Mike Greathouse [you decide]

[Stardust]

Rich,

In the thread "shrillomn, a brief expose" on the general BS forum you stated that you went in there and changed the password and email address when I believe it was T. Larson said he figured out the password, did you get any clues from the password or the email?

 

[varnyard]

This is what I had to say about this on the other forum:

Varnyard: I don't know what to say!!!!

Mike, I hate to say this but here you go. I trusted you and had the most respect for you; I have dealt with you as a seller and as a buyer. I thought of you as one of the true good guys in the hobby, but not anymore. What you have done is very dirty; it was not scamming someone, it is scamming everyone. Everyone was thinking Mike was a real good guy that only wanted the best for Fauna, but Mike’s hidden trolls show the true nature of Mike.

You have a hell of a nerve to talk about Wes, you are not half the man Wes is. Mike you posed as the three scumbags AKA "Sledgehammer", "Shrillomn", and "Walk of Life". I never had anything for these three trolls, but it turns my stomach to now know you were the one behind them all. All three of them attacked this site, and our members, for that there are no excuses at all.

I do have a question for you Mike. Did you attack fauna by way of hacking? How much other hidden garbage are you hiding Mike?


What is up with all of our best good guys turning bad? Has the whole damn hobby just gone nuts?

And Mike and me go back a pretty good ways, I thought he was a trusted friend, looks like I was wrong.

 

[Griz]

I would highly suggest that people reserve judgment until Mike responds. Once you place your words out there it is hard to get them back. Don't go burning bridges until you know you have no other choice. I am sure we will all be in the same boat opinion wise, but at least allow Mike to respond. I simply will not pass judgment until then.

Griz

 

[WebSlave]

Rich,

In the thread "shrillomn, a brief expose" on the general BS forum you stated that you went in there and changed the password and email address when I believe it was T. Larson said he figured out the password, did you get any clues from the password or the email?

I don't even remember what the password turned out to be. Seems someone, maybe Shrillomn himself, let it out what the password was in a public message, which is when I closed it down by changing it. I believe this was done to just try to cover some tracks by allowing multiple people to then log in as Shrillomn, so the IP address log would get murky. But I shut it down pretty quickly, and that did not take place.

All of the email addresses involved have been freebie email accounts that anyone could sign up for at the drop of a hat. Very few people are stupid enough to use a hotmail account they identifies them in any way. Probably court orders could get the info needed to track them down, but I don't see this going that route. Just as actual access logs can be retrieved with enough incentive to prove identity.

As for the DDoS attack, no, I am not accusing Mike of doing this. But if it ever becomes necessary to find out, the logs from the server have been captured. All it would take is $$ for me to get that information.
The people I talked to GUARANTEED they can get the exact location of the source of the DDoS attack. It's just not worth $8,000+ to me to find out.

 

[shrap]

Very much so. If there was a person on my same Cable line I believe they would have the same IP.

Every Cable Modem has a unique IP address assigned to it. There are never two cable modems using the same IP address at the same time. Never. The internet dont work that way.

 

[critical bill]

If its just a case of making other accounts, i cant say anything other than agree with sammy. Just dont get why one would even bother.

Its not like he had just one extra "ghost" account, he had three extra accounts. None seem to be for any really good reason other than to cause a ruckus and not be directly or actually held accountable for causing it.

To me....that's is a 20mg's of Prozac twice a day sort of a guy. Cross the street and leave him alone sort of guy. There is definitely some troubles upstairs. Major issues with identity.

 

[WebSlave]

Can't an IP be the same if both are using the same ISP provider?

At least in the case of Walk of Life, he listed his location as "Chicago". So can two people, one in Chicago and the other in Florida have the same IP address? Not damned likely.......

Can two people have the same IP address on different posts? Yes. This happens all the time with AOL accounts. But I will say this. When I reviewed the IP addresses for Mike Greathouse at the time I was looking at the Shrillomn issue, there were ONLY two matches with ALL of the IP addresses in his entire tenure on this site. Those were with Shrillomn, and a couple of hits with Suncoast Herpetological. With Suncoast, I simply discounted for the reason that I know Mike has worked on John's site many a time and it was probable that he on occasion logged in here while at John's place.

