A reporter has contacted me... ??

[Cessandra]

For comments about the sad affair recently with Brandon, aka ripper.

Since I didn’t even know the guy, I am at a loss as to what to say. It seems best that I simply don’t respond.

Did anyone else get any emails (supposedly) from the Dallas Morning News?

[Hometownboy]

I had a WTF? reaction until I Googled and found this among info about celebrated netizens:

Brandon Carl Vedas
This most recent example of an online cry for help that ended in tragedy happened earlier this month, January 2003. Brandon was 21 years old and an avid IRC user. His IRC friends most commonly knew him as Ripper. After reading the chat transcripts, it’s not clear whether or not he’s simply experimenting with drugs or attempting to take his own life. Regardless, the consumption of the amount of methadone, klonopin, and other drugs he took is clearly an overdose. The fact that he did it all in front of a web cam and while chatting on IRC demonstrates that on some level, this was a cry for help. It was a cry that went unanswered, as Brandon overdosed and died that night while onlookers watched and even encouraged him until it was too late.

And, yeah, I’m a reporter (for a much smaller paper). It’s not usual for papers to email at random. Unless there’s some sort of connection to the story, it wouldn’t be worth it. (We are wayyy too busy to mess with stuff like that.) If you have some reason to believe your email isn’t from the Houston paper, just don’t answer. If you think it’s genuine, share with the reporter what you shared with us. If you’ve got no story, it should end there.

[Shemem]

If the address this e-mail came from isn’t @dallasnews.com or maybe @belo.com (Belo being the company that owns the DMN), I would be very suspicious of its authenticity. That said, of course e-mail addresses can be forged.

[Juniper200]

Ask him at which Morning News extension he can be reached. Simple as that. The main phone number at the paper is 214-977-8222.

[Cessandra]

His email and phone sound right, but I don’t think I should be commenting. It seems so inappropriate, since I know nothing about the guy.

[JeffB]

FYI, we do have at least one Doper, malkavia, who knew Brandon. The Pit thread, which unfortunately attracted some jerks, was Brandon, you will be missed.

[Meatros]

*Originally posted by Cessandra *
**His email and phone sound right, but I don’t think I should be commenting. It seems so inappropriate, since I know nothing about the guy. **

Well, if I were you I would try to get the reporter to contact malkavia first, and then if they still wanted to interview you, I say go ahead.

[KneadToKnow]

I would not just not respond. That’s asking for one of those “So-and-so refused to comment” tags that makes it sound like you know something you aren’t saying. Make it clear that you don’t know anything and consider yourself not connected (or whatever) to the story.

[JonScribe]

I doubt that Cessandra would be included in the story, even with the “refused to comment” line whether she contacts the reporter or not.

But as a common courtesy, I’d call him or her, explain that you doubt your relevance as a source and that should be that.

[Cessandra]

KneadToKnow, it’s obvious that I am not NEARLY important enough for a “refused to comment” line. He just wanted opinions of people in the area who have live cams on their websites.

I might have asked malkavia if he wanted to comment, but the deadline was this afternoon. Oh well. Just thought it odd.

[KneadToKnow]

My apologies, Cessandra. The obviousness of that did not come across to me for some reason.