The Brad Jesness FAQ - Who is Brad Jesness and why does he have his own newsgroup?

The Brad Jesness FAQ - Updated 06/14/03

1) Who is Brad Jesness and what is alt.brad.jesness.die.die.die?

(a) Brad Jesness is a 49 year old man who lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA.

(b) Education and Credentials: Brad has a Master of Arts degree in Educational Psychology from the
UI in 1985. He claims that he has taught at Augsburg College, the UND, Williston and four other
places. He states that he held a regular full-time, permanent track person at two places and that
he has never lost a teaching position.

Message - ID: <good_brad-2506981050310001@ts001d26.min-mn.concentric.net>,
Message - ID: <xx571479-1502971631160001@cnc04731.concentric.net>

Brad also claimed to have a private consulting business that advertised in the Yellow Pages
in 1993. The listing was reportedly under Counselors -- Marriage, Family, Child &
Individual, as follows:

All Major Personality Measures & Psychological Inventories
Individuals and Couples
Problems or Self Exploration
Indvidualized Programs

Message-ID: <6qb7i2$k8j@tako.wwa.com>

Brad has a long history of trying to exaggerate his credentials:

(I) In some messages, Brad stated that he "has been" an instructor. In
other posts, he claimed he "is" a community college instructor. At one
point, Brad claimed he worked for the UMN system. That Brad has not
been teaching on a continuous basis is indicated by an e-mail of his
alleging that he has taught psychology and counseling courses for "over
6 years." Since he first started teaching in the 1980s, that leaves a
number of years where he was not employed as a college instructor.

Message - ID: <3534b461.259558574@news-server>,
Message - ID: <good_Brad- 0202981533150001@ts002d04.min-mn.concentric.net>
Message - ID: <30cb4a156435c97880bfe48e4a551ecd@base.xs4all.nl>
Message - ID: <I3eK1.946$E9.3030205@ptah.visi.com>

Additionally, although he originally informed the State Board of
Psychology in Iowa that he was then (currently) an academic, etc., he
later had to retract that statement.

Message - ID: <Message-ID: 199812312051.VAA06008@replay.com>

(II) Brad claimed that he was "certified" as a "professional in the field."
That claim was investigated and it was found that Brad has no license or
certification in any field relating to psychology or education in the
State of Minnesota.

Message - ID: <good_Brad-2206970942490001@dial004.future.net>
Message - ID: <good_Brad- 1008971250390001@ts008d04.min-mn.concentric.net>

(III) Brad once presented himself as a 42 year-old "Professor" in an e-mail
where he tried to persuade Peter Hood on a professional issue. He later
retracted that title. He also used sock puppetry to refer to himself as
"Professor Xxxxxxx." There is no indication that Brad ever rose higher
than the rank of Instructor.

Message - ID: <TOGwcLBMhCh1EwmV@wharton.demon.co.uk>
Message - ID: <an607151-1305961811360001@198.22.19.206>

(IV) Brad tried to imply that he worked at UMN. To that end, he stated that
he "affiliates himself" with the seventh largest institution for child
development. When challenged about his attempts to mislead people about
his affiliation, he responded that he is invited to a meeting there every
week.

Message - ID: <xx571479-1202971555040001@cnc047111.concentric.net>

(V) Brad claimed to be a "developmental psychologist." He reluctantly
agreed to stop calling himself by that title after professionals posted
the Minnesota laws about using the title and threatened to report him for
what might be a felony. When told that the State Board of Psychology in
MN disagreed with his interpretation of the law, he referred to the State
Psychology Board representative as an "idiot BAG."

Message - ID: <4u2tk5$ji2@stratus.skypoint.net>
Message - ID: <good_Brad-0107981637540001@ts001d37.min-mn.concentric.net>

(VI) While claiming to be an internationally renowned and respected
ethologist and behavioral scientist, Brad has no published research in any
peer-reviewed journal. His only verifiable print publications appear to
be two papers he wrote as a graduate student that are indexed in the
ERIC digest (ERIC_NO: ED264960 and ERIC_NO: ED258729) and a letter to
the editor in an ethology journal.

(VII) Brad claimed to be a personality testing expert in an e-mail to a
graduate student.

Message - ID: <I3eK1.946$E9.3030205@ptah.visi.com>

(VIII) On April 29, 2003 Brad posted a URL to alt.2600 and alt.hackers.malicious
and claimed it was a picture of his wife Renee and him. Why would Brad
do that? That question was asked because the man in the picture was not
Brad. The man turned out to be a colleage of of Renee's. Brad never did
say why he posted a picture of his wife and another man.

(c) Aliases and "Sock Puppets:" Brad has had a number of ISPs. He has also had accounts canceled
by a number of ISPs. Based on archived posts and other sources, he has lost at least two AOL
accounts, a Skypoint account, access to his wife's account through ties.k12.mn, a nymserver
account, a Juno account, and a twwells account. He has also been thrown off professional e-mail
lists for inappropriate behavior. Brad has been known to sneak back on a mail list that he was
thrown off of, only to be thrown off again. Dr. Joe Plaud, listowner of the Clinical-Psychologists
mail list had this to say after throwing sock puppet jsmoe@supernews.com off the list:

Over the years I have been forced to delete Brad from
this list in his various disguises. He must have hundreds of email
accounts, but the message remains the same. He has again
been deleted under his "Joe" Smoe disguise (which I hoped he
used as a tribute to me). Now that he is again deleted, our list
will enjoy a brief respite until he signs up under his next alias,
whence the process will be repeated yet again, ad infinitum.
Fear not, I am a tenacious listowner. Brad will email me some
threatening personal posts, probably call me a "Nazi" over
some usenet news groups, but as in the past I will not respond
to his unfortunate behavioral repertoire, I will endure it in silence
and be delighted that our list has once again been saved from
this unfortunate person's disruptive behavior.

One thing I actually find amusing is that it takes listmembers
only one or two posts from the new incarnation of Brad to
discover his true identity, once again starting the cycle. I am
sorry that this forum occasionally becomes a sounding board
for Brad's incomprehensible agenda. I just hope he doesn't
live in a cabin in Montana. To the APA President, Martin Seligman,
one of the great psychologists in the history of the profession,
I apologize for Brad's rantings and ravings, and will redouble
my efforts to see that none of my email lists are ever used to
promulgate the unfounded, unprofessional, discredited, and
clarity-deprived agenda of one Brad.
Joe Plaud, Listowner

Less than 12 hours later, Dr. Plaud reported that Brad had tried to resubscribe to the list as
jsmoe@my-dejanews.com.

Brad has used over 900 screen aliases in the six years that he has been posting and is frequently
referred to as "the Bard" or "Bradnee." Because of his abuse of remailers to harass people in
usenet and because of forgeries published via their service, Infonex.com announced it was
canceling all accounts on cyberpass.net.

Message - ID: <35c663d4.163214782@news.erols.com>

(d) In July 1997, alt.brad.jesness.die.die.die (ABJDDD), was created by John M. Price, PhD, as a
long overdue response to Brad's abuse of others. The flame group has been a sore spot for Brad, who
declares that everyone who posts to it is an abuser. Brad has been known to start threads in ABJDDD
when he wants to attack others or threaten them. See for example, his "Terms" post.

Message - ID: <20010224193859.85041.qmail@propane.zoomph.net>

By his own definition, then, he is an abuser.