Friday, May 29, 2009

What's Up With Ferarro & Paladin Schmaladin?


I have to take a quick time-out from the norm to outline a concern that I have about the honesty of blogging and bloggers. For those of you who normally read blogs, it may impact you on some level, so it won't be a complete waste of your time.

If you found yourself over at fellow WoW-blogger Ferarro's website today, Paladin Schmaladin, you were greeted with a new message that the "blog is open to invited readers only." According to her Twitter updates, she believes that she has a stalker, and things are getting a bit too uncomfortable with all of the private information she has been posting.

Now let me be serious for a second (it's all I can muster): if she does have a legit stalker, she made the right decision in closing shop. Playing it safe is the only way to go in that scenario. There is nothing worse than feeling exposed, after all (we Warlocks know that all too well). However, I am getting reports that the stalker story is about as straight as Tom Cruise, and that I should have listened to my mother when she told me to never believe everything I read on the internet... that I don't write myself.

According to multiple sources in-WoW and out, Ferarro was outed as a fraud when an astute Warlock posted a convincing link on the WoW Forums, pointing to a website called TechDarling. All over the site are pictures of a girl that we know as Ferarro. In fact, many of the pictures there are identical copies of those we've seen on Paladin Schmaladin. But instead of the WoW game-tester we all know, we see a real-life social-blogger who is into the tech scene and has posted pictures from various blogging expos and web design events -- pictures stolen by and featured on Paladin Schmaladin and that Ferarro presented as of herself, and her job as a game-tester for WoW.

Doing a little bit of digging, it seems that all of the self-portraits posted of Ferarro on Paladin Schmaladin originate from TechDarling and its author's own web pages, including Facebook and Flickr. In fact, there are many images there that authenticate TechDarling as the legitimate source and owner of the pictures and events. Oh, and btw, WoW is never mentioned on these other sites. Not once.


So what does all of this craziness mean, exactly?

Well, for starters, a bunch of love-struck boys are going to experience some heavy frustration when this comes to light, and we are bound to see some nerd rage soon. For bloggers like me, it is a little disheartening. Ferarro has basically been lying about her identity for years, and stealing someone else's content and posting them as her own. She has taken advantage of another blogger and her reader's trust, and that makes my job as a fellow blogger just that much harder.

On a WoW-related front, this mess also means that Ferarro isn't a game tester for Blizzard. The "game-testing" images that were posted on Paladin Schmaladin were relabeled TechDarling images that were taken at a blogging expo.

I gotta admit, just thinking about this gets me a little angry, and my mind is going crazy with a series of difficult questions: what drives a person to do this kind of thing? Why would anyone lead people on like that? And for what means? And do you know what the worst part about this whole thing is? Paladin Schmaladin was a great resource and excellent WoW blog. Why it needed to be masked by someone else's pretty face is straight attention-whoring.

And here's a piece of advice from your friendly neighborhood Warlock Therapist: if you post someone else's picture and get caught, don't take down your blog and try to explain it away as a problem with a stalker. Don't go into hiding and conjure up 7 different identities when that doesn't work either. Fess up, make things right, and move on. It may hurt at first, but it is the only way to help guarantee yourself respect and friendship in the long-run. And lets face it, you owe at least that much to your readers, right?

It will be quite interesting to see where Ferarro goes from here. While watching the changing status of Paladin Schmaladin's accessibility, I wish her, or him, some much-needed sanity.

I am Jagoex. I'm a husband, a father, a professor, and a warlock. That's all you need to know. ;)

UPDATE: Apparently, Ferarro has closed her Twitter account and many of her articles at Retpaladin.com are MIA. Threads started on the WoW Forums linking to TechDarling or this post are being reported as harassment and immediately removed. Also, many young boys are in complete denial.

UPDATE 2: TechDarling is aware of what is going on and according to her Twitter page, she was unaware anyone was stealing her images and content and using them as her own.

UPDATE 3: Retpaladin.com admins played no hand in the posts that were being deleted on their website, and were clueless on what was going on until after the fact. Also, Ferarro's character on Alexstrasza is no longer showing up on the Armory.

UPDATE 4: Paladin Schmaladin is available for viewing once again, with a long explanation of what has happened -- including a creative story detailing 7 different owners of "Ferarro" the Paladin.

UPDATE 5: WoW.com just posted a very detailed look into Ferarro's explanatory post, basically debunking her statement that Ferarro was operated by 7 different people over the years.

472 comments:

«Oldest   ‹Older   201 – 400 of 472   Newer›   Newest»
Cici said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Aislinana said...

OH GOD MY SECRET IS OUT.

*runs off crying*

Cici said...

Moar tinfoil hats, nao!

http://twitter.com/shinmeko/status/1994043244

http://twitter.com/AdamHolisky/status/1994141861

http://twitter.com/AdamHolisky

(sorry for the double comment, internet behaving badly)

Anonymous said...

@Anonymous

"Honesty is always the best course of action regardless of the situation. I liked the blog and took a lot of good information from it. But now I have to question everything I have read there because of this."

Why? If you took good information from the site and applied it in-game (with noticeable results, I assume), why question it? If it's good information, it is still good information.

It's not like the blog was a resource for philosophical thought and idealism where the morality of the author did make a difference.

Sheesh.

Ret Man said...

So much for her guides being all that. Users at RetPaladin said this.

"Honestly, from the little I read of Ferraro's guides, there was nothing you couldn't learn by playing or looking around the internet. Nothing was insider info. Unless you had some sort of e-crush, I don't think anything will change."

"F was just good at putting it all together.."

All I ever got from the blog was how self absorbed the author was. What is it called when someone with low self esteem compensates for it?

Anonymous said...

I thought something was strange when she posted about who her main was, said she didn't really have one and posted the armory to a lvl 78 pally, then went on to discuss raiding Ulduar with it a couple months later.

I honestly can't see why everyone is so broken up over this though. Who cares who's writing it? You were never going to meet her, never going to talk to her, never going to hold hands and discuss Paladin issues by a romantic sunset.

It's a great blog with great info, and it's very well written (currently at least, I have not read any of the previous versions

Jagoex said...

You know what I find interesting?

There is an SS of Ferarro (Crystal) talking about her husband (Neil) in guild chat from years back (or vice versa). And now, there's the revelation from the Yogg-Saron guild member that both names were very recently associated with his guild.

I'm thinking this fraud is a couple job...

Seraphus said...

whats up Jago just thought i would chime in on this since i have been on Alex since the beginning and have played with Ferraro and had you kill my hunter hundreds of times in wsg back in the days of onyx ownage.

this has been quite entertaining the past few days and once this has all played out if we are still playing wow in a couple years we'll probably be laughing about it.

the best part of this is everyone coming up with their own conspiracy theories.

by the way your lock is one of the reasons why i always go after locks in BGs no matter what. you OP bastards. lol

Anonymous said...

@Catharsis

You've got the same typing style as Ferraro.

E.g: Selection of words, grammar, etc.

You both capitalize words and use quotations for emphasis, too.


And yes, I do this for a living. I could tell.

Anonymous said...

@ Catharsis

This is the orginal magnum pi btw :D seems like i aint the only one waving fingers! :D

Aislinana said...

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?sid=1&topicId=13833024399&postId=143174959940&ST=US-845021-ucUJiEC7fO3fL5y3ojpSGblMy6Ao063m2CG
Someone calls Ferarro "Crystal." so I think we have a dead ringer here.

Anonymous said...

So I've read the blog since Wrath launch since that's when I switched to a palading as my main. The sight really did help with some of the gearing questions a new paladin would have.

That being said, this whole mess is heeeelarious.

But, something doesn't sit right. How can someone go for +4 years without not knowing that someone is using your pictures?

I find it very difficult to believe that someone like Techdarling who essentially lives their life on the internet would not be informed that another blogger was using their photos?

Maybe there is something to this sock puppet theory...

Unknown said...

Well I am disappointed to find out a site I appreciated has been a sham all these years but as was stated above I found a new good blog to read about warlocks.

Also I would like to thank all the commentors as this has been quite entertaining to read through.

Anonymous said...

I would like to know if Sarah has any idea that a picture of her with her finger in her ass was posted on wow forums to spite ferraro. lol.

Anonymous said...

to follow up on the whole neil/everdash thing i found these 2 pics in Ferarro's photobucket

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g239/imtheoneinblue/26.jpg

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g239/imtheoneinblue/50.jpg

and in everdash photobucket

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v202/everdash/neilhah.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v202/everdash/neil60.jpg

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v202/everdash/thanks.jpg

Vajarra said...

"I love the irony in all of this. A WARLOCK as a beacon of truth, exposing a PALADIN for being a fraudulent scum."

Well, it IS a blood elf paladin...

