Feeling lucky punks? Are ya?

Is there a better way to resolve a complex issue of marine archaeology than to simply pop a cap in some one's ass?

We think so, but the suddenly tough-talking Twits over at HHI apparently endorse the more aggressive approach. Twice today the issue of shooting or threatening others with guns appeared on the poseurs' website. All in good fun, you say? Not when you consider the sources.

In the first instance, which we reported earlier today, Old Toughie Bartram (we strive to make our hero Wodehouse proud), who has made several online references to physically assaulting those he disagrees with (translation: he's a bigger pussy than Garfield), today wrote about a hypothetical run-in with Odyssey, with a grim result:

Solomon: "Personally, if somebody turns up on one of our sites waving a piece of paper and shouting at me, they are at risk of getting shot."

Shot with what Bartram? A bitchy glare? Ooooh, that sounds positively venomous.

"SatDiver" (smithvi2003, Smitty, gldn_fleez), so desperately eager to ingratiate himself to the Queen Bee, buzzed about with similar threats. Hilariously, though, and showing a complete lack of imagination, he posts virtually the same scenario as Master Bartram, with the same predictable outcome:

SatDiver: "You can show up to a recovery operation, show them your piece of paper, with No location shown, and tell them that they are on your site, and that they have to leave.There are many groups operating out there that I would not suggest trying that with...."

Which he follows with...take a guess...that's right: A photo of a guy playing with all kinds of nasty-looking boom sticks (i.e., big ass machine guns). We know, we know: Pathetic. (Of the beyond words variety.)

Now, most of you are already grossly familiar with SatDiver Smitty's way with "subtlety." His years of Yahoo posts, detailed in our recent profile, revealed a vile penchant for insults featuring pedophilia, bestiality, incest, but also uber-creepy stalking of female posters and the cowardly harassment of a Vietnam vet. As we said then: this guy's a piece of work. (HHI should be really proud of such stellar associations.)

Does HHI honestly expect to be taken seriously by the adult world, especially the niche that focuses on the fairly narrow, restricted field of marine archaeology, with this kind of asinine behavior?

Ah well...it's ultimately of no concern to us how the world perceives HHI; we do this for our own and hopefully others' amusement. And while we'll refrain from threatening to shoot anyone, you can count on us to continue carving up poseur ass. Strictly metaphorically speaking, mind you.

A challenge for Indiana Bartram

We see the Angry Twit's threatening violence again over at HHI, this time saying he's going to shoot someone for simply waving a piece of paper at him, but the tough-guy act aside (in real life he's a confirmed prancing coward), check this out:

Solomon: "We, History Hunters, also participate in nautical archaeology."

Is that right?

Okay, because we know you and your members read us, we'll bite: Name one, just one, nautical archaeology project HHI has ever worked on. Provide a link, a summary, a report, anything to show your work in the field. And don't be throwing Doc's finding a couple of old twigs on the ocean bottom at us either. All that's good for is a laugh over a couple rum and cokes, otherwise you'd still be promoting it on your website.

We're talking about any project on par with what Odyssey has accomplished.

Of course, you won't, because you can't. You should know by now, Bartram, that simply promoting yourself as an archaeologist or historian doesn't make it so. Now, refer to yourself as a rank amateur, and we'll let you have your little moment of glory. Until, that time, why don't you shut your yap?

We're waiting....

Decipher this...

HHI's pseudo intellectuals are again trying to connect spiritualism, paranormal activities, religion, Mormonism, PT Barnum-ism, Bartram's Stupid-ism (okay, we threw that last one in there), to make an exceedingly weak case using highly selective bits of U.S. history to justify their obsessive hatred of treasure hunting, and more specifically, Odyssey.

They insist, with thoroughly unconvincing evidence, that the so-called "fraud" of treasure hunting is a uniquely American phenomenon. (Of course, we all know there's no such thing as a gullible Brit. Just ask Neville Chamberlain, and he only cost what, a few hundred thousand lives?) We're inclined, however, to see these HHI's efforts for their true purpose: to bash Americans -- their second favorite pastime.

The Angry Twit Bartram started this boring monologue with himself a while ago, but seemed to lose steam, probably because he bored himself to death, or more likely, he exhausted his sherry supply. Perhaps both. Hey, it's a lot of work posting all those pretty pictures online (for if he doesn't make it like a comic book, Doc refuses to read it...it's not a lot unlike them having to pour whiskey on garnishes to get him to eat his fruits and veggies.)

Regardless, the conversation is picking up again, much to our amusement. The latest post is from "Scribe" (karma: 188) who quotes long passages from an obscure book about "enthusiastic religions" in western New York (sounds riveting, no? Think it has pictures?). Old Scribe bought it probably because he thought merely possessing it would increase his IQ a few points.

About the book (which has nothing whatsoever to do with treasure hunting, by the way), he writes:

"With (blind) faith an integral part of the process, it also explains how treasure hunting, US-style, studiously ignores science and reason. It also explains how critics of treasure hunters are attacked so viciously, for they are the heretics, or even the anti-Christ."

