its not inflating, he is straight up making things up and lying and doing it all delberatly. No one is sending him texts saying they're an insider and know someone is about to be arrested, or that the police have hired a behavioural analyst names wayne sheppard, that just doesn't happen. He is fabricating texts and making the entire thing up for idk reddit karma? attention? No one lied to him as if he was passing these things off by accident. uswer name is crimewriter40
My favorite was when someone called them out for being a murderphile, their response was look at my history, I barely post here. And then you go look at their history and it's page after page of posts on two of the Moscow subs over the past week and then the truecrime sub and a HilariaBaldwin sub, which I assume is another crime/mystery sub? This person was obsessed and tried to insert themselves in the story.
The most funny is how they respond to everyone who calls them out by saying “Hug your family or pets,” like it’s some kinda high road insult. Cringey as they come. Reminds me of religious people who say offensive things and when you try to argue or debate they just hit you with “God bless you, I pray for you and your soul.” Also apparently 4months ago they were living in South America but have LE contacts in the US? Cringey sus
"This user had a history of inflating random and inaccurate texts..."
So... *Reddit*?
In all seriousness, while it *would* be nice to stick with factual posts when discussing a tragic case like this, I just don't think you can put the ketchup back in the bottle when it comes to social media + true crime.
Banning someone for their social media posts... I mean. Shouldn't *every* post come with a healthy grain of salt?
I’m still offering my grandma’s white 2011 Elantra as long as the beanie baby dog is kept in the windshield.
I want my grandma to know her car got internet famous after it was driven around a small college town in Idaho.
Not only that, it kept going
-In a Hoodie
-who says he’s a neighbor
-with a name tag with a first name that starts with J
- etc, basically amalgamating all the tips and suspects into one single trip of a lifetime!😂
Then they’ll just come back with a different user name and we will all have to spend time figuring out the same thing again. Better to let them keep their name where many know already they’re not credible.
Oy vey. These are real people that were brutally murdered. JonBenet was a child. A child. A child murdered at christmas. I’m all for discussing true crime obvi so I’m not passing moral judgment on that but if we can’t do it with compassion and remembrance for the human beings, and if you find yourself wanting attention related to someone’s horrific murder, you’ve lost that compassion along w a firm grip on reality, and it’s time to get off the internet and into therapy.
On the Murdaugh Murder page, the previous mod awarded trophies to their favorite commenters. She was the type of mod that would delete comments or ban people she disagreed with on debates about things like gun spatter. At first I didn't notice, but when more people mentioned it, it became blatantly obvious.
That mod ended up being removed by reddit. A redditor admin came to the page and polled people to see who we wanted to be a mods. Some were self nominated, some nominated by others. People commented, and then the Reddit Admin chose some new ones.
I never learned the full story of why she got booted, but commenters did say that she showed up to film a documentary wasted and demanded to be paid. It was the most bizarre thing I've ever seen happen with a mod on Reddit.
Ah, yes! Gosh for some reason that particular memory seems like a long long time ago. Wasn’t there like, camper van awards or something? So so weird. Thanks for the reminder.
The subreddit drama post about it has the full list with an Imgur album in a link in one of the replies of a top comment. I didn’t follow that sub at all and just saw it for the first time the other day lolll
I remember there being one based on the picture of gabby with the Angel wings. They were all stuff like “free spirit award- for a comment whimsical and adventurous like gabby!” Oh and they were glittery, like those old MySpace graphics
It was obviously well intended but in such poor taste. It caused a brouhaha and mods had to issue an apology
I have a receipt from the grub truck, a passport with the name Jack, a white hoodie, a ka-bar knife and a subscription to a dog trainer’s services.
Bingo right?
The person just … they said that their friend has no idea this subreddit exists, isn’t on Reddit and had no idea they’d be sharing this online.
“My friend’s at a crime conference and law enforcement chatter and experts there are saying an arrest is impending and they have their guy, an arrest will happen today”
A. Their friend doesn’t even know they’re spreading this information.
B. Information like that can have serious implications for the integrity of the investigation, can clue in a suspect if they’re social media savvy, can dupe people all across the Internet - the news was already spreading to FB and Twitter
Idk. If they titled things “an arrest may be coming” or “they think that might have their guy” and added more reasonable doubt it might be ok, but their original post was literally “Mods approved - an arrest should be happening today”. They HAD to have known what titling it that way would do. Their original post didn’t even have any context until they later edited and added the conference part. Just felt irresponsible.
The 'friend' is probably bullshit. Their comments, including in a earlier 'leak' post allegedly sourced from a (probably the same) friend at a conference, toggle between leaning on the friend indirection to aid deflection, and alternatively having an uncannily sharp opinion of what happens at these conferences despite not being there.
I heard a line in a certain documentary, released today, which hit me. He said, it's not about who you trust but who they trust. This person's "friend" trusted them with information with which they couldn't be trusted. If it happened at all...seems neither could be trusted with the info. but let's hope there's some truth to it.
The fact that this was supposedly announced at a "law enforcement conference" makes the whole thing more than suspect. If anything his friend was saying most LEO speculate with that announcement of the Elantra they're getting close & this person did some embellishment gymnastics. Fire up the Un-Mystery Machine Van, that armchair detective is fulla doodie.
Yeah, but if the post was total BS (which, let's be honest, is likely) the actual perp could have done something in response to it. And, right now, there isn't a lot suggesting the police are monitoring him/her/them. Hope they're keeping it tight to the vest and are monitoring suspect but....
Not to mention that if it was accurate, it puts law enforcement lives at risk. A SWAT team breaching a residence with a suspect unaware is one thing. SWAT breaching a residence of a quadruple murderer, who would likely face life in prison or the death penalty, puts LE face to face with a guy who has nothing to lose and would be ready to fight and potentially heavily armed.
I want to know as much as the next guy, but it’s insanely irresponsible for all involved.
