The
Mac EvangeList use to be quite a very busy mailing list. It’s where you could go to find out anything you needed to know about the Mac. It’s purpose to evangelize. Until the guy who ran it,
Shane Anderson, got
into some trouble with the the founder of the MacAquarium in 2002 and was arrested. Now there is virtually no traffic on the list at all.When the news got out to the Mac “press” the Mac community, the small and opinionated, word-of-mouth types that they are, seemed to rally against Mr. Anderson. I don’t know the truth about the matter, if Shane was innocent or guilty. Only what I have read. I do know he has not been given a reasonable rebuttal by the Mac “press”. I am not supporting his position, but giving him the equal time I think he deserves. I am reprinting his goodbye email to the list. Good Luck Mr. Anderson, I hope you can finally leave this all behind and get on with your life. Click Read More to read his email
From: “Shane Anderson” <shane@macevangelist.com>
Date: Tue, 12 Aug 2003 15:32:41 +1200
Some of you have received this already a week ago, my apologies, but most did not. I am looking for a Moderator for the List.For personal reasons it just is not beneficial for my life to continue theday to day management of the coveted Mac EvangeList.I have tried and tried and tried. I am emotionally exhausted. The Maccommunity is a very unforgiving lot, who refuse to allow me to start overand make things right. No matter what I do from now on, people that have itin for me become vocal and try to bring it into disrepute.How crazy it is to receive emails from people saying I should stop callingmyself a victim, when they are the very ones who then turn around and lie tothe press and make up stories that literally make my jaw drop in disbelief.Certain individuals have emailed, wrote letters, phoned, done anything theycould to follow my every step and turn all my positives into negatives.I distributed the full documentation of my recent arrest related to"hacking", even though the police documents clearly show I did othingwrong. It clearly shows my innocence. Yet not a SINGLE Mac media site hasposted that information, asked me for an interview, or anything along thoselines. I got totally screwed and sent to jail by an expert con man in Iowa,someone who has ripped others off in the same way he ripped me off, and yetpeople believe him over me. If you read the Mac press, it clearly paints apicture of me ripping him off, yet he stole damn near everything I owned. Iguess sensationalism sells more than the simple truth. Or perhaps it'sbecause it would reveal their initial, and now longstanding lack ofjournalistic ethics, which would be made so totally clear if they posted myside. Yes, there are always 2 sides to every story, but if you only hear oneover and over again, what are you going to believe? It's cool it seems towrite a by line like, "Shane Anderson meets his waterloo, does 27 days forhacking", instead of, "Shane Anderson chooses jail time over freedom todefend his innocence". I personally sent the police and court documents toWired, they interviewed me in Paris for a story that was never published.They know all my contact details. But do we see any follow up? No. So whywould anyone believe anything but what those articles say?Hey Mac press peoples, you may not like me, but wake up, you're supposed tobe a freakin' journalist! It's your job to investigate and report. Do yourfreakin job or shut up and stop typing.This isn't walking away, this is wisdom. It is foolish of me to keep tryingto push against these people. They are few, but they are loud, very loud,and there is simply no extent to their lies. Mr Con-man in Iowa even spreadlies that I was caught red-handed sniffing the underwear of someone I oncestayed with. Such incredible, INCREDIBLE, sickening, revolting, utterlydisgusting trash can only come from the mind of one totally given over toclinical psychosis.Some of you have even believed the lies and the amount of "how could you!!!"emails keep coming in waves every few months. It's all one sided - no onegives a damn about my side of the story, about how I feel, about what thishas done to my life.One of my friends in the Mac world took his own life not long ago. Gosh itbrings me to tears even as I type. What a tragedy. Someone with so much togive to this world, someone so talented, a rare shard of light prepared tostand up against the tide and offer his opinions to the world. Such a pitysome people still can't see through his language. Time would have tamedthat, but never the passion inside. Yet I've often longed to taste thefreedom my brother now enjoys with His King. Rest assured, he rests inPeace. And that's no typo. Lord give me the strength not to join him soonerthan I ought.My point though in saying that, is, as people, we need to think of theprofound affect we have on people. The Bible declares that life or death arein the power of the tongue. The things we say can either bring life, orswift death. I am immensely stronger than most, but I am not bullet proof.There is only so much a man can take. Please consider this the next time youput someone down. The depth you place them might be 6 foot under.So I resign. I will retain control of the database, I simply don't trustanyone to care about its privacy as I do. If you would like to take over theday to day moderation, let me know. I will also give you control of the website, and I'll even throw in free hosting. I will retain ownership of thedomains.If someone in an existing and highly reputable Mac group wants to make anoffer for the list and the domains, I am open to that too. Due to theirsentimental value though, I won't part with them for a token. I have somepeople I owe money to, and I'd like to pay them back.If you are passionate about the Mac, this could be your golden opportunityto keep this going. If no one wants to do this, I will just delete thedatabase in a few weeks after saying my final goodbyes. Guy K seems to begetting involved in the Mac community again, maybe he wants to take it back?As for me, I will keep trying to start over, and over, and over untilsomeone has less time on their hands, and then maybe I'll get a break.Maybe.
Shane Anderson
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