User:Anticipation of a New Lover's Arrival, The/Overstock/Analysis/Patrick M. Byrne

Edit comments are for my own use. Use at your risk. I do not spend long on each edit and may quite easily miss something major.

December 2005

 * 23:48, 29 December 2005 by
 * This is the first version that describes the CEO of Overstock.com--there are some older revisions about an illustrator and some written by friends of gay people
 * Not linked here because it's an attack page

January 2006

 * 23:51, 6 January 2006 by, first version of the article I'm prepared to link to
 * "Patrick M. Byrne is CEO and Founder of Overstock.com."
 * "See also" links Overstock.com
 * "External links" links to the company website
 * 7 January 2006 by 219.101.139.252, small tweak
 * 21:52, 11 January 2006 by
 * Rather well written biography (if a tad promotional)
 * 21:59, 11 January 2006 by 67.161.255.136
 * Add link to "Byrne's Pan-Mass Speech" (apparently related to a Massachusetts charity bicycle ride
 * 22:02, 11 January 2006 by 67.161.255.136
 * Two more external links: businessjive.com and "Documents related to Overstock.com's lawsuit against Rocker Partners and Gradient Analytics"
 * 22:42, 11 January 2006 by 67.161.255.136, tweak Pan-Mass link
 * 22:43, 11 January 2006 by 67.161.255.136, Another link tweak
 * 11:08, 27 January 2006 by, section header format tweak

February 2006

 * 19:08, 4 February 2006 3 edits by, wikification
 * 05:23, 19 February 2006 by, recently blocked as an abusive sock of
 * Lists article for deletion as a "vanity page". See Articles for deletion/Patrick Byrne, result was keep
 * 20:45, 19 February 2006 by
 * Add to lead, reference to "his recent allegations that naked short sellers (whom he has referred to as the "dark lord of the sith") have been targetting the stock of Overstock.com."
 * Add long new section, "Crusade against naked shorting".
 * This edit by the same IP on the afd shows that the added content was intended to damage Byrne's reputation
 * 00:44, 20 February 2006 2 edits by
 * Wikification and spelling corrections
 * Adds link to article in The Register: "The bizarre world of Patrick Byrne's Overstock" December 3, 2005
 * 23:13, 20 February 2006 by Tomstoner, replaces businessjive.com link on naked short selling with a Fortune article on the "short-selling crusade"
 * 17:32, 21 February 2006 by, expands "Crusade against naked shorting" section
 * 16:40, 23 February 2006 by, edit summary "adding wikilink to relevant article", wikilinks to naked short selling
 * 02:26, 24 February 2006 by Tomstoner, edit summary "removing questionable details re naked shorting"
 * Turns it into a concise summary of the issue
 * 02:31, 24 February 2006 by Tomstoner, edit summary "adding detail re controversy and removing promotional material"
 * Trims promotional material
 * Adds 'Recently, however, he has received more critical treatment in the press, largely because of his adoption of a controversial stance concerning "naked short-selling."'
 * 01:03, 25 February 2006 by, edit summary "rm afd tag per afd"

March 2006

 * 09:35, 15 March 2006 by, edit summary "occuring -> occurring"

April 2006

 * 19:03, 6 April 2006 by Tomstoner, edit summary "adding Patrick Byrne possibly stepping down as Overstock chairman"
 * Adds story sourced to msnbc.com in which Stoner's father reportedly told the Wall Street Journal he was considering stepping down over what he described as his "headstrong" son's "jihad"
 * 17:51, 29 April 2006 6 edits by (recently blocked as an abusive sock of Mantanmoreland)
 * Significantly expands article
 * Section "Crusade against naked shorting", becomes 'Jihad' against naked shorting" (apparently this is the word coined by Byrne himself)
 * Adds new section "Media attention", sourced mainly to a Joe Nocera story in the New York Times, "Overstock's Campaign Of Menace"

May 2006

 * 03:27, 12 May 2006 by, adds Category:American chief executives
 * 14:18, 17 May 2006, "targetting" -> "targeting"
 * 22:54, 31 May 2006 2 edits by, minor wikilinking

