The man behind Megan Had it Coming

Old Man Trench

Social Media Crime

The man behind Megan Had it Coming

Old Man Trench

August 5, 2008

1–2 minutes

Jason Fortuny, megan-had-it-coming, megan-meier, MySpace, troll

Notorious Kirkland troll tells how to avoid his wrath:

Some of you may remember the “Megan Had it Coming” blog that was supposed to have been written by Lori Drew. As it turned out, it was a complete hoax. The funny thing is that the man behind the site was once lauded by this very site.

Jason Fortuny was praised by me for conducting what was called the Craigslist Experiment.

Posing as a woman looking for sex, Fortuny snared 170 men through a fake Craigslist ad, then publicly released the men’s names, e-mails and other personal information.

I actually thought that was clever and funny; MHIC, not so much.

Fortuny prides himself on being an internet troll, if not the internet troll. As much as I thought MHIC was uncalled for, I have to give him credit. He pulled the wool over a lot of people’s eyes. It made me shake my head that so many people fell for an obvious hoax. All I have to say to that is, well -played, sir.

Trolling sometimes comes with a price, as Mr. Fortuny is being sued for his craigslist experiment.

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10 responses to “The man behind Megan Had it Coming”

Laurie

August 5, 2008 at 4:57 pm

Wow Trench – some good information. I never had a clue.

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Trench

August 5, 2008 at 5:29 pm

Like I said. I was just amazed at how many people fell for it.

Don’t believe anything you hear and only half of what you see.

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An1mal

August 6, 2008 at 3:48 am

No offense to those who were…but I was never fooled. I don’t place much faith in humanity…but no one could be that stupid to post a blog like that when your family is facing that much heat. It didn’t make much sense to me.

I am dissappointed that the guy who did a pretty cool thing on CL turned out to be the douchebag behind the MHIC bs….bummer.

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Vega

August 7, 2008 at 11:12 am

I had no idea Jason “Sociopath” Fortuny was responsible for that little uh… gem. (Wired.com often refers to him as a sociopath). He’s probably the most famous participant of the so called Anonymous movement, given that he’s one of the few who has given up anonymity. Really though, he’s just a troll, albeit an intelligent one, and I rather enjoyed the Craigslist swindle too (mostly because the context of the ad suggested a person who wanted to literally be sexually abused, which is, to a normal person, something of a no-no). MHIC I was more neutral toward, but it was really telling of how willing suspension of disbelief works on the internets. I think he even managed to trick some of the coveted “old media”.

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Mrs Garda

August 8, 2008 at 12:31 am

Huh. Well. I never went to see that site m’self so I had no clue but wow. I had no idea. I heard tale that it wasnt true though and without proof that it was I wasnt quite ready to believe it, but at the same time, Lori drew’s just stupid enough….

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Melissa

August 8, 2008 at 3:10 pm

I was torn. I was SO hoping it was her, because she really IS that stupid. But I never really bought it.

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Katie

August 8, 2008 at 11:34 pm

KirkLAND? The Drews and Meiers live in Kirkwood, not Kirkland. It’s right near where I live.

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renee

August 9, 2008 at 8:49 am

@katie-Jason lives in Kirkland, WA, nowhere near the Meier’s and Drew’s.

@parents- watch your children and know what’s going on in their lives,prevent a tragedy

as far as I can tell Jason has done nothing wrong.

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Missi

August 18, 2008 at 6:57 am

Maybe Jason did nothing legally wrong but MHIC was without a doubt wrong. He used a little girl that was driven to suicide to make a point. To hell with her family. I didn’t think the Craigslist was all that clever either. Not that it wasn’t a little funny but people have been doing that for years in other mediums.

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Capri

January 12, 2009 at 2:39 am

Trolls/hoaxters and spammers don’t deserve any praise or admiration whatsoever.

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