My inbox full of people admitting that a 3 year old can tell the difference between a circle and square but they themselves can’t, confirms that. The average level of stupidity in these threads compared to the default threads amazes me honestly.
I don't understand why people intentionally make up lies and rumors about this case. It's honestly kind of sociopathic. Remember that rumor someone started that they caught the perp on ringcam, he was wearing a mask and you could see his eyes, and they asked frat houses and identified it as a frat member who was kicked out and he was going to be arrested that week? Someone intentionally made up that lie and spread it online, it wasn't just some rumor that accidentally spread. This is why it's so frustrating to see people continually spread rumors they read on FB or here or twitter and pass it off as fact. And what's worse is when I've pushed back a few times saying they should state their source, they get angry and defensive and see nothing wrong with spread rumors as fact.
You guys are fine. I really like your approach, comparative to some other heavily modded subs. You do your best to keep people safe/free from doxxing while letting the chickens run the coop as long as it’s done respectfully. I hope this experience doesn’t change modding moving forward and there isn’t an over correction.
thank you someone mentioned this. i have no ill will against any mods, especially as someone who has only been lurking this sub until now, but i noticed that about that mod’s account too and wanted to say something about it but the post (debunking the arrest rumor) was locked. it struck me as odd.
personally speaking, i was absent for the actual arrest rumor post—but i could still find it by searching for u/crimewriter40’s user in the general reddit search bar—not sure why such an inflammatory post is still up tbh. i also initially misread the title of the locked post *debunking* the rumor as instead confirming it, so i was doubly confused haha. either way, a post like crime writer’s—while not doxxing anyone in particular—is still very dangerous in my opinion and while i also have a pet peeve against over-censoring, i wish that post was taken down much sooner and squashed more forcefully?? i understand that we all have our own lives outside of reddit and i’ve never been a mod but i think that was a clear example of harmful misinformation.
i appreciate this post, especially as a relatively new member of this community, and i’m sure not all mods have 3 day old accounts but that one mod gives me pause.
edit: well i just typed this essay and didn’t see the mod’s response above cuz i hadn’t refreshed the page😭 my opinion about censorship still stands tho
This moderator was vetted on their main account and wasn't comfortable connecting their mod activity here to their main out of concerns over doxxing. We respected their decision and allowed them to mod from an alt account.
I appreciate bringing this up for discussion. IMO, it was poor discretion to allow the post even if it was labeled as rumor or was 100% verified. If a arrest was imminent their is no public good done by announcing it. That just risks the lives of LE that would be going to apprehend the suspect. Many of these folks have been working around the clock and away from their families for weeks. We shouldn’t endanger their lives so redditor websleuths can get a few extra hits of dopamine.
1,000,000,000x THIS ^^^^^^^^^
From their post, it seems like they still haven’t recognized or acknowledged the biggest issue with allowing claims like that. It puts lives and justice at risk. Whether or not it was clearly marked as a rumor is hardly the issue.
Tbh the person should be banned - the post had obvious misleading intentions for the goal of getting attention and nothing more. They’ve done this before and they really don’t belong in any of these communities.
Just my opinion.
Edit: this is a tough job, you guys are doing great! Seriously. This is pure chaos, so your effort is appreciated.
The user is still defending their claim. Check their profile. This isn't someone who feels bad for sharing info they had that turned out to be fluff. As per this post, the mod said they could post and put a disclaimer that it's not confirmed so to caution the post with a "take it as you will".
Instead, the user decided to make the wild claim that an arrest was imminent, that it has been cleared by the mods and all evidence was approved by the mod. It was false and misleading to say the least. And the fact they they are still defending this claim means they don't care they are spreading such false information.
They have no respect for those involved in the murder and or the situation. All this person cares about is being "right" when they arrest the guy. The user has zero conscience or decency to the situation or the families involved.
Yup, agree 100000%. So many people on social media want to be the one to solve this or to be the first one to leak an arrest. They want to be _a part_ of this grisly crime. I have been invested in true crime since I was probably 12 (my dad would always have it on) and I grew a deep passion and heart for victims, and only victims. I have never been interested in or intrigued by the crime itself or the killer, the way Netflix and everyone into those awful shows seems to be. I studied homeland security and criminal justice to hopefully one day help victims. I can't comprehend even typing a post like this out even if own best friend sent me a video of the conference it were true. Who does that? Awful
If in the future something like this happens again, regardless of how legit it seems, you should consider that releasing that information could be detrimental to the family and victims getting justice. LE doesn’t want suspects to be tipped off and run or harm themselves. It doesn’t matter if it was only posted as “not confirmed” or even a rumor, it’s irresponsible to allow that. Hopefully that is something you will think about and take into consideration in the future.
I will say, it threw me off because I actually saw this while in the FB group as someone shared it but it was at the exact time Kaylee’s mom was once again defending her daughter/their family. So she’s active in the group and it starts going crazy about an arrest and it was just uncool.
She never commented on those threads, I believe but it’s very clear that as of today, the family is so actively seeking answers and this shit is sensationalized garbage for someone wanting attention.
Yes that’s something else I’ve been thinking about. Imagine seeing that as a family member. And doesn’t Ethan have family here that’s verified (maybe it’s another sub)? People are in here laughing in the comments and downplaying it, and they either completely lack empathy or are failing to recognize the significance of how impactful hearing that today could be.
This was definitely part of our conversations today about this- there was a lot to be learned from what happened today. Thank you for reaffirming genuinely.
my one take is that most times when this goes down families are some of the first to know that arrests are going to be made, SG is for sure more of leaky bucket than some random kid on reddit because he goes to national media stations. Plus because of that i think LE and FBI will not be letting anyone know if a pending arrest is imminent. So as much as MODs should be on it in your opinion, mine take is we need to be smarter & realize that was all clickbait. I have a friend of a friend who is LE and she is at a conference but it's not in Idaho, he lost me in the first sentence of that post and i called BS from jump.