Anonymous said...

For someone that doesn't play WoW, she's pretty good at doing emotes. Check out the article about going back to Cali.

http://techdarling.wordpress.com/page/3/

How would she know /sappiness if she's never played WoW?

Anonymous said...

And another WoW referrence on page 4.

http://techdarling.wordpress.com/page/4/

Under the Photobucket hacked post.

“All your website are belong to us.”

You heard it here first..shenanigans.

Anonymous said...

"All Your Base Are Belong to Us" isn't a WoW reference.

Britt Wilson said...

Look Catharsis, you set yourself up to be questioned by your name you chose and your comments.

Someone mentioned they thought you were Ferraro, and that was it. You have now just argued back and forth with people pointing out your comments, to what end? Now you just look like someone who doesnt like to be challenged.

No one seriously thinks your Ferraro, and even if you are, who cares.

I also don't believe that is actually Adam Holisky posting here either, but again, who cares, no one was seriously going after you.

So take a niiiiice big breath, calm down, and if you have something useful to add to this conversation, feel free, but don't just come here to start shit.

Caithris said...

I can't believe we haven't had a joke about bubble hearthing yet, especially with all the cover up and such.

Aislinana said...

http://www.myspace.com/socalpaladin

Was this ever linked here yet? I found it by putting Crystal Ferarro into Myspace, incidentally.

La Mirada is where Everdash comes from too! how coincidental!!!!!!

Britt Wilson said...

If you dont want to actively participate in the conversations here, then feel free to stop refreshing the page.

You were, in what seemed to me a halfhearted suggestion based on your poor posting name choice, said to be Ferraro.

You say your not. Fine. Who cares?

This blog is not about if you are Ferraro or not, its about exposing what was going on, and now has evolved into fining out who and why the chose to do this.

So again Catharsis, if you don't have something constructive to add here, don't bother posting anymore.

Britt Wilson said...

@Aislinana

No, I haven't seen that anywhere yet, and an interesting find indeed.....

Anonymous said...

Before this thread got derailed by spurious discussions about Catharsis, there was some progress being made.

Sleuth and others seemed to be onto something. I think a recap is in order. I didn't include the URLs to all these things. If you want them, they're buried in the comments above:

1. Sleuth identifies Everclear as the paladin in his guild that was used in Ferraro's Yogg Saron video.

2. Whenever Everclear handed off control of his paladin to Ferarro in vent, he referred to her as Crystal.

3. Sleuth ties two pictures related to Everclear from his guild's website to a photobucket account used frequently on Ferraro's account (the everdash account).

4. Sleuth ties those two picture URLs to a website that identifies the account owner by the name "Neil Perry". He has a strong interest in music and lists Everclear as one of his favorite bands on that website. The website lists his location as La Mirada, CA. In Ferarro's blog there are obviously many references to CA.

5. It's important to note that Ferarro frequently referred to her husband as Neil in her blog, and mentioned his musical interests. Also, a former guildie of Ferarro's, Valinor, confirms that Ferarro and her husband were in his guild, and that her husband went by Neil.

6. Sleuth then gets a Facebook URL for a Neil Perry. This is the weakest link in my opinion. I'm not sure that the Neil Perry on that FB page is the same one from the pictures, but let's say that it is. One of his FB friends is Crystal Perry. Also, Neil is about aged 30-31 based on his high school graduation date.

7. Looking at Crystal Perry, we see that she's in Ohio. I did some other checking, and see she's an interior designer, and graduated OSU in 2007, making her aged 24-26. One thing of significance here was that Ferarro did mention doing graphic design work for a fabric shop, and how her work just got in some kind of new fabric. That's the sort of thing an interior designer gets fired up about.

Overall, I think the work through step 5 is pretty solid. The leap to step 6 and then to step 7 is tenuous at best. Being at OSU from 02-07 doesn't really jive with some of the personal tidbits from the blog, at least not if they were married. Now, if they were brother/sister and both collaborated on the blog, then it makes some sense.

There is also the issue with WoW.com showing the Ferarro postings coming from the same locale. This doesn't work if there's a CA-OH split. I wish I knew where those IP addresses came from. Until a stronger linkage exists to the Neil Perry on FB, I don't think we can look at either him or Crystal Perry as suspects.

Finally, there is the larger question of whether it's worthwhile to keep the Internet bloodhounds out and try and crack the case of Ferarro's true identity. On the one hand, there's the "turnabout is fair play" school of thought. On the other, you might say stalking a stalker is just as reprehensible as the original act. Also, if we were to positively ID Ferarro, what then? Would anything come of it?

Anonymous said...

Check the 15th entry, there is a Neil Perry in la Mirada, aged 27.

http://www.intelius.com/search-summary-out.php?ReportType=1&qf=Neil&qmi=&qn=Perry&qs=CA&trackit=74&focusfirst=0

Anonymous said...

A couple other comments came in while I was putting together that long synopsis. Based on those comments, I think the link to Neil Perry on FB and his FB friend Crystal Perry are dead leads. It looks to me like the jump to step 6 and step 7 were in error because it's probably the wrong Neil Perry.

Now the info about the Neil Perry in La Mirada, and the myspace page for socalpaladin (from the crystal ferarro search) is compelling. That seems like a warmer trail.

Anonymous said...

SocialPaladin... SocialVibe... Hmm...

Aislinana said...

SoCal, as in Southern California. Not social.

Anonymous said...

It's SOCAL (Southern California) not social.

Reading is hard for you I guess?

Anonymous said...

Dumbass above me, that's "Socal" paladin (as in Southern CA), not "Social". People need to cut the crap on these conspiracy twists. Sarah Townsend and Ferarro are not one in the same. TechDarling has nothing to do with Ferarro. See through the blinding nerdrage and recognize that.

The best direct and circumstancial evidence to date seems to lead to a couple living in So. CA, possibly La Mirada.

Anonymous said...

What's up, Crystal?

Anonymous said...

A few more links to a Neil Perry in La Mirada:

http://www.1up.com/do/my1Up?publicUserId=5492419

(Note the Everdash reference, age 27, La Mirada).

http://profiles.friendster.com/376919

(Note the pictures that were the same as the ones Sleuth came up with, age 27, La Mirada, he lists "The Princess Bride" as one of his favorite movies).

It should be noted that La Mirada is only 30-40 minutes from the Blizzard HQ in Irvine, CA. Remember that blurry picture of Blizzard's front gate on Ferarro's blog just before the release of 3.1? It's in those Google caches of his/her site.

Anyone recall those big national manhunts, where someone would get identified as a person of interest? I'd say this dude is a person of interest in this matter.

Anonymous said...

Neil is Ferarro is my guess. In some way.

Anonymous said...

Notice on that Friendster profile, somebody says this:

"God I have known Neil forever,
actually since the first grade when he
told me that Michael Jackson was his
Uncle. How's he doing nowadays? The
kids OK? Some of you may not know that
Neil was A.C. Slater's brother on
Saved by the Bell the College Years,
but the episode never aired or so he
says. We also were in contention for
an Oscar on year for our heart-
wrentching story of a man who loses
his sense of smell titled Kung-Fu
Chicken Pow. No matter how you know
Neil, I bet you are glad to know him.
You're crazy man, you're crazy."


Seems Neil is used to making stuff up for attention.

Anonymous said...

Within the last 5-10 minutes, the Catharsis post on Ferarro's blog was taken down. Maybe it's temporary in order to edit it. Or, perhaps, Ferarro realizes no one is buying what he/she is selling. I assume he/she is reading these comments. We must be getting close to the truth. I wonder how long before some of the URLs to Neil Perry start to get shutdown?

Bopeep said...

Re: Friendster profile

A friend mentions Saved by the Bell, which is listed on Ferraro's blog as one of her/his favourite shows.

Plus, as the poster above me stated, it sounds like he is used to lying about things.

Anonymous said...

"Ferarro" took down the explanation.

Bopeep said...

As well, Neil mentions wanting to meet someone with a hammock in their backyard. In the WoW.com article "ferarro" states she/he likes spending time reading in "my favorite hammock at home".

Aislinana said...

I had the foresight to archive all the responses to the Catharsis post in my email box, mostly.

This is just weird.

Deb Legg said...

Let me start by saying I had no idea who/what Paladin/Ferrado is/was.

However, Sarah Townsend/TechDarling, well, she's my daughter.

I'm so angry, I can't adequately express how violated we all feel that this LIAR has been flouncing around pretending to be our Sarah Belle.

Sarah is a captivating, vibrant young woman, she's loving, caring, compassionate and smart.

This duplicitous fraud can try to pass herself off using Sarah's pics, but has no idea that her real beauty comes from within.

Anonymous said...

