Valleywag
Soon after Valleywag began digging into the identity of Silicon Valley's most mysterious author — the anonymous satirist behind Fake Steve Jobs, a spoof diary of the narcissistic Apple founder — a plaintive email arrived. "I understand why it's fun to wonder about who I am. But I'm writing to ask you to back off. Here's why. If people know who's dong the blog, it kind of ruins the fun for everyone. Not just for me but for all the readers." It's true: the authorship of the phony online diary has provided one of Silicon Valley's most amusing guessing games. Suspects have included technology writers such as Mark Stephens, who writes as Robert Cringeley, Apple insiders, and, ridiculously, Steve Jobs himself. The speculation has been as entertaining, to Silicon Valley, as was, to the Beltway punditocracy, the unmasking of the anonymous author of Primary Colors. But, all good mysteries need a conclusion; Valleywag, selfishly, would rather provide it, now, rather than wait at the mercy of the author's publishing schedule. The identity of Fake Steve Jobs is obvious, anyway. If you really don't want to know, stop reading NOW.
Before we expose the Apple chief executive's cheeky online impersonator, let's recap the evidence. First, the linguistic clues. The author's either British, or pretending to be British.
- Fake Steve Jobs uses the word "chav", modern English slang for a lower-class man with no taste.
- A BBC journalist is referred to as a Nigel,
- Critics of Rupert Murdoch are described as "whingeing", rather than bitching, which would be the equivalent American English.
- The nickname for London's Guardian newspaper, the Grauniad, is one that a long-time reader of Private Eye, a local gossip sheet, would use.
- An American would write of a kid's soccer game, not a kid's soccer match.
- Way too many references to British press, personalities, products and sterotypes: Tony Blair; the Inquirer; British stewardesses; a clip of Ricky Gervais; UK audio equipment.
- Fake Steve Jobs' public face, for book and sponsorship deals, is Emma Parry, a British agent based in New York.
Second, the writer works for Wired magazine. It's not so much that Wired sponsors the site: that deal was offered to Weblogs Inc, and Gawker Media, among others. But Evan Hansen, editor-in-chief of Wired News, says he's been sworn to secrecy about the mystery writer, which would be most easily explained if the author was a colleague, who had confided in him. And both Wired and the Fake Steve Jobs site have not been able to resist writing about eachother, sometimes insultingly, as if this were one big insider joke. The cross-references also allow Wired writers to claim that this was a mystery hidden in plain sight; that there was no serious intent to deceive readers, or their bosses, or Apple.
Third, the author obviously knows Apple, and Steve Jobs, extremely well. The writing style was never designed to mimic Jobs' words; it's far too witty, and scurrillous. But the author captures the self-regard of Apple's legendarily arrogant founder. And he understands the man's strengths, as a product visioniary, and weaknesses, as an individual. Jobs is no passing acquaintance of this writer; his understanding could only come from obsession.
So, enough of the preamble. The identity of Fake Steve is obvious. (We thought, for a few hours, that the anonymous writer was Dylan Tweney, because he joined Wired at about the time that the magazine began its sponsorship of the Steve Jobs diary. He may have helped, but he's denied having the lead role. And it's conceivable other writers, such as Rob Beschizza of Wired, have helped.) Our bet: it's Leander Kahney, managing editor of Wired.com, and author of the Cult of Mac site. Kahney is a fabulously talented writer; he's fearless; a Londoner; a newspaper junkie who missed, badly, the British press; an audio nut; he has four kids, so plenty of experience with soccer matches; and he's a Mac fanatic. (See his Amazon author profile.)
And, the clincher: he has a new book coming out in early 2008: 'Chairman Steve's Little White Book'. For the book — subtitled 'The Leadership Secrets of Steve Jobs' — the anonymous blog, and the hoopla around the author's identity, would be a great marketing device. Sorry to mess with the scheduled unveiling. But, hey, Leander, you love the British-style press. This, as you know, is how it works.
