Hoaxtead Research reaches a new milestone: One million hits, and counting…

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was “Hoaxtead”….And the light shineth in darkness, and the Hoaxtead mobsters comprehended it not.

It started on YouTube, or possibly Google+: small groups of two or three people, dissenting voices against a tidal wave of accusations. At first just asking questions, and being reviled as “shills” and “paedo-supporters” and “cointelpro” (though most of us didn’t even know what that meant, back then).

People were suffering: children, parents, teachers. Most were too terrified to speak out, but a few told their stories, quietly, and the word spread.

The groups grew bigger, as those who promoted the hoax couldn’t answer even the simplest of questions; and then some of the groups found private spaces online where they could talk amongst themselves and decide what to do to help stop the hoax.

Some of the groups chose to take action: put names to the angry faces surrounding a church on a Sunday morning, start looking into exactly who these people were and what would make them want to attack innocent parents and children. Others, angered by the vicious attacks from people like “Jacqui Farmer”, began investigating who was behind her disgusting “Hampstead Research” blog. Still others spent much of their time flagging illegal videos of the two children who’d been tortured into repeating lies about their father, their teachers, their schoolmates, their community.

It was good, but it was hit or miss.

And then one person decided to take the next step: Scarlet Scoop started Hoaxtead Research, as a centering point, a place to exchange news, views, information, arguments….and suddenly, instead of several isolated small groups, we were a community.

The small groups, which had been working away in isolation, discovered that they weren’t alone. They began reaching out to one another, putting puzzle pieces together, collaborating toward something bigger: putting an end to the hoax.

The victories, when they came, were small but important: Neelu Berry and Christine Ann Sands, arrested. Christine sent back to the USA. Not huge, but it was a start.

“Jacqui Farmer” identified as long-time Belinda McKenzie acolyte Charlotte Alton Ward. Her vile blog removed by WordPress.

Sabine McNeill, returned from Germany and arrested at the Royal Courts of Justice, while her best mate Belinda did an excellent impersonation of Judas at the Last Supper. Sabine would go on to many more arrests—seven at last count.

She and Neelu would be tried on charges of conspiracy to commit witness intimidation; the charges were dropped, but the court saw fit to slap them with lifetime restraining orders. (Sabine would later plead guilty to violating her order, but has gone on to more violations since last October.)

Following Sabine and Neelu’s trial, others were arrested for making threats online: Lee Cant, John Duane, Desmond During, Alan Alanson Boyes, Neelu (again), Sabine (again and again and again).

And then there was Rupert, who decided to take his threats against the Hampstead families on the road: he’s currently serving a nine-month sentence for Harassment 4.

Through it all, this blog has continued to report on the Hoaxtead mob’s shenanigans.

We’ve never stopped doing what we set out to do two and a half years ago: to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. And by “comfortable”, we mean those who feel entitled to make utterly unsubstantiated false allegations against innocent people, taking joy in the pain they cause, and telling themselves they’re doing it “for the children”. The children who long ago said they’d been tormented into saying what they did.

Our reward has been watching our community grow from a few small, disparate groups to a force to be reckoned with. We continue to research, observe, report, and comment. These days, the police and courts seem to have taken their thumbs out and started taking action against the hoaxers, whose numbers are in decline. We’ll keep doing what we do, though, until the hoax is no longer a threat to the safety and well-being of its victims.

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: our readers and commenters make us what we are. You’ve encouraged us, made us laugh, sent us tips and suggestions, contributed artwork, sometimes delivered a stern talking-to, and overall, created an online community that makes us proud.

Yesterday this blog passed an important milestone: one million hits. One million. It’s one of those numbers that’s hard to imagine, and to be honest, we’re still a bit dizzied by it, for a couple of reasons. When Scarlet Scoop made her first post here, she couldn’t have imagined the blog would still be alive and going strong one million page-views later.

And perhaps more important, this Very Large Number signifies something: it means that you, collectively, have placed your confidence in us one million times. It’s enough to make us a bit teary-eyed, to be honest.

On that note, we thought we’d share with you one of our favourite poems, which has inspired us for the past two and a half years:

The Low Road

What can they do to you?
Whatever they want..

They can set you up, bust you,
they can break your fingers,
burn your brain with electricity,
blur you with drugs till you
can’t walk, can’t remember.
they can take away your children,
wall up your lover;
they can do anything you can’t stop them doing.

How can you stop them?
Alone you can fight, you can refuse.
You can take whatever revenge you can
But they roll right over you.
But two people fighting back to back
can cut through a mob
a snake-dancing fire
can break a cordon,
termites can bring down a mansion

Two people can keep each other sane
can give support, conviction,
love, massage, hope, sex.

Three people are a delegation
a cell, a wedge.
With four you can play games
and start a collective.
With six you can rent a whole house
have pie for dinner with no seconds
and make your own music.

Thirteen makes a circle,
a hundred fill a hall.
A thousand have solidarity
and your own newsletter;
ten thousand community
and your own papers;
a hundred thousand,
a network of communities;
a million our own world.

It goes one at a time.
It starts when you care to act.
It starts when you do it again
after they say no.
It starts when you say we
and know who you mean;
and each day you mean
one more.

—Marge Piercy

Thank you, all of you.