@Deb Legg
I can only imagine how angry you must be. What this person did is simply awful. It's very disturbing and creepy and I assume I speak for most of the other posters here when I say that your daughter shouldn't have to prove she isn't "Ferarro". I wish her all the best and hope that whoever did this will be found out and exposed for the pathetic person they must be.

Anonymous said...

Duke, has been schooled.

Should pass all that info onto that lady who had her stuff jack'd so she can get some sort of retribution outta this mess.

Anonymous said...

The Real Ferraro?
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1092811827

http://img10.imageshack.us/my.php?image=n10928118271460.jpg

Anonymous said...

Neil Perry is also the name of one of the main characters in the movie "Dead Poets Society" which is listed as one of the favourite movies of Neil Perry on his Friendster account.

Anonymous said...

The "confession" has been taken off of her blog...

aydinn said...

first off...thnx to jagoex for uncovering this. i have been completely wrapped up in all the juicy drama all weekend and it's been a nice change of pace from rep grinding, etc....

thnx to all of you who have really done some awesome digging into the google images, cache, etc. and all the conspiracy theories are great as well.

lastly, to add to it all...it appears the entire "explanation" has been removed from the ferarro website.

Anonymous said...

How funny, now the Catharsis story has disappeared. Has anyone done a reverse IP check to see which area the IP adresses originate from?

Jacob, Warlock of Sadistic said...

I've been keeping track of the happenings here since Friday. And for someone who did everything right for so long, this Ferarro person has really messed up hardcore these past few days. How many times can one backtrack, delete, and edit a post before realizing how foolish it all is?

Anonymous said...

Jagoex, I want to know how you plan on following the success of this story. ;)

Anonymous said...

I dont buy it. This Sara Townsend chick's taking ti just a little bit too well - to the point of trying to blow it off/cover it over basically.

As for the why of why she'd deny part of an online personall and not the other, well that's pretty simple. When leading a professional life the last thing you want is to be synonymous with a game, in this day and age. Another 10 years or so maybe she'd be applauded for it. Right now she'd be eviscerated and I cant think of any reason why she or anyone else would admit to being an online gamer that publicly that really wants to continue with a true professional life as well.

Sorry but it all stinks - the whole situation.

Anonymous said...

Oh, and to add to that - the very idea that someone's mother would hop on a blog just to add her thoughts to the matter?

....
Sarah Belle?
..

riiight.

Shadoobi said...

I'm not sure if this Crystal person is the right one on Facebook. Forgive me if I'm wrong, but the Neil Perry person linked with Crystal Perry graduated from Ohio State in 2010, I believe. I don't know what else "Ohio State '10" could represent.

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1423350044

This just confuses me about the CA location.

Shadoobi said...

Or then again the location could be a lie and another setup to backup the fact that Ferarro works for Blizzard.

Starla said...

Ferarro and TechDarling's writing styles are very similar, and their personalities too. I know it's a longs shot but I don't think we can ignore the sockpuppet in the room just yet!

Aislinana said...

That couldn't POSSIBLY be because one was trying to copy the other. No, not at all.

Anonymous said...

Youtube post up on ferarro's site. What's funny is that it's up faster than on tech darling, as it isn't linked there yet.. lol

Anonymous said...

Youtube was doing maintenance earlier tonight so I'm sure that TechDarling went to bed and didn't put up the link. Whereas, I'm sure "ferraro" is sitting around with bated breath just waiting to pounce onto the video to link it like the depraved freak he/she is.

Judas said...

Wow. I smell a rat.

Anonymous said...

Anyone else find that it oddly glorifies Ferarro and almost sounds like a plug? I don't get it.

Anonymous said...

@Anon 10:35

"I cant think of any reason why she or anyone else would admit to being an online gamer that publicly that really wants to continue with a true professional life as well."

Well, Vin Diesel did and he's doing great.

Didn't you see his interview that was posted on Wowinsider a month or so ago?

Star said...

Okay so like, I just watched the video. And omg Jag, I'm at a loss for words. She seriously tells this fraud that stole her identity to keep blogging? Like for reals????

I dunno much but I think this video response might just make this whole thing worse. And the fact that it's on the paladin blog before Sarah's doesn't look good at all. How did Ferarro find it? And all of her little mannerisms are just weird, and omg if you have a stalker why videotape yourself in our nightgown?! This doesn't make sense!!!!!

So I think I'm thinking they are one. Yup, that's what I'm sticking with. Case closed in my book!

Anonymous said...

Someone already posted a link on the wow forums LOL
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=17367604080&sid=1

Anonymous said...

Also, Sarah is quite possibly Ferraro.

I bet that she just doesn't want to get caught lying that she used to test encounters for Blizzard.

Heck, even her "mother" types the same way.

Aislinana said...

THEY MUST BE THE SAME PERSON or Ferarro, in true fucking form, could have just, youknow, stalked the chick's youtube channel.

WHICH ONE MAKES MORE SENSE

Anonymous said...

@Star
ferarro found it because she already knows TechDarlings Youtube name. That's where she has taken videos from and used as her own before.

Anonymous said...

Aaand... now it's gone from ferarro.blogspot.com.

When will the mystery end!?

Star said...

@Anonymous: I just got in so I'm not in the loop today. But you gotta admit there's a lot of weirdness with how these two are interacting am I right? I mean she gives her advice for goodness sakes! "Get over yourself, swallow your pride, and start blogging again!" Seriously? SERIOUSLY??? THIS PERSON IS STALKING YOUR EVERY MOVE AND YOU'RE PLUGGING HER BLOG WHILE WEARING A NIGHTIE!!!!

And you know what? I just realized that Sarah keeps saying "she" when talking about Ferarro which is super fishy. UUGGGHHHH.....

Anonymous said...

@star

She also says "good content is hard to come by" and "these people like what you have to say" and that struck me as very odd. Pretty much everyone looks down on ferarro now and if she was reading up on it she'd know that.

Aislinana said...

It's called being a professional and not being a mud-slinging bitch about it.

Some people don't spend all their time shooting people down for doing messed up shit. She did touch on a lot of important points and did seem annoyed at one point. But unlike Ferarro - Townsend is going places and why start your blogging career not taking the high road?

Anonymous said...

Yeah, it's weird to say the least.

The solution is easy though. Get the two of them on vent/video, have some listeners or viewers around, and make Ferraro apologize.

Since Sarah went ahead and posted a video of herself in a nightgown knowing fully well that she has an e-stalker, I presume she'll be cool about it.

Star said...

I know right! The only place anyone was saying anything positive was on that liar's own site, and she was probably making them all herself, now that I think about it. And at the end when Sarah says she doesn't make videos well, I wanted to throw up!!!! She's an obvious attention whore, which is coincidentally what ferarro is too. One in the same, I'm telling ya.

Aislinana said...

Oh yes, saying you're bad at something means you're an attention whore.

You're incredibly ignorant.

Disgusted said...

Am I the only one thats realized that Sarah hasn't posted on WoW.com? Is she hiding her IP maybe?

Anonymous said...

@ Star
O_O How is she an attention whore? All she said was she wasn't good at making videos...

Anonymous said...

Wow, this was put up hastily and then taken back down... Funny thing is that it went up on the ferarro blog BEFORE it was placed on the TechDarling site.

Star said...

@Aislinana: Ignorant? Because I disagree with you? Get over yourself. This girl who has a youtube channel to herself and used to make videos for tomshardware says she's no good at it WHILE FILMING HERSELF in her PJs and adding little fancy captions too. Seems like a lie to me! And do you know who else is a liar?

Aislinana said...

No, ignorance typically comes from making patently stupid statements in the face of legitimate concerns or opinions.

It did not look like a nightgown, by the way, but a typical flower top that most people wear.

are you an attention whore because you're posing in a tank top in your blogger pic?

I mean, seriously, she's just saying that her video isn't really professional quality - she flubs her words, and it's obviously off-the-cuff.

BUT YOU KNOW WHO ELSE LIED, OMG HITLER w/e.

Seriously.

Star said...

I've never sat infront of a camera telling the photographer I don't take good pictures while striking a pose. That's pretty much what this girl did and it's gawd awful to watch.

You think she looks casual? I think she looks like she's acting. And ya I may be wrong but it all just seems so fake. Just listen and watch her when she's talking to Ferarro. She sounds concerned or something which makes zero sense!

Anonymous said...

Well, most likely the person who has been stealing her pictures is her friend since she has access to Sarah's facebook pictures.
I too would be concerned if I found out one of my friend has been impersonating me for years.

Anonymous said...

Why would Ferarro post the video and pull it? At least its on the google cache of the site.

Anonymous said...

Forgot to link

http://74.125.155.132/search?q=cache:ajhi59_lrVMJ:ferarro.blogspot.com/+paladin+schmaladin&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-a

Valyria said...

