The Crook Saga Continues

Can't a pigeon get any work done?  And does the Crook family have actual jobs?

Hello,

Your [companies] presently advertises, OR is linked to,  on a website known as Diary of the Mad Pigeon.  The owner of this website, James Fiedler, has allowed harassing  materiato appear on his website, which is sponsored by you.  You, therefore, as an advertiser, could be construed as condoning this.  Even if you're only linked to, the implication is you're an advertiser, which is why I am contacting you.

He did this in response to my husband, who at one time ran some offensive and controversial  websites.  He no longer does this, and should not be punished or harassed.  In no event should you as advertisers or businesses be involved, but you now are,  whether by choice or being linked to in a manner that makes it appear as if you are advertisers.

The site's host, was served with a DMCA complaint due to copyrighted material appearing.  In respnose, the Wards have promised that yet more material, which will likely violate the Terms Of Service, and potentially civil laws pertaining to harassment, will appear.

Due to all of this, I will be organizing a boycott of all advertisers of this site who remain on the website after Friday of this week. This will include your names being submitted to local and national media, as well as informational fliers being distributed in the area. This could potentially have a negative impact on your business.  Sponsoring a website such as this just isn't worth the potential negative publicity surrounding this boycott, which is an unfortunate but unavoidable reaction, designed to protect our reputation.

You don't have to agree wtih my husband's previous actions to understandthat this website is unprofessional, and could potentially be bad business.  I urge you to not fund harassment and civil (copyright) infractions. I urge you to immediately cease to line these peoples' pockets. Should you have any questions, feel free to contact me:  www.michaelcrook.com

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Six Apart (Typepad's parent company) has declared my site conforms within their terms of service, am not violating copyright laws, and that all my writing is within legal constitutional boundaries.  Now then, allow me to direct you to said controversial statements made by Mrs. Crook's husband:

Foresake the Troops

Note the article was written in June 2005, an eternity ago in the blogosphere; similar links and responses can be found at numerous other sites using your advertising networks.  Frankly I'd forgotten about the whole matter until Mrs. Crook and her thrall decided to attack my and several other websites with the same ridiculous claims. 

Mr. Crook had the right to say what he said, and I, in turn, had the right to respond--and i'm not going to delete my legally sound and CCL copyrighted writing every time someone gets offended.  We might as well shut down the entire blogosphere if we want to split advertising hairs over similar heated debates.

Finally, should Mrs. Crook still wish to pursue a boycott, keep in mind her reach is about 7 people of similar insular views, while I advertise your wares to 3,500+ highly educated, politically motivated, and similarly vocal consumers monthly.  In other words, I smell  empty threats directed towards your business, and blackmail directed towards mine.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have a real job to attend to, unlike some other writers I'm unfortunately acquaintanced with.

The Mad Pigeon

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Now, Pigeoneers, allow me to direct you to the "Support the Pigeon!" column on the upper-left hand side of the site--I'd like to rally a counter-boycott!

(But do not, DO NOT, start a clickfest on the Google ad.  That'll unfairly hurt adsense advertisers, violates Google's ToS and is simply bad juju)

Comments

[canuckistani]

o.k., now it's gone from ridiculous to completely overboard. It was inflamed by legalese and contacting the webmaster, now the ante has been upped with this advertising threat. Seems now the wife can't leave it alone and stirring things up for simply the sake of making trouble. Some women can be heinous bitches.

I have had an ongoing conversation w/ M. Crook via the thread link on your blog and he is in favor of internet censorship rules and regulations. He feels if people can't police themselves in the blogosphere, the authorities may have to, even if it means charging a cost to use the internet. He doesn't care about this happening to the internet because it doesn't really affect him, basically as long as he gets what he wants.

I just find this whole thing bizarre and petty. These people think they're more important than what they actually are.

[Kate]

Frankly, I'd be insulted to receive such a poorly written letter. The typos are atrocious, the grammar and structure blows chunks and the dumb bitch left someone else's name (the Wards) in the middle, where she apparently forgot to change the text for the letter-writing campaign she's on.

Mr. Crook is a spoiled brat and a bully. He's a Loser with a capital L.

They banned Derwood from their site -- not that it's keeping him out, mind you -- and he hadn't even commented or anything, he was simply reading it. Guess he or his wife (does anybody know if this wife really exists? I mean, can you see someone actually marrying him?) didn't like what I said about him on my blog. Poor baby. I wonder if he'll try to contact my webhost next -- good luck there, since we host our own.

[Derwood]

He keeps deleting comments I make, and keeps trying to ban me.
It won't work mind you. The truth of the matter is that he does not like people with opinions that differ from his own, and this is his petty way of getting back at you. I'm sure his life has been nothing but misery since the events of last year.
Notice that he was on TV with Sean Hannity, yet he doesnt post that video on his media page. Because he got pwn3d!
Pigeon, a really good suggestion would be for you to find a host in the UK or some other country. Especially Sweden, Russia, or China. The DMCA only applies to hosts in the US. Just a thought.

[canuckistani]

Wow, did MC just slag you and MOGS in his last entry on the thread linked below. And his quote at the bottom of his entries is really rude. A slap in the face to military personnel. This guy is unbelievable.

[The Mad Pigeon]

Yet he won't come out of his cold dark hole and defend himself here...

[C-Chan]

I get the impression from the email that what he is really trying to do is get rid of any shred of evidence from the web that he ever ran those "offensive and controversial" websites, not protect his copyrights.

[The Mad Pigeon]

*laughs so hard the pigeon cries*

Yeah, I just read the whole exchange. They're just retreading the same tired material over and over again. And the insults leveled at me just weren't the quality I expected. I was even hoping to harvest one for the "what others are saying about the pigeon" section on the right to balance all the fan mail, but nothing stood out. I'd of personally asked for one, but they deleted my comment. Why waste my time on a site that'lll censor me in such fashion? Free speech indeed.

And to think of all this effort they're spending on little old me... sure, they made me take their address down, yet by letting their actions speak for themselves here I'm pretty much making Mike look like an ass all over again. Ever done that trick where you put your hand on a smaller opponent's head and watch him swing his fists ineffectively?

[Jose]

don't think for a second that his wife is writing any of those things... She is as much a dolt as he is, as is demonstrated by the fact that they are married. Not only that, but his wifes name is Laurie Beth Crook, not Hoochie Mc Scratchy Koochie, or whatever he pulled out of his ass. A little investigating, and some reporting to the judge overseeing his case in court might make a difference in whether they happen to get their kid back. I am sure that the judge would be really interested to know that he is running around creating more enemies and trying to cover his tracks.

The other issue would be.. that his picture is not posted in any of HIS sites as copywrited material, how is anyone to know? try to google-image his name and see what you come up with... He is a total and complete coward.

[canuckistani]

He has a kid???? OMG!!! The monster has spawned!!!!

[Kate]

In addition to having a kid, he also has a stack of debts, liens and judgements he's not paid. Public information is a wonderful thing. Mr. Crook seems to forget that much of the sort of info he's so zealously trying to bury is already out there on the 'net for anyone to see. I wonder if he'll go after the Montgomery County (OH) website next, since they post all sorts of happy details about the life he left behind in Ohio?

[canuckistani]

Well, well, well. Seems Mr. Crook is of the attitude I don't have to pay as I'm above everyone else. How unhappy he must be and what a waste of energy fighting everyone around him.

[Sugar Ray Dodge]

Yahoo actually shut down my site because of Crook, so I am moving my service to a new provider. Check it out: http://srdonline.blogspot.com/2006/08/toenails-or-its-all-funny-until.html