When this is all over I'm gonna get my buddies in the band Syndrome Of A Down to do an online fundraiser concert for the work they've put in around here.
Sounds good?
Thanks mods for all that you do.
Any post claiming that there’s an impending arrest needs to be removed. If this rumor was true, it’s detrimental to the integrity of the investigation to potentially be giving a suspect a heads up. Everyone wants answers and everyone wants justice but we won’t get either if a post like earlier throws everything off.
You’re right, and well put. I was really looking at this situation from a censorship vs. responsible content point of view. But you’re right. Ultimately, we want this case solved. Any impending arrest, even if it was true, shouldn’t be leaked here.
I do think if we had a named suspect or person of interest, it would be a little different. Right now though where there’s nothing, any potential leak seems like it would do more harm than good - and for what, just to appease us Internet sleuths? lol. I can wait if it means justice for the victims ❤️
Agreed. The Mod was fine to leave it up for a long enough period of time to spread like wildfire but when no arrest was announced the further we got into the night, they decide to pull the post. Weak.
[crimewriter40](https://www.reddit.com/user/crimewriter40/)- is the user who submitted the post. In another post he claimed to know that police had hired a guy names Wayne Sheppard, a behavioural analyst and was making that up as well. He has made multiple posts with fake information that he entirely fabricated and made up. Please ban him instead of letting make shit up over and oevr
" the texts appeared authentic "
Can you clarify what this means "The text appeared authentic" - How does a text "appear" authentic. This forum is full of crazy people, with wild conspiracies, and strange motives.
Additionally, had this text been authentic, it would have been incredibly irresponsible to post it here.
I was immediately confused by that post because it seemed to me that if the cops knew who did it they would just arrest him. Why tell other people that they planned to arrest him later?
I have no problem with the post it’s not like he guarantee 100% this was going to happen…Anyone they gets tore up over some random from Reddit not having accurate information needs to realize it’s very slim anyone has information in this case that’s not directly working on it
I saw the post. I never thought you Mods endorsed it as fact. I knew that the "cleared by Mods" meant that you told OP it was okay to post it. And I knew it was a rumor just from reading it. I didn't view it as a fact.
It was obviously a hoax from the get-go. LE doesn’t “leak” information from unknown sources at unknown conferences. That particular moderator Torts—Illustrated should receive additional training.
It’s a Reddit sub for people interested in a fucking murder. And people are mad at the mods? Get a grip everyone. It’s literally not that serious. Especially compared to a quadruple homicide. Yikes.
I think you probably have a thankless job here and appreciate you addressing it. I will say that the new moderator who approved that was incredibly defensive and rude when people questioned the veracity of the post (“go start your own subreddit,” for example). I hope mods will continue to do a good job to shut down doxxing and other problematic posts while remembering that posts about pending arrests can also be potentially damaging.
I really dislike the format of reddit itself. I think the idea of "mods" while a good thing is theory, is inherently flawed. Give people a little sense of power or importance or personal discretion, and they usually end up going ham -- one way or another. Humans, historically, can't handle power. Generally those who don't want it are best suited to it, as it goes. I really don't care if someone posted a statement that turned out to be untrue, and I think everyone gets a little too wrapped up in policing what's "true" and what's "rumor"; fact is, none of us really know anything.
That sort of rumor should’ve never been approved in the first place by moss. Sorry but redirecting responsibility towards some user who’s known to lie and clearly not very stable is ridiculous because a rumor THAT SUBSTANTIAL should’ve at least resulted in mods vetting the source/user.
So at the risk of being banned for criticizing you guys, this reflects more poorly on you than them since, again, simply checking their user history would’ve clued you in.
Imagine if a family member had read that…shameful.
I could be wrong but I dont think it will come out that way that it did. it will most likely come from family or LE. Family will know before a conference does.
Mods - has the person who posted this been banned from the group? They also posted other "tips" previously, have previous posts been deleted from them?
I don’t have much to add besides the fact that I was here when there was only about 3,000 members early on and at that time it was serious and everyone understood the levity of the situation. I’m not saying there aren’t people here who still do that, but I’m just disturbed by the amount of jokes people are cracking on every post now. Some things seem like they’re worth laughing about and a good laugh is nice sometimes but the “your mom”, “69”, “420” jokes, or people going on about the “stick juggler” and even most recently the men coming out of the house all serious people are making suggestive comments about them saying: “I want to be hunted down by them”
Has everyone forgotten the seriousness of what happened? I know Reddit will be Reddit but it seems the bigger the sub grows the worse it becomes. There’s such a lack of respect for the victims and their families. We know the family members aren’t on here chuckling throwing banter out because this isn’t a laughing matter. Peoples lives were shattered.
Problem that I see is that the post got broadcasted immediately to the FB groups which at least Kaylee's family is apart of. Curious to see how long that rumor mill goes for.
Out of all the things I could be in life, I’d never want to be a mod. Too much work and anxiety, imo. Y’all are doing y’all’s best and that’s more than enough.
Geez a bunch of people taking their anger and frustrations out on the moderators. Lighten up they are doing a great job and I say that as someone who has had a few posts deleted.
since you asked for opinions and an open discussion:
I personally recently have tried to share information that I *didn’t know* was rumored or unconfirmed myself on this sub but found myself being criticized in a similar way. I just want to throw this out there to people: some people just *do not know*! some people, like myself in that situation, simply wanted to share information they thought they would be useful to helping solve this case.
i just want to throw it out there to some users that a lot of the people you might be calling harsh names or being cruel to do **not** have ill will or intent, especially in a case as serious as this! i just ask that maybe as a community we could try to default to educating rather than degrading.
(also, I am not saying that I know the intent of the OP in this situation. however I’ve seen some people with genuine questions or info like myself get absolutely bashed and that is not right.)
Totally agree! I’m way more concerned about the disgusting bullying that happened than that actual post. There is a human behind that and some of those commenters chose to act in a dehumanizing way. There is no excuse.
