[meteorite-list] Identity

From: Matson, Robert <ROBERT.D.MATSON_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 09:54:03 2004
Message-ID: <AF564D2B9D91D411B9FE00508BF1C8698E59BA_at_US-Torrance.mail.saic.com>

Hi Steve,

> To Robert, Mohamed and list,
>
> Robert, that was a very nice reply you gave to Mohamed and certainly
> showed true patience and understanding and also great useful information
> in which he can use!

Thanks. I've provided him more detailed information off-list that
should help him converge more quickly.

> I also can understand the frustration of the others and how they
> have given up on giving advise to someone who may not be paying
> attention.

He realizes he's stubborn, and I believe he could have been more
humble in some of his earlier posts.

> But then again, maybe Mohamed IS paying attention. I have re-read
> all of Mohamed's e-mails very carefully, and have notice that he
> is very careful to avoid using any: names of institutions, the
> name of the "Meteorite Lab" that is doing the testing, any
> personal information about where he went to school, who he is,
> etc; all in all, Mohamed has told us alot, but has not really
> said anything. All sizzle and no steak.

Mostly true, though we do have a full name for him (legitimate or
not) and an approximate age based on his mention of graduate school
and a young son. While his secrecy and lack of specific details
related to meteorite testing should raise any skeptic's eyebrows,
it doesn't necessarily imply he's a person with a nefarious agenda.

> I'm going to go out on a limb a bit (like I've never done that before)
> and offer just a personal opinion that Mohamed is actually another
> list member who has done a really swell job of producing a hoax. A
> hoax that will be talked about and remembered for a very long time.

Initially I shared your suspicion that someone was just having fun
with us -- someone with a decent working knowledge of how email is
traced and thus how those trails can be covered up. However, I am
now quite confident that regardless of whether Mohamed Yousef is his
actual name, he is not an American or European list member pretending
to be from Oman. It would require too much effort to successfully
maintain such a ruse for so long. Here's an additional piece of
evidence that supports my belief:

<http://pages.britishlibrary.net/mhy10/meteor/fsl.htm>

Check the fourth image down from the top -- notice the keyboard.
Would a hoaxster be clever enough to purchase or borrow an
Arabic/English bilingual keyboard just for the purposes of
misleading a bunch of meteorite afficionados? Occam's razor
has to kick in at some point.

Cheers,
Rob
Received on Mon 11 Feb 2002 03:13:19 PM PST