So what are the odds, then? Out of all the people on this site, the only matches with Shrillomn via IP addresses would be with Mike Greathouse and no one else. And now we have Walk of Life. What ARE the odds that this is all just coincidence?

 

[Dennis Hultman]

There are a lot of people in Florida and it is possible that someone else uses the same anonymous proxy service that Mike used.
.

Sure, and the only site Mike Gamine is registered on under the name "Walk of Life" is Mike's site and this one. Makes perfect sense. The person only exists on two forums Mike's and this one and they both share the same IP on this site. Do the search yourself.


Walk of Life first joined Fauna on 10-04-2007

This persons first few posts put up links to Mike’s site and he also stated to me in a private message (when I asked him why he is hiding behind a proxy when he first joined) that I had always behaved professionally and he respected me. I asked him how he knew I was always professional if he just joined the site? I then checked for him on any other forums at the time by registered email address and username. Using several search engines the only other site that I could find the person registered on (at that time) was Mike’s site.


Walk of Life joined Mike’s site on 10-05-07 and started threads in forums that hadn’t started to take off. Mike replied to those posts.

It wasn’t until now that they both showed up on Fauna using the same IP.

* Mike Greathouse 72.187.158.29 [Find Posts by User] [View Other IP Addresses for this User]
 Walk of Life 72.187.158.29 [Find Posts by User] [View Other IP Addresses for this User]

Early on he posted links to Mike’s site.

This site has some pretty good info on boas: www.boagenetics.com

IF you have any specific questions, I\'m reasonably versed in genetics and will attempt to help you.

And also started taking shoots about the different programs on Fauna.

I just tabulated the certificates on the first page.
Certificates numbering from 1 to 78 are missing 54 entries.
Have that many people really dropped from the program?

Just curious.
I was browsing through the GGC listings and I noticed there are a lot of gaps in the certificate numbers. Are these all people who have lost their GGC for whatever reason, or is something else going on. I didn't think that there had been that many taken down.

Also, didn't there used to be a listing of the inactive certificate holders?

Thank you.

Mike

I wonder why the listings of withdrawn and suspended certificates were removed.

Then yesterday tried through digs in about Kingsnake and it was done too fast and he slipped up with the IP match yet again.

Forgive me if I missed the answer somewhere in the midst of all of this, but how many actual lawsuits has Fauna had to defend against with the funds in this warchest? - excluding, of course the lawsuit from Kingsnake, which was not caused by any member posts made here.


I\'m sure that these would be a matter of public record somewhere.

It was pretty event that right off the back he wasn’t a new member with posts such as these

Wes,

I don't share your point of view and as always I will not be drawn into one of your typical antagonistic debates. As I stated in my reply to Dennis, I'm sure that the parties involved know exactly what I'm referring to and they will either take a look at themselves or they will not.

The point of the thread is that I don't feel (my opinion) that members in a position of authority should resort to that type of behavior. They may feel differently and if so, so be it.

Is it so wrong to desire that a site that I enjoy might try and continually improve itself? Most people would aspire to a similar goal.

Rich already suspected Mike was Shrill and this was the third IP match that Mike had with user names that were suspect. Everyone that had access to the mod panel could see that Walk of Life and Mike had a match. They are the only ones to share that match.


So yes, it is possible that two people can share the same IP. I asked Mike in the other thread if it would be to much of an assumption in the other thread and Rich followed with why he had believed Mike was Shrill.

It is what it is. I didn't create the data it's there for everyone to see.

I think you would have to ask someone else why someone in Chicago would have the same IP as someone in Florida. One would be registered on only two sites and post with the same IP. While participating on one of the two sites was taking pot shots at the owner of the other. That several people thought they were the same person before the IP matches. That they had brought forth the same issues. By all means, judge for yourself.

http://www.digitalherper.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=116&t=797&view=next

At least in the case of Walk of Life, he listed his location as "Chicago". So can two people, one in Chicago and the other in Florida have the same IP address? Not damned likely.......

Can two people have the same IP address on different posts? Yes. This happens all the time with AOL accounts. But I will say this. When I reviewed the IP addresses for Mike Greathouse at the time I was looking at the Shrillomn issue, there were ONLY two matches with ALL of the IP addresses in his entire tenure on this site. Those were with Shrillomn, and a couple of hits with Suncoast Herpetological. With Suncoast, I simply discounted for the reason that I know Mike has worked on John's site many a time and it was probable that he on occasion logged in here while at John's place.