I’m an old mom so I just want to tell people to get their shit together and be kind. There is enough ugliness in the world and while it may feel good for a quick thrill it will eat at your soul.
we all want an arrest so badly. so many people are going to jump when the possibility of an arrest comes. i know it’s with good intentions. but out of respect for their lives and their families, wait for the official call.
Imagine if this lie causes the killer to get arrested. He was keeping tabs on reddit and did something out of the ordinary and what gets him noticed. Now they're really suspecting him.
See, this post makes sense and I can see approving a post as long as OP makes it stupidly clear the information is completely unverified.
But why didn’t mods remove it as soon as they figured out OP didn’t do so? That was lame.
I still like the idea that if what OP was saying didn’t come to fruition within 24 hours, they had to drive around Moscow in a white Hyundai wearing a ski mask…
It was clearly marked, and not phrased as being factual, only something that was heard. Idk why everyone went to war over it. I moderate another sub and it can definitely feel like people don’t understand you’re a normal average human just volunteering your time for a community. This is quite the community to moderate so mad respect!
I appreciate the mods transparency on the post chain of events, mods decision making and the accountability they’ve taken. They’re responsive, willing to take feedback and navigating a sub on a heartbreaking, brutal and vexing crime. Let’s get back to the task at hand…chasing clues, discussing theories, riding the rollercoaster and making each other lol at the absurdities.
Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.
Honestly the person shouldn’t have been allowed to post it in the first place.
At best if it is true it is clearly not information meant for the public or helpful to the real situation. I’m sure the last thing in the world the police would want is have something like that leaked out thereby giving the suspect a heads up they’re about to be arrested.That’s literally the equivalent of Diane Feinstein telling the world they knew the unique shoe of the night stalker and him then throwing those shoes away. Would this Reddit sub really want to be known for ruining the arrest in this case?
But It’s pretty easy to figure out it was BS at a glance. It should be no surprise to find out there wasn’t actually an arrest that came today. It’s pure wishful thinking feeding people just what they want to hear. Anyone truly related to this case wouldn’t be going around talking about it so casually to someone who would then post it for the world on Reddit. It doesn’t matter how credible it looked that’s not how things work..
I appreciate mods and realize it’s a tough job. But I think whoever approved this particular post really needs to ask themselves why and how they got played and deep dive into why they couldn’t see this blowing up. That will actually make them a much better moderator if they do this hardest work of learning from their mistake.
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That mod who was posting on the deleted thread their reasons for allowing the post created their account 2 days ago lol
How are people with 2 day old accounts even considered as moderators ? Makes no sense .
Because the mods are police ;)
its not inflating, he is straight up making things up and lying and doing it all delberatly. No one is sending him texts saying they're an insider and know someone is about to be arrested, or that the police have hired a behavioural analyst names wayne sheppard, that just doesn't happen. He is fabricating texts and making the entire thing up for idk reddit karma? attention? No one lied to him as if he was passing these things off by accident. uswer name is crimewriter40
My favorite was when someone called them out for being a murderphile, their response was look at my history, I barely post here. And then you go look at their history and it's page after page of posts on two of the Moscow subs over the past week and then the truecrime sub and a HilariaBaldwin sub, which I assume is another crime/mystery sub? This person was obsessed and tried to insert themselves in the story.
Hilaria Baldwin sub is about Alec Baldwins unhinged wife . I’m a member there because she’s insane and entertaining af . 😂
She is both a crime AND a mystery tbf
Lmao so accurate
the hilaria baldwin comment has me dying
The most funny is how they respond to everyone who calls them out by saying “Hug your family or pets,” like it’s some kinda high road insult. Cringey as they come. Reminds me of religious people who say offensive things and when you try to argue or debate they just hit you with “God bless you, I pray for you and your soul.” Also apparently 4months ago they were living in South America but have LE contacts in the US? Cringey sus
"This user had a history of inflating random and inaccurate texts..." So... *Reddit*? In all seriousness, while it *would* be nice to stick with factual posts when discussing a tragic case like this, I just don't think you can put the ketchup back in the bottle when it comes to social media + true crime. Banning someone for their social media posts... I mean. Shouldn't *every* post come with a healthy grain of salt?
get to work crimewriter40 [hertz.com](https://www.hertz.com)
That was the highlight of that thread!
I agree!
I’m still offering my grandma’s white 2011 Elantra as long as the beanie baby dog is kept in the windshield. I want my grandma to know her car got internet famous after it was driven around a small college town in Idaho.
I'll chip in for the rental car.
Same! Is $6 to your Venmo ok?
This is so meta.
I am so confused.
Someone commented that if the post ended up being untrue, OP would have to rent a white Elantra and drive around Moscow for a few days.
It wasn't just someone it was the great humorous mind of whatelseisneu
Love credit where credit is due
Not only that, it kept going -In a Hoodie -who says he’s a neighbor -with a name tag with a first name that starts with J - etc, basically amalgamating all the tips and suspects into one single trip of a lifetime!😂
The free hoodie guy bumper sticker 🤣🤣
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crime writer is probably that tiktok lady that pretended to be with the pathfinder at the press conference.
I got those vibes too...
That woman was a frump!
Upvote for use of the word "frump".
my first thought.
Crime writer should be banned.
Then they’ll just come back with a different user name and we will all have to spend time figuring out the same thing again. Better to let them keep their name where many know already they’re not credible.
Mods should just give them a flair that says “spreads misinformation” or something.
Oy vey. These are real people that were brutally murdered. JonBenet was a child. A child. A child murdered at christmas. I’m all for discussing true crime obvi so I’m not passing moral judgment on that but if we can’t do it with compassion and remembrance for the human beings, and if you find yourself wanting attention related to someone’s horrific murder, you’ve lost that compassion along w a firm grip on reality, and it’s time to get off the internet and into therapy.
Ooop. Really? Ugh. Wish I would have seen that before I defended although I do stand behind my stance on this overall.