June 2006
Nothing in the history for June, 2006

July 2006

 * 12:33, 7 July 2006 by, adds hatnote: ''For the Thoroughbred horse trainer see: Patrick Byrne (horseman).'
 * 14:40, 7 July 2006 revert by ESkog
 * 02:28, 10 July 2006 by Lastexit
 * Adds: 'Byrne's campaign against naked short selling has been widely criticized, with New York Times columnist Joseph Nocera saying: "Except for a few fellow-traveling Web sites, where Mr. Byrne is viewed as a heroic figure, most people who understand the issue or have looked into it think it's pretty bogus', with ref link to another Nocera article in the New York Times, "New Crusade for Master of Overstock"
 * 07:40, 12 July 2006 by, adds "In July 2006 Byrne launched a personal blog in order to respond to his frequent critics, including Gary Weiss and Mark Cuban." sourced with a purported link to Byrne's blog.
 * 13:10, 12 July 2006 revert by Lastexit, edit summary "Dead link. Byrne has had a blog at overstock.com for months, but has not used it to respond to critics"
 * 17:10, 20 July 2006 by, edit summary "Added information about First Class Education"
 * Adds section "Education lobbying", about his heading of an organization called [[First Class Education
 * 10:44, 25 July 2006 revert by, edit summary "remove non-notable pov publication". Removes external links to The Register and First Class Education
 * 11:14, 25 July 2006 revert by Lastexit, edit summary "rv edits by banned user"
 * 07:38, 28 July 2006 by 66.102.186.22, edit summary "rv edits by confirmed Sockpuppet Lastexit"
 * 12:16, 28 July 2006 by Mantanmoreland, edit summary "rv WordBomb edits via anon"

August 2006

 * 02:32, 21 August 2006 by 68.100.85.32
 * Adds 'He has sinced backed off from the Sith Lord comment stating, in an unpublished Business Week interview, "By the way, the "Sith Lord" reference which so excited you fellows is probably imperfect. A better one is Al Qaeda: a loosely organized confederacy united by an ideology but lacking central control."' Sourced to thesanitycheck.com
 * Adds 'Gradient Analytics' as the research firm alleged by Byrne to be in collusion with Rocker Partners
 * Adds "World Stock" section. 'Patrick Byrne is also known for starting WorldStock, an initiative that states "Our goal in Worldstock is not to make money, but to create tens of thousands (and someday millions) of jobs in the poorest regions of the world, while bringing customers unique products of which they can be proud – hand-crafted clothing, jewelry, ceramics, furniture, and much'  Sourced from overstock.com link.
 * Removes New York Times link, Fortune link and The Register link
 * Adds links to businessjive.com and worlstock.com (sic)
 * 03:04, 21 August 2006 revert by Mantanmoreland
 * 03:22, 21 August 2006 revert by
 * 04:10, 21 August 2006 revert by Mantanmoreland, edit summary "rv -- please stop replacing verifiable sources and links with non-notable ones pushing an agenda"
 * 04:11, 21 August 2006 revert by Mfv
 * 04:17, 21 August 2006 revert by Mantanmoreland, edit summary "rv POV-pushing"
 * 04:19, 21 August 2006 revert by Mfv
 * 04:45, 21 August 2006 revert by ESkog, edit summary "rv - unpublished = unverifiable"
 * 19:28, 22 August 2006 by, substantial edits to "'Jihad' against naked shorting"
 * 21:29, 22 August 2006 5 edits by Mantanmoreland
 * Sources "Sith Lord" claim (thestreet.com)
 * Introduces Byrne's Al Qaeda analogy (sourced to Fortune)
 * Cleans stuff up a bit
 * 07:04, 29 August 2006 2 edits by 141.149.54.179, changes a link, changes it back

September 2006

 * 02:51, 25 September 2006 4 edits by
 * Remove "He is best known for his allegations that naked short sellers, whose alleged leader he referred to as the "Sith Lord", targeted the stock of Overstock.com" from the lead
 * Remove The Register link
 * 06:46, 28 September 2006 by, edit summary "avoid weasel words"
 * Remove some of the worst POV from the article (para starting "Besides controversy over what many allege to be unstable behaviour of Byrne...") which had been added by 71.141.157.13 20:45, 19 February 2006

