Monday 30 July 2007

Wiki Wonders

Several prestigious Dubai hacks have made their way onto Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anil_Bhoyrul
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nima_Abu_Wardeh
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Cooper_(journalist)

Anyone know any others?

71 comments:

Anonymous said...

Interesting reading in some of the 'history' pages.
Wonder who the user 'Ameinfo' is.
Worth reading some of ABs history in may.

Anonymous said...

I gotta git me one of those,

Anonymous said...

It's high time DMO had its own Wikipedia entry.

Anonymous said...

Bhoyrul's one is 'updated' now and then.

The line 'Bhoyrul continues to win friends and influence people wherever he goes' was added by me in a poor attempt at sarcasm and taken off by a.n.other who supposed that Bhoyrul had done it himself; an entirely plausible conclusion, I grant you.

User Ameinfo is not hard to work out.

Anonymous said...

It seems that success and narcissism are never far apart in the emirates - Cooper's entry is self penned. Modest AND classy!

Describes himself as a 'professional journalist'. As opposed to...?

'Gold trader' Arf! I worked part time in H Samuel when I was at Uni - I should really stick 'gold, diamond and platinum trader' on my CV. You pretentious twat.

Travelling with his wife at the moment, how sweet. Is Svetlana from Salisbury as well? She sounds like a fine Wiltshire lass!

Anonymous said...

'Mental' Matt Brown wrote the Wikipedia entry for 7DAYS

Anonymous said...

Cooper probably met Svetlana the night Petch met Olga...

Anonymous said...

My favourite old version was this one:

"Bhoyrul currently resides in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, where he works for Arabian Business, a weekly magazine published by ITP. He also creates regular disturbances of the peace in his new Arabian home.

CAN U STOP WRITING ALL THIS CRAP ABOUT ME OR ILL SUE YOU. ANIL BHOYRUL"

Anonymous said...

Crikey! Is that the same Neil Petch who was severely reprimanded for taking a junior (about 25 years his junior) member of editorial staff on a freebie press jaunt to Paris, courtesy of Louis Vuitton. She was later fired for spending too much time in the sales office (time spent mainly at Mr Petch's desk shoving her cleavage in his face!)

And the same Neil Petch who spotted a hostess named Olga working in a bar and 'offered to take her away from all that' ...

Anonymous said...

The very same.

Anal Bogroll's wiki has recently been updated to read: "Bhoyrul, far and away the ugliest man in the northern hemisphere, currently resides in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, where he works for Arabian Business, a weekly English-language magazine published by ITP."

That wouldn't have been 'serafin's bitch', by any chance?

Anonymous said...

Where's Neil Sawyer's wikipedia page?

Anonymous said...

You're so wrong...

Guess again.

Anonymous said...

someone should write a frontier science fiction novel in which dubai locations are given a 19th century feel and anyone in the city with a self-penned wikipedia page get scalped by farrukh n. wielding a bowie knife.

Anonymous said...

Anon @ 22.30
You're odd mate. Start taking them pills again

Anonymous said...

The entry for Nima Abu Wardeh reminds me of the interviews she once did with James Zogby and John Sununu when they were in the region for some conference or something.

As they were explaining how Arabs and Arab nations were not making skillful use of PR in the West they way Israel was, and how necessary such skills were, she kept cutting in ever minute or so with:

"but what about truth? What about Justice?"

...over and over again, much to the bemusement of the interviewees.

Anonymous said...

This blog is not about media in Dubai.
It is about ET (and ITP, occasionally) as seen by some 7-8 UK expats and ex employees.
There is no problem with that, as long as you don't pretend to be representative of media in Dubai.

Anonymous said...

Anon at 10.55. Yes, you are right. This is not a critical look at media in Dubai. It is a myopic look at Emirates Today, mostly and some mindless gossip.
The blog seems to be a creation of gang of ex-employees of Emirates Today. Of course, there are one or two rabble rousing current ones as well who visit and post. But there is a total of 6-7 posters here and most of them can be identified.
So, please lets not pretend this about the press or its freedom or anything like that.
More like, a gang of anon bullies who hate one paper.

Anonymous said...

I agree. This site used to be interesting and made some valid points. But it has been infested by washed up journalists who have either been unable to make the grade at ET or fired from ITP. We all know who the 7 people are. And I think most people actual feel rather sorry for them because DMO is the only outlet for their musings. No respectable publication would hire them or publish their nonsense. The real joke of this site is that if I were to name the pathetic 7, it would be taken off straight away, because these saddos can't stand any criticism of themselves. If you monitor this site carefully you will see their names occassionally appear and then are quickly taken off by DMO.
How pathetic.

mediamonster said...

