Why Would a School Board Candidate Try to Fake Voters Out?

Ask Michael Christophersen, School Board candidate, District 1.

Mr. Christophersen - either to be annoying and/or to try to glom onto my popular blog's name and look - redid his own Special Education blog with the exact same background, the same SPS log of senior management (complete with my errors) AND put "A" in front of my "Seattle Schools Community Forum" title.

I didn't know this happened until some people saw it and wrote to me, confused about why he was writing for my blog.  He is not.

I am writing this because I wrote to him and asked him to cease and desist. He changed only the background.  Had he done as I asked, I would not be writing this thread.

I find this a pathetic move and it speaks of someone who will do anything to try to get elected.  (If he's doing it just to annoy me, that's even more pathetic.)

I hope readers take note for future voting decisions.

Comments

Anonymous said…
The 36th District Democrats Executive Board is recommending that the 36th District endorse SCOTT PINKHAM, who is running again Michael Christophersen for SPS School Board, District 1. You can watch SCOTT PINKHAM'S interview here: http://36th.org/watch-endorsement-interviews-for-the-2015-general-election/

NW Voter
Anonymous said…
His website has been that way for months. I guess I thought you knew. I'm sorry.
--GL
Anonymous said…
Yeah, that's not a new thing.

- seafarer
Anonymous said…
I seen that blog site has been up for over one year, look at the history. There's loads of good stuff posted and I don't see a problem. Why sweat it?

Cameron
Anonymous said…
whoops, meant to type I see, not I've seen.

Cameron
Anonymous said…
I don't get it? There's over 6,600 views according to the counter and the first post was August 2014, how is this sudden and how is he or whoever trying to fake out anyone? Looks like the blog blast SPS administration just like this blog. Anyone can tell they're two completely different blogs. You're playing politics and that's ok, but don't act like a victim.

Mary K.


Lynn said…
Oh it's creepy and he knows it. As for his page view numbers, I don't believe it for a minute. http://bookblogging.net/are-your-numbers-inflated/
Anonymous said…
saveseattleschool.blogspot.com instead of saveseattleschools.blogspotcom - way too much of a coincidence. I think it's deceiving.

Not Okay
Anonymous said…
Mary K,

Of course he was trying to fake things. His blog
--looked exactly the same,
--used the same template,
--used the same title,
--used the same background,
--used the same url minus an s,
--and listed the same SPS contact info, copied exactly from this website.

Those kind of coincidences aren't random; they're intentional.

So why would Mr. Christophersen copy every identifiable feature of this blog and use virtually the same url, unless he was trying to deceive people or at the very least profit from the popularity of Melissa's blog?

--GL
Anonymous said…
Wow, now she is selectively deleting my comments.

Mary K.
Anonymous said…
I wonder if Michael uses fake names to post on his blog. That would do us a favor

Phony
Mary K, I didn't delete anything.

I am a public figure and this blog took years to build up. So it's wrong and disrespectful to try to drive readership to his blog based on my blog's name, look and URL.
Anonymous said…
Well it was deleted. I will repeat what I wrote.

If your objective is to drive traffic to his site then you are succeeding. Take a look and you will see the his blog was started in July 2014 and has a large amount of content. Why is this now a issue with you? It seems you have a political motivation behind your actions. I'm suspicious the two of you are working together to drive traffic to your respective blogs. What a great news story, is that what you are trying to spark, a news story? What's really going on here?


Mary K.
Lynn said…
Too trollish for me.


Nick Esparza said…
It is quite obvious that Melissa is being selective with her outrage. Newsflash -journalism is taking the good with the bad and good journalism will surface whether or not someone emulates your blog. A good journalist weathers the criticism and does not selectively delete comments that he or she cannot defend or rebut. A good journalist can come up with an educated response. A good journalist does not "take his toys and go home.You absolve your responsibility for being a journalist when you want respect. However, you hide yourself behind the cloak of "blogger" when you insert yourself into the story. It makes me wonder if you truly understand what being a good journalist really is.
Anonymous said…
Nick,

Your statements on journalism / blogging seem to be missing the point. MW is rightly outraged about a person trying to deceive people into thinking that he was active on her blog. NOT that she was being criticized. And if you are basing your statements on Mary's statements that her post was wrongly deleted I am going with MW on this one.

IMHO all the post above with typos trying explain that MC isn't the troll that he really is, are MC. Again just my opinion, but I believe he has shut down more than one thread with his trollish blathering. I assume the same will happen on this one. More than once he has decried that he was never going to return to this blog only to be back trolling in multiple female names on the same thread. Which really sucks because meaningful discorse was halted.

And if that wasn't Nick that is trying to get elected to the school board someone should let him know that his name is being used to support some poor logic.

-trolls yuck
I'm pointing it out in defense of my blog (and I suspect Google Blogger will likely back me up given the research I have done). I am certainly not a "victim" - victims don't fight back.

