September 11th, 2000
AN OPEN LETTER TO GUNTER MAHLBERG AND THE JERZEY BOYZ
Dear Mr. Mahlberg and company,
So you hacked me....you exposed me to my audience and made me look like a second tier website. You gave me warnings...you called me names.....you showed the world that I really need to work out a little more than I usually do...(or at least suck in my stomach when hidden cameras are taking pictures of me)
Well, thanks for the heads-up. Lan and I have taken the hack and used it as an educational tool. We tightened up our server, got everything backed up and in general put enough firewalls around this site to make it look like Fort Knox.
And thanks for exposing me to my audience. For the longest time I thought that anonymity was a blessing. I thought that if no one knew me then I could run this website and still pose as Joe Normal on the street. When I first saw those pictures you had taken of me I was very upset. I felt exposed. But over the weekend I put a lot of thought into things and I've come to another conclusion. I'm thankful for the favor you've done me. You made me realize I was hiding from my true nature. If I want to run a website that explores the paranormal then I should be man enough to let the world know who I am. From now on you won't see me hiding behind HTML code. In fact I'm turning the tables on you...If you want to be the secretive collector than I'll be the one out on the street for everyone to see. I'll be the one that looks the freaks square in the eye. I'll be the one that people point to and say "Hey, there's that freak, Derek Barnes."
And that's fine by me........
So in the end what did you really do? Well to tell the truth I think you just put the fire under my butt that I needed. I'm motivated.... I'm ready....I'm gonna get deeper into the wild, weird, and woolly then you could ever hope to do. I'm gonna be the ringmaster in this Circus de' Freak and you're gonna be slack jawed at what I put out on display...
Oh yeah, baby, you ain't seen nothing yet...