The real joke of this site is that if I were to name the pathetic 7, it would be taken off straight away, because these saddos can't stand any criticism of themselves.

Sorry but from your comments you clearly don't have a clue who we are.

You're also under the illusion that we all know who we are.

Anonymous said...

I have no clue who the "7" are, and I don't give a rat's ass. But I do know someone who regularly feeds these posts. He was a terror to work with and if you dare point out a blotch in his story - you'd better prepare yourself for a little biff.

For the life of me, I couldn't remember the paper he worked for in the UK.

Anonymous said...

Oooo, let's 'out' the regulars...

Anonymous said...

Come on then, let's start naming names. It's about time.

Anonymous said...

I once posted a message in a previous post challenging people to name names. It vanished within minutes. Cowards.

Anonymous said...

"Name the Sad Twat Seven!" Hey, we've got a slogan!

Anonymous said...

I'm Spartacus!

Anonymous said...

This is apropos of nothing folks, but I used to be a journo there in Dubai and bemoaned daily the lack of substance in the inky newspages. My colleagues and I pushed for investigative stories (and we published many!...sorry not ITP, Motivate or AMG)...Anyway, now I am back home in the US and reading the free subway tabloids...and it's wholly depressing...Every single news story is about how my country is killing Iraqis and each other, or just the run-of-the-mill gun violence right down the street...I MISS MODHESH...Nah, but at least Dubai news gives you a laugh....

Anonymous said...

The contents of this posting have been deleted by the administrator

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
I once posted a message in a previous post challenging people to name names. It vanished within minutes. Cowards.

06 August, 2007 15:55

____________________

Oh, the irony...

Anonymous said...

"But it has been infested by washed up journalists who have either been unable to make the grade at ET or fired from ITP."

Both, arguably, badges of honour when you consider how disgusting both organisations are in terms of treatment of staff and editorial policy.

Anonymous said...

So, what did J'accuse say that was so controversial it had to be removed?

Rob

Anonymous said...

WHOOSH!

Anonymous said...

The contents of this posting have been deleted by the administrator

Anonymous said...

Nice touch!

mediamonster said...

Oh for crying out loud.

For reference, here's what a deleted post actually looks like.

mediamonster said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
mediamonster said...

So if you want to fake it, at least try some italics.

Anonymous said...

The contents of this post have been deleted by the administrator

Anonymous said...

as for the saddo 7, four of them are John Hunt (ex ITP) Mark Johnson (ex ITP) Conrad Egbert (ITP) and Matt Slater (ITP). Dont know the first two but the last two's names come up in an internal inquiry by ITP into DMO. Rumour is they are both soon to be job hunting.

mediamonster said...

Guess again, my friend.

Anonymous said...

I think we can safely assume those four are innocent - any truth in it and the names would have already vanished from the site...

Anonymous said...

i don't think anyone was claiming that the four named saddos are behind DMO -just that they are some of the hardcore has beens who claim to represent media in the emirate. Looking at the names submitted they are all failures as journalists. I mean, Mark Johnson -how many places has he been fired from? John Hunt -even 7 days thought he was crap, and that really takes some effort. Quite sad really. I really hope these aren't the "infamous four". DMO deserves better than this lot of has beens.

Anonymous said...

Anon @ 22.24 - can you just quailfy 'has beens' for me? And how, in your opinion, the four names are such?

Anonymous said...

Some of you should be careful what you say here.

John Hunt was and continues to be well thought of at 7Days, to suggest otherwise could be deemed, defamatory to his character and slanderous, without evidence to the contrary.

Also, it is widely known that Johnson has never been sacked from anywhere. Again, his could also be deemed as slanderous and defamatory.

DMC's rules - indeed those of the UAE - expressly forbid intentional slander or sullying of someone's name in any kind of publicly accessible media.

Anil Bhoyrul has already asked that people stop unsulting and slandering media professionals - including himself - on this site.

It may eventually become more serious when someone insists that 'anonymous' contributors are tracked so that legal proceddings can be initiated against them.

Anonymous said...

DMC's rules - indeed those of the UAE - expressly forbid intentional slander or sullying of someone's name in any kind of publicly accessible media.