October 2006

 * 22:02, 1 October 2006 by Cave Bovum, edit summary "de-cluttering"
 * Reduce "'Jihad' against naked shorting" section to:
 * In 2005, Byrne announced his support for the so-called Market Reform Movement, and its stated goal of ending illegal naked short selling, a form of fraudulent stock price manipulation Byrne claims is afflicting his company's share price as well as that of many others.
 * Byrne's launched his campaign of increasing awareness of naked shorting by hosting a media conference in which he outlined his concerns, describing those responsible as "miscreants."
 * With that, Byrne commenced what he describes as a "jihad" against naked short selling. Byrne's jihad has grown to include a lawsuit filed against hedge fund Rocker Partners and securities research firm Gradient.
 * 05:29, 2 October 2006 revert by Mantanmoreland, "rv POV pushing"
 * 06:18, 2 October 2006 revert by Cave Bovum
 * 07:42, 2 October 2006 revert by Mantanmoreland
 * 17:51, 2 October 2006 Cave Bovum, edit summary " I'm sorry, The Register is not a reliable source", removes link to story in The Register
 * 13:58, 7 October 2006 revert by Mantanmoreland
 * 20:20, 7 October 2006 by Cave Bovum, edit summary "infinitely more relevant publication", reverts again and adds link to "Byrne's War" in Connect-Utah magazine
 * 07:07, 8 October 2006 revert by Mantanmoreland, reverts removal of The Register,retains "Byrne's War", edit summary "it's not an ëither-or proposition. stop the pov pushing"
 * 23:58, 9 October 2006 by, removes several sourced paragraphs, selected external links
 * 00:34, 10 October 2006 rollback by
 * 15:20, 10 October 2006 by, adds advocacy
 * 05:26, 11 October 2006 revert by Mantanmoreland
 * 14:16, 11 October 2006 revert by, edit summary "rv pov agenda pushing. please go back to usenet where your kind came from. see WP:GW"
 * 04:59, 12 October 2006 by, adds external link to Byrne's blog
 * 09:56, 13 October 2006 revert by Mantanmoreland
 * 06:42, 14 October 2006 by 70.218.8.248
 * 17:03, 14 October 2006 by 71.70.155.234, edit summary "corrected Wikipedia reference from "naked short-selling" to "naked short selling", latter is linked to a wikipedia entry, former is not"
 * 21:02, 14 October 2006 by, "Ducth" -> "Dutch"
 * 04:47, 15 October 2006 revert by Mantanmoreland
 * 06:24, 15 October 2006 revert by (later blocked as a WordBomb sock) edit summary "(rv retail (paid) POV pushing. What's your abiding interest here, anyway?"
 * 18:51, 15 October 2006 by ESkog, edit summary "remove large swaths of uncited material, weasel words, and POV commentary. Cite everything, per WP:BLP and common sense."
 * Does what it says on the tin
 * 21:06, 15 October 2006 by 71.70.155.234, edit summary "Added sources to Bryne's notorious Dutch Auction IPO section - crucial to understanding the issues that have landed Byne on a Wikipedia entry"
 * Adds back section "The Dutch Auction IPO" sourced from Forbes and Washington Post
 * 04:40, 18 October 2006 by Mantanmoreland, edit summary "clarifying -- he is known for NSS not for the other things cited; see talk"
 * Change statement about the campaign in the lead to "He is also known for his efforts to call attention to naked short selling."
 * 04:33, 19 October 2006 7 edits by Mantanmoreland
 * Removes "Dutch Auction IPO" section
 * Removes "WorldStock" from the lead
 * Fix date of Nocera's "Campaign of Menace" article
 * Remove editorializing from external link to Byrne's blog
 * 16:54, 19 October 2006 by 71.70.155.234, edit summary "rv Vandalism- please don't delete neutrally documented facts", adds back Dutch Auction IPO story
 * 19:04, 19 October 2006 by Will Beback, edit summary "copyedit"
 * 04:26, 27 October 2006 2 edits by
 * To "Educational lobbying" section adds: "The above is incorrect. We in Colorado are facing the 65% Solution in Amendment 39, which is on the ballot for November 2006. This plan is not in effect yet, and is under heavy attack from teachers, teacher organizations, and most newspapers."
 * 05:44, 27 October 2006 revert by Will Beback
 * 00:03, 30 October 2006 by, edit summary " While FCE says this has been passed in Colorado, it has not. It is on the ballot and will soon be voted on. The FCE site is wrong", update details of implementation of an education reform
 * 00:25, 30 October 2006 by 71.70.155.234
 * Add advocacy, and sourced information about Regulation SHO
 * 02:21, 30 October 2006 by, edit summary "link to what a Sith Lord is, clarity and cleanup". Minor tweaks

November 2006

 * 16:17, 5 November 2006 by 71.70.155.234, flesh out the lead, and "perceived Wall Street corruption" -> alleged Wall Street corruption"
 * 16:22, 5 November 2006 by 71.70.155.234, edit summary "added link to official First Class Education site as it was cited in this article with no references cited other than from articles criticizing the plan to provide some bias balancing", adds link to www.firstclasseducation.org
 * 18:50, 12 November 2006 by, "Crusade against naked shorting" -> "Campaign against naked shorting", edit summary "amend derogatory term)"
 * 05:16, 14 November 2006 by Valwen, "hedgefund" -> "hedge fund"
 * 05:50, 17 November 2006 3 edits by 134.173.107.141, add specious pro naked-shorts advocacy, remove link to Kudlow & Cramer "kudlow and cramer no longer in existence/was not a fox news show to begin with"
 * 15:35, 24 November 2006 revert by 69.250.29.200, edit summary 'Removed Warren Buffett reference (and misspelling). His words were totally mischaracterized here; he said nothing about "price discovery"'
 * 13:20, 25 November 2006 2 edits by 69.250.29.200, trim and set into context Regulation SHO
 * 21:41, 25 November 2006 by 70.85.195.230, edit summary "taking out advertising"
 * Remove references to Dutch Auction and First Class Education from lead
 * "Wall Street corruption" -> "Wall Street unfairness"
 * 02:46, 27 November 2006 by 69.250.29.200, edit summary "(my bad) grammar"
 * 04:01, 27 November 2006 2 edits by, semiprotects article