RE: Positive comments about Ferarro, there have actually been several comments on the WoW forums that encourage the Ferarro-person to continue paladin-related comment. I even made some of them, and no I'm neither Sarah T. nor Ferarro (or... any of the Ferarros.)

I of course respect the outrage that has been more prominent in these comments, and I agree that the identity theft thing is horribly wrong and bad. But I also think Ferarro's paladin-related content was better than anything else out there. I don't really want to start the obvious argument about this though. My point is just that because Sarah Townsend has voiced the "keep on blogging" opinion does not mean that she's secretly Ferarro.

And as for the Anon who recommended that Sarah post on WoW.com for IP-checking purposes, I'm sure you could suggest it to her via email or comments on her blog/twitter. She has expressed multiple times that she is willing to answer any questions.

Valyria said...

er, paladin related -content-, rather.

It's late. Typos. x.o

Valyria said...

Also, since I'm commenting...

What strikes me as most interesting is what the Ferarro blogger appended to the video post. "Clear?"

What is that supposed to mean, given that S Townsend specifically said no one buys the Dread Pirate Roberts story.

Was that something of an admission? Possibly a swiftly-regretted one?

Anonymous said...

@Star

So very true.

This thing reeks. Terribly.

Why would someone give a rat's ass about someone that stole all their info, their pics, their posts, their videos (practically their life), while posting about a game that they have never even touched?

And then post a video talking to the criminal on youtube too?

It doesn't make sense, unless they are the same person.

That way, TechDarling would continue to function (with much more traffic) and Paladin Shmaladin will move on too.

But mainly, Sarah Townsend would not appear as a liar (working for Blizzard, etc), only Ferraro would be.

Aislinana said...

Yeah, a vague post with the Townsend video that was clearly pulled off Sarah's youtube feed before even SHE posted it to a blog is not going to win people over to thinking that Ferarro is sane/not creepy.

Valyria said...

@the Anon above:

I'll grant you that ST takes this much more happily than I'd really expect. And maybe that's fishy. I dunno.

But I can't help but think that this is waaaaaay more work than is conceivably possible for a publicity stunt. Given that Ferarro's blog has been up for... I actually don't know how long, but a very long time.

It's an awful lot of setup just to plug your dinky girls-who-like-technology-teehee blog.

Deacondra said...

@Valyria - Do you read Elitist Jerks? Arena Junkies? You must not if you think PS was the best source out there for paladin information. Infact, I recommend adding a little "o" between the initials of the site. It's what I tell my paladin recruits to do. I've played a paladin since launch and found the "guides" to be okay at best.

Valyria said...

@Aislinana:

Eh, when it became obvious that youtube wouldn't let ST get it up before going to bed, -I- certainly combed youtube for it.

Not particularly surprising to me that the Ferarro-person would have done the same, except with already knowing where to look.

The near-immediate pulling from the ferarro site is what quirks my brow.

Valyria said...

@Deacondra, I absolutely do read EJ. I don't read AJ, because I don't do arenas.

I do raid Ulduar though, and I can say without a doubt that there was more well-written insight at Ferarro's blog than the Holy Paladin thread at EJ, the frontpage of which is outdated in several ways, btw.

Aislinana said...

@Valyria -

That's the thing, it's not that surprising. Oh gosh, putting up a video ahead of the person you're supposedly NOT ripping off of, with a vague little title like "Clear?"

Yeah, they pulled it out of shame.

I have the few comments that made it to the entry archived in my email. there's three, and all of them are negative.

Star said...

I'm crabby you and I'll get shit later I know, but really I don't like that she's giving a stalker advice on a topic she supposedly knows nothing about. Anonymous knows what I mean and explained it a bit better. Like I said, I'm tired and crabby. Sorry if I offended anyone.

Anonymous said...

It's not a publicity stunt, Valyria.

When people knew that Ferraro was lying about working for Blizzard, and traced the picture to the original owner, that's when the $%#^ hit the fan.

It was either that Sarah Townsend/Ferraro was a liar.

Or, Ferraro was an identity thief.

After following all the traces, our e-detectives found a lot of uncanny similarities between the two.

Most of us leaned towards the other option, which was that Ferraro was an imposter.

However, after reading Sarah's mom's post and watching the YouTube clip, plus the little extra stint that happened on Ferraro's blog. I'm leaning towards the first accusation.

Which is slowly starting to make a lot of sense.

"I didn't lie about working for Blizzard! That Ferraro creep did!"

Valyria said...

Oh, to clarify, I am toootally suspicious of this whole thing, but I'm still not convinced that Sarah Townsend is lying. (It is of course totally possible though.)

But like, she clearly does work for some sort of company, and she's heavily involved with SocialVibe and other projects as well.

More than anything I'd be -impressed- if she had time to do all that and write guides of a caliber that suggest she was also regularly raiding and theorycrafting in WoW.

It's possible, but man would it be weird.

Either way I remain entertained and wait with bated breath for the next breakthrough.

Aislinana said...

Except the e-detectives DIDN'T drag anything up that really strongly proves that they are the same person, rather that it's pointing rather strongly towards a couple/a guy in a guild from an earlier commenter.

The location/IPs even match up.

Star said...

EXACTLY! There are a couple of things about the reaction she's had that is setting off alarm bells in my head. To be honest, it seems totally fake.

Anonymous said...

Yep.

Liars always leave a trail.

And if they continue, they're just digging themselves a bigger hole to be buried in later.

Anonymous said...

@Aislinana
Could you post the 3 comments you archived for the video on PS? I want to see if mine made it through or not (It was negative to say the least)

Anonymous said...

300!
/kicks Ferarro into a pit

Anonymous said...

Sarah Townsend sees this as publicity. That's why she's not angry. And though the nightie thing is weird, she knows that WoW nerds are gonna be all over that. It's all to get herself out there by whatever means.

Aislinana said...

Here ya go:

Anonymous has left a new comment on the post "And there ya go.":It just gets weirder.

Why have you posted this.

Aislinana has left a new comment on the post "And there ya go.":Man, good way to get around looking creepy by posting ahead of Sarah by stalking their youtube feed.

Anonymous has left a new comment on the post "And there ya go.":My god, stop your obsession with TechDarling, grow a pair and just come clean instead of continuing to hide behind ludicrous stories of secret societies of paladin bloggers and rerouted IPs and espionage and jobs at the CIA and Blizzard and on and on and on...You're clearly nuts, even you yourself must realize that. Right?

Valyria said...

That last comment is pretty awesome.

Anonymous said...

I saw the post on Paladin Schmaladin in the google cache and something is up.

The title of the post is "And there ya go" and the only text in the body is "clear?" The video was posted there before Techdarling's site too.

Also this Sarah Townsend talked about WoW and Blizzard like she is familiar with them and kept calling Ferarro a "she." And she did seem like she was plugging Ferarro's site too. If they're not the same person they know eachother.

Aislinana said...

Someone that blogs about tech/geek stuff on the Internet knows a giant company that makes a very popular video game!? THEY MUST WORK FOR BLIZZARD!

Seriously.

I think half these crocked up SAME PERSON CONSPIRACY commenters are ridiculously hilarious in how dumb they are. Good trollin'.

The KGB said...

The more information is put out there, the more likely a piece of it is a lie. I was surprised at how long the video was and how much Sarah Townsend said. A short "I'm not Ferarro" is all that was needed. I think that is why the video is iffy.

Valyria said...

Ok, so I just went to the youtube video and... now it's gone. "Removed by user."

Do not understand. D:

Star said...

I feel the same way.

Valyria said...

Ok so now the vid is up on techdarling with an explanation for its disappearance from Youtube.

Well at least that's cleared up.

Star said...

@Valyria: What the heck???? Okay I am 100% convinced they are one in the same. Sarah made a twitter comment after the video was long gone off of Ferarro's website. There is no way she could have seen it!

Anonymous said...

This is making me ill, the hoops that TechDarling has to jump through to prove she's not Ferarro. I mean, how do you prove that you're not someone who has gone to some great lengths to remain secret? I wish everyone who keeps trying to tie the two of them together would have the displeasure of a similar experience. You should be embarrassed and ashamed.

Valyria said...

Hmmm... yeah Star, that is a bit fishy.

Also maybe it's just me but the "edited" version seems pretty much the same as the unedited one.

Also I think it's funny she says she's "not a gamer" and yet she totally posted about Wii accessories as if she were all up in some Wii: http://techdarling.wordpress.com/2007/02/23/accessorwiis/

All that being said, I'm still not convinced that ST and Ferarro are the same person.

But there's a lot of fishiness going around and frankly I think it's fascinating.

Star said...

