On Feb 11, 2023, leipzisch wrote:
Btw I (perhaps naively) assumed Weber's unethical behaviour extended to using a pseudonym to promote his own products and stifle criticism.

If he has systematically undermined the sales of another creator using the same method, the (new)guy can only be described as scum.

On Feb 11, 2023, DJG wrote:
I'm late to your work Rick, but like what I see! Let me know if you decide to come back.

On Feb 11, 2023, JasonEngland wrote:
I've known newguy was a collective acct since at least 2007 (and have the emails to prove it). Never posted as newguy but have had offers made, ala, "That's a good way of putting that, you should post that. Or if you want, "newguy" can do it." Don't recall if I ever took newguy up on the offer, but it's very possible. So Eric's admission that it was at times a collective voice is confirmed.

The intentional misspelling "Webber" was a persistent inside joke amongst those of us that knew. It came from the many times his name was accidentally misspelled that way here on the Café (and other places). A similar inside joke exists due to people mispronouncing his name as "Weeber" if they've never heard it, only read it.

Regardless- much ado about nothing IMO.

From a friend who truly isn't on the Café (may or may not be a newguy alum - I'll have to check):



In 1917, a work of art was unveiled at an exhibition in NYC. The work was immediately deemed “offensive” and the group that organized the show, The Society of Independent Artists, shut it down.

Marcel Duchamp, a founding member of The Society of Independent Artists, came to the new artist’s defense in a publication called The Blind Man. Duchamp stated:

“Whether Mr. Mutt with his own hands made the fountain or not has no importance. He CHOSE it. He took an ordinary article of life, placed it so that its useful significance disappeared under the new title and point of view – he created a new thought for the object… as for the plumbing, that is absurd. The only works of art American has given are her plumbing and her bridges.”

(Duchamp was Mutt.)
Jason

On Feb 11, 2023, leipzisch wrote:
I wonder if Wobbler thought about the impact that making criticisms under a pseudonym would have on those he trashed?

Of course he anticipated a negative impact on their popularity and sales. But what about inculcating the feeling that the community didn't value your output? Disliked you?

I hope the man is truly sorry for his nefarious behaviour. Truly sorry.

On Feb 11, 2023, ricklaxmagic wrote:
You must be new here....people on this forum are supposed to hate me and talk about NOT buying my tricks.

On Feb 11, 2023, Iforindia123 wrote:
I Rick, you are most welcome ???? I have been a member of the Magic Café for over a year maybe two but just jump in every once in a while to check on the latest releases. I think I have only posted a couple of times before but just felt that it was time that people like myself who tend to shy from posting showed support for those that are oppressed - I knew about Craig Petty from the videos he made but did not know that you also were affected by the bullying nature of certain individuals. I know too the effects that these things can have on people as I suffer anxiety and depression and it is not nice what these people are doing. It has been said that it was a bit of a joke between them all - oh great then, it was for a bit of fun! They have no concept of the hurt they cause both mentally and also to people’s careers. I hope too that you start to enjoy the freedom of creating and producing magic tricks again now that these people are being exposed for what they are.

On Feb 11, 2023, Schlawiner wrote:
I don't think that the "newguy" acc was really shared by multiple people (but maybe the acc was started with this idea).

The reason I think the account was never shared is because of the timestamps of the postings. I downloaded the timestamps of all 411 postings of the newacc account and plotted them based on the weekday and time of posting. Using such a plot you can easily see when a person is active on the forum and when the person is sleeping (not making posts in the forum).

In the attachment you can see the plots when the users craig petty, mac_stone, jason england and newguy made all their posts here in the forum (I also plottet craig petty, mac_stone and jason england to have something to compare). Timestamps are plottet with the timezone of the forum. For example, you can see that mac_stone goes to bed around 06:00 and sleeps approx. until 12:00 - 13:00. Same for craig petty for a sleep time of 00:00 to 06:00, but he sometimes also goes earlier or later to bed (and also same for jason england: 10:00 - 16:00 - on sunday he usually sleeps longer ).

Now check the plot of the "newguy" acc. You can clearly see that he sleeps between 06:00 and 14:00 with the small exception of 4 posts in a night of a tuesday (in a timespan of 20 years). If other people would also use the account which live in another timezone, then there would be no gap for the sleeping time. If other people in the same timezone would also use the account, then there would likely be a smaller gap because different people usually don't go at exactly the same time to bed. Also Jason England mentioned that the acc was started to be used collectivly in 2007. The acc made 3 posts in total in 2007.

Here are 2 of the 3 posts from 2007:

"I told Webber about your little dinner party performance and he said he is not going to give you any more treats if you are bad again."

"I was hanging around when JG did his 'peeks' for RPW and Webber. Do not assume that the fact that they were polite and entertained means that they were fooled."