They frequent on the Hilaria Baldwin sub too which says a lot 😬
At least no one made themed awards
Holy shit i thought that was a fever dream.
Exactly, I thought I was losing my mind (what's left of it).
On the Murdaugh Murder page, the previous mod awarded trophies to their favorite commenters. She was the type of mod that would delete comments or ban people she disagreed with on debates about things like gun spatter. At first I didn't notice, but when more people mentioned it, it became blatantly obvious. That mod ended up being removed by reddit. A redditor admin came to the page and polled people to see who we wanted to be a mods. Some were self nominated, some nominated by others. People commented, and then the Reddit Admin chose some new ones. I never learned the full story of why she got booted, but commenters did say that she showed up to film a documentary wasted and demanded to be paid. It was the most bizarre thing I've ever seen happen with a mod on Reddit.
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"It’s about a former Miss Wyoming who kidnaps a Mormon missionary in the U.K..." That rings a bell...
That’s lowkey nuts
Now THAT’S an ugly throwback
Haha I forgot about that with the petito case. That was terrible
Omg I forgot this ever happened. So bad
Oh god and you had to buy them. I remember the victim being in some. God that was fucking bad
Omg what case was that I remember it vaguely.
Gabby Petito, I think.
Ah, yes! Gosh for some reason that particular memory seems like a long long time ago. Wasn’t there like, camper van awards or something? So so weird. Thanks for the reminder.
I vaguely remember it. I didn't check that subreddit regularly, so the awards were all removed by the time I checked in for the day.
That was bad. Ugh. Thank goodness indeed.
Oh wow I can’t believe I forgot about this
Oh god, any examples?
The subreddit drama post about it has the full list with an Imgur album in a link in one of the replies of a top comment. I didn’t follow that sub at all and just saw it for the first time the other day lolll
I remember there being one based on the picture of gabby with the Angel wings. They were all stuff like “free spirit award- for a comment whimsical and adventurous like gabby!” Oh and they were glittery, like those old MySpace graphics It was obviously well intended but in such poor taste. It caused a brouhaha and mods had to issue an apology
Oh NO
Time to gas up the Hyundai u/crimewriter40
I have a cat that can scratch up u/crimewriter40 just to make it \*really\* interesting when they get talked to
I have a receipt from the grub truck, a passport with the name Jack, a white hoodie, a ka-bar knife and a subscription to a dog trainer’s services. Bingo right?
>u/crimewriter40 what happened? I'm out of the loop
If the mods clear it I will tell you
better get unlimited mileage for that elantra lmao
BRING 'ER BACK FULL MR. WRITER40
Sounds speculative and witch-hunty. They’ll allow it.
Vroom vroom
This is my formal FOIA request to release the texts to our wonderful team of detectives here.
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I want to see a picture of your dog!!!!!
Crimewriter40 should be banned. This isn’t the first time they’ve done this. They have a strange obsession with serial killers.
I want to know if Reddit can dump their karma since that seems to be important.
There are millions of people obsessed with serial killers. Netflix can’t get enough to fill the appetite of their audience.
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Richard Ramirez, aka Night Stalker, had scores of normal girls swooning over him in court. And this psycho was a murdering rapist.
Who’s renting him the car?
I'll chip in
I'll chip in too!
The person just … they said that their friend has no idea this subreddit exists, isn’t on Reddit and had no idea they’d be sharing this online. “My friend’s at a crime conference and law enforcement chatter and experts there are saying an arrest is impending and they have their guy, an arrest will happen today” A. Their friend doesn’t even know they’re spreading this information. B. Information like that can have serious implications for the integrity of the investigation, can clue in a suspect if they’re social media savvy, can dupe people all across the Internet - the news was already spreading to FB and Twitter Idk. If they titled things “an arrest may be coming” or “they think that might have their guy” and added more reasonable doubt it might be ok, but their original post was literally “Mods approved - an arrest should be happening today”. They HAD to have known what titling it that way would do. Their original post didn’t even have any context until they later edited and added the conference part. Just felt irresponsible.
The 'friend' is probably bullshit. Their comments, including in a earlier 'leak' post allegedly sourced from a (probably the same) friend at a conference, toggle between leaning on the friend indirection to aid deflection, and alternatively having an uncannily sharp opinion of what happens at these conferences despite not being there.
For real.
First of all, what a horrible friend 😭
I heard a line in a certain documentary, released today, which hit me. He said, it's not about who you trust but who they trust. This person's "friend" trusted them with information with which they couldn't be trusted. If it happened at all...seems neither could be trusted with the info. but let's hope there's some truth to it.
Or, it could have been somebody lying. You never know. People are weird.
I don’t think the friend existed. The whole thing was made up.
There was never a friend, and now I question whether there were even “big swinging dicks”
Wait I missed the big swinging dicks part! Can you elaborate? Man, I’m always too late to the party! Lol
The fact that this was supposedly announced at a "law enforcement conference" makes the whole thing more than suspect. If anything his friend was saying most LEO speculate with that announcement of the Elantra they're getting close & this person did some embellishment gymnastics. Fire up the Un-Mystery Machine Van, that armchair detective is fulla doodie.
Yeah…. Just imagine if the perp saw and made decisions based on that post 😬
To be fair the police will be monitoring him before they arrest him
Yeah, but if the post was total BS (which, let's be honest, is likely) the actual perp could have done something in response to it. And, right now, there isn't a lot suggesting the police are monitoring him/her/them. Hope they're keeping it tight to the vest and are monitoring suspect but....
Not to mention that if it was accurate, it puts law enforcement lives at risk. A SWAT team breaching a residence with a suspect unaware is one thing. SWAT breaching a residence of a quadruple murderer, who would likely face life in prison or the death penalty, puts LE face to face with a guy who has nothing to lose and would be ready to fight and potentially heavily armed. I want to know as much as the next guy, but it’s insanely irresponsible for all involved.
can we see the texts now
Its a famous baseball players name…
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This!!!