Embarrassed and ashamed of noticing the impossible? The linked video was removed from Ferarro's site over an hour ago. Sarah Townsend made a Twitter about it 30 minutes ago, after it was long gone. It's a simple observation so stop being as judgmental as what you are accusing other people of being.

Anonymous said...

Star is probably ferarro...either that or she's just an ignorant fool with her head up her ass

Valyria said...

@Anonymous: I get that accusing people of being Ferarro is like the new MCarthy trials or whatever, but try to keep the discourse above the calling-each-other-names level, please?

Bopeep said...

What are you people not understanding here? Ferarro took this other woman's videos and photos and creepily stalked her online. Sarah doesn't need to prove she isnt ferarro. Get a grip and get a life and stop trying to create some ridiculous connection between the two of them. Sarah is a blogger than Ferarro became infatuated with and attempted to pass herself off as Sarah.

And the fact that Sarah has an article on Wii on her TECH BLOG....yeah that is real damning proof. She write a tech blog on new technical gadgets that might be of interest to her readers. That means she is a WoW player/blogger? You people are seriously beyond stupid.

Anonymous said...

A commenter alerted ST to Ferarro posting the YouTube link:

http://techdarling.wordpress.com/2009/06/02/video-response-to-ferarro-debacle-coming-soon/#comments

Valyria said...

@Bopeep:

Chillax, seriously.

I mention the gamer thing out of idle curiosity. And no, it's not surprising to cover gadgets on a tech blog. However, I think opening said coverage with "If you haven’t yet succumbed to the beautiful addiction that is Nintendo Wii, now is the time" is a little dubious for someone who disavows gaming.

As I've said several times now, I don't think ST and Ferarro are the same person, and I'm not trying to -prove- anything.

I'm just commenting on the random weirdnesses that keep arising in this zany internet sideshow. Because it's entertaining.

Take the moral highground all you like. This is quality entertainment.

Anonymous said...

impossible indeed in order for her to have seen that video she would had to travel back in time 30 mins.....
or perhaps seen one of the many cached links to it or heard about it from someone else like from here or maybe she even saw it 30 mins ago and didn't comment on it till now

i think everyone is getting alittle tired i do agree there is some fishy stuff going on but i think that just because i am also getting tired it really could be as simple that ferarro stole her identity either that or it's a ARG for a upcoming movie

Anonymous said...

but of course i do agree with Valyria
This is quality entertainment. so keep the comments going so i have something to read when i wake up maybe it will all be figured out by then

Anonymous said...

I think she said she wasn't a "gamer". That label goes way beyond playing the wii for fun.

Anonymous said...

@Bopeep

"What are you people not understanding here? Ferarro took this other woman's videos and photos and creepily stalked her online."

You have too much faith in the online community. The Internet is full of lies and deceit.

Wait for a few days. Emails will be hacked, accounts will be cracked and more info will trickle towards the ultimate truth.

It's just a matter of time.

Valyria said...

@"I think she said she wasn't a "gamer". That label goes way beyond playing the wii for fun."

A fair point, although a little sad, in my unhumble opinion. "Gamer" should really not be a loaded term. =/

Obsidin - EU Whisperglade said...

For someone getting stalked, this Sarah girl is a bit out there in what she says and how she acts in her response video. I'll echo that it is strange to watch.

Obsidin said...

That's EU - Whisperwind. >.<

Anonymous said...

Go to bed Ferraro.

Stop posting on this thread as Aislinana and Catharsis.

Your typing shows.

Aislinana said...

Anon calls out the person with an easily google-able name/id!

yeah, I'm totally Ferarro #9.

Anonymous said...

@ Aislinana

I analyze writings for a living.

Here's one of your post on the worldofwarcraft forums:

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=14134474277&postId=141210239249&sid=1#12

"I'd agree to be raid boss if:

1.) I get three floors of concubines like Illidan does
2.) I get like six million dragons to be my friends.

There, go."


And here's one of Ferraro's from Wowinsider.com


"1.) Not really. If anything it allows me to enjoy the game ever more. It's akin to sitting on a ladder reading a calculus book while dropping a basketball through the hoop for a few hours (okay, maybe not THAT easy). But when I come home and play the game without having to stare at three monitors at once and pay attention to data and parses, it's like a fresh new game.

2.) Once a boss dies, we have exactly one hour to rewind and reset the encounter.

3.) We've done a 10-Paladin Ulduar clear. Not enough of us play the class to have a 25-man team, but I suspect someone would still bitch about having Might over Kings

Notice the bullet points, the punctuation, the choice of words?

Yeah."


Now go to bed, we have work to do.

Anonymous said...

And just a quick tip..

The trick to posting under different personas to back up the original one doesn't have anything to do with IP masking.

You could do the following:

A- Get high.
B- Get drunk.
C- Continue banging your head against a wall until you get a mild concussion.

Anything short of doing that will still alert attentive people to your writing style.

Redmeph said...

The fact Ferraro lifted TD's response video before she posted it on her Techdarling blog seems to show that Ferraro's obsession with TD goes deep. Being at work, I havent watched it, but TD has my sympathy. I dont believe the 'TD/Ferraro are one' theories at all, it doesnt make sense. I don't think its right to make the main victim in this suffer more by making her feel she needs to prove she *isnt* Ferraro.

Anonymous said...

Wow, did he/she really fucking think anyone would believe a lame ass story of the 7 Ferraros?

Sounds like some stupid ass children s story.

Unknown said...

@ Catharsis

And you are?

http://74.125.47.132/search?q=cache:nhTg5gjNc8EJ:ferarro.blogspot.com/2009/05/catharsis.html+Catharsis+wow&cd=7&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

Anonymous said...

Do I buy the 7 ferarro's story? No. but I dont buy this line of bullshit either.

It's the same person.

*vlad* said...

Why did people believe she was this 'hot chick'?
To be honest I didn't care less who she was. Why should I start to think 'is this person really the girl in the photos'?

All that 'I work for Blizzard' stuff I took with a pinch of salt anyway. How could I possibly know whether it was a lie or not, and truth to tell, I didn't give a shit one way or the other.

Fun and informative blogs are what I read during my lunch break; if the author turns out to be lying about themselves, that kind of sucks, and I wonder about their motivations, but if people think blogging as a 'gurl' will somehow make me a fan of theirs should think again; the content is what matters, and not who is writing it.

Anyway, good work exposing this fraud, and 'oooh, another Warlock blog to read'!

Steven Casagrande said...

Been following this entire thing since the start, and do I feel sorry for Techdarling.

In regards to the posts about people not believing her mother posted that comment above, there is evidence that it is indeed her mother. Although I can't prove that it is her mother that posted, it is not a stretch of the imagination.

If you check out the website link left by that poster (by clicking the username you go to http://www.dedanotions.com/blog/ ) you'll notice that it is a blog by whom appears to be Sarah's mother. There are pictures throughout the site with the person that looks just like Techdarling labelled as Sarah (who is mentioned to be the author's daughter). There is also a post about how proud the author is of Sarah on the main page with the line "Incase you don’t know, Sarah is now the Editorial Director of SocialVibe".

Its not an extent of the imagination at all for someone that has run a blog for years (although not frequently updated) to comment here about this entire situation.

Now in regards to the video posted on her site. I've seen may comments by people coming up with interesting points. People claim that she knew very quickly that Ferraro posted the video on her blog. Clearly someone let her know. To those wondering why she uploaded it then didn't put it on her website, according to her twitter page Youtube was down, making her unable to get the embedded link until it came back up. So instead of waiting at her computer refreshing the page, she just does something else like any normal person would do.

To those thinking that by Techdarling calling Ferraro a "she" instead of "s/he" or "he/she" or any other variation is somehow incriminating, that's quite a stretch. Ferraro claimed to be female, so for simplicity many would just refer to Ferraro as a female.

For the comments about how she's "clearly lying about not being a good filmer" bla bla bla, give her a break. Although yes, she's done videos before for Tomshardware and such, those could have been scripted. She may be making reference to the fact that she's not good at making personal videos where she talks about personal issues (as opposed to video-bloggers).

And finally, in regards to her attitude about this entire situation. She's taking the professional route, and I'm proud that she is. In the industry that she is in, it would be a very bad idea to completely ignore this topic, and also to act poorly. If she acted poorly about this (or what most of you call "what most people would do") there is the chance that it would have a negative impact on her career. Clearly this would not be the way to go.

chillen said...

The real Sarah Townsend's video response:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSiQ_fcaUnY

D. Kaspar said...

@masterkevosavigreat wrap-up, totally agree with what you've said.

Generally speaking, I really would like to see "Ferraro" follow the professional route too. Admit your fraud, don't make up shit and state who you really are. Man up, fwiw, and apologize to ST.

