Ags,
I learned yesterday that some of my emails to Mike McKenzie regarding the VIP Connection were released with the mass information request. I think it's only fair for me to fully explain the nature of my communications with Mike and what I knew and when. I also hope to make it clear that at no point did I reveal any private information about any users during these communications.
First, it is important to understand that I try to maintain a good working relationship with the athletic department. This is my livelihood and it does little good to be overly abrasive with the folks over there. Having said that, my attempts at maintaining a “good working relationship” have their limits. I’m not, for example, going to sellout our primary purpose of providing a place for fans to have a voice nor am I going to start handing out personal information so that individuals can be silenced. While we strive to be a supporter of Aggie Athletics, we have no interest in being a mouthpiece for the Athletic Department.
Next, an area in which we DO cooperate with the athletic department is with player injury information – especially when it is not supposed to go public. This actually happens fairly often – not that the AD actually contacts us about injury information posted somewhere on the site (that’s very rare) – but that a poster posts second hand injury info in the open forums.
Some of you might not like this, but we feel that the responsible thing for us to do in such situations is to remove the injury information until confirmed by the department. Our belief is that the Athletic Department (or football program) has a good reason (strategic or privacy concern) not to disclose this information and we yield to them on that. So, if an injury report can not be confirmed either from the department or via the media, it is removed. Like it or not that is our policy and we take it very seriously
So, with those two ideas in mind – maintaining a good relationship with the AD but with boundaries and our policy regarding injury reports - I’d like to go through my emails with Mike and give them additional context.
Email #1:
This was the original email forwarded to me by – I assume – Mike McKenzie. The forwarded email is from a subscriber to the VIP Connection newsletter and alludes to a discussion on TexAgs regarding a VIP email being forwarded from a friend.
This was the first I had heard of such a newsletter and, to be honest, I didn’t think anything of it. I thought it was just a list out there among some big-wigs or family members through which inside information was passed. I guess I was correct about that, but had no idea that it was top secret, subscribers were paying big $$, and Byrne was out of the loop.
The information I keyed in on immediately was the fact that the post apparently disclosed some injury information about Morrow. I set out immediately to determine whether or not that was the case. I searched for references to Morrow and returned some posts, but nothing that referred to an injury.
Note: lil99chris was also copied on this email (Christopher). Chris helps a lot with the site with regard to content development (Billy’s stuff) and moderation. He has been an invaluable asset to the site.
Screen:
Email #1b (my response):
This is my initial response to the email. I had no luck finding a post about a Morrow injury. I remember searching the terms “Morrow” and “(Morrow) near (injury)”. No luck. I responded to the vip@coachfran.com address to get more information about the post.
Again, my concern and attention was with regard to the injury information. Thus my initial searches pertained to that.
Screen:
Email #2:
This email was from Jeff Keys (webmaster of coachfran.com). It was actually sent before I had a chance to respond to email #1. Jeff wanted to know who the poster was. I’m still however having trouble finding the post at this point.
Also, there is some considerable misunderstanding about this email as provided by the university. Their version appears as, “BTW [redacted] is Coach Fran’s [redacted]”. This has left the incorrect impression with some that this was referring to Coach Fran’s username here on TexAgs.
To my knowledge Fran does not have a username nor does he post here.
Screen:
Email #2b (my response):
I reply to Jeff asking for additional information to aid in the search for the post. Still searching for Morrow.
Screen:
Email #3:
Jeff thanking me for the quick response. Nothing really to note.
Screen:
Email #2c:
This is my later replay to email #2. Still finding nothing on Morrow, I decided to search on “VIP”. That found a match. However, still no information about Morrow.
Here is a link to the thread I found (posted by “97”):
http://www.texags.com/main/forum.reply.asp?forum_id=5&topic_id=930399
I’d like to point out that the thread I found above was never removed and is still active today. I’m sure, looking back now, that Mike would have liked that thread removed, but we didn’t offer that. My concern was NOT about the VIP Connection newsletter – or, more to the point, covering it up – my concern was about the injury information.
Had the thread included the alleged injury information, it would have been removed. It did not, so it stayed.
Screen:
Email #4:
This email is from Mike. He wants to know if the thread we found was on a public or private board.
