Hoaxtead Research moves into new phase

If you’ve been following the Hoaxtead saga for any length of time now, you’ll have realised that there’s been a sea change over the past month or so: two of the top players have been slapped with restraining orders (and arrested again for allegedly breaching them); arrests have begun; those who promote the hoax are in disarray; and paranoia is rampant amongst the Hoaxtead mob.

We began covering this hoax nearly 18 months ago, and while we’ve had many victories along the way, we’ve never before been this encouraged that this thing could finally be driven into the ground. The sense of excitement is palpable: even our blog’s daily viewing figures have nearly doubled, as people try to stay up-to-date in the rapidly shifting Hoaxtead landscape.

Exciting times for Hoaxtead Research, but we’re now entering a phase in which we must tread with extra caution.

As most of you will remember from the days leading up to Sabine and Neelu’s trial in July, it’s very important that we refrain from speculating on the outcomes of any of the five arrests that have taken place in the past month, or any that might occur in the days to come.

To do otherwise would constitute contempt of court, and could prejudice the trials of the various accused.

Goading, gloating, and implied consent

Just as we don’t want to prejudice anyone’s right to a fair trial, nor do we want anything we say here to be taken by anyone—including any accused persons—as goading, gloating, or offering “implied consent” to engage in mutual slagging.

In other words, we don’t want to create a situation in which the accused could potentially use the defence argument that people from this blog are engaging in or initiating conversations about the case, and that any harassment they might have committed was only proportionate and in response to what they received.

We know that this blog is scanned daily by quite a few of the Hoaxtead mob (despite their protestations to the contrary), and we feel it’s important that we not give them any opportunity to claim, “But they started it!”

We won’t lie: we’re not really delighted that we need to mind our tongues…er, our keyboards, so carefully until any legal proceedings are complete. We know many people are furious with the Hoaxtead mob and the damage they continue to do, and we absolutely share that anger.

But we think it’s worth whatever we can do, if it means that people’s trials proceed unimpeded. If we felt that our actions had in any way created problems for the victims of this hoax, we’d feel we’d failed at everything this blog is about.

We’re not saying everyone should just shut up and allow the Hoaxtead mob to continue spreading falsehoods—it’s perfectly appropriate to point out when something they say is simply not true. However, it’s less appropriate to sling their own shit back at them, tempting though that is.

So what CAN we say?

It’s a question of rebutting falsehoods and critiquing hypocrisy (good) versus slagging and goading (not so good).

In saying all this, we should be clear that we don’t want to dampen the conversations that take place here. We have always valued the debates and humourous repartée in the comments section, and we don’t want that to stop.

Critical rebuttal of arguments or beliefs put out by the Hoaxtead pushers is important, and it’s always been at the core of what we do.

If you have any questions about what we’re saying here, please feel free to ask. As always, we’re learning as we go here, and we know our readers are often several steps ahead of us.

A note about Jake

We have taken a decision that while we have had our issues with Jake in the past, we feel that his current mental health treatment could offer him a chance at a fresh start.

We understand that seeing posts about himself could have a negative impact on his treatment, and we don’t wish to stand in the way of any possible gains he might make.

For that reason, we have set all our posts about Jake to ‘private’ until further notice.