Why assume that all contributors here fall under DMC's jurisdiction, or even that of the UAE?

Anil Bhoyrul has already asked that people stop unsulting and slandering media professionals - including himself - on this site.

Given he never extended that courtesy to any other media professionals in his own column, I say fuck him. He's a convicted criminal and the fact that he continues to work in journalism is an abomination.

Anonymous said...

Anil Bhoyrul needs to learn to distinguish between "slander" and "fact".

Anonymous said...

I worked with John Hunt for several months. It's true that he's a bit odd, and I probably wouldn't let him babysit my kids, but his work was actually pretty good. No complaints there.

As for Mark Johnson not being sacked from 7days, it's quite well known that he was a freelancer, but asked to be given a fulltime job. Instead he was told not to come back from his holiday. While perhaps not technically a sacking, you're really clutching at straws with this posting Mark. And even if you really never were fired, getting through three or four jobs in a year is hardly a badge of honour.

Anonymous said...

You know who I hate? That shit John Smith. He's a shit.

He once shat all over me while eating shit and singing a song about shit. And he writes shit copy.

And no, it's not true that he was more talented/attractive/successful/pleasantly odiferous than me, or that he was promoted above my head while I languished in the doldrums. Not true at all.

Just thought I'd up the level of discourse and debate on here.

PS - you're all shits for staying in Dubai.

Anonymous said...

No fan of any of these people, but Bhoyrul is at least good at what he does and is prob way above all of you in terms of achievements.

Beware former hacks now working in PR - we know your bitterness eats at you...

Hunt is not only a popular writer but also a successful novelist and businessman - he prob doesn't even look at this blog.

As for Johnson, he's a seasoned business writer who at least tried to push - many of us've seen him in action at press conferences. Not sure he even still lives here, though.

John Smith - don't really know him.

Peter Cooper is also a successful journo who at least doesn't have to work for crap pay like most of you anymore - seems smart that he got out with the money and is now free.

Neil Sawyer - well enough said. Is he even still here too?

Anonymous 'you know who i hate?' - get over the hate, there is enough already to go round - check out your life.

Anonymous said...

Drawn back to this site for THE FIRST TIME SINCE 'SAWYERGATE' by emails from people informing me of my new found fame (i.e. I'm not one of the 'saddo 7') I was actually quite pleased to read this:

'I worked with John Hunt for several months. It's true that he's a bit odd, and I probably wouldn't let him babysit my kids, but his work was actually pretty good. No complaints there.'

Which is about as close as you can get to a compliment on here. So for that, anonymous, I thank you...

Anonymous said...

You're welcome. Come to think of it, all journalists are a bit odd. I think this site is proof enough of that.

Anonymous @ 2.00, you're confusing John Hunt with Greg Hunt. Greg Hunt is the businessman and columnist for 7days, while John Hunt worked on the 7days business desk. As for the 'successful novelist', I've no idea who you're talking about. Greg Hunt did top the UAE best sellers list, but given that it's hard enough to even track down a book shop in this town, I'm guessing we're talking single figures here.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, Mark Johnson went on holiday and 7days hired John Hunt and told Johnson not to come back.

It's a small world.

Anonymous said...

who are all these people? why are they all british? yawn.

Anonymous said...

Cos we're talking about English Language media?

Just a guess, like.

Anonymous said...

Does anyone have any strong opinions on the Arabic or Hindi papers, magazines and TV stations? Nope. Didn't think so. Right, back to slagging off poor little Bhoyrul then, I guess.

Anonymous said...

This site used to be fairly interesting about three months ago. I have to agree with a posting earlier which pointed out that it has become infested with people claiming to be representative of media. If they are, then why don't they have the balls to name themselves rather than hide behind anon? Probably because they are all failed journos working on shit magazines and too embarrassed to even admit their identity. Or that they are pathetic and sad and scared that they will be booted out of Dubai if their identity is revealed.
I left journalism for PR 18 months ago precisely because of the kind of people that post regularly on DMO - hate filled failures that write about hot dog prices and traffic jams in sharjah. None of you sad cunts would even get a job on the Dakota Gazette.
You may take this piss out of PR people but at least we are decent people. Doubt anyone on this site can say the same about themselves.

Anonymous said...

Sure most PRs in town are probably decent people, the kind of people you could trust to, I dunno, feed the cat when you're on holidays or babysit, but in Dubai they are for the most part just so fucking useless. Whenever I come across the rare PR who is actually helpful, efficient and competent I feel compelled to send them flowers once I've recovered from the sheer shock of it all.

