Aral Balkan

(If you want the backstory, check out my previous articles on Sys-Con and Ulitzer.)

I know I'm getting tired of it, but here's a short post to document their latest attack, titled Social Media Marketing Turkish Style. If their MO is any indication, it'll be taken down soon, so here's a snapshot of the page (.PNG, 2.2MB).

Update July 31st, 2009: Sys-Con has removed the above article and, apparently, all others about me from their site. You can read the originals in the high-resolution screenshots linked to from my posts.

And I quote:

A couple of months ago SYS-CON Media was attacked by a Turkish blogger by the name of Aral Balkan from within Adobe's Flex / Flash user community who declared "cihad" [sic] against SYS-CON.

SYS-CON's CEO explained his views on that particular subject in his "Social Media Terrorists" blog, which is an appropriate blog title especially since this man's religious, ethnic, cultural, and national background fits into FBI's profile definition of the modern day terrorist.

Not that I feel the need to rehash the whole, tired, ridiculous story, but suffice to say that if I had declared anything of the sort, I would at least have had the proficiency to spell it correctly.

(Alongside that quote is an image of Mehmet Ali Ağca, the terrorist who shot the Pope.)

On the same page are ads by IBM, Sun, Citrix, Unisys, Dell, and Windows. All of whom support the business practices of Sys-Con Media with their ad money.

So, basically, I've been defamed yet again by Sys-Con Media.

The rest of the article appears to attack Turkish people in general with gems like:

I could not help but think about the cultural issues surrounding the Turkish way of thinking to exploit any social system.

Turks will never learn to make a straight line and wait their turn like civilized people at a bank, airport or a bus stop. They do pile up on each other like players in a football game. They don't stop at a red light. I guess now they are playing the social media game, in their own Turkish style.

What I don't understand is how companies like IBM, Microsoft, and Sun can keep supporting Sys-Con Media with their ad dollars. Do they not realize how bad it makes them look when their ads appear on "articles" such as these?

It does appear, however, that Sys-Con can write whatever it likes about anyone – truth, journalistic integrity, etc., be damned – and get away with it. Sad.

Update: They have a second article up titled Adobe's User Community, Turkish Spammers and Internet Terrorists (screenshot here; PNG, 1.7MB) in which they repeat the same libel against me (the same two paragraphs as quoted above). It also contains a new masterpiece of literary prowess in the form of the following quote:

I personally think the entire country of Turkey should be isolated from the International community of Internet users until they learn to police themselves and educate their mountain animal spammers.

Update: And their articles are now being disseminated on Google News, where they come up first when you search for my name. If this isn't libel, what is? (Screenshot of Google News, 140KB)

So if there's anyone out there who wants to take on this case on a no-win-no-fee basis, please feel free to leave me a comment here as I've had about enough of this.

Update: And, of course, their "author" "Yeshim Deniz" is also a stock photo (as discovered by Sir Pete "Sherlock" Aylward). And, no doubt, this goes against iStockPhoto's terms (see point 4 in that article).

Comments

• Wow! That is so outta line. I'm speechless. You know you have the support of the community. I've read about them going after people that crossed their path in the past but seriously a smart PR move this is not.

  by diamondTearz on 2009-07-14 23:22:12

• Just an update. I looked into this for myself. Wanted to let you know that Sys-Con is no longer a sponsor of my podcast.

  by Scott Hanselman on 2009-07-25 04:48:59

• Just take a look at their policy for posting comments a little beneath each article and have a good laugh. Here's an excerpt "We will remove comments that include profanity, personal attacks, racial slurs, threats of violence". In my opinion, unless you got the case to hit them really hard, it's best to let things as they are and make as little fuss about it as possible. Because in the end, the only reason why these articles are top listed on google news is because you're blogpost is twittered around by the whole community and the page itself increases in importance around the web for a moment. If all was quiet only a dozen of people would have read it, confirming their racist thoughts they want to be confirmed. But even if you win a case like this, they would pay the fine and continue to write the same crap about you, because it attracts readers and thus makes them money.

  by Pieter on 2009-07-15 10:52:43

• Thanks you all so much for your support. I really appreciate it. :)

  by Aral on 2009-07-27 11:30:05

• Scott, It's "unproveable," but Sys-Con's CEO uses a variety of aliases and false "industry blgogers" to basically say whatever he likes. Aral, Now might be a good time to contact the PR departments of "IBM, Microsoft, and Sun" to let them know their ads are being displayed beside content they may interpret as racist. -Joe

  by Joe Rinehart on 2009-07-16 10:12:00

• I came to your site from the "Yeshim Deniz" blog in question which was linked in Congoo News under the Linux Heading for some reason. As a member of the Linux and FOSS community, I was unaware of this whole thing, but I hope that you find a way to put an end to their crap. Its obvious to me after having a look at your site that they are the problem here. I find it infuriating that there is so much of this kind of crap online today, and I truly sympathize with anyone going through it. My mother was local politician years ago and had a notoriously gossip oriented editor slander her brutally, and the fallout was horrible. My mother was so humiliated by the lies and half truths that see would not leave the house for months afterwards. As a result, I am always appalled to the deepest parts of my humanity when a see a situation like the one you are dealing with now, and I hope you are coming through okay, because it can take a heavy toll on anyone. Anyway, I wish you luck and hope that you find some way to put and end to this, and I also hope that these wack-a-doos get their own someday. You can count me as another supporter. Good Luck PT

  by PirateTux on 2009-07-27 05:56:43

• Excuse me for the expression, but: WHAT A BUNCH OF WANKERS!