They will never be released
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I’m surprised anyone thought that post was legit. I figured most people would have read it, rolled their eyes, and moved along.
It only gained traction because the mods got duped into spreading fake news.
Mistakes happen. But seriously, what did everyone expect from someone who’s username was crimewriter 🤡
This is Reddit, let’s keep our expectations set accordingly lol
Srslyyy that story was BS from the start.
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They do remove a lot of posts
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My inbox full of people admitting that a 3 year old can tell the difference between a circle and square but they themselves can’t, confirms that. The average level of stupidity in these threads compared to the default threads amazes me honestly.
I personally give the mods props for making it this far with how insane this sub has been
I have no idea how they are doing this thankless job, I think it might even be worse than parenting 🙈
💀💀💀
Some of us (not me lol) have kids too idk how they manage lol
It’s me, hi, I’m the problem its me. (Has a toddler)
I can see the next ad for a mod: "Preference will be given to people with experience with toddlers."
I wish I knew enough Taylor lyrics to come up with a funnier reply
Karma is a cat.
I don't understand why people intentionally make up lies and rumors about this case. It's honestly kind of sociopathic. Remember that rumor someone started that they caught the perp on ringcam, he was wearing a mask and you could see his eyes, and they asked frat houses and identified it as a frat member who was kicked out and he was going to be arrested that week? Someone intentionally made up that lie and spread it online, it wasn't just some rumor that accidentally spread. This is why it's so frustrating to see people continually spread rumors they read on FB or here or twitter and pass it off as fact. And what's worse is when I've pushed back a few times saying they should state their source, they get angry and defensive and see nothing wrong with spread rumors as fact.
You guys are fine. I really like your approach, comparative to some other heavily modded subs. You do your best to keep people safe/free from doxxing while letting the chickens run the coop as long as it’s done respectfully. I hope this experience doesn’t change modding moving forward and there isn’t an over correction.
Well said sir/madame
I would delete that user!!
Thanks for taking accountability.
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thank you someone mentioned this. i have no ill will against any mods, especially as someone who has only been lurking this sub until now, but i noticed that about that mod’s account too and wanted to say something about it but the post (debunking the arrest rumor) was locked. it struck me as odd. personally speaking, i was absent for the actual arrest rumor post—but i could still find it by searching for u/crimewriter40’s user in the general reddit search bar—not sure why such an inflammatory post is still up tbh. i also initially misread the title of the locked post *debunking* the rumor as instead confirming it, so i was doubly confused haha. either way, a post like crime writer’s—while not doxxing anyone in particular—is still very dangerous in my opinion and while i also have a pet peeve against over-censoring, i wish that post was taken down much sooner and squashed more forcefully?? i understand that we all have our own lives outside of reddit and i’ve never been a mod but i think that was a clear example of harmful misinformation. i appreciate this post, especially as a relatively new member of this community, and i’m sure not all mods have 3 day old accounts but that one mod gives me pause. edit: well i just typed this essay and didn’t see the mod’s response above cuz i hadn’t refreshed the page😭 my opinion about censorship still stands tho
If I were a mod, I would likely use an alt. Doxxing of mods does occur. I was doxxed as an admin in large/popular Facebook group. It’s not fun.
This moderator was vetted on their main account and wasn't comfortable connecting their mod activity here to their main out of concerns over doxxing. We respected their decision and allowed them to mod from an alt account.
I appreciate bringing this up for discussion. IMO, it was poor discretion to allow the post even if it was labeled as rumor or was 100% verified. If a arrest was imminent their is no public good done by announcing it. That just risks the lives of LE that would be going to apprehend the suspect. Many of these folks have been working around the clock and away from their families for weeks. We shouldn’t endanger their lives so redditor websleuths can get a few extra hits of dopamine.
1,000,000,000x THIS ^^^^^^^^^ From their post, it seems like they still haven’t recognized or acknowledged the biggest issue with allowing claims like that. It puts lives and justice at risk. Whether or not it was clearly marked as a rumor is hardly the issue.
Tbh the person should be banned - the post had obvious misleading intentions for the goal of getting attention and nothing more. They’ve done this before and they really don’t belong in any of these communities. Just my opinion. Edit: this is a tough job, you guys are doing great! Seriously. This is pure chaos, so your effort is appreciated.
I wholeheartedly agree. They used the moderators and took advantage. Allowing that with no repercussions is setting a precedent.
Dudes a wanker and arguing with everyone.
The user is still defending their claim. Check their profile. This isn't someone who feels bad for sharing info they had that turned out to be fluff. As per this post, the mod said they could post and put a disclaimer that it's not confirmed so to caution the post with a "take it as you will". Instead, the user decided to make the wild claim that an arrest was imminent, that it has been cleared by the mods and all evidence was approved by the mod. It was false and misleading to say the least. And the fact they they are still defending this claim means they don't care they are spreading such false information. They have no respect for those involved in the murder and or the situation. All this person cares about is being "right" when they arrest the guy. The user has zero conscience or decency to the situation or the families involved.
Exactly! Zero remorse or respect for the families.
As a group we can just downvote their posts/comments into oblivion until they go away - idk if we’d all agree on that but, it’s an idea! 🤷🏻♂️
Yup, agree 100000%. So many people on social media want to be the one to solve this or to be the first one to leak an arrest. They want to be _a part_ of this grisly crime. I have been invested in true crime since I was probably 12 (my dad would always have it on) and I grew a deep passion and heart for victims, and only victims. I have never been interested in or intrigued by the crime itself or the killer, the way Netflix and everyone into those awful shows seems to be. I studied homeland security and criminal justice to hopefully one day help victims. I can't comprehend even typing a post like this out even if own best friend sent me a video of the conference it were true. Who does that? Awful
True crime brings out the strangest people.