Comments
So it wasn't Mona Simpson. No wonder the guy at Ladbrokes snickered when I bet.
from the email box...
Dude, you took your at-bat and struck out, even after the real fake Steve wrote you, 'splaining why his site works.
you couldn't be more off base on FSJ being Brit or working at Wired. Oh, and why isn't there a prize for this contest? I could use a real MacBook Prom by the way, and your minders/background sources actually know who fsj is, which makes me wondere why they are leading you down the back path of the Q garden. Unless of course it was a desire to slip you the poofta's beef bayonet in private.
a friend of FSJ
oh genius, you figuyred out who I am yet?
over IM...
interesting. i had heard on good authority it was someone else, a former dotcom media exec. has leander fessed up? he certainly has the knowledge but I have to say that nothing that has ever appeared under his byline is nearly as funny as the stuff in the blog
Wrong. Totally wrong. Give up. Outing FSJ means the end of FSJ.
What about all the grammatical and stylistic errors? Could it really be a professional editor? I've hired writers who couldn't puctuate their way out of a paper bag, making me go back and look at their clips in puzzlement, wondering how much of their work was really their editor's. But an editor needs to know that stuff. And it's really hard -- painful -- for someone who can write properly to dumb it down deliberately.
It also seems to me that many of the posts are made at weird times, suggesting not only a Brit, but someone living in Europe now. Perhaps an expat (like Bill Bryson, although I'm not suggesting he is FSJ).
Why all the estonian, russian (Eastern Block) refrences?
Directly what the hell is wrong with you nimrods? You just don't get it do you? No one actually wants to know who Fake Steve Jobs is. *That's the fun.* It's cute that you guys can play detective and make retarded claims that 'all good mysteries need a conclusion,' but you just don't get it: we don't want to know.
Let it go. Move on and get back to making up bullshit about something else.
Leander Kahney has denied. Ugh.
http://valleywag.com/tech/fake-steve-jobs/the-hunt-goes-on...
And, yes, now I am obsessed.
Finding out who Fake Steve is would be like watching my sausage being made. No thanks.
I hope you guys are completely unsuccessful.
Hey, Your Dentonship, I gotta question. What makes you think only one person is FSJ?
I did not realize you were a Brit...don't you guys have private clubs where you can dig up this sort of gossip? Invite a bunch of these expats and let the beer and whisky flow - somebody will blab.
I dont know much, but I do know Im not FSJ, or using an IP mask
HAHAH
Nothing like screwing with Dentons neurosis...
Isn't it obvious? FSJ is really Belle de Jour.
LONDON's Guardian? If anything it's the Manchester Guardian, but since it's the only major newpaper called that in the world, it hardly needs a prefix.
"a spoof diary of the narcissistic Apple founder"
SJ is not a narcissist. I reckon he's OCPD (rather than NPD). Fits the classic symptoms. I am myself diagnosed with OCPD, so I know a thing or two about it. Can anyone say 'Perfectionist' or 'meticulous attention to detail'?
Second, my guess is that the wizard behind the curtain is Irish. The Irish are very very familiar with both US and UK culture, and can easily interchange between them both.
Check out the Bono posts. This guy is Irish, and probably has lived Stateside and in the UK.
Either way, I doubt this writer is a working journalist, certainly not a (former) tech writer. He's too good for that.
Ok, the fake SJ writes you a "plaintive" email asking you not to reveal his (her?) identity if you ever discover it. People who enjoy fake SJ's blog make clear they don't want to know…
So what do you do? You go ahead, and find amusement in comparing yourself to the worst of the British rags.
I do not know who fake SJ is, and it may come to light , or not. But when you boast of your obsession to ruin it for everyone come what may, I know who you are: a little sh*t.
Apparently someone was a little bit miffed when Daniel Lyons of Forbes was outed as Fake Steve Jobs by NYT reporting ninja Brad Stone. Now, erupting from the anonymous bosom that is the blogosphere has emerged the inevitable, Fake Brad Stone blog.
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