Anonymous said...

Anon @ 1859:

You know what - you're shit. Just like that other shit John Smith. Smith's so shit he turned up at a press conference once and opened his mouth and shit came out.

I bet you and he spend all your time shitting on each other, then eating the shit and shitting it back out again.

Let's face it - this place is full of shitters like Shitter Smith, and Mr Anonymous Shit. Except me - I'm not shit at all, even if people say I am and say I write shit copy. So there.

And to all those who say DMO has become a hate-filled dungheap of failed ambition and seething resentment: you're full of shit you shitting shitters.

Mr Shit

Anonymous said...

Matt 'I'mreallyunhappyatBloomberg' Brown and his wankbud Phil 'PRsmylife' Fenton are the only two voices we can here regularly on this shite, oops site.

Mr Shit - you have really raised the bar on this site - well done.

Anil Bhoyrul rules ok! At least he can write!

Anonymous said...

Anil Bhoyrul writes self-indulgent twaddle. Take the "I" key off his keyboard and he'd be lost.

Anonymous said...

SHUT UP ABOUT ANIL BHOYRUL!

ENOUGH! ENOUGH!!!!

Anonymous said...

Anil's got the caps lock on again.

Anonymous said...

I love Anil.He's the best editor I've ever been... Er, I mean, had.

Anonymous said...

SHUT UP ABOUT ANIL BHOYRUL!

ENOUGH! ENOUGH!!!!

humanbeing learn from mistakes , if we see ourselves in the life we hav done lot of mistakes.best thing is that we should not do the same mistake again. i request let him live with peace n let him start his new life. in this world every problem has solution. im sure anil bhoyrul is a nice man and he also shame on his job and he will return whatever he got from peoples. He's the best editor IN DUBAI. if i would know few rulers in dubai i would personally request them to give him range rover vip security and good job in dubai. let him run his life again PLEASE PLEASE . ATLEAST WE ARE ALL HUMANBEINGS.

Anonymous said...

SHUT UP ABOUT ANIL BHOYRUL!

ENOUGH! ENOUGH!!!!

humanbeing learn from mistakes , if we see ourselves in the life we hav done lot of mistakes.best thing is that we should not do the same mistake again. i request let him live with peace n let him start his new life. in this world every problem has solution. im sure anil bhoyrul is a nice man and he also shame on his job and he will return whatever he got from peoples. He's the best editor IN DUBAI. if i would know few rulers in dubai i would personally request them to give him range rover vip security and good job in dubai. let him run his life again PLEASE PLEASE . ATLEAST WE ARE ALL HUMANBEINGS.

Anonymous said...

SHUT UP ABOUT ANIL BHOYRUL!

ENOUGH! ENOUGH!!!!

humanbeing learn from mistakes , if we see ourselves in the life we hav done lot of mistakes.best thing is that we should not do the same mistake again. i request let him live with peace n let him start his new life. in this world every problem has solution. im sure anil bhoyrul is a nice man and he also shame on his job and he will return whatever he got from peoples. He's the best editor IN DUBAI. if i would know few rulers in dubai i would personally request them to give him range rover vip security and good job in dubai. let him run his life again PLEASE PLEASE . ATLEAST WE ARE ALL HUMANBEINGS.

Anonymous said...

Anil Bhoyrul-- LOL! how one mediocre government spokesperson can create so much noise and excitment! I dont know him but I wish I did, its really amazing how one man can have this effect on people. The only other person I knew who could do this was Jenna Jameson but for other reasons. Amazing little man this Anil!

Anonymous said...

hi anil , dont worry - just run the life and go for your future plan and fuck them who try to sue you or gives you head ache the way we do , bt its very intresting to know about you ,i often comes to dubai to meet my girl friends as well as i met you once in dubai p party with the pretty chicks and vip's people , my few friends told me anil b is impressive and really you are bt dont think in this world only you are the one thats all ... i wish some time we meet again and to have drinks n chat together and celebrate dance party

Anonymous said...

Was the last comment posted by Borat?

Anonymous said...

why you are asking ??? who i am ??? and who sent this last comment ??? intresting...........

Anonymous said...

hi mr. anil how you doin???? i am sending you this comment , dont think we are not keeping an eye on you...

Anonymous said...

anil - amin ??? mmm intresting....... do good , get good , do bad , get bad