The Official WikiLeaks Forum / The WikiLeaks Discussion Forum (www.wikileaks-forum.com) / WikiLeaks

No mention in the ‘Facts about the Forum’ of the fake Wikileaks-forum.com donation button

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Manufacturing a credible story is vital for the credibility of its protagonists, if they intend to have a voice that is heard and noted.  A voice that influences and directs others’ opinions, a voice that becomes a ‘credible source’ in the court of public opinion, even more important, a voice of influence, in the small community of WikiLeaks international supporters. There was never a better opportunity to be selective about the truth if one is privileged enough to be able to write their own history. 🙂

I believe such an attempt is being made in a post that appeared in the (now) anti-WikiLeaks wikileaks-forum.com website with title ‘Facts about the WikiLeaks Forum’ which I have archived here: archive.is/uF1lS.  The same post also appears at the support-julian-assange.com blog under the heading ‘The History of the WikiLeaks Forum’ which I have archived here: http://archive.is/Gw2mw. Both domain names have been the property of the same person, set up and controlled by Mark for as long as I was a member (18 months) of which a moderator (91/2 months).

Here is a quote from the section of this post  titled ‘Financing’

Financing
Since WikiLeaks was enduring financial problems due to the banking blockade, sufficient funds were unavailable to help support the forum’s financial needs so it had to be privately financed. This occured on 2nd March 2012*. At this point in time, the forum was listed as an “ Endorsed WikiLeaks Support Site“ on the Wikileaks Supporters Page.

But no mention is made of the Donation button inserted at the forum in 2012 or the individual donations made by members to the owner of the forum.

At the Facebook’s Forum Staff Group Page 8th of June 2012:

Ma Rk
Future of the Forum:

As some of you may have noticed, I have placed a ” Donate ” button at the top of the forum which will be visible for members only. The bottom line is that I MUST move the forum before it is taken down by my current hoster ” Hostgator ” who already fired the first warning shots last week. As I mentioned, this is just a sign of things to come and i can only expect it to get worse.

To ensure the forums saftey I would like to move the forum to a European hoster and depending on which package deal I take the forum will have 2 dedicated IPs ( one is for SSL ) This will give us complete accessd to root server control and with a little help form our tech guys, we can keep this forum up and running without having to keep looking in the ” rear mirror ” to see whats coming up …

Willkommen – PayPal

http://www.paypal.com, Mit PayPal zahlen Sie einfach und sicher, und Ihre Kreditkartendaten bleiben geheim.

Ma Rk ‎:-) as oon as we get the hosting we need, we can take off the ” donate ” button.

June 8 at 4:05pm ·

Neo Fawkes added to signat 🙂

June 8 at 8:25pm

A few days before, Mark had shared with the rest of the mods/admins at the staff room that he had been financing the forum out of his own pocket and he had asked for ideas on how to raise finance. No one raised any objection for this and a Donation button was an obvious choice, although not the only one put forward at the time.

Privately, as soon as I had started having direct conversations with Mark in FB , I understood from what he was saying that his resources were limited and so I had made an offer to cover costs for a year’s hosting back at the end of 2011. He graciously declined at the time as you can see from our conversation here:

From my FB Message records:

  • Conversation started December 29, 2011

  • 12/29, 10:44pm

    Greek Emmy

    Please let me pay for the first year, then we have time to do the fund raising project properly. I can do bank transfer to you or paypal to the provider directly. And of course I will not tell anyone (apart from my husband of course).

  • 12/29, 11:13pm

    Ma Rk

    pay for the first years hosting ?

  • 12/29, 11:39pm

    Greek Emmy

    yes

  • 12/29, 11:40pm

    Ma Rk

  • 12/29, 11:53pm

    Ma Rk

    okay

    Ive just been speaking to WikiLeaks in the UK

    they have made me a fair offer so I will see what can be done about moving the forum to Europe

  • 12/29, 11:57pm

    Greek Emmy

    Mark, I hope you will find the most suitable solution. I am glad you are not alone in this. My offer is there for now or whenever it is needed, for a similar amount.

  • 12/29, 11:57pm

    Ma Rk

    but emmy…this is vbery kind of you

    but I would never expect forum staf to pay for the hoting of the forum

    hosting**

    unles you are a millionaire

    in which cASE YOU WILL BUY ME A SERVER

    ha ha

  • 12/29, 11:58pm

    Greek Emmy

    I am certainly not a millionaire.

  • 12/29, 11:58pm

    Ma Rk

    close to ?