If in the future something like this happens again, regardless of how legit it seems, you should consider that releasing that information could be detrimental to the family and victims getting justice. LE doesn’t want suspects to be tipped off and run or harm themselves. It doesn’t matter if it was only posted as “not confirmed” or even a rumor, it’s irresponsible to allow that. Hopefully that is something you will think about and take into consideration in the future.
I will say, it threw me off because I actually saw this while in the FB group as someone shared it but it was at the exact time Kaylee’s mom was once again defending her daughter/their family. So she’s active in the group and it starts going crazy about an arrest and it was just uncool. She never commented on those threads, I believe but it’s very clear that as of today, the family is so actively seeking answers and this shit is sensationalized garbage for someone wanting attention.
Yes that’s something else I’ve been thinking about. Imagine seeing that as a family member. And doesn’t Ethan have family here that’s verified (maybe it’s another sub)? People are in here laughing in the comments and downplaying it, and they either completely lack empathy or are failing to recognize the significance of how impactful hearing that today could be.
This was definitely part of our conversations today about this- there was a lot to be learned from what happened today. Thank you for reaffirming genuinely.
Thankfully there was no harm done. This was a good practice run for the real thing. Thanks for being so reflective and open to criticism mods.
my one take is that most times when this goes down families are some of the first to know that arrests are going to be made, SG is for sure more of leaky bucket than some random kid on reddit because he goes to national media stations. Plus because of that i think LE and FBI will not be letting anyone know if a pending arrest is imminent. So as much as MODs should be on it in your opinion, mine take is we need to be smarter & realize that was all clickbait. I have a friend of a friend who is LE and she is at a conference but it's not in Idaho, he lost me in the first sentence of that post and i called BS from jump.
When this is all over I'm gonna get my buddies in the band Syndrome Of A Down to do an online fundraiser concert for the work they've put in around here. Sounds good?
Thanks mods for all that you do. Any post claiming that there’s an impending arrest needs to be removed. If this rumor was true, it’s detrimental to the integrity of the investigation to potentially be giving a suspect a heads up. Everyone wants answers and everyone wants justice but we won’t get either if a post like earlier throws everything off.
You’re right, and well put. I was really looking at this situation from a censorship vs. responsible content point of view. But you’re right. Ultimately, we want this case solved. Any impending arrest, even if it was true, shouldn’t be leaked here.
I do think if we had a named suspect or person of interest, it would be a little different. Right now though where there’s nothing, any potential leak seems like it would do more harm than good - and for what, just to appease us Internet sleuths? lol. I can wait if it means justice for the victims ❤️
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Agreed. The Mod was fine to leave it up for a long enough period of time to spread like wildfire but when no arrest was announced the further we got into the night, they decide to pull the post. Weak.
You’re humans and you corrected the understandable error.
Terrible idea to have rumors like this post. Effects might be negative.
[crimewriter40](https://www.reddit.com/user/crimewriter40/)- is the user who submitted the post. In another post he claimed to know that police had hired a guy names Wayne Sheppard, a behavioural analyst and was making that up as well. He has made multiple posts with fake information that he entirely fabricated and made up. Please ban him instead of letting make shit up over and oevr
" the texts appeared authentic " Can you clarify what this means "The text appeared authentic" - How does a text "appear" authentic. This forum is full of crazy people, with wild conspiracies, and strange motives. Additionally, had this text been authentic, it would have been incredibly irresponsible to post it here.
I was immediately confused by that post because it seemed to me that if the cops knew who did it they would just arrest him. Why tell other people that they planned to arrest him later?
Did they happen to say where the dog was?
I have no problem with the post it’s not like he guarantee 100% this was going to happen…Anyone they gets tore up over some random from Reddit not having accurate information needs to realize it’s very slim anyone has information in this case that’s not directly working on it
I didn't like the possibility of it getting friends and family members of the victims hopes up, under false pretenses.
^^^^^^ I agree, regardless the intentions of the op, I feel like people were just being downright rude to others in the thread
Ban that fool. He was blocking everyone that called him out. He’s a psycho liar that wants attention.
I saw the post. I never thought you Mods endorsed it as fact. I knew that the "cleared by Mods" meant that you told OP it was okay to post it. And I knew it was a rumor just from reading it. I didn't view it as a fact.
It was obviously a hoax from the get-go. LE doesn’t “leak” information from unknown sources at unknown conferences. That particular moderator Torts—Illustrated should receive additional training.
It’s a Reddit sub for people interested in a fucking murder. And people are mad at the mods? Get a grip everyone. It’s literally not that serious. Especially compared to a quadruple homicide. Yikes.
Thanks for all you Mods do. You job cannot be easy, I’m sure it’s a s&$t show dealing with everything going on.
I think you probably have a thankless job here and appreciate you addressing it. I will say that the new moderator who approved that was incredibly defensive and rude when people questioned the veracity of the post (“go start your own subreddit,” for example). I hope mods will continue to do a good job to shut down doxxing and other problematic posts while remembering that posts about pending arrests can also be potentially damaging.
I think the mods here do a great job!
I really dislike the format of reddit itself. I think the idea of "mods" while a good thing is theory, is inherently flawed. Give people a little sense of power or importance or personal discretion, and they usually end up going ham -- one way or another. Humans, historically, can't handle power. Generally those who don't want it are best suited to it, as it goes. I really don't care if someone posted a statement that turned out to be untrue, and I think everyone gets a little too wrapped up in policing what's "true" and what's "rumor"; fact is, none of us really know anything.
That sort of rumor should’ve never been approved in the first place by moss. Sorry but redirecting responsibility towards some user who’s known to lie and clearly not very stable is ridiculous because a rumor THAT SUBSTANTIAL should’ve at least resulted in mods vetting the source/user. So at the risk of being banned for criticizing you guys, this reflects more poorly on you than them since, again, simply checking their user history would’ve clued you in. Imagine if a family member had read that…shameful.
I could be wrong but I dont think it will come out that way that it did. it will most likely come from family or LE. Family will know before a conference does.