December 2006

 * 00:40, 9 December 2006 2 edits by Valwen
 * Copy edit
 * Add "CBS MarketWatch's Hank Greenberg has named Byrne the runner-up for Worst CEO of the Year two years running." sourced to marketwatch.com
 * Remove Connect Utah link, explains why on the talk page
 * 00:02, 31 December 2006 2 edits by, unprotect

January 2007

 * 23:48, 2 January 2007 by 69.250.29.200, edit summary '"Herb" Greenberg, not "Hank", grammar, redundancy.'
 * 12:16, 3 January 2007 by, edit summary "rm sprotect tag because this article is not sprotected - requests for page protection are made at Requests for page protection)"
 * 19:44, 6 January 2007 2 edits by, add some university/teaching credentials, moved article from Patrick Byrne to Patrick M. Byrne

February 2007

 * 16:27, 6 February 2007 by 204.113.68.2, "65% solution" -> "65 cent solution"
 * 03:39, 11 February 2007 by, edit summary "Updated with Colorado election results on the 65 cent solution."
 * 14:41, 16 February 2007 by, fixes a redlink

March 2007

 * 19:07, 10 March 2007 2 edits by 75.38.5.135, adds two external links to businessjive.com
 * 21:15, 10 March 2007 revert by, edit summary "removing links from websites that do not meet Wikipedia standards", removes both businessjive links
 * 21:44, 10 March 2007 2 edits by Samiharris, adds story about Byrne's attempt to get naked short selling outlawed in Utah, quoting Nocera's rather gloating comments on its eventual failure (sourced to Joe Nocera's "Talking Business" column in the New York Times)
 * 21:47, 17 March 2007 2 edits by, adds reference to the Bloomberg March 12 special on naked short selling, "Phantom Shares", which featured Byrne prominently
 * 00:51, 19 March 2007 revert by Samiharris, edit summary "appearing on a cable show is not worth mentioning"
 * 00:56, 19 March 2007 by Samiharris, adds 'Nocera renewed his criticism of Byrne in his March 2007 column, referring to him as "dangerous" and condemning him for his tactics in attacking critics.' and adding the third link to a single edition (Revisiting Overstock.com and Utah, March 10, 2007) of Nocera's opinion column in the article.
 * Now I call that tendentious. Or at the very least, exhibiting an unwarranted degree of animus towards the subject of the article
 * 00:59, 19 March 2007 2 edits by Samiharris, edit summary "removing weasel words"
 * "Campaign against naked shorting" -> "'Jihad' against naked shorting" (section heading)
 * Adds "and announced that he had commenced what he described as a "jihad" against that conspiracy" to introductory sentence of that section
 * "Not all media attention has been positive" -> "Much of the media attention has been negative"
 * 01:04, 19 March 2007 by Samiharris, edit summary "adding details on Hambrecht"
 * Adds 'Officials of Hambrecht, including its co-CEO Clay Corbus and chairman Gordon Macklin, were named to the Overstock board of directors.' sourced to a story on internetretailer.com
 * 17:22, 23 March 2007 by Piperdown, edit summary "this is a reliable source to "media attention" concerning Byrne, so it should be here", adds back Bloomberg special
 * 02:22, 30 March 2007 by Piperdown, edit summary "add USC Law Prof quote"
 * Adds: 'Byrne's campaign has also been noted by some legal pundits as having the potential to "help set new law if he handles this right," according to Kerry Fields, associate professor of law and business ethics at the University of Southern California. Fields opined that Byrne's "best approach now is probably to persuade the SEC, which continues to wander around the issue, or the government to serve subpoenas and let them decide whether or not his company was wronged."' Sourced to a story on CNET News.com by Greg Sandoval, "Overstock CEO reflects on Cramer debacle"
 * 17:52, 30 March 2007 2 edits by Samiharris, edit summary "adding details on lawsuit, context"
 * Expands Piperdown's entry to
 * 'In February 2007, Overstock.com launched a $3.5 billion lawsuit against Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and other large Wall Street firms, saying the firms "have and continue to participate in a massive illegal stock market manipulation scheme" involving naked short selling. Nocera described the lawsuit as "ridiculous." John Coffee, director of the Center on Corporate Governance at Columbia University Law School, described it as "an extremely unpromising litigation," and said that Overstock "may quickly find out they bit off more than they can chew."' (sourced the latter to a Bloomberg News story by Danny King )
 * 'Kerry Fields, associate professor of law and business ethics at the University of Southern California, said "Byrne may be able to help set new law if he handles this right." However, Fields said, Byrne's "best approach now is probably to persuade the SEC, which continues to wander around the issue, or the government to serve subpoenas and let them decide whether or not his company was wronged.' (pretty much unchanged and with the original sourcing)
 * 'Kerry Fields, associate professor of law and business ethics at the University of Southern California, said "Byrne may be able to help set new law if he handles this right." However, Fields said, Byrne's "best approach now is probably to persuade the SEC, which continues to wander around the issue, or the government to serve subpoenas and let them decide whether or not his company was wronged.' (pretty much unchanged and with the original sourcing)