So what are the odds, then? Out of all the people on this site, the only matches with Shrillomn via IP addresses would be with Mike Greathouse and no one else. And now we have Walk of Life. What ARE the odds that this is all just coincidence?

 

[snake5007]

http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/forums/showpost.php?p=466707&postcount=2

 

[Chameleon Company]

I was a much more active participant back in the day, to include the Shrillom threads. I always respected Mike's posts as "Mike".

I am disappointed as others if this was Mike using the alias. If the only sin is the use of alias', like Sammy I do not think it makes Mike untrustworthy in business, where his track record seems immaculate. At the same time folks, if it looks like a duck .. walks like a duck ... if there were only one intersecting ISP to an alias, then there could be a margin of doubt. But once you get two or three to different alias' ..... its a duck. Kind of like winning the lotttery in reverse.

The more serious claims of possible electronic vandalism need hard evidence. To suggest such in open forum seems a bit of a leap without it.

Finally, while this is minor considering many of the issues raised here, quite a few of us were disappointed that the entity "Shrillom" aka "Pez Wollack" was allowed to post, or that the posts were not deleted. While Slegehammer and others appeared legitimate, although now it appears they were fake, it was clear from the beginning the Pez was not. The posts were usally humorous, and often at the expense of one known for some antagonism here, but still violated what many of us perceived as fair play, if not Fauna rules on occasion. My belief then Rich was that you allowed it as you found it entertaining as well, as several of us raised the issue often, and were ignored. Chastise away for all the other mischief, but the powers-that-be were co-conspirators on the Shrillom thing IMMHO, and a source of further disenchantment with the site to some of us.

Griz. It wasn't me .... LOL !

 

[WebSlave]

Every Cable Modem has a unique IP address assigned to it. There are never two cable modems using the same IP address at the same time. Never. The internet dont work that way.

Anyone can spoof an IP address in order to make a one way shot of data to a server. This is the way DDoS attacks work. They are simply trying to flood the server and don't care about getting a response back. But for someone to actually correspond with a server as in a message board system, there has to be two way communication. When you click on the REPLY button, this server sends the page to your IP address with the page needed to accept that reply. You type in your reply, then click the submit button and that message gets sent back to this server, posted, and an acknowledgement sent back to the IP address. The sending IP address HAS to be able to get the data sent from the server in reply to the query for a page. So NO ONE can SPOOF a real IP address without BEING that IP address in order to post here. At least as far as I know, and without some very high tech expertise. In other words, someone else could not pretend to be ME or YOU via an IP address, leading anyone to believe that MY or YOUR IP address had actually made that post. Nor could Shrillomn purposely spoof an IP address to make it appear that the IP was actually that of Mike Greathouse.

In my opinion, of course.

 

[carl3]

Well said.

I would highly suggest that people reserve judgment until Mike responds. Once you place your words out there it is hard to get them back. Don't go burning bridges until you know you have no other choice. I am sure we will all be in the same boat opinion wise, but at least allow Mike to respond. I simply will not pass judgment until then.
Griz

Let's Hope

There are a lot of people in Florida and it is possible that someone else uses the same anonymous proxy service that Mike used.

I have had the same positive experience in the past with regards to purchasing reptiles from Mike. Maybe there is an explanation. I'll cling to the same optimism Griz has. I don't often respond on Fauna (except with positive feedback for sellers I have purchased from) but I have always held Mike & his opinions in high regard.

I can say the service he gave with the snake he sold me was top notch. The animal is high quality, it was properly shipped and very healthy...

 

[SPJ]

I would highly suggest that people reserve judgment until Mike responds. Once you place your words out there it is hard to get them back. Don't go burning bridges until you know you have no other choice. I am sure we will all be in the same boat opinion wise, but at least allow Mike to respond. I simply will not pass judgment until then.

Griz

I completely agree Bob.

I have dealt with Mike several times, talked via email, via forums, and have always thought he was a great guy and breeder/dealer. What he has been accused of seems totally out of character.