Screen:
Email #4b (my response):
I wanted to make it clear that the contents of 97’s post were complete. We had not edited his post to remove any injury information, nor had we removed or edited any posts previous to that regarding either injuries or the VIP Connection.
The important point that I was trying to make was that the Morrow injury information originally alluded to did not exist and, to my knowledge, never existed.
Screen:
Email #5:
This is email most likely from Jeff, though it is not completely clear. He wants to know if I know who the poster “97” is.
Screen:
Email #5b (my reply):
This email is my reply to Jeff regarding whether or not I know the poster “97”.
What I said was somewhat misleading. True, I did not know the poster and he was not, at the time, a subscriber. However, what I did not say was that I did have all his personal information. “97” has and Ag Tag and a quick search through the Ag Tag archives would have brought up his full name, home address, and home phone number. To have provided any of that information would have been unethical and completely against my commitment to keep user information private.
There was every opportunity to disclose the identity of a user during this exchange, but we did not and would never do so.
Screen:
Email #6:
This email is from McKenzie. He also wants to know who the poster is. This is now the second request for the identity of the poster.
Screen:
Email #6b (my response):
This is probably the email that has raised the most concern. I state, “If I had to make an educated guess (and I WAS educated at A&M you know), I’d say Houston.” My educated guess was purely based off what I found on 97’s thread. 97 has a signature that includes a Houston Astros jersey and it appears no less than 5 times in the thread in question. Thus, my educated guess was that he was from Houston.
I did not use any of his personal Ag Tag information to come up with that nor was I disclosing any private information. In fact, to this day, I have yet to search for 97’s information in the Ag Tag archives. He could live in Dallas for all I know. I DO know his name now, but that’s only because we’ve exchanged emails since the VIP Connection story broke.
In addition, I think that I made it very clear in my response to Mike that I was not going to be able to provide him any additional user information (even though I possessed it), because that would go against our privacy policies. I remember being very intentional when crafting my response to him – I wanted to be diplomatic, but I also wanted to leave no room for him to ask for any additional information about “97”.
Screen:
Email #7:
Lil99chris finally entered into the conversation. Chris apparently previously knew about the VIP Connection newsletter. However, to my knowledge, he knew nothing about the top secret nature of it, the $$, Byrne not knowing, etc.
That said, let me state again that we did NOT remove the post we found discussing the existence of the VIP Connection newsletter. We were interested in the injury info, not working to cover-up a newsletter.
Chris mentions that he DID find some injury information about Morrow that was posted by the user Curly06. He makes NO mention of who curly06 is or who exactly she gets her information from.
Screen:
Email #8:
This email is from Mike. First, I’ll let his comments regarding Curly06 stand on their own. Those remarks were made by him, not us.
Second, Mike makes the comment, “Brandon found the post we were looking for, and we think we know the culprit”. It’s clear that while I found the post, THEY (Mike and Jeff) found the culprit. We were not party to hunting down the leak nor did we provide any private information that helped them do so.
Third, some have asked what this means: “And Brandon, I'm really pleased that AC has moved off his position somewhat.” AC is Alan Cannon and “moved off his position somewhat” refers to him granting TexAgs a photo pass again this season.
Screen:
Email #9:
Another email from Mike. He mentions “Radio anyone?”. We had discussed having Mike on TexAgs radio as a guest. It never worked out.
I would still like to have him on as a guest, though I think the focus of our discussions would be different now
Screen:
Email #10:
Mike asking if “97” was from Dallas. I never replied to this email directly, but did answer his question in email #6b.
Screen:
Email #11:
Mike asking me if I liked the new coachfran.com
Screen:
Email #12:
Mike turning down my offer to contact “97”. Some have characterized my offer as me running errands for Mike. That could not be further from the truth. I was actually standing between Mike and one of my users.
Screen:
Email #13:
Did I like the new coachfran.com? Yes…I did.
Screen:
That’s it – that’s all of them. The best I can do is fully disclose my communications in this matter and provide some context behind them. I ask that you read them with an open mind and determine for yourselves whether out not I acted appropriately. I’m certainly not flawless, but I do think that I make a concerted effort to act in the best interests of this community and its users. I hope that shows.
If you have any questions, please ask!
Brandon ‘95
TexAgs.com
[This message has been edited by WatchOle (edited 10/12/2007 1:15p).]