April 2007

 * 21:27, 5 April 2007 by, adds "more sources" tag
 * 03:58, 6 April 2007 by, "the controversy over Byrne's behavior" -> "the controversy over Byrne's actitivies"
 * 10:06, 6 April 2007 by SmackBot, edit summary "date/fix the maintenance tags"

May 2007

 * 22:03, 11 May 2007 by, edit summary " Naked shorting isn't always illegal - market makers can do it", adds to the sentence "In naked short selling, the shares are not borrowed prior to the sale, a practice which is illegal" the qualifier "in most situations."
 * 07:00, 12 May 2007 by, edit summary "both links require subscription, see WP:LINKS", removes to links to New York Times and adds March 2006 CNET interview with Byrne (CNET News.com)
 * 15:09, 12 May 2007 by Samiharris, edit summary "adding new development"
 * New section "SEC investigation"
 * In May 2007, it was revealed the Byrne is the subject of an SEC investigation, and that he was waited a year before disclosing that had was served with an SEC subpoena in May 2006, stemming from the probe. The investigation elated to his company, Overstock.com. The SEC's subpoena sought, among other things, "documents relating to the company's accounting policies, the company's targets, projections or estimates related to financial performance, the company's recent restatement of its financial statements." The New York Post reported that the delayed disclosure was "eye-opening in that most companies tend to promptly disclose material information such as when a chief executive is the subject of an informal investigation.", sourced to a New York Post story
 * Overstock.com said in an SEC filing that Byrne and the company "have responded to these subpoenas and each continues to cooperate with the Securities and Exchange Commission on this matter (sourced to the company filing at sec.gov)
 * 22:42, 12 May 2007 by Samiharris, edit summary "minor edits, adding sources, removing personal blog as per WP:LINKS"
 * Remove blog link, Pan-Mass cycle ride link, addss sources (New York Times) without external links to the website
 * 22:55, 12 May 2007 by Samiharris, edit summary "adding new material to lead paragraph, adding sources"
 * Rewrites lead:
 * Patrick M. Byrne is the controversial CEO of Internet retailer Overstock.com. He has has become well known for his allegation of a wide-ranging stock market conspiracy involving hedge funds, the media, and analysts, for which he has been widely criticized. In May 2007, it was revealed that Byrne is the subject of a subpoena and investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission. (with appropriate inline sourcing links)
 * 22:56, 12 May 2007 by Piperdown, adds back blog, citing discussion about WP:LINK on the talk page
 * 22:56, 12 May 2007 by Samiharris, removes "more sources" tag "as sources provided"
 * 23:11, 13 May 2007 by Piperdown, adds NPR interview with Byrne

June 2007

 * 04:41, 2 June 2007 by Dorftrottel, removes "controversial" from lead, edit summary "too obvious POV"
 * 19:59, 13 June 2007 2 edits by, grammar tweak
 * 21:27, 13 June 2007 by Samiharris, edit summary " removing POV and subbing better quote from Wapo"
 * Tighten wording of first para on Dutch Auction IPO, remove a lot of weaseling
 * Summarise Byrne quote on the subject
 * Change last para of section
 * this: When Google also later went public via a Dutch Auction IPO, "That's when I smelled a skunk," said Byrne. "It was an orchestrated campaign by the banks that just didn't want to see it succeed."
 * to this: When Google also later went public via a Dutch Auction IPO,Byrne commented that Wall Street firms "had to be dragged into" participating in the Google stock offering. He contended that "from day one, I think they set out to sabotage it."
 * (Both quotes were sourced from the same Washington Post article)
 * 12:49, 20 June 2007 by Piperdown, edit summary " replace unsourced weasel wording with Cox quote"
 * Rewrites a middle paragraph of the "'Jihad' against naked shorting" section, removing a lot of weaseling
 * In particular, removes Numerous other writers and commentators have criticized what they believe to be Byrne's excessive zeal and overblown hyperbole in discussing this issue, while a similarly vocal group of advocates has taken Byrne's part.
 * 15:20, 20 June 2007 by Samiharris, edit summary "restoring neutral POV wording"
 * Restores some older wording changed by Piperdown in this edit:
 * "In an effort to curb abusive naked shorting" (Piperdown) -> "In an effort to curb whatever level of naked shorting may exist" (Samiharris)