  by Fernando Colaco on 2009-07-14 16:27:05

• I can't believe they're still going with this! It's nuts. What has this guy got against the Turkish? And I say guy because that photo is SOOO stock, it's clearly the same guy again, just like the last author was invented. Strange that if "She later helped to organize a "Change the Administration" march in Washington DC." that there's no other photos or even mentions of her online. Isn't that "cihad" comment good grounds for a legal case?

  by Thom Shannon on 2009-07-14 16:28:54

• I am wondering how they benefit from this. The only thing I can think of is increased traffic to their site from the drama. But it would be short lived and have a negative long term impact... so nevermind. I have no clue why they would attack you.

  by ickydime on 2009-07-14 16:47:44

• Well, it's all in there, isn't it? Racism, Libel, Delusions of Grandeur, Tabloid press idiocy. What more can a solid, professional organisation that charges well in excess of $30,000 for a single page ad in their rather questionable "Journals" need to underline their immense competence and polished sophistication? Seriously, however: I'm really fed up with the way people like sysCON think they have a right to attack honest, hard-working, people with such outrageously stupid articles. With any luck, their desparate attempts at attracting traffic will backfire on them and condemn them to the demise they deserve.

  by Robert on 2009-07-14 17:37:02

• You stay classy, Sys-Con.

  by Ron Burgundy on 2009-07-14 18:34:46

• I might be wrong, but I think "cihad" is the phonetic Turkish spelling of "jihad" - "c" is pronounced as "j", which I learned the hard way. And I might be a bad person for saying so, but as much as I came to love the Turkish people I met over my 2 weeks there and enjoyed many of the common traits I found in the culture (such as gregariousness, hospitality, a broad sense of humor), but an aptitude for waiting patiently in line didn't seem to be one of them. Certainly not the most damning criticism, and I'm sure it's not true of every individual, but I did kinda laugh when I read it.

  by Nigel Pegg on 2009-07-14 19:32:02

• Dude ... it's time to fight this. You've got a shed load of hard evidence and the whole community behind you. Fight those C**TS.

  by Lee Probert on 2009-07-14 19:33:26

• [...] Sys-Con Media has again and again tried to spread libel about Aral Balkan because he originally bad-mouthed them on Twitter and in other places, because they stole an article from him and claimed his endorsement of their products and services. Apparently they continue to try and spread rumors about him and recently Turks in general. [...]

  by Sys-Con once again attacks Aral Balkan with stupidity and ignorance | Barklund.org on 2009-07-15 15:17:05

• Perhaps a well written blog regarding the racist tendencies, the lies and the horrific journalistic integrity of of "sys-con", that in which the flash community were to repost, retweet, etc.. just might be due ;) - "google this bitch" ;) - But seriously Aral. I would strongly consider just moving beyond this. I'm sure you have bigger fish to fry anyway. Thanks for supporting the community man and keep up the good work.

  by Izzmeifter on 2009-07-15 15:33:27

• @Pieter I have to disagree with every last bone in my body. How can you even start to just say "it’s best to let things as they are and make as little fuss about it as possible". Did I wake up on the same planet as you did?! Here on earth, when people (hell in this case a RACE) are attacked for no reason, people tend to want to do something about it. It's encouraged and great things have come from it. I'm not even going to dip into history, but it was because people spoke out that great things have happened.

  by Endoplasmic on 2009-07-15 15:38:37

• I have just emailed Microsoft evangelist Scott Hanselman about this - his podcast is sponsored by sys-con. He is a cool guy so hopefully he will take this seriously. His contact page is: http://www.hanselminutes.com/contact.aspx might be worth other people sending him a polite (I mean that) email too to let him know what his sponsor is up to.

  by Iain on 2009-07-15 17:15:13

• Pieter: they make their money from online advertising. There's no way the increased traffic they get from this (and I can't imagine there are many people out there breathlessly waiting for more news on Aral's "terrorist links") would come close to covering a fine from a law suit.

  by Simon on 2009-07-15 17:45:34

• I'm new to this controversy, so bear with my ignorance, please. Is this Sys-Con the *company* against Aral or is this a rogue blogger using Sys-Con's systems against Aral? The photo and name are fake, which is very tacky, so why doesn't Sys-Con just shut him down? FYI, Sys-Con doesn't give me money for "sponsoring" my podcast, we just have a deal where they reprint the transcripts.

