Here's a lesson to fans who want to spread ridiculous garbage about "rival" schools:

http://newsok.com/story-about-ou-qbs-dru...1215657911

Story about OU QBs' drug busts a hoax

By Berry Tramel
Staff Writer

James W. Conradt, a Nebraska football fan living in Austin, Texas, says he didn’t mean to hurt Oklahoma quarterbacks Sam Bradford and Landry Jones with his Internet hoax.

So what was Conradt thinking Wednesday when he lifted a template off The Oklahoman’s web site, newsok.com, wrote and pasted a bogus story about the Sooner pair’s arrest on cocaine distribution charges, then posted it on a message board?

The 36-year-old Conradt says he wasn’t thinking.

“I want to express my deepest apologies to the families,” Conradt said Wednesday night, after his story was reported as fact by at least two Texas radio stations. “That’s the thing I’m regretful about. I didn’t want to hurt anyone.”

An apology might not be enough to sooth this over.

“I’m going to prosecute him to the fullest extent of the law,” said Kevin Jones, Landry’s father. “I’ve got deep enough pockets to do it.”

Oklahoman publisher David Thompson said, “When this was brought to our attention, we took immediate action. Through our technology and news teams, we tracked him down and told him to cease and desist. We take this very seriously and will consider legal action.”

OU associate athletic director Kenny Mossman said the hoax is just the latest in a disturbing trend.

“We feel it’s real unfortunate how many things have germinated from an anonymous starting point that are unfounded, untrue and, as this story proves, hurtful,” Mossman said.

“Coaches and players are berated, and nobody attaches a name to it. The Internet has enabled a lot of this kind of thing to happen, and it’s really disappointing.”

Conradt said he was on a Nebraska message board when some OU fans began writing smack.

“I just wanted to get ‘em all riled up, I guess,” Conradt said.

He googled Sooner sports and came across the newsok.com template and says he didn’t even realize it was The Oklahoman’s web site.

“It was a bad decision,” Conradt said. “When I got home, I got on my computer, one of the moderators on the Oklahoma site emailed me and said some Oklahoma people are upset about this. That’s when I took it down.”

Kevin Jones said he received a couple of frantic calls after the hoax spread across the Internet.

“I knew it was a prank thing right away,” Jones said. “Anybody that knows Sam or knows Landry knows the story wasn’t true to begin with. But when radio stations down in Houston and Austin report it, it’s very hurtful.

“Why would somebody be so malicious about it? Don’t know why someone would trample two kids like this. I was just dumbfounded. People need to learn from this.”

Kelly Dyer Fry, vice president of news and information for OPUBCO Communications Group, said users can determine if a story comes from the newsok.com server by the URL. If numbers precede “newsok.com,” the link originated elsewhere.

Here's some more about this fan, his webpage is:

DarthHusker. There's a guy who posts on the Nebraska.theinsiders.com message board. I don't know if that's the same guy but, ironically, his last post is July the 9th, the day it was discovered that someone by that name posted a fake news report.

And, ironically, he was recently profiled in an article about the damage done by internet website and message boards because people can accuse player, programs and other of things while doing it in secret. The ironic thing is his comments at the end, which is damning for him:

http://newsok.com/article/keyword/3268581/

Creator of phony story works in Texas' IT department

By Jake Trotter
Staff Writer

There's a reason why James W. Conradt was able to lift a template off The Oklahoman's Web site, NewsOK.com, to create a phony story about Oklahoma quarterbacks Sam Bradford and Landry Jones.

The Nebraska football fan living in Austin, Texas, is a computing services manager in the information technology department at the University of Texas.

Wednesday, the 36-year-old Conradt wrote a bogus article about Bradford and Jones being arrested on cocaine distribution charges, then posted it on a message board. At least two Texas radio stations initially reported the fake incident as fact as the hoax spread across the Internet.

Both Kevin Jones, Landry's father, and David Thompson, publisher of The Oklahoman, are considering legal action.

Following an investigation, University of Texas officials concluded Thursday that Conradt didn't use a company computer or company time to create the article.

In 2005, Conradt, known on the Web by his screen name "DarthHusker,” was featured in an article by the Lincoln Journal Star about the rising impact of message boards and their potential danger.

"I think anonymity brings out the worst in people. There are no consequences for saying what you say,” Conradt told the Star then. "New people come along all the time and are naive and believe too much of what they read.

"A lot of people just post stuff to stir the pot.”