What I think will happen tho: "Ferraro" site will stay just like it is now, with no more updates, and while it turns into a blog-zombie, Mr(s). "M. Jackson is my Uncle"-Ferraro will move to his/her next identity plug.

Anonymous said...

FYI TechDarling has added a video response to this whole mess on her website.

Bill said...

To the people that still think Ferarro and TD are the same person, stop drinking that coffee and put down that weed.

If they were, why would she even deny it? Great cross-promotion, and more than a few people have more than one blog (ie. TD seems more professional, while PS seems a mixture of a personal/hobby blog).

If your argument to that it's the Blizzard NDA deal, I'm sure that Blizz has the resources and the legal manpower to find out who really runs PS, especially if it is leaking "sensitive" information by an employee.

@Star

Since it seems that TD is a professional blogger (could be wrong about that, but it's safe to say that she values blogging and takes it somewhat seriously), wouldn't it be stupid to shut down other people blogging/doing the same hobby)?

Ferarro (the character) is a female, and just much more fluid to refer to as a she until we know more anyways. And you don't need to know really anything about video production to add Youtube annotations >< Just adding my 2 cents.

Anonymous said...

So if Ferarro comes out and says she's Ghostcrawler will he have to jump through hoops to prove he's not either?

Anyone who's casting aspirations on the poor VICTIM of the identity theft needs to take a step back. You're just as bad as anyone who believes the entire 7 Ferarros explanation.

The entire situation boils down to Ferarro stealing an identity, pictures, blog posts, and an entire personality and has been exposed.

Stop the witchhunts of innocent people. God forbid some of you actually experience identity theft and then have to defend yourself. Considering Sarah has mentioned this happens to her frequently, why would she be anything but professional? It's easy to criticize and pick apart every detail but just because she made a tragic fashion choice is not enough to run off with wild theories.

Everyone that perpetuates that Ferarro actually IS Sarah Townsend feeds into the delusion and obsession of Ferarro.

Think people, you're obvious smart.
-Jaie

Lab Monkey said...

There's TWO people who profit from all this publicity. Nice way to relaunch your blog eh Jagoex?

/tinfoilhat

Blackfreid said...

Sup dude, I don't know if you remember me but I use to call Ferarro out for being a fraud all the time, I caught so much shit but everyone was boner raged about her 'hotness' they ignored me.

Good work

FERARRO UR A LARPING BASTARD I SEEN THE YOUTUBE VIDS BRO

Blackfreid said...

Sup dude, this is Blackfreid dunno if you remember me. I use to call Ferarro out for being a fraud all the time, thank you for putting the nail in the coffin.

Blackfreid said...

whoops, i thought the top comment was my post being deleted lawl.

Anonymous said...

@Bill

Bill Said: "If they were (the same person), why would she even deny it?"

Uh, maybe because she said that she worked for Blizzard on multiple occasions?

And when people found out who she really is (real name, info, etc), she denied it all?

Just sayin'

Aislinana said...

Good troll, Anonymous. Good troll.

Anonymous said...

Social Engineer Ferraro. Share the IP activity between Retpallie, MMOchamp, wow.com and here and see what you come up with. Then ship the info to Wow and utube. have Wow.com contact the ISP in question.

Then take all the ferarro posts, minus the pallie content and wordcloud them.

Blizzard probably is the definitive source with their intensive data mining they can do on players and accounts. They can and probably have id'd Ferarro and have it on watch mode.

Anonymous said...

Full disclosure: I was a regular reader of PS, and am a fan of Ferarro's content. PS was, in my opinion, one of the best paladin blogs out there, and certainly the best one that was updated regularly.

I do not believe ST is Ferarro. Sure, there are some strange things in ST's behavior. People have mentioned them above. I have one to add that I didn't see mentioned: ST claims she's not a gamer, but PS at one point had a pic of her dressed at Princess Peach for Halloween.

But all that stuff could easily be explained by simple mistakes, nervousness, etc.

As for ST's nonchalance about Ferarro's use of her likeness: She's an attractive woman working in the tech world. Not only that, but she's high-profile in the sense that she regularly posts images and videos of herself online. I guarantee you she's had to deal with behavior at least as strange/creepy as Ferarro's. Probably had to deal with it many times. It's unfortunate, but it's not hard to imagine that after it happens a few times, some people can learn to let it roll off their backs. In fact, I'd call that very healthy behavior, as opposed to living in fear or becoming paranoid.

Now, let's look at some of the evidence that ST is not Ferarro. Ferarro referred to herself as "Crystal" several times on her blog. She referred to her husband "Neil" several times. She contacted readers from an email account labeled "Crystal Ferarro".

Sure, all of that could have been faked. ST could theoretically have created an alternate persona and kept those details consistent, while using her own picture. But c'mon, how likely is that? Ockham's razor is telling me that ST's the victim here. Let's not make this any harder on her than it already is.

Me said...

The IP address "validation" is only good for last July to this past month. Which means that it is entirely possible that there were different bloggers. I just know that in Jan 08, there is a post titled "ferarro v2.0". Kind of freaky if you put that together with her explanation. In that post she talks of buying a home in Oregon with her significant other. Still kind of matches up with the explanation. Not sure what to think.

Anonymous said...

@Valinor

=) he speaks the truth.

Anonymous said...

And no one mentions the "voice" of Ferarro if they have ever raided with her.

It definitely wasn't Sarah's.

The person talking definitly had some knowledge of wow and wasn't just there to "talk". She had friends, especially on Alextrasza.

Jagoex said...

I woke up several times last night to what felt like a minor earthquake on my nightstand. It was the buzzing of my phone, which was set to alert me whenever a comment is made on the blog. Needless to say, I slept about as well as a horny owl last night. ^O.O^

I started reading through all of the comments around 2 a.m. this morning, watched the odd (at best) video making the rounds, and lit up like a firecracker... haven't slept since.

But even after pondering the new info. as I go about my day, I can honestly say that more than ever, I have no idea what is going on.

I went to bed last night with a pretty solid perspective, but have since sensed something peculiar about the way both sides of the story are acting, and it leaves me feeling odd... kinda like when you hear the sound of an ice cream truck rolling around your neighborhood at 10 o'clock at night. Yeah, it happens, and it's creepy as hell.

Something doesn't fit. And I don't think that "thing" is a sock-puppet, btw, but that's as far as I can go. Please help me out with this some more if you'd like.

Anonymous said...

As a past Ferarro fan I have followed this with interest. Who wins? Probably socialvibe, I gave them some hits, it looks like a nice site;jageo, i liked the analysis; retpallie. Who loses? WoW forums and the Ferarro persona. Ferarro deleted her stuff at retpallie because there were loose ends there.

I read tech darlings site and her mom's site and am 99.99999999 percent sure they are the real deal.

Ferarro and tech darling might know each other. To see Ferarro scurrying around like a rat looking for the last piece of cheese is sad. Her deletions, blog rewriting, indecision, TD utube stalking all project someone unhappy.

Consummate liars are seldom happy people, seldom can achieve healthy relationships. And when further they stalk and obsess like this Ferarro persona, then there are some deep seated problems. Ferarro probably feels a bit of relief from being outed but is still afraid.

Looking at socialvibes terms of usage techdarling who is featured there would put her career at a major disadvantage to be Ferarro.

If I was her parent, I would be hiring that PI to investigate and document all this. And then just hold the information until it is needed.

Anonymous said...

My question is "who really cares?" At the end of the day, worst case scenario, Ferraro was a fantasy character in the fantasy world that is WOW. If it's anything more to you, than you need to check your priorities. As a 77 lvl ret pally, I benefited from the advice given. Leave it at that, and go on with you're lives. I've read through page after page of complete CRAP! IT IS DONE, move on. For you students, get on with your summer. For you adults, YOU especially, have much more important stuff to be concerned with! WOW, and especially life, will go on with or without Ferraro!

Anonymous said...

Thousands of comments across a few blogs. Yeah I'd say people care.

Anonymous said...

That's exactly what I'm talking about. Pretty sad, indeed!

Steven Casagrande said...

@simcaptain0714

That is not the worse case. At worst, Ferraro's problems run much deeper and may be so obsessed with Techdarling that she actually might do something IRL that might compromise TD's health.

I may not know either of these people, but that's why I care.

Anonymous said...

I care because it's interesting to see the drama unfold. This is better than television!

Anonymous said...

Does anybody know what email format Blizzard uses? A couple of email pings to sarah.townsend@blizzard.com or some variation of that could prove pretty interesting if successful.

Anonymous said...

Give it up already. She doesn't work for blizzard. She has a fulltime job with SocialVibe. Stop trying to make the Blizz connection, there isn't one.

Anonymous said...

All I can say is...


