Klerck
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Image:Klerck1.jpgKevin Ealy (more popularly known as Kevin Klerck or simply Klerck) (1982 – March 8, 2005?), was an Internet persona who was active as a troll on several popular websites, most notably Slashdot, Shacknews and Squabble.org. Some credit his page widening techniques as the primary reason Slashdot implemented the lameness filter, which checks pending comments for repetitive text or malicious formatting before allowing them to appear on a website. Most notably, his petition to "Rename The Two Towers to Something Less Offensive," regarding Peter Jackson's film The Two Towers, garnered international media attention. [1]
Ealy was eventually banned from Shacknews as a result of his antics. Some users found him to be very entertaining and uniquely funny; others felt he was harmful to the various communities he inhabited. A defunct account on the website, Epinions, may show he was once a reviewer on that website. He also made a few shock site images.
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The Two Towers petition
The text of the petition reads:
"Those of us who have seen The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring know what an amazing director Peter Jackson is. When I learned that there apparently was to be a sequel, I was overjoyed. However, Peter Jackson has decided to tastelessly name the sequel "The Two Towers". The title is clearly meant to refer to the attacks on the World Trade Center. In this post-September 11 world, it is unforgiveable that this should be allowed to happen. The idea is both offensive and morally repugnant. Hopefully, when Peter Jackson and, more importantly, New Line Cinema see the number of signatures on this petition, the title will be changed to something a little more sensitive."
The online petition sparked widespread controversy and voluminous flaming throughout the blogosphere as fans of the Tolkien novels created their own petitions attacking Klerck's. Eventually, a campaign to sink Klerck's petition succeeded in signing up thousands of (possibly forged) names, and petitionsonline.com removed it from their website.
Death
On March 8th, 2005 he was allegedly found dead in the bathroom of his boyfriend's apartment, the day he posted a suicide note on his LiveJournal. To paraphase his journal entry, He stated he had a little bit of depression but he was mostly bored with life. From what he stated in his last chat sessions, he wanted to use a shotgun to kill himself instead of carbon monoxide as he once said he would use. He stated he wanted to make do with what he already had.
It is unclear whether or not "Klerck" commited suicide since no verifiable evidence has been brought forward to Wikipedia or other open media sources.
Kevin's trolls and suicide were memorialized as the subject of Episode 8 in Season 2 of the l0de radio hour.
A log of his alleged last IRC conversation is located at http://trolldb.com/klerck_finalchat.txt. Kevin's final words were:
[12:39:07] <klerck__> oh hell I can't find a pen [12:40:17] <klerck__> http://www.livejournal.com/users/klerck/ posted [12:40:24] <klerck__> bye
LiveJournal has since suspended his journal so the suicide note is no longer accessible via the above URL.
See also
- Brandon Vedas, famous for taking a fatal drug overdose whilst talking on IRC and being recorded by a webcam.