July 2007

 * 22:44, 10 July 2007 2 edits by Piperdown
 * Removes references to New York Times. One was vague, the other a duplicate entry
 * Adds link to video.ivillagelive.com, '"CEO with a Cause" NBC Ivillage interview'
 * 01:44, 11 July 2007 by Samiharris, edit summary "adding quote, changing links to refs"
 * Converts old Globe and Mail bare link to inline ref
 * Remove (unlinked) New York Times ref (a Joe Nocera column)
 * Adds a bit of information about Byrne's father
 * Remove redundant reference to overstock.com from "Background" section
 * Convert some other bare links to inline refs
 * Tweak order of paras in Dutch Auction IPO section
 * Considerably expand "Sith Lord" quote
 * Adds 'Two members of the Overstock.com board of directors, John Fisher and Ray Groves, resigned in protest against the lawsuit.' (the lawsuit against large Wall Street firms), sourced to two Bloomberg stories
 * Adds "fact" tags to unsourced statements
 * 02:26, 11 July 2007 by Piperdown, edit summary 'deleting the "NBC" in Ivillage? It's an NBC Universal company - added clarification for readers not familiar with company behind that site'
 * 02:27, 11 July 2007 by Piperdown, edit summary " that particular Nocera article is already in references section- rm redundancy"
 * 02:30, 11 July 2007 by Piperdown, edit summary "rgm.com is not a reliable source", removes Globe and Mail reference (the article was a copy hosted on an advocacy site, rgm.com, not a reliable source)
 * 02:39, 11 July 2007 revert by Samiharris, edit summary "adding back reference - if link is objectionable, remove that and not the reference; adding back Nocera article, not duplicative of ref and anyway no rule ext links cannot duplicate ref", reverts both preceding edits
 * 02:40, 11 July 2007 by Samiharris, edit summary "removing link if "non notable" but retaining reference", removes the non-kosher link from the Globe and Mail reference
 * 02:41, 11 July 2007 by Piperdown, adds 'Byrne also serves on the board of directors of the Milton and Rose Friedman Foundation', sourced to the Foundation's website
 * 02:41, 11 July 2007 by Samiharris, tweaks section header name
 * 02:48, 11 July 2007 3 edits by Piperdown, removes redlink, minor tweaks to tense for passage of time
 * 10:35, 11 July 2007 by SmackBot, edit summary "Date/fix the maintenance tags or gen fixes"
 * 21:43, 30 July 2007 3 edits by, childish vandalism
 * 22:12, 30 July 2007 vandalism revert by Samiharris

August 2007

 * 20:11, 3 August 2007 by Samiharris, adds quote from Nocera's column "“Revisiting Overstock.com and Utah"
 * 20:22, 3 August 2007 3 edits by Samiharris, sourced educational and career background information from Byrne's biography on Forbes, removes what can't be sourced, removes "fact" tags
 * 23:28, 3 August 2007 by Samiharris, fixes typo in name
 * 23:32, 3 August 2007 by Samiharris, removed unsourced (and tagged) reference to an Ernst & Young "Entrepreneur of the Year" award, "search of ey.com website does not substantiate this statement)"
 * 23:42, 27 August 2007 by, edit summary "rm per BLP, not cited", removes two paragraphs from "'Jihad' against naked shorting" section
 * 01:25, 28 August 2007 by Samiharris, restores and sources the paragraphs (Fortune magazine)
 * 01:32, 28 August 2007 2 edits by Samiharris, adds to 'Byrne has never identified the "Sith Lord"' the further statement 'and he was widely derided for the comment.' Adds quote from Bethany McLean, author of the piece in Fortune.