I learned yesterday that some of my emails to Mike McKenzie regarding the VIP Connection were released with the mass information request. I think it's only fair for me to fully explain the nature of my communications with Mike and what I knew and when. I also hope to make it clear that at no point did I reveal any private information about any users during these communications.
First, it is important to understand that I try to maintain a good working relationship with the athletic department. This is my livelihood and it does little good to be overly abrasive with the folks over there. Having said that, my attempts at maintaining a “good working relationship” have their limits. I’m not, for example, going to sellout our primary purpose of providing a place for fans to have a voice nor am I going to start handing out personal information so that individuals can be silenced. While we strive to be a supporter of Aggie Athletics, we have no interest in being a mouthpiece for the Athletic Department.
Next, an area in which we DO cooperate with the athletic department is with player injury information – especially when it is not supposed to go public. This actually happens fairly often – not that the AD actually contacts us about injury information posted somewhere on the site (that’s very rare) – but that a poster posts second hand injury info in the open forums.
Some of you might not like this, but we feel that the responsible thing for us to do in such situations is to remove the injury information until confirmed by the department. Our belief is that the Athletic Department (or football program) has a good reason (strategic or privacy concern) not to disclose this information and we yield to them on that. So, if an injury report can not be confirmed either from the department or via the media, it is removed. Like it or not that is our policy and we take it very seriously
So, with those two ideas in mind – maintaining a good relationship with the AD but with boundaries and our policy regarding injury reports - I’d like to go through my emails with Mike and give them additional context.
Email #1:
This was the original email forwarded to me by – I assume – Mike McKenzie. The forwarded email is from a subscriber to the VIP Connection newsletter and alludes to a discussion on TexAgs regarding a VIP email being forwarded from a friend.
This was the first I had heard of such a newsletter and, to be honest, I didn’t think anything of it. I thought it was just a list out there among some big-wigs or family members through which inside information was passed. I guess I was correct about that, but had no idea that it was top secret, subscribers were paying big $$, and Byrne was out of the loop.
The information I keyed in on immediately was the fact that the post apparently disclosed some injury information about Morrow. I set out immediately to determine whether or not that was the case. I searched for references to Morrow and returned some posts, but nothing that referred to an injury.
Note: lil99chris was also copied on this email (Christopher). Chris helps a lot with the site with regard to content development (Billy’s stuff) and moderation. He has been an invaluable asset to the site.
Screen:
Email #1b (my response):
This is my initial response to the email. I had no luck finding a post about a Morrow injury. I remember searching the terms “Morrow” and “(Morrow) near (injury)”. No luck. I responded to the vip@coachfran.com address to get more information about the post.
Again, my concern and attention was with regard to the injury information. Thus my initial searches pertained to that.
Screen:
Email #2:
This email was from Jeff Keys (webmaster of coachfran.com). It was actually sent before I had a chance to respond to email #1. Jeff wanted to know who the poster was. I’m still however having trouble finding the post at this point.
Also, there is some considerable misunderstanding about this email as provided by the university. Their version appears as, “BTW [redacted] is Coach Fran’s [redacted]”. This has left the incorrect impression with some that this was referring to Coach Fran’s username here on TexAgs.
To my knowledge Fran does not have a username nor does he post here.
Screen:
Email #2b (my response):
I reply to Jeff asking for additional information to aid in the search for the post. Still searching for Morrow.
Screen:
Email #3:
Jeff thanking me for the quick response. Nothing really to note.
Screen:
Email #2c:
This is my later replay to email #2. Still finding nothing on Morrow, I decided to search on “VIP”. That found a match. However, still no information about Morrow.
Here is a link to the thread I found (posted by “97”):
http://www.texags.com/main/forum.reply.asp?forum_id=5&topic_id=930399
I’d like to point out that the thread I found above was never removed and is still active today. I’m sure, looking back now, that Mike would have liked that thread removed, but we didn’t offer that. My concern was NOT about the VIP Connection newsletter – or, more to the point, covering it up – my concern was about the injury information.
Had the thread included the alleged injury information, it would have been removed. It did not, so it stayed.
Screen:
Email #4:
This email is from Mike. He wants to know if the thread we found was on a public or private board.
