PRT is a Joke existed if not for Google!  Online "callsigns" are one thing; using them to pose as another person are something else entirely.

So why the need for Ken Avidor to immerse himself in a super-secret identity? It couldn't be to inflate the number of PRT "critics" posting online, now would it? Advice for Ken: Careful how you slide down the Batsh*t-Pole to the Batsh*t-Cave; don't want to start a super-suit fire due to Lycra Spandex friction. 

UPDATE (Aug. 11, 2006)
Ken Avidor has changed how he is listed in Minneapolis Confidential's Contributors list (top of the sidebar). He's "Ned Luddington" again.


UPDATE (Feb. 7, 2007): Complete hypocrisy. He attacks a blogger for posting under two identities (and he doesn't really deny it when called on it by A.T.E.)




gPRT
Some of the ideas embodied in Ken Avidor go back even to the last century

2 comments:

A Transportation Enthusiast said...

Ken has now deleted my comments twice on lloydletta, despite Eva Young claiming she does not delete comments:

In the comments section of this blog, Eva says:

"I will generally not delete comments. However, I will occasionally delete an anonymous comment that is simply name calling. I have not deleted any comments so far."

In another blog comment, Eva claims:

"I still think you should disclose on the comment when you are editing comments... But then I don't delete or edit comments except for spam. Swiftee makes personal attacks on me regularly on my blog - and I've left them there. Sometimes I use a little resolve. I have an older cat that pukes on the rug all the time. It's just part of life."

Apparently, Ken plays by his own rules, even when posting on lloydletta. He deletes comments without justification or explanation.

For what it's worth, here is what I wrote that Ken has now deleted twice:

"So, Ken, if you are Ned Luddington, why do you refer to "Ned Luddington" in the third person? How many other identities do you have out there Ken?

It's easy to build support for an issue when you have multiple
identities posting on multiple blogs. It's also quite disengenuous.
"


Apparently, Ken doesn't have a good answer to this question, so he just deletes it and hopes I go away. Well, I'm not going away - just posted the comment a third time despite the fact that he tried to block my IP. So much for free speech at lloydletta.

For the record, I believe this is 100% Avidor's doing. Even though I don't always agree with Eva Young, I can't believe she would endorse this kind of behavior by one of her editors. I've recently sent her an email about this incident, and hopefully she'll respond with an explanation.

Mr_Grant said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.