AntiSocialMedia.net spent its first few months essentially shooting fish in a barrel. That’s because for over a decade, Gary Weiss and his many identities had stomped around the internet, leaving tracks behind that were far too easy to find and connect. When confronted with the evidence, the best Gary could do was accuse me of lying and/or “cyberstalking,” characterize me as “nauseating,” and go out of his way to avoid addressing any real issues.

Then came Albert Laverne Kidd of Connersville, Indiana.

“ScipioAfricanus,” as Albert dubbed himself, initially played the part of a voice of intellectual honesty, whose job it was to ensure that the process of exposing Weiss did not devolve into a witch hunt.

Where Weiss lacked the technical ability to aptly cover his tracks online, Albert, a software engineer by training, proved very adept and disciplined at taking the steps necessary to remain anonymous.

Albert Kidd was a worthy opponent.

Yet, by early December of 2006, Albert’s moderating tone had grown quite shrill, and it became apparent that his role was in reality that of assigned advocate for Gary Weiss. This became undeniable when it was discovered that hidden within the code of O-Smear (the site created specifically to attack and mischaracterize me), was an inadvertent reference to the location inside Albert’s own computer’s directory structure where the data destined for his blog was stored:

C:/Documents and Settings/Big Al/My Documents/Weiss/

This confirmed what had become clear: that in Albert’s mind, this process was not about “truth” or “O-smear” or “Anti-AntiSocialMedia,” but about “[Gary] Weiss.”

And indeed, Albert’s attacks expanded beyond this site and me as its creator, and soon eerily mirrored those of Weiss himself.

Two months ago, I erred in claiming that fellow named Al Petrofsky was ScipioAfricanus. The body of evidence supporting that conclusion was overwhelming, but in the end, circumstantial and flawed.

The evidence tying Albert Kidd to ScipioAfricanus, on the other hand, is incontrovertible. As eager as I am to share it, I do not intend to do so, as it would expose specific “sources and methods” used to arrive at the conclusion, in addition to crossing certain personal boundaries that I feel compelled to respect, while recognizing that it’s very unlikely that I would be afforded the same courtesy were the tables turned.

However, if in responding, ScipioAfricanus or any of his allies should question the veracity of these claims, the evidence will be presented, and Albert can deal with the consequences.

As she explained, that’s not to say I’m necessarily anti-Gary Weiss, but that where Gary is in all things the Yang, I am the Yin, thus maintaining balance in the universe.

When I asked her for an example, she pointed to our respective approaches to Amazon book reviews.

Where Gary has dedicated an enormous amount of energy toward inventing dozens of over-the-top raving reviews of his own books, I only review media I’ve legitimately purchased and consumed, and on the one occasion I’ve had to light-heartedly comment on something I had in fact written, I clearly disclosed that I was the author.

I suspect that is what left me so bothered by the accusation leveled by Gary’s minion-for-hire ScipioAfricanus that I had panned Gary’s book when, as he wrote, “the evidence seems to indicate that he has never even read the book.”

Evidence? What evidence might that be?

To put a fork in that entire line of (il)logic, I offered this visual restatement of my initial Amazon review (click to enlarge).

Upon further reflection, I remembered that if I’ve learned anything about Gary Weiss over the past year, it’s that his sketchy relationship with Truth always provides solid content for this blog. And so with that in mind, I decided to not just re-read, but to study Gary’s book and report to you, my loyal readers, anything exceptional I might find therein.

Consider this exception #1.

On page 33 (of the hardcover version), Weiss holds up the trading history of Genesis Intermedia (GENI) as indicative of the excesses of a stock promoter known as The Waaco Kid.

Unfortunately, a brief consultation with the truth reveals that the company in question was actually Genesis International Financial Services (GIFS).

Much like network hardware maker Cisco and foodservice product distributor Sysco.

.

After all, both try to make things get from one place to another. Cisco moves bits of data, while Sysco moves cases of Vegeline non-stick cooking spray. They are identical, for all practical purposes.

Oh man. Is it obvious I’m lingering here to avoid getting back to the book?