Screen:
Email #4b (my response):
I wanted to make it clear that the contents of 97’s post were complete. We had not edited his post to remove any injury information, nor had we removed or edited any posts previous to that regarding either injuries or the VIP Connection.
The important point that I was trying to make was that the Morrow injury information originally alluded to did not exist and, to my knowledge, never existed.
Screen:
Email #5:
This is email most likely from Jeff, though it is not completely clear. He wants to know if I know who the poster “97” is.
Screen:
Email #5b (my reply):
This email is my reply to Jeff regarding whether or not I know the poster “97”.
What I said was somewhat misleading. True, I did not know the poster and he was not, at the time, a subscriber. However, what I did not say was that I did have all his personal information. “97” has and Ag Tag and a quick search through the Ag Tag archives would have brought up his full name, home address, and home phone number. To have provided any of that information would have been unethical and completely against my commitment to keep user information private.
There was every opportunity to disclose the identity of a user during this exchange, but we did not and would never do so.
Screen:
Email #6:
This email is from McKenzie. He also wants to know who the poster is. This is now the second request for the identity of the poster.
Screen:
Email #6b (my response):
This is probably the email that has raised the most concern. I state, “If I had to make an educated guess (and I WAS educated at A&M you know), I’d say Houston.” My educated guess was purely based off what I found on 97’s thread. 97 has a signature that includes a Houston Astros jersey and it appears no less than 5 times in the thread in question. Thus, my educated guess was that he was from Houston.
I did not use any of his personal Ag Tag information to come up with that nor was I disclosing any private information. In fact, to this day, I have yet to search for 97’s information in the Ag Tag archives. He could live in Dallas for all I know. I DO know his name now, but that’s only because we’ve exchanged emails since the VIP Connection story broke.
In addition, I think that I made it very clear in my response to Mike that I was not going to be able to provide him any additional user information (even though I possessed it), because that would go against our privacy policies. I remember being very intentional when crafting my response to him – I wanted to be diplomatic, but I also wanted to leave no room for him to ask for any additional information about “97”.
Screen:
Email #7:
Lil99chris finally entered into the conversation. Chris apparently previously knew about the VIP Connection newsletter. However, to my knowledge, he knew nothing about the top secret nature of it, the $$, Byrne not knowing, etc.
That said, let me state again that we did NOT remove the post we found discussing the existence of the VIP Connection newsletter. We were interested in the injury info, not working to cover-up a newsletter.
Chris mentions that he DID find some injury information about Morrow that was posted by the user Curly06. He makes NO mention of who curly06 is or who exactly she gets her information from.
Screen:
Email #8:
This email is from Mike. First, I’ll let his comments regarding Curly06 stand on their own. Those remarks were made by him, not us.
Second, Mike makes the comment, “Brandon found the post we were looking for, and we think we know the culprit”. It’s clear that while I found the post, THEY (Mike and Jeff) found the culprit. We were not party to hunting down the leak nor did we provide any private information that helped them do so.
Third, some have asked what this means: “And Brandon, I'm really pleased that AC has moved off his position somewhat.” AC is Alan Cannon and “moved off his position somewhat” refers to him granting TexAgs a photo pass again this season.
Screen:
Email #9:
Another email from Mike. He mentions “Radio anyone?”. We had discussed having Mike on TexAgs radio as a guest. It never worked out.
I would still like to have him on as a guest, though I think the focus of our discussions would be different now
Screen:
Email #10:
Mike asking if “97” was from Dallas. I never replied to this email directly, but did answer his question in email #6b.
Screen:
Email #11:
Mike asking me if I liked the new coachfran.com
Screen:
Email #12:
Mike turning down my offer to contact “97”. Some have characterized my offer as me running errands for Mike. That could not be further from the truth. I was actually standing between Mike and one of my users.
Screen:
Email #13:
Did I like the new coachfran.com? Yes…I did.
Screen:
That’s it – that’s all of them. The best I can do is fully disclose my communications in this matter and provide some context behind them. I ask that you read them with an open mind and determine for yourselves whether out not I acted appropriately. I’m certainly not flawless, but I do think that I make a concerted effort to act in the best interests of this community and its users. I hope that shows.
If you have any questions, please ask!
Brandon ‘95
TexAgs.com
[This message has been edited by WatchOle (edited 10/12/2007 1:15p).]