LOL! @ every crazy conspiracy theorist who are suggesting TechDarling and Ferarro might be the same person. Wrap that tinfoil around your head a little tighter.

Anonymous said...

What you see is Ferarro trying to imitate TD, a la single white female.

OTH, no one wants to imitate crap like Ferarro.

Anonymous said...

Why is making the assertion that Ferarro and TechDarling are the same person a conspiracy theory? I know people have brough up Ockham's Razor with this so I'll add my own thoughts on the subject with 2 possible situations:

1) Ferarro is in fact Neil and Crystal Perry. These people have been working on PaladinSchmaladin since 2007 as their own blog, stealing content from ST as well as pictures and pulling them off as their own. They have gone to ridiculous extents (regardless of whether they are in fact 2 people, 1 person, or 7 Ferarros) to create an identity of Ferarro being a hot gamer chick.

-or-

2) ST started up PaladinSchmaladin as her own blog about WoW and kept it anonymous in an attempt to separate her gaming life from her professional life. Her statements about working for blizz could have been an attempt to make people agree with her more rather than argue over things such as the legendary mace. Maybe she never admitted it was hers because she was afraid of being grouped with gamers - or maybe she just wanted the anonymity.

Ockham's razor would point to them being the same person, all things being equal. I'm not saying she is, I'm just saying it's not necessarily a "conspiracy theory". There is compelling evidence both ways, and it's hard to say which is correct. We'll probably never know.

Anonymous said...

No actually it wouldn't point to them being the same person. TD has a fulltime job (verifiable). She also is a contributing author to a total of 4 blogs. The amount of time spent by "ferraro" on his/her blog, guides and trolling forums, because he/she is on there A LOT is significant. Why is stealing someone else's content and pictures going to great lengths? It's as simple as a couple clicks of a button.

Truly, you are clueless. Get a grip on reality.

Anonymous said...

"Truly, you are clueless. Get a grip on reality."

Great value add there. Seriously, why do you think you need to add a derogitory statement like that just to get your point across.

The content of your post speaks for itself, no need to be insulting.

Anonymous said...

Because, frankly, I think it is utterly ridiculous to continue to post these inane theories about an innocent party. Nothing about "Ferarro" is verifiable, apart from the fact he/she is a thief and a liar. Yet, people keep attempting to spin the situation to point the finger at the person whose property was taken and used without permission.

To me it is sick and disturbing that people continue to try to place blame anywhere other than squarely on the shoulders of the liar who stole the information.

My "get a clue" stands.

Anonymous said...

There is a crystal in TechDarlings myspace friends list.

Anonymous said...

Anyone do a whois search on Retpaladin.com? Considering you can snag the server IPs, you might want to talk to WoW Insider on comparing the IPs to what Ferraro was posting on.

Kenneth Brown owns retpaladin.com. Try looking him up. My guess is they're the same person.

Anonymous said...

@ Anon 11:34/12:08:

You seem to be somewhat ignorant in your own posts. Ridiculous extent for creating an online facade under which you post would be not only stealing photos (which were from private albums mind you) from someone you either know or have persuaded to add you to their friends list, but also hijacking posts and claiming them as your own. Plagiarism is a ridiculous extent - that's why it's shunned in ALL academic circles. The content is not your own, so yes, it is extreme to try and claim that it is.

Secondly, TD does have a full-time job; but how many people do you know that play wow/post on forums/blog that ALSO have a full time job? It's not so far-fetched to think that ST/TD also plays wow. And the debate is not turning the finger towards someone that had their content stolen - the debate is whether they HAD THE CONTENT STOLEN AT ALL.

Jason said...

LOL this was all over the WoW sites for about 5 minutes then it's gone and forgotten. I read Ferarro's guides a couple of times when I played WoW. It's a shame she stole Sarah's identity and ruined a good paladin site. Ferarro... apologize and keep writing pally info.

Anonymous said...

I'm intrigued by this page:
http://www.angelfire.com/me5/media100/slowmotiondaydream/std.blog?o=profile_p

Name: Neil Anthony Perry Garces
E-mail: EverDash@aol.com
Location: La Mirada, CA
Signed the profile: ~N.

(A Neil Perry tie-in with the Everdash photbucket account that half of Ferarro's pics were posted from, and located in La Mirada)

Also intrigues me:
http://www.myspace.com/socalpaladin
Crystal
Female
25 years old
LA MIRADA, California
United States

Do a Google search:
site:ferarro.blogspot.com Deception, indeed.

"...But I'm more or less handing over Ferarro and my alts to Neil for a while...." ~Crystal

Sarah aka TechDarling said...

AHHH! Omgoodness, that last bit of information about TOTALLY brought me a flashback - there was INDEED a guy named Neil who lived in CA who was semi-stalking me on MySpace back in like 2005. I don't know WHY I didn't think of this before, but like I said there have been many photos stolen of me in the past, and this was a long time ago. This dude Neil, who plays the guitar in a lot of his photos (here is a small one) used to IM me all the time on the name EverDash. I was friends with him for a short period of time but I deleted him after some suspicious activity (i.e., stalking and being ultra creepy).


I'm curious who he has disguised himself as on my friends list to be able to get access to all those photos. Crap. What a psycho. At least I know this is a dude, not a girl. INTERESTING.

Photos of him:

http://l-userpic.livejournal.com/33175992/1370404

http://photos.friendster.com/photos/91/96/376919/3658255722885s.jpg

A said...

@Sarah - This has got to be the guy. It was brought to our attention earlier in the week that a Neil Perry owned the websites that posted the pics on the PS site. As well, reading over this Everdash AOL profile it sounds very suspicious. He mentions liking women named Crystal and Sarah, as well as having a bad relationship with his father (which was mentioned on the PS site in one of his "personal" posts). Not to mention that whole "protecting women" creepy monologue on the aol profile...he sounds weird.

A said...

I also found this site of Neil's -
http://www.angelfire.com/ca4/montoya/

Deb Legg said...

http://www.angelfire.com/me5/media100/slowmotiondaydream/std.blog?o=profile_p
Creepy.

A said...

One more thing to note is that he must also have a woman (GF, wife, friend?) that plays some part in this because I remember people saying they had spoken to Ferarro in Ventrilo(a voice chat program) and that it was definitely a female voice.

Deb Legg said...

Anonymous said...

There is a crystal in TechDarlings myspace friends list.


Please, this is MY SISTER, Sarah's Aunt.

Anonymous said...

Has anyone bothered to link the bullshit being said on retpaladin.com? That's one of Ferraro's alternate personality sites and no one seems to be making the connection. After doing a whois search on the site, you should be talking to Kenneth Brown. I think this guy has an issue with creating multiple internet personalities.

Anonymous said...

@anonymous before me, what bullshit is being said there? I haven't seen anything crazy.

Anonymous said...

@anon anon before me. There is nothing at retpallie. You've just got some type of personal grudge. you're acting like Ferarro.

Jeremy said...

Frankly with all the similarities between those posting on the behalf of 'Sarah' the fact that the youtube video basically being a plug for Ferarro regardless of teh fact that it's dead now and just seems to be a bit of 'oh it was good - really good (except I dont play wow so how would I know) as well as Sarah herself getting involved in the potentially misleading and flat out accusatory statements toward various people...

IMO she wanted to kill off the Ferraro personna, site and responsibilities related to. What better way than to blow it (purposefull) in such a major and creepy way that it's not possible to go back.

Oh and get a crap ton of hits on the other various sites frequened/controled by Sarah... I'm sure that had nothing to do with it. Really!

Also if Ferraro didnt play as a tester for blizz or related to that role, Blizz themselvse would have banned her long since. She was too visible and outspoken about it for any blizzard forum mod to let it fly for more than a week, and even then only because it could take about that long (at most) to verify the identity and validity of the blizz employee claim.

Final point being the Techdarling site previously hit at most 2 posts a week and most spread out over the period of a month or 2 between in many cases, yet this last week appears to be almost deliberate attempts at posting anything and everything to drive the relevant 'identity theft' posts out of sight, it just doesnt wash.

Sarah = Ferarro. Realize it, get over it.

Anonymous said...

I like how people think they have this innate understanding of how things work.

Trust me, Ferraro never worked for Blizzard. Blizzard employees are kept on a very, very tight leash in terms of what they cannot or can say about their job. Talking about your job on a blog will typically get you canned. Hell even talking about your job while in-game will get you canned.

Blizzard doesn't hire outside people for testing. Blizzard uses internal employees.

Stop trying to link techDarling and Neil/Ferarro, whomever. No one involved in this has worked for Blizzard, I bet, and neither of them are the same person.

Jeremy said...

Trust is a funny thing. Especially when given the current topic. Anonymous people on the internet - especialy those that wont even claim a name of any sort get no trust. Neither do those that are acting so far outside their normal patterns - coincidentally like ST AND Ferraro.