But, in the end, I think letting people know about this tactic on the part of a Board candidate (especially reporters and those who put on candidate forums) will allow voters to make their own judgment on this issue.
Anonymous said…
MW, you are not being honest. You have known about the other blog for 11 months. You and others have made offensive comments about it here for the past year. You also made a post referencing the other blog 10 months ago. I understand you might be irritated by it's URL, but things like that happen all the time. Take some time and browse a few blogs on blogspot and you will find thousands using that exact template, you do not have exclusivity to any elements provided by blogspot. You're being ridiculous in accusations which makes it seem like you have a predigest against the blogger or worst the content of the blog.

While I appreciate your blog and the information you provide, I can't support your tactics.


SM
Anonymous said…
SM then I suggest you go read that other blog because Michael's tactics are above reproach

Phony
cmj said…
I looked at Michael's blog. If he wasn't trying to steal Melissa's traffic, he would have a chosen a URL and blog title that wasn't nearly identical to hers. He might have even chosen a blog title that emphasized special education, since he focuses on that a lot.

Here are some alternative titles that he might have chosen, that would have made his blog clearly distinct:
Seattle Schools Blog
Special Education in Seattle Schools
Issues in Seattle Public Schools
Let's Fix Seattle Public Schools
Discussing Seattle Public Schools
Patrick said…
Copying someone else's website right down to the typos is sleazy and probably a copyright violation. I am not a lawyer but in the course of my work I've learned a little -- an author doesn't have to file with the copyright office, works are protected from the time they are created. Not filing with the copyright office limits damages to actual damages rather than punitive damages. The work protected has to be original, but the bar the courts have set is low and such things as telephone directories have been considered original.
Anonymous said…
I have a blog of my own, unrelated to this. Most bloggers want a unique title and a unique look and go out of the way to do this, even if the topic they are covering is the same. For someone to mimic the exact same template, almost the exact same url, have the same banners and typos is a sign of some kind of mental illness, in my opinion, and is the behavior of a stalker. As for the other posters above. I also think they are MC as the posts resemble one another with the same type of errors in each.You need to get some help.

Blog Reader
Anonymous said…
For everyone (or the one person posting under multiple monikers) that is defending MC on the basis that is perfectly ok to use the same template or the same font, or virtually the same URL as another blog or website I would say maybe that is true when it comes to one of those elements (ie same template, completely different name, font etc or even similar url but totally different look to the site) but you are being disingenuous if you think that combining all of the elements is simply coincidental and perfectly justifiable. It doesn't matter that it has been up for a year - that doesn't change the fact it's a copy, the reason Melissa has publicized it here now, is because her past private attempts resolve the matter have been unsuccessful. It may be legal (?) but it is unethical and not what you would expect from a board candidate. Sure, that sort of thing happen - fake websites try to copy legitimate ones all the time to scam people or trick them into purchasing (probably fake) products - if that is your rationale for defending MC's blog then good luck to you.

long time reader
Anonymous said…
Is it too late to send spoof site screenshots to the Stranger and even the Times' quasi "Truth Needle"? Dee-Lish!

Phony
trolls yuck said…
MC all your bogus aliases here are a joke just as they were when you had other threads shut down. Thanks for changing your blog back now please temper your dialogue and consider using spell check before you post as it is very easy to identify your post.

sped dad
mirmac1 said…
Interesting. I see Michael and his friend Sam Morley have tried to appropriate the Seattle Special Education PTSA web address by: 1) not relinquishing it to the the PTSA once Morley quit, failing as communications outreach chair; and 2) pointing the url to their new site "Seattle Parent Student Advocacy Group". I informed the district to change the link on their website and it now points to the authentic site.

The PTSA has a new website at www.seattlespecialeducationptsa.org. Please add a shortcut to your favorites, tell your friends and like our Facebook page at Seattle Special Education PTSA.
Anonymous said…
@mirmac1,

It's time to get an injunction against Morley.

Sped Mom
Anonymous said…
Wow, way to discriminate against a special education advocate. MW, maybe you should have considered taking the "high road", not the muddy one. I think people can see by the other blogs content there is nothing malicious going on.

@mirmac1, I think we are tired of your vial threats against the school district and others who don't share your point of view. Who are you suing first the district or parents?

Parent
Unknown said…
Parent,

Sam Morley refused to turn over the official Seattle Special Education PTSA website. Ownership of the website was through the Seattle Special PTSA. He has now set it up so that it redirects to another site, not the official PTSA website that mirmac1 had to set up on her own. He is not an officer of Seattle Special Education PTSA.

As the past president of the SpEd PTSA, I gave him the website password and login. He has been asked to turn over the website information, but he has refused. He has no legal basis for his actions. He has stolen it.

I find his actions in regard to the SpEd PTSA website deplorable.

Mary Griffin


trolls yuck said…

Thanks for spell checking MC but you should have said vile not vial.

As I have called you out on a previous thread only to have MW say not to. Your claims are not grounded and you need to chill the heck out. Your dubious tactics are hurting, not helping, the sped community and this blog. I wonder how extremely twisted you must be to continue on... eww

Sped dad



"You and others have made offensive comments about it here for the past year. "

Please show me where I ever even commented on MC's blog. Not me.

But we're done here.

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