On Shaun Goldstein

[Ixabert]

I took the liberty of cross-posting some of your satirical works to the Phora, & various other platforms (crediting it all to you—even the stuff I wrote—by using the convenient username of Shaun Goldstein), though I confess, I did expand upon a fair bit of it—partly for my own amusement, naturally, & partly to make it palatable to different audiences. It seemed only fitting to add a dash of Ixabertian flourish. Then, of course, I went off on my own tangents in the reply sections. I interspersed it all with my own satirical articles, for I’d been writing in a similar vein since the turn of the century in fact.

A thoroughly gratifying enterprise, I must say.

Mind you, I never wanted to be credited with any of it—even the pieces penned entirely by myself—since the whole joke hinges on the readers believing it to be the work of a true adherent of the political ideologies we were attempting to ridicule.

Now, be it noted, I did attempt to make it clear to my collegues that I was not, in fact, the original Shaun Goldstein. But my associates at the Phora were unwilling to accept this minor clarification. Imagine! They simply won’t believe me, poor fellow. As if I should wish to have the name thrust upon me.

To add to the confusion, there is another Ixabert on the internet—a most pitiful fellow, I’m afraid—who has taken to posting on forums with my name. He would nod along to every false & malicious rumour about me. Many people—particularly my detractors—will simply not accept my protestations that this individual is, in fact, not I. The imposter knows me very well, & strives, with some success, to emulate my style, & intersperses it my own content.

But I digress. As for the Shaun Goldstein account, once I had exhausted the supply of material I’d so generously cross-posted, I turned to my own reserves of satirical wit, all of it inspired by your singular genius.

I must, of course, confess that Shaun Goldstein was merely one among many, indeed dozens, of such accounts which I puppeted to propagate my, & your, satirical work. A vast army of pseudonyms in the service of satire.

Some of those Xanga accounts you mentioned—at least a dozen—were, in fact, mine from the start. I seem to recall that I first encountered your work on a defunct website called the Troll Database (trollldb). But I should think you & I agree that it was you who truly set it all into motion. You were the spark that ignited the fire.

And so it is with great delight & no little admiration that I finally have the privilege of meeting the man behind this magnificent body of work.

You are a legend and a true artist of the first order. The finest of satirists, a true master of the craft, and your precnce here is nothing short of providential.

Sincerely,
Lord Ixabert