September 2007

 * 21:55, 3 September 2007 by, edit summary "The Remond article is a very reluctant admission Overstock has been wronged. The article has been widely ignored and needs to be noted; it does indicate Byrne's Jihad is for cause."
 * Cites an AMEX source as evidence that Overstock.com was a victim of naked short selling
 * 02:12, 4 September 2007 by Durova, summarised the item as 'An AMEX investigation disciplinary action cited two brokers with violations of REG SHO by manipulating unnamed stocks with "fails" to deliver".'
 * 18:28, 4 September 2007 by, edit summary " 404 link, besides, forums generally fail WP:RS", removes links to The Register and Byrne's blog
 * 22:49, 4 September 2007 by, replaces external link in appropriate section with a wikilink
 * 02:02, 5 September 2007 revert by
 * 15:52, 6 September 2007 by, tweak wording of Hambrecht item
 * 06:25, 14 September 2007 by, adds picture, Image:PByrne.JPG (since deleted as "image with unknown source")
 * 06:51, 18 September 2007 35 edits over a two-hour period by, later blocked as a suspected sock of . Extensive changes.
 * 08:26, 18 September 2007 by, edit summary "Removing image with no source information. Such images that are older than seven days may be deleted at any time."
 * 16:20, 18 September 2007 by Samiharris, reverts all Onomato changes as " POV changes and removal of sourced material and links by SPA"
 * 01:18, 19 September 2007 revert by Onomato
 * 02:51, 19 September 2007 revert by Samiharris
 * 04:15, 19 September 2007 revert by
 * 04:19, 19 September 2007 by 76.204.179.49, add back "Sith Lord" para, change section name
 * 04:22, 19 September 2007 revert by Mantanmoreland
 * 04:26, 19 September 2007 revert by ,later blocked as a sock
 * 04:35, 19 September 2007 revert by Mantanmoreland
 * 04:47, 19 September 2007 revert by LittlePiggy3
 * 05:40, 19 September 2007 semi-protection by
 * 12:15, 19 September 2007 2 edits by, "claimed" -> "said", "bogus" -> "absurd and malicious"
 * 13:28, 19 September 2007 revert by Mantanmoreland, removing the sock edits
 * 25 September 2007 14 edits by, later blocked as a suspected sock of amorrow
 * Much wikignome work
 * 'An AMEX investigation disciplinary action cited two brokers with violations of REG SHO by manipulating unnamed stocks with "fails" to deliver"' -> 'Out of 18 AMEX regulation disciplinary decisions for the year 2007, two involved brokers with violations of REG SHO by manipulating unnamed stocks with "fails" to deliver"'

October 2007

 * 22:35, 2 October 2007 by, can't tell what is changed here (formatting?)
 * 00:35, 3 October 2007 by Hoplon, add link to BusinessWeek reference
 * 07:20, 3 October 2007 by, insert subsection heading for dated external links
 * 19:19, 7 October 2007 by, Organize "See also" and "External links" sections
 * 02:25, 8 October 2007 by, minor wikilinking


 * 09:12, 9 October 2007 by, Remove the early (positive) section of "Media attention" section
 * 09:13, 9 October 2007 by (note subtle difference) blatant vandalism
 * 09:14, 9 October 2007 by, revert only last edit

''The above looks like a deliberate ruse to perform a controversial removal. Two closely linked IP numbers go in and perform successive edits--the first a removal, the second blatant vandalism. The second edit is noticed and reverted but the removal is overlooked. The result is that the "Media attention" section loses all record of positive media attention.''


 * 02:24, 10 October 2007 by, name and deduplicate references, extensive wikilinking
 * 22:37, 11 October 2007 by Hoplon, minor cleanup
 * 16:36, 27 October 2007 by, blatant BLP violation, not linked here for that reason
 * 17:41, 27 October 2007 revert by

November 2007

 * 17:45, 2 November 2007 3 edits by
 * Add ref to news item that Byrne had contributed most of the funds to support House Bill 148 in Utah (education vouchers). Sourced to Salt Lake Tribune
 * 14:51, 7 November 2007 3 edits by, more about the Bill and Byrne's reaction to its defeat in a referendum
 * 05:11, 10 November 2007 2 edits by Samiharris, add reference to report on the referendum defeat, in The Arizona Republic.
 * 18:07, 12 November 2007 by 128.187.0.164, update referendum results (to the correct 38/62 margin according to this)
 * 03:48, 19 November 2007 3 edits by, minor tweaks to wording. The "jihad" becomes a "campaign" again.
 * 17:59, 23 November 2007 by null edit?
 * 01:15, 26 November 2007 by, vandalism
 * 04:40, 26 November 2007 by Samiharris, revert last 3 edits (touch of WP:OWN there)