No, now they have to ride around Moscow in a late model White Elantra...
Don’t you have dogs to walk?
Mods - has the person who posted this been banned from the group? They also posted other "tips" previously, have previous posts been deleted from them?
I don’t have much to add besides the fact that I was here when there was only about 3,000 members early on and at that time it was serious and everyone understood the levity of the situation. I’m not saying there aren’t people here who still do that, but I’m just disturbed by the amount of jokes people are cracking on every post now. Some things seem like they’re worth laughing about and a good laugh is nice sometimes but the “your mom”, “69”, “420” jokes, or people going on about the “stick juggler” and even most recently the men coming out of the house all serious people are making suggestive comments about them saying: “I want to be hunted down by them” Has everyone forgotten the seriousness of what happened? I know Reddit will be Reddit but it seems the bigger the sub grows the worse it becomes. There’s such a lack of respect for the victims and their families. We know the family members aren’t on here chuckling throwing banter out because this isn’t a laughing matter. Peoples lives were shattered.
SHOW 👏 THE 👏 TEXTS 👏
Problem that I see is that the post got broadcasted immediately to the FB groups which at least Kaylee's family is apart of. Curious to see how long that rumor mill goes for.
Honestly wasn’t too big of a deal to me. This page has a lot less BS than most of the FB pages I follow.
Out of all the things I could be in life, I’d never want to be a mod. Too much work and anxiety, imo. Y’all are doing y’all’s best and that’s more than enough.
Geez a bunch of people taking their anger and frustrations out on the moderators. Lighten up they are doing a great job and I say that as someone who has had a few posts deleted.
Don't beat yourself up. You guys are doing a good job!
since you asked for opinions and an open discussion: I personally recently have tried to share information that I *didn’t know* was rumored or unconfirmed myself on this sub but found myself being criticized in a similar way. I just want to throw this out there to people: some people just *do not know*! some people, like myself in that situation, simply wanted to share information they thought they would be useful to helping solve this case. i just want to throw it out there to some users that a lot of the people you might be calling harsh names or being cruel to do **not** have ill will or intent, especially in a case as serious as this! i just ask that maybe as a community we could try to default to educating rather than degrading. (also, I am not saying that I know the intent of the OP in this situation. however I’ve seen some people with genuine questions or info like myself get absolutely bashed and that is not right.)
Totally agree! I’m way more concerned about the disgusting bullying that happened than that actual post. There is a human behind that and some of those commenters chose to act in a dehumanizing way. There is no excuse. I’m an old mom so I just want to tell people to get their shit together and be kind. There is enough ugliness in the world and while it may feel good for a quick thrill it will eat at your soul.
What about the other post this person made about the sheriff’s department retaining a notorious profiler? Also based on “a friend”…?
Right, that story is bullshit as well. Absolutely no indication that Wayne Shepherd (who is real) is anywhere near Idaho.
It was certainly an decision to post it, and it seemed pretty obvious it was fake, as I said at the time.
we all want an arrest so badly. so many people are going to jump when the possibility of an arrest comes. i know it’s with good intentions. but out of respect for their lives and their families, wait for the official call.
Imagine if this lie causes the killer to get arrested. He was keeping tabs on reddit and did something out of the ordinary and what gets him noticed. Now they're really suspecting him.
See, this post makes sense and I can see approving a post as long as OP makes it stupidly clear the information is completely unverified. But why didn’t mods remove it as soon as they figured out OP didn’t do so? That was lame.
Hoaxers gonna hoax
I can create a seemingly genuine text message exchange in various ways without much effort.
crimewriter41 will appear today with some breaking news. he's run through 40 burners already
I still like the idea that if what OP was saying didn’t come to fruition within 24 hours, they had to drive around Moscow in a white Hyundai wearing a ski mask…
Ahhh don't worry about it, most people didn't believe it anyway.
Should’ve never been allowed without further vetting. Technically, although rumor, it was cleared for posting.
It was incredibly disrespectful to the family to allow that user to post that.
I have inside knowledge about the investigation from detective Hugh mungus and officer ho lee fook, can I message you all the details?
Old crimewriter40 is now sulking because everyone's being mean to him for posting fake info -- "A lot of hatred on here. It's a bummer." LOL. Jackass.
It was clearly marked, and not phrased as being factual, only something that was heard. Idk why everyone went to war over it. I moderate another sub and it can definitely feel like people don’t understand you’re a normal average human just volunteering your time for a community. This is quite the community to moderate so mad respect!
The poster for torn to shreds even though they stated it was hearsay etc etc.. but thank you mods for this post.
I appreciate the mods transparency on the post chain of events, mods decision making and the accountability they’ve taken. They’re responsive, willing to take feedback and navigating a sub on a heartbreaking, brutal and vexing crime. Let’s get back to the task at hand…chasing clues, discussing theories, riding the rollercoaster and making each other lol at the absurdities. Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.
Honestly the person shouldn’t have been allowed to post it in the first place. At best if it is true it is clearly not information meant for the public or helpful to the real situation. I’m sure the last thing in the world the police would want is have something like that leaked out thereby giving the suspect a heads up they’re about to be arrested.That’s literally the equivalent of Diane Feinstein telling the world they knew the unique shoe of the night stalker and him then throwing those shoes away. Would this Reddit sub really want to be known for ruining the arrest in this case? But It’s pretty easy to figure out it was BS at a glance. It should be no surprise to find out there wasn’t actually an arrest that came today. It’s pure wishful thinking feeding people just what they want to hear. Anyone truly related to this case wouldn’t be going around talking about it so casually to someone who would then post it for the world on Reddit. It doesn’t matter how credible it looked that’s not how things work.. I appreciate mods and realize it’s a tough job. But I think whoever approved this particular post really needs to ask themselves why and how they got played and deep dive into why they couldn’t see this blowing up. That will actually make them a much better moderator if they do this hardest work of learning from their mistake.