The soap-opera worthy dramatic second sentence, in addition to being a classic non sequitur, raises a question: Does HHI, who nobly claim devotion to history and archaeology, have a right to lecture others about the scientific pursuit of reason when it stoops to post an innocuous photo of a part-time Odyssey captain reveling during the holidays? And then have the little minions scurry off to post it on Yahoo (upon which it was immediately deleted)? Is this a point achieved through science, logic and reason?

Yeah, okay. Sure.

Be sure to drink some more of that Guyana Kool-Aid, Scribe. Your Queen Bee compels it.

Doc Dumped?

Doc had six -- count 'em six -- posts littering the front page of the HHI website yesterday. As we reported at the time, his useless droppings pushed off other perfectly valid posts about history and archaeology, including reports from what looked like a fairly interesting amateur archaeology dig in the UK.

Low and behold, this morning not a single Doc raving remained front and center. He's been replaced with items having nothing whatsoever to do with his rabid hatred of Odyssey. We've not seen that fast of a change-over of HHI's website ever (and we've been following it well over a year. )

Is this a manifestation of weariness with Doc's visceral attacks on Odyssey as well as his embarrassing behavior that comes at the expense of the HHI masses? We think that's a very distinct possibility.

Stay tuned.

P.S. Doc was just now called to task for claiming that OMEX's institutional ownership was 87 percent. As the moron was just informed, one cannot add the percentage of institutional ownership (42%) and the institutional ownership as a percentage of the total stock float (45%) and get a meaningful number (87%). Once again, Doc proudly displays his stupidity, embarrassing HHI in the process. (To their credit, they publicly called him on it.)

Ape Man Libel?

We received a request this evening from a reader to re-run a deleted Yahoo post from that not-so-lovable Ape Man, "andysalley," as well as a letter written by this reader to Odyssey alleging libel. Not surprisingly, and as our reader predicted in his letter, the entire thread including Ape Man's offending post, and all subsequent comments (which easily ran in the "hang him now" camp), was eventually deleted by Yahoo.

Of course, we're more than happy to run both in case some of you may have missed the exchange over the weekend. (And if you did: congratulations, you have a life!) And so, without further ado:

Ape Man's offending post:

Re: Going Under $4 (Saturday, June 28, 2008)

Last year I said that the Spanish case wouldn't be resolved before 2009, and received a real "flock mocking" for my lack of knowledge about the court system, the case, and the company. Guess what... now even most of the flock seems to recognize that I was right.

A lot of us bears have also said that the company will need to make another offering (read - further dilution) in order to maintain business operations before the end of 2008, if the company cannot start generating profits before then. Of course, the flock refuses to recognize this fact as well.

From a technical perspective, $4.50 is now resistance. From a fundamental perspective, I have to agree with you... I think the PPS is much more likely to see $3 before it sees $5. Since May of last year, I think it is safe to say that there have been very few investors who have made money besides the company officers.

I think these guys are incredibly smart and have a lot of business savvy. They've managed to pull in some incredible salaries and other income from options while enjoying their hobby with some of the best technology available to anyone interested in treasure hunting. Heck, they've even managed to provide some nice income to at least one family member for decorating their office space (a building purchased at the height of the real-estate bubble that was much larger than they ever needed).

Heck, I wish I was as smart as these guys... They've not only pulled the wool over the flock's eyes, they've managed to convince the flock that everything they bump into, or trip over, is a bar of gold!

Cheers, AA

Our reader's letter to Odyssey reporting Ape Man's post:

I'm a long-time follower of and investor in Odyssey Marine Exploration. I’m writing to comment about a Yahoo post by an "andysalley" this evening on the Yahoo Message board. (The full text of his post is copied below). As an investor, I want to express, in the strongest terms possible, how angered I am by this poster’s reckless, malicious comments against the company and its management team. I believe he has committed serious libel, potentially harming my investment in the process.

After all, is there any more serious allegation directed at a publicly traded company than one suggesting deception and fraud of investors? Even if those comments are later passed off as made in jest or as an “opinion”?

I understand there’s a lot of funny business currently going on regarding multiple aliases attacking Odyssey on Yahoo (as evidenced by “nauticalresearch’s” accidental outing of yet another alias on Friday), but I believe “andysalley’s” long-time, well-known presence on the board gives his comments more weight than those of new, anonymous and unknown posters. And while I fully support his right to be harshly critical of the company and its performance, even in frequently insulting terms, I strenuously disapprove of comments that suggest management is purposely misleading investors to enrich themselves and family members.

Where is the libel? I believe “andysalley” crossed a line this evening by writing that management is responsible for receiving “incredible” compensation (even though that is determined by the board of directors), while merely pursuing a “hobby” (when, in fact, OMEX is a fully operational business), while throwing largess at family members and purchasing unnecessarily large real estate holdings at suspiciously high prices. Added together, he’s clearly implying wrong-doing at the expense of shareholders. What’s more, while he uses the term “flock,” there’s no question he means “investors” as he regularly uses this term in a derogatory manner to refer to the Yahoo board’s known long-time investors.