Anyone with half a brain, and a decent vocabulary, should know what plagarism and slander are. Plagarism for lifting the template, and slander for the story. Defamation of character too.

I don't blame the boy's father for going after the jerk. Stupidity should be a punishable offense...

bitcruncher Wrote:Anyone with half a brain, and a decent vocabulary, should know what plagarism and slander are. Plagarism for lifting the template, and slander for the story. Defamation of character too.

I don't blame the boy's father for going after the jerk. Stupidity should be a punishable offense...

Actually I think it'd be libel considering the story was written, but, they bring pretty much the same punishment in any state.

"I think anonymity brings out the worst in people. There are no consequences for saying what you say,” Conradt told the Star then. "New people come along all the time and are naive and believe too much of what they read.

"A lot of people just post stuff to stir the pot.”

Nice call there, Darth ... idiot. Seriously though, what can you do? It's the nature of the 'net. Mods can be a bit more vigilant perhaps, but people are still going to post crap. He really should be punished somehow, if he hadn't snagged the template, the TX radio stations wouldn't have run the story. Though, they too should have verified the 'story' with other sources.

I agree Crimsonelf. You really can't blame the moderators or administrators. The only way they are at fault is if they encouraged it or if they knew it was fake and kept it up anyway. That clearly didn't happen. Really, if you want to post things on the 'net that's fine. But when you get into the realm of illegally posting news, making stuff up about people, and taking personal shots at people and their families then you deserve to get into legal trouble.

It is hard to prove the libel or slander actually hurt the kid. If you can't show a loss of monetary means then you don't have much of a case. He can get hit for the stealing of the template, I'm guessing he gets nothing for libel.

Posting a false story, as though it came from the news service, is going to cost him. It may not come in criminal court, but a civil suit will cost him. He put the kid through mental hardship, which is impossible to disprove, as well as defamed his character. Either way, he's in deep sh!t.

mlb Wrote:It is hard to prove the libel or slander actually hurt the kid. If you can't show a loss of monetary means then you don't have much of a case. He can get hit for the stealing of the template, I'm guessing he gets nothing for libel.

It can be proven that, in the past, student athletes have been suspended and even kicked of the team for accusations alone. And, considering you can lose your scholarship because of that, that is a monetary loss. Also, if he were a pro prospect that could hurt his value since teams are, obviously, shying away from troubled athletes, especially in football, so that could be a monetary loss. And that's not even counting the mental anguish they would be going through with having to deal with being accused of a very serious crime they did not commit. Defamation of character also becomes an issue. Imagine you're a work and someone you don't know decides to go around the office and accuse you of being connected to illegal drugs? That could cost you your job, and cause monetary loss. Also, the father having to defend his kid's honor in court is a monetary issue.

CC, the person who brings the lawsuit has to prove he was hurt in a monetary way. He was not. He wasn't suspended, he didn't have his scholarship pulled, everyone found out there was no truth to it. He will not win a case for libel unless something happened that we haven't heard (and I'm quite sure nothing happened to him).

In cases of libel and slander, the person who brings the lawsuit has to prove he/she was hurt. It isn't a case of could have or should have, it has to have actually happened.

Bottomline the guy who wrote the article needs to get a life.

mlb Wrote:CC, the person who brings the lawsuit has to prove he was hurt in a monetary way. He was not. He wasn't suspended, he didn't have his scholarship pulled, everyone found out there was no truth to it. He will not win a case for libel unless something happened that we haven't heard (and I'm quite sure nothing happened to him).

In cases of libel and slander, the person who brings the lawsuit has to prove he/she was hurt. It isn't a case of could have or should have, it has to have actually happened.

exactly. it's not even jones that's bringing the suit. it's his father. i don't blame his father for being upset. his father should be upset. however, his father has virtually no case in civil court for the reasons you listed.

i'm also a little curious as to how this wound up in two newspapers as being a reported fact. they got their information off of a message board, and didn't even clarify it with the original source. now THAT may result in a monetary loss for the idiot editors that let that in. they'll probably be fired.

It was also reported on several radio stations as being fact the day he posted the story. I am a member of the Nebraska forum that the guy posts on, BigRedReport.com and DarthHusker was always cracking jokes and such n there. I think he realizes he made a mistake this time though. I havent seen him back which is a shame because he had been a pretty popular member for years on there.

Stupid and inept individuals are often popular. They make others feel better about themselves, since they feel so superior to that moron...