  • 12/30, 12:00am

    Greek Emmy

    no – just middle of the middle with a mortgage to pay but comfortable enough to be able to make this payment without regret.

  • 12/30, 12:02am

    Ma Rk

    emmy….real nice of you and well appreciated. Let es first go through all options and see if I can find a good hoster in Europe

     I wouldnt want anyone to pay the whole wack

    Let the ppl pay

     a its the peoples forum

    but first we ask WK

     Wikileaks

    Julian says he will pay if I host it in Europe

  • 12/30, 12:09am

    Greek Emmy

    yes Mark. I agree with your plan.I think the forum members can make small donations. Only for a proper fund raising project you will need time. That’s all. Now you know that there is this option too (I can cover the first year) and then there is time for the rest

  • 12/30, 12:10am

    Ma Rk

    I will tart looking for a new hoter in europe. preferabvly sweden or iceland

    if not, then Germany or Switzerland

  • 12/30, 12:11am

    Greek Emmy

    I am sure you will choose the best this is good.

  • 12/30, 12:11am

    Ma Rk

    thanx for ur support

     Be rest assured, the forum is still in good hands

    but I have to anticipate the forum growing

     which it will

  • 12/30, 12:14am

    Greek Emmy

    you are not alone Mark although you carry all the responsibility.

  • 12/30, 12:15am

    Ma Rk

    yeahh…I know

  • 12/30, 12:16am

    Greek Emmy

    ok, so you will let me know what to do when the time is right?

  • 12/30, 12:16am

    Ma Rk

    of course

    but Id rather you not pay anything. I will find the best solution

    as alway

  • 12/30, 12:18am

    Greek Emmy

    I know

    As it is obvious from the conversation I was utterly convinced that there was need for finance as I was utterly convinced for his noble intentions as far as supporting WikiLeaks was concerned, despite any personal weaknesses he may have. As long as he carried the responsibility alone for the forum, I felt at the time, he deserved my help and support. But, many things have changed in my mind since then.

    His utter change towards WikiLeaks became evident to me in the period of late June/July/August 2012, When he not only withdrew his support but actively used the tools he had available to start undermine and do harm. It was this change alone that made me take the decision to withdraw my help by leaving his team and the forum behind. I no longer wished to legitimise him or be part of his efforts to undermine WL and bring confusion and strife among the community. He had already started attacking publicly good supporters via the WLForum Twitter account.

    But, going back to the story, why does the ‘Facts about the Forum’ or ‘The History of the WikiLeaks Forum’ make no mention of the ‘Donate’ button and any funds that were raised for the forum’s new Hosting? It is hardly a secret anyway. Several mods/admins added the request to donate in their forum signatures as I also did at the time.
    Furthermore, Mark did start a thread at the forum acknowledging each donation by mentioning the amount but keeping the donor anonymous. I re-call two entries had been made in that thread by the time that I left the forum. One of those donations ($100) was mine made on the 8th of June 2012.
    Dear Emilia *****,
    This email confirms that you have donated $100.00 USD to Mark G***** (redacted e-mail) using PayPal.
    The exchange rate for this purchase is 1 British Pound = 1.49678 US Dollars.
    This credit card transaction will appear on your bill as “PAYPAL *MARK”.

    Donation Details

    Confirmation number: 1F532516KE030941V
    Donation amount: $100.00 USD
    Total: $100.00 USD
    Purpose: WikiLeaks Forum Hosting Donations
    Contributor: Emilia B*****

    Recipient information

    Donations coordinator: Mark G******

    Postage Information

    Postal address: Emilia B******
    redacted address

    Yours sincerely,
    PayPal

    We have seen again and again in this journey efforts by people and interest groups to manufacture history. Let’s keep asking why, what is the purpose of omitting facts whilst emphasising others. What is the truth ? one thing is clear in my mind: there are several people who wish to ‘own it’. Let’s be careful to whose hands we leave the historical record. Leaving naivety behind is hard, looking and questioning is even harder, admitting errors of judgement, admitting you have been taken for a ride the most difficult thing to do. But here is the beauty of life. It is full of opportunity to learn, challenge and act until the moment we close our eyes 🙂

    *  I think ‘mayya’ meant to say 2nd of March 2011 instead of 2012. 2011 was the year the forum was established not 2012. Even this simple fact, can’t they get it right?

Update 08/02/2014

Pseudo WikiLeaks Forum hosting campaign still links to private PayPal account of Mark Goeder-Tarant

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