I’ve also voiced my concerns directly to Yahoo, and while I don’t doubt his post will ultimately be removed, that is besides the point. My concern, frankly, is the damage possibly already caused. Worse, this post tonight demonstrates an increasingly hostile, threatening tone this poster is directing at the company and its investors.

I’ve complained about this to Yahoo as well. In other words, I would like to see this stopped before it further gets out of hand. I’m deeply tired of the constant attacks on OMEX that occur on an almost daily basis on the Yahoo board. These types of posts, if enough of them are published, together as a whole and left unchecked, have the potential to cause grievous harm. I therefore applaud and support your efforts to ensure the worst offenders are kept in check through aggressive defense of your reputation. At the very least, I would like to see this poster forced to apologize and/or to agree to never again post on the Yahoo board -- or at least not in the libelous manner he did this evening.

Do we think Ape Man's grunts were libelous? Well, we're not lawyers, not even unfrozen caveman lawyers, but our highly uneducated guess is that it comes awfully damned close. We did observe that Ape Man was in a highly defensive mode about the libel charge all afternoon before the thread was deleted. We think that's telling.

Bad weekend for the bad guys, yes? We hate it when that happens.

Minister of Silly Talk

That propaganda is good which leads to success, and that is bad which fails to achieve the desired result. It is not propaganda’s task to be intelligent, its task is to lead to success. ~ Joseph Goebbels

Not surprisingly, after outing yet another alias on Yahoo last Friday, old Jim McManus isn't showing his face over at Yahoo. Nor are any of his multiple aliases yapping either. Yet.

But he's at it again already with his nonsensical ravings on the HHI website. You'd think someone over there would say, "Listen Doc, you've just made a right serious ass of yourself over at Yahoo, and embarrassed us again, so why don't you just go sleep this one off for awhile?" But that's not how the Twit Minor rolls. If he can't be posting lies and distortions about Odyssey, his life has zero meaning.

Doc: "We know for a fact that the 'Ocean Alert' has been under detention by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency in the UK for almost a whole year. In my opinion this detention signals an end to British co-operation and the Sussex contract. Incidentally Odyssey shall lose a sizable non-refundable bond if they lose this contract."

Here's what we know for a fact about the Alert: It has been directly explained by Odyssey, both in public press releases and in correspondence with investors, that the Alert has been undergoing a major overhaul with significant upgrades and will not be "released" by the UK until these are complete and test runs have been successfully conducted. Odyssey also mentioned understandable delays, given the serious nature of the work, and also missing ship's paperwork that was apparently taken by the Spanish during its illegal seizure of the vessel (what irony, eh?). Yet, the HHI minions, both on their website and on Yahoo, have relentlessly beat this dead horse trying to give the impression the vessel has been "seized" or forcibly detained by the UK for more sinister causes.

What's more, they use this distortion to argue another lie: that there has been a rupture in the relationship between the company and the UK and that the Sussex project has thus been scuttled. Nothing has been publicly reported to indicate such a split, nor has the MOD formally announced the end of the project.

This is the essence of Joseph Goebbels' "big lie," so effectively used by the Nazis. This UK nonsense is pure speculative garbage and the constant repeating of it is clearly intended to damage Odyssey's reputation and ultimately it's share price. One might think an idiot being sued for libel, whose trial is about to begin, would refrain from these kinds of salacious charges, but again, that's not how Doc Doofus rolls. He's as blissfully arrogant in his hatred as the Queen Bee.

Perhaps HHI should give Doc the title he deserves, one that Goebbels possessed: Minister for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda.

More amusingly, Doc ends his numerous posts on HHI today begging for assistance to answer a profoundly simple question regarding international waters near the English Channel. A sixth grader with an Internet connection could have easily answered the question in minutes, but this was apparently too much for Doc's limited imagination.

Remind us again why he refers to himself as a "nautical researcher."

P.S. Doc's six (6) posts today officially pushed HHI's one actual amateur archaeology project right off the website's front page. Those folks must be absolutely thrilled.

The Coward's Prance

Yep, the HHI website is back to full-time bashing of Odyssey.

We're sure the dudes who are actually out conducting an amateur archaeological dig are delighted to have their updates pushed aside for Earth-Shattering Odyssey News that originally aired in...2003! Or a post that quibbles with the media's description of the artifacts submitted to the court in the Channel Island arrests (the poseurs clearly don't understand how shipwreck arrests work, which isn't surprising considering their exploration experience is limited to dingleberry mining.)

It must be really comforting to be out sweating in a UK field, digging trenches all over the place looking for something archaeologically interesting, only to have your "peers" back in their darkened caves excitedly jabbering away on the phone like gossiping school girls plotting the next attack on the popular kids' reputation. We're sure, as one of the HHI members stated before, that the poseur leadership's "obsession" with Odyssey doesn't grate at all, or come at the expense of all the other topics on the website.

There is one new development of interest: neither Doc nor Solomon are putting their signatures, nor goofy mugshots, to these anti