  by Scott Hanselman on 2009-07-15 18:05:59

• Scott, the abuse began with a offensive phone call from Fuat Kircaali himself, the CEO of Sys-Con (http://aralbalkan.com/2022). Since then it appears he's been using various sock puppets to write these articles, many of them having email addresses @sys-con.com

  by Thom Shannon on 2009-07-16 10:38:07

• @Endoplasmic Hello there, normally I wouldn't reply because I know you have your idea about it and I have mine and there is I think little I can do to see reason in mine. Mostly because my English is limited to that found in comics. But your last sentence intrigued me. To me Sys-Con is nothing more than a gossip magazine, they’re giant machines flourishing on misery and lies. Now tell me, how many gossip magazines have led major defeats in court or have gone bankrupt for libel? Maybe some, but in general they end up selling more magazines since they've got the attention. Now, you can go through this battle and have the same libel against you published over and over again, and have people start to believe it. Or let the little bullies play in their little garden and let things fade away like they always do with these gossip mags. Because there lies their greatest weakness, it's readers and thus the content provider itself have a really short attention span and everything you're trying to fight ends up in the mass of trash where it is forgotten anyway. If things wouldn’t stop I would simply use it’s own system to attack them from the inside out, make a blog with a resembling name to the owner and start publishing other sites that provide the same news & functionality, telling on which points they are better then the giant machine. And of course many posts about how bloody brilliant I am and twitter that around. But to the point, your last sentence, and I’ll keep it really short this time: I’m not even going to dip into history, but it was because people spoke out that great things have happened. Nopes, it was because great people spoke out the opinions of masses brilliantly that great things have happened. Nowadays everyone is shouting out loud that great peoples opinion tend to get lost in the noise. Look at Bush and many of the world leaders, they are also saying a lot but times are only changing to the worst. All of that because a person is talking dirty on his own site that will die in a year or 2, hunger, aids, water shortage, global warming in the world deserves more attention for me. For me there are bigger problems in the world, like hunger, aids, global warming, ... Choose the battle and make it count. I know my views aren’t the truth for everything but I’m still young and you can only see as much as you’re eyes take in. That’s all. Have a pleasant day.

  by Pieter on 2009-07-16 14:02:27

• Estimado Aral, Los comentarios de Pieter me parecen muy acertados. Al igual que él pienso, en mi humilde opinion, que a pesar de los burdos comentarios y escritos de esos señores, lo mejor es dejar que se ahoguen en su vaso de agua y continuar aportando y evangelizando en nuestra comunidad. Te aseguro que tendrás mejores frutos que cosechar. (Sorry for posting in spanish. In my language it's easier for me) Best regards.

  by Robert Green on 2009-07-16 15:59:59

• To me, it seems too unnatural even for ads-overloaded SYS-CON to post such entries as they do. The whole situation seems to be very unnatural, like someone just arranged this artificial conflict with the only one goal: to drop a bad light onto the whole Adobe community. Just my opinion.

  by iPhobia on 2009-07-16 20:00:38

• It's a bunch of racist crap. Syscon has structure and some business sense but it's obvious to even a casual observer like me that you're up against someone with a screw loose. You know, I'm sorry that you have to put up with this, but Syscon is slowly dragging their name through the mud themselves. I've visited your blog on and off for a while and it's easy to see that you're contributing and creating something real and positive for the community - something that Syscon can't do, and trust me, the people behind it envy what you're capable of, and it's that jealousy that's fueling their hatred. Try to keep your head up about it but definitely defend yourself whenever you feel it's necessary. If it comes down to a contest of goodwill you'll definitely have the support of the Flash blogosphere behind you.

  by Robert Kabwe on 2009-07-25 01:43:49

• Do you know that legally you can invoice them for misuse of your name ($250,000 per incident)? It falls under the copyright and fraud laws (the ones that you see at the beginning of each DVD).

  by denmar2001 on 2009-07-27 17:54:05

• Wow. Well as a technology marketing director I can do a small part, stop funding occasional advertising and appearances - no more of that. There are other places to go, and their events are just full of a bunch of people looking for a job or some free trinkets anyway.

  by Frogger on 2009-07-27 19:25:34

• These people are unbelieveable! I think the best way to react would be to use their authors list and check with every of the authors if they gave them the permission to use their names and materials. I know one of the people from the list personally, and I know for sure that he never heard of Ulitzer before. I'll keep blogging on this, and Aral, let me know if we can do something more. I'll spread the word on this over here in Serbia. Cheers, Igor

  by Igor Cernisevski on 2009-07-27 20:08:51

• Sounds like sys-con is run by a con artist. Ironic.

  by patrickk on 2009-07-28 12:13:23