I would hope people would wait to hear from Mike before coming down on him.

 

[WebSlave]

Finally, while this is minor considering many of the issues raised here, quite a few of us were disappointed that the entity "Shrillom" aka "Pez Wollack" was allowed to post, or that the posts were not deleted. While Slegehammer and others appeared legitimate, although now it appears they were fake, it was clear from the beginning the Pez was not. The posts were usally humorous, and often at the expense of one known for some antagonism here, but still violated what many of us perceived as fair play, if not Fauna rules on occasion. My belief then Rich was that you allowed it as you found it entertaining as well, as several of us raised the issue often, and were ignored. Chastise away for all the other mischief, but the powers-that-be were co-conspirators on the Shrillom thing IMMHO, and a source of further disenchantment with the site to some of us.

Sometimes you have to allow things to continue along its path in order to accumulate data and evidence. As it turns out, the two matches of IP addresses for Shrillomn probably got captured ONLY because the charade ran as long as it did. When someone is using a false account with a proxy server, the more times they do so, the greater the likelihood that sooner or later they will screw up and expose themselves. All it takes is ONE oops. And the game is up. So with that in mind, I would have to say what was needed to be done, was in fact done.

 

[FunkyRes]

Looking at the data, I confess it is quite compelling.
If it is valid, that would make him a malicious troll, but if he keeps his business ethics clean which he certainly seems to, I do not see a problem with doing business with him.

When he mis-represents an animal or rips someone off, then I think it is warranted to rip him a new one.

I do think it is proper for webslave to call him on it and even ban him from the board - there is enough evidence that I would not want him on a site I run. Basically it's either him or someone compromised him computer and the latter is unlikely since he seems somewhat tech savvy and probably has at least basic security to prevent incoming connections.

But I don't think one's character flaws are necessarily a reason to halt business relations until they effect the business ethics. We all have character flaws, just some of us haven't had them exposed.

I do not condone trolling and posing as a different user. I believe the fauna TOS say you can't do that, so that's enough to ban him from the site and just move on.

If he is a troll, he's probably getting a kick out of this thread - trolls always do. It's why they do it.

 

[WebSlave]

Its not like he had just one extra "ghost" account, he had three extra accounts. None seem to be for any really good reason other than to cause a ruckus and not be directly or actually held accountable for causing it.

To me....that's is a 20mg's of Prozac twice a day sort of a guy. Cross the street and leave him alone sort of guy. There is definitely some troubles upstairs. Major issues with identity.

There were more than three. How many, I really don't know, but some were caught and closed down immediately. Here's a few that I have been able to uncover...

Webslave's Thorn [email protected] 208.68.174.24

Webslaves Thorn [email protected] 208.53.183.83

Claude Raines [email protected] 66.242.21.22

I'm sure therer are more that aren't as obvious to locate....

 

[WebSlave]

BTW, all three of those above were registered on 04-11-07.

 

[Lucille]

I'm disappointed. I remember one time, I had a boa that I had just bought and it was small for its age, Mike has some interest in working on small boa projects. He offered to buy it, and he paid for the shipping and I told him to just send whatever he thought it was worth, that's how much I trusted him.

This is pretty overwhelming evidence, I am hoping he will come forth and say something one way or the other.

You know, a lot of us have liked this site fa whole lot for a long time and me too, and the news of the ddos attack was kind of shocking. Eight grand is a hefty tag for proof, but it would be good to know who was behind it. Certainly if there was a fund started I'd pitch in ten or twenty bucks on payday, if a lot of us did that we could build up a fund for Rich to find out who did it.

 

[critical bill]

There were more than three. How many, I really don't know, but some were caught and closed down immediately. Here's a few that I have been able to uncover...

Webslave's Thorn [email protected] 208.68.174.24

Webslaves Thorn [email protected] 208.53.183.83

Claude Raines [email protected] 66.242.21.22

I'm sure therer are more that aren't as obvious to locate....

LOL. The hole just got a little deeper. He was a real persistant SOB.

 

[critical bill]

Certainly if there was a fund started I'd pitch in ten or twenty bucks on payday, if a lot of us did that we could build up a fund for Rich to find out who did it.

I'm in for the same. Lets get something together and see who the culprit is. I'd really like to know.