December 2007

 * 22:42, 2 December 2007 by, adds paragraph on controversy about Byrne's "You may as well burn those kids" comments, sourced to an AP report, with a linked to a FOX News website hosting a copy of the wire story
 * 22:03, 5 December 2007 by, says the New York Post got it wrong when it said Byrne had not disclosed the SEC investigation earlier, and says " in fact he had disclosed it to deaf ears on the part of the financial media long before." Unsourced.
 * 22:24, 5 December 2007 by, revert and add source
 * 00:26, 6 December 2007 by, format tweak
 * 01:37, 7 December 2007 by, removed entire "Background" section
 * 01:38, 7 December 2007 Twinkle vandalism revert by
 * 02:32, 7 December 2007 3 edits by MONGO, punctuation
 * 04:08, 7 December 2007 by, add Category:Living people
 * 11:41, 7 December 2007 by, add link to "Wikipedia black helicopters circle Utah's Traverse Mountain" story in The Register
 * 12:07, 7 December 2007 by, changes heading. Now the "jihad" is a "vendetta"
 * 15:54, 7 December 2007 by and not it's a "campaign"
 * 18:03, 7 December 2007 2 edits by 76.23.15.55, test edit and self revert
 * 20:32, 7 December 2007 by, promoted "Background" section to level 1 (ugh!)
 * 22:31, 7 December 2007 revert by
 * 23:29, 7 December 2007 by . Remove references and note of criticism from lead.  Remove recent news from lead.
 * 23:33, 7 December 2007 revert by
 * 23:47, 7 December 2007 revert by
 * 12:35, 8 December 2007 by, edit summary "WP:GTL (appendices)", formatting
 * 00:06, 9 December 2007 2 edits by John Nevard, revert removal from lead, the campaign becomes a "jihad" again
 * 00:14, 9 December 2007 by, can't see any change. (colorblindness?)
 * 05:48, 10 December 2007 by edit summary "remove link to The Register per consensus on its suitablity for BLP articles", removes "The bizarre world of Patrick Byrne's Overstock"
 * 07:31, 10 December 2007 by, edit summary "remove the other Register link, per growing consensus", removes "Wikipedia black helicopters circle Utah's Traverse Mountain"
 * 03:15, 11 December 2007 by, edit summary "the Register article doesn't appear related to the SEC investigation", removes self-referential paragraph about "Wikipedia black helicopters circle Utah's Traverse Mountain"
 * 11:53, 12 December 2007 revert by, with somewhat trollish edit summary
 * 12:31, 12 December 2007 revert by, edit summary "Rv. Register not an RS. Edit summary is also melodrama"
 * 04:06, 13 December 2007 revert by, edit summary "Register article covers both naked shorting crusade and the media attention. Don't be afraid of a little criticism, Wiki People!"
 * 04:29, 13 December 2007 2 edits by, edit summary " avoiding weaseling", changes text to "Mr. Byrne was trying to promote his agenda by editing Wikipedia and was banned on that site" (thanks for nothing, Alex!)
 * 13:13, 13 December 2007 by Samiharris, edit summary "removing non-RS source per Jimbo"
 * 13:45, 13 December 2007 revert by 213.239.234.41
 * 13:55, 13 December 2007 revert by Samiharris
 * 6:42, 14 December 2007 revert by 213.239.234.41
 * 21:26, 14 December 2007 2 edits by 209.200.52.18, adds back reference other Register article, with quote.
 * 04:35, 17 December 2007 revert by 75.164.187.12, edit summary "rv to Samiharris, the consensus is that the Register is not appropriate for BLPs"

January 2008

 * 18:33, 3 January 2008 2 edits by Samiharris, adds story about the President and COO of Overstock resigning, sourced to a (now defunct from website) story in the Salt Lake Tribune. Change lead to reflect Byrne's expanded role.
 * 17:39, 11 January 2008 4 edits by Samiharris, copy edits "Education lobbying" section, expands Byrne quote in response to failure of Utah state referendum on House Bill 148, replace advocacy site reference with Salt Lake Tribune reference, adds AP report quoting Byrne blaming and attacking the state governor
 * 21:25, 19 January 2008 7 edits by Samiharris
 * Quotes Byrne in an April, 2006 letter to the WSJ, forecasting "a few million Americans are going to show up at the corner of Wall and Broad with pitchforks and nooses."
 * 19:42, 20 January 2008 by Samiharris, edit summary "rv OR", removes piece on AMEX regulation disciplinary decisions for 2007
 * 00:18, 21 January 2008 edits by Post Doctorate y-o-y
 * Restore old paragraph: 'In August 2007, Byrne's suspicions of illegal shorting of Overstock.com shares were validated when details of American Stock Exchange discipline against Scott Arenstein emerged. Arenstein and his firm, SBA Trading, LLC, apparently naked shorted Overstock.com from August 2005 until December of that year.' sourced to 'AMEX Nabs 2 for Reg SHO abuse; 1 Traded Overstock' from Dow Jones Newswire
 * 04:37, 21 January 2008 revert by Samiharris, edit summary "naked shorting not mentioned in either Amex release or Remond article; article specifically says Byrne allegations not borne out; reverting trivia per WP:NOT"
 * 18:57, 22 January 2008 6 edits by Samiharris
 * Rewrites AMEX piece as:
 * 'In July 2007, two American Stock Exchange options market makers were fined and suspended for using Regulation SHO exemptions to "impermissibly engage in naked short selling" in trades involving options and stocks for their own account. Overstock shares were believed to be among the stocks traded. The market makers settled without admitting or denying the allegations. None of the defendants sued by Overstock were named in the decision, and Dow Jones News Service said it "doesn't come close to amount to the massive conspiracy alleged by Overstock."', retains Dow Jones source and adds several amex sources
 * 20:30, 24 January 2008 2 edits by Cool Hand Luke
 * Queries as synthesis a section apparently linking a statement by Chris Cox to Byrne
 * Removes Original research counter-argument
 * Replaces extensive Nocera quote on Utah naked shorts bill with news items in two Utah newspapers
 * 20:41, 24 January 2008 Samiharris, concurs that Chris Cox item is synthesis and removes it.