You can tell me what to believe and/or do all you like, however it wont do much of anything to change how I see things. In fact, if anything you help reinforce my suspicions. At the very least, you show me just how ready to believe anything they're told people are.

Also, how exactly would you know what blizzard will or will not allow their employees to do? If Ferraro wasnt in some way connected to blizzard she would have long since been banned. Even on wow forums she openly claimed to work for blizz on occasion.

Thanks for trying to add more mud to an already muddy situation.

Anonymous said...

@Jeremy

"(except I dont play wow so how would I know)"

"Thanks for trying to add more mud to an already muddy situation."

Seeya later troll.

Jeremy said...

Your quote makes no sense and the troll comment can be disregarded in that I'm stating my opinion. You're the one attempting to win people to yours.

I could care less if you agree however you obviously seem considerably offended that I dont share your view.

Sarah? Ferrarro? Both?

Sarah Smith said...

@Jeremy, you honestly think I am Ferarro/Neil and that I work for Blizzard? How would that be possible, seeing as I obviously work full-time for SocialVibe, and am listed on their About Us section under team?

I recently began posting more on TD because yes, not only do I have more people reading now (any LOGICAL person would feed a new audience) but I recently took complete control over the domain. It was previously owned by Bestofmedia Group, who I worked for (Tomshardware.com) when I started TechDarling.com (it was recently moved to WordPress from MovableType and so not all of my old entries are added yet). I'm sure you can find a contact at Bestofmedia/Tom's who can confirm ALL of this, and I encourage you to.

It doesn't take a WoW expert to see that his/her fans liked his/her content. Just because I'm encouraging a good blogger to blog doesn't mean I'm Ferarro, for crying out loud. That being said, I'm not an idiot, I've seen the google cache images and the amount of work she's spent playing/researching/writing. When - I ask you - would I find the time to do ALL OF THAT, plus work and write for SocialVibe, TechDarling, travel for work, and have a functional life?

Feel free to investigate to your heart's content, as I've told you to in the past. Trace my IP, call whoever you want at any company you want, give me a freaking lie detector test - whatever it takes you put your theories to rest.

I'd love to take every opportunity possible to prove you wrong. Please, e-mail me or add me on Facebook and let's discuss how we can clear up your ridiculously out of place accusations.

Sarah aka TechDarling said...

P.S. Yes that 'straycat' is me, Sarah, I just posted that from my "blogger" account on accident.

Jeremy said...

Given all you've already stated you do, you sure seem to have alot of time to follow other blogs that any sane person by now (as you say) would have long since let it go - if, you say, it's totally unrelated.

You follow it too closely, refute it too vehemently yet too inconsistantly as well.

Also... Just how many id's DO you have? Someone as well known as you I'd assume would use a singular login - unless of course, there's ulterior motives for multiple names? (Ferraro?)

Because of course you have absolutely nothing to gain from any of this...

Besides, as I said, it's my opinion. I state it. I dont ask anyone else to believe it.

While you're on a generous answering questions/accusations mood, why DO you seem to go so far out of your way to plug the PS site and Ferraro's writing - when of course you dont know anything about WoW so you've no basis to judge just how 'good' the articles were?

I'll admit I followed the PS site pretty closely but only for the informational point. In fact my girlfriend had to point out that the 'writer' was hot, her words not mine. The only turnoff was the attention whoring from the site's writer (which frankly I still think you two are the same person - you use the same general style of using clip art to support the content - the little kid with the tongue sticking out on the first @ferarro post on your TD site is just too eerily similiar and that's only one of many I've felt that way about.) Too many others see inconsistancies that cant be easily explained away with your current commentary for this little story to be swallowed whole as well.

Anyway, long almost aimless response but doesnt change the fact that I dont believe you.

Short of legal proceedings to:

a) prove the seperation

b) call to accountability the person steaing an identity (of anyone dont care if it's you or mother theresa) to discourage others from copying

c) proving that it's more than just an elborate hoax

And/or Blizzard themselves from weighing in as it most obviously 'is' a violation of their ToS if indeed Ferarro did not work for blizz

Well... Then without one or the other, I wont believe 'either' of you as I maintain you're one and the same...

Jeremy said...

Oh and by the way, as a network administrator for a moderately sized company I know full well what I can and cant do with 'ip traces' and so on. Unfortunately (or fortunately?) such things are not possible without the web server logs of the actual sites in question. If it were, then alot more people would be the subject of various types of hacks - particularly those involved in playing games.

But then you as a 'tech' person should know this.

Sarah aka TechDarling said...

Well, as a "tech" person, I have been online for over a decade, so I actually have had quite a few "id's" on the internet! The one I use most frequently is theoneinpink. However, I do have a few others. I don't use blogger, but have an old profile on here, and since this is the platform that Jagoex's blog is hosted on, that is the default that it logs me in as. Geez!

If people were spending this much time analyzing your identity, you'd be following it too! How dare you criticize me for checking up on BS that people are saying about me - perhaps the better question is why someone like you (who has NOTHING to do with it) is spending this much time poking around making false accusations????

I don't plug her work, I don't even know where else she wrote besides her blogspot blog.

You want legal proceedings? You pay for it! The only legal proceeding I would get is a restraining order from this psycho Neil, who I only discovered was the culprit AFTER I recorded the video.

What's next? Hey, I cut my hair yesterday. Perhaps you can tie that into your plot somehow! Maybe I'm trying to pull another hoax!!!

My invitation stands, oh holy network administrator!

Jeremy said...

Look i've no desire to talk to you, meet you or know you. I pointed out the things I find inconsistant that lead me to believe that you're not being 100% honest. Without solid proof (which is unattainable I suppose) I dont honestly see what adding you/talking to you would do about it. I stated the things that I'd have to see to believe otherwise - and frankly as stalking is a rather major crime it wouldnt cost you a dime. If you really were the victim of identity theft or stalking either-or then such proceedings would already be under way.

As for the Ferraro/blizzard employee thing - again - if this were a false claim to begin wtih blizzard themselves would have long since cracked down on it. Nevermind that there was way too much 'advanced information'. Not necessarily omg this is world-shaking secrets of wow type information, rather, information that couldnt have been known strictly from PTR play.

I've stated my opinions and those opinions are based upon too many inconsistancies in all the conglomerate of stories that are going around. Be as upset about it as you like. At least it's the first thing approaching an honset reactioin to any of the possible things going on that I've seen out of 'you' yet. Doesnt change my opinion.

As for your rather snarky remark about me being a network admin - why? All I brought that up for is to give a bit of background on me when I stated how silly your request for an 'ip trace' is. Again as a tech person you should have known it's not possible, at least legally, to do so - so why ask for it unless you already knew it wasnt possible but wanted someone to look silly trying...

Aislinana said...

How do we know you ARE who you say YOU are, Jeremy! :D

Anonymous said...

Me thinks Jeremy might be guilty of douchebaggery. I challenge you to prove otherwise and will summarily dismiss any claims to the contrary.

Jeremy said...

yeah because I refuse to take a pretty girl at face value on the internet right? oh wait...

Anonymous said...

Jeremy is obviously Ferarro trying to confuse us.

Or an idiot. Take your pick.

Jeremy said...

Damn, ya caught me.

Oh well, next week I'll be blogging as F8 and only about Warriors (dont know much about pali's, sorry).

Anonymous said...

Nothing this Ferarro person posted on his or her blog was "advanced information." If you think so, you don't read about wow much.

Ferarro stole ALL of the content he posted.

Teej said...

I know we'd all like for Ferarro to actually exist: an attractive, friendly, WoW-savy girl that also just so happens to work for Blizzard and have insider information. But sadly, this person is just about as real as Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny.

If you want to believe that Sarah secretly plays WoW and works for Blizzard, knock your socks off. Keep dreaming the dream. I hear she also works for the CIA. But she doesn't owe you or anybody any sort of proof or explanation for who she is and isn't.

Anonymous said...

How come when Jagoex chimes in about something is strange about the video response, nobody bashes him?? But Jeremy takes the time to voice his opinion, TD refutes him (not Jagoex mind you, maybe she's scared of being confrontational with him?) and you all form a lynch mob.

You're all sheep. It's called critical thinking people. Just because she's pretty doesn't mean she's telling the truth.

Anonymous said...

@previous Anon, because there is something wierd about the video response, but as Jagoex points out, that doesn't mean ST=Ferarro. I don't think people are defending ST because she's pretty. I think people are defending her because in all likelyhood someone name Neil ripped off her blog and to add insult to injury, people keep accusing her of being the same person that probably ripped her off. And that's just not right.
And incidently, if ST were Ferarro, then she just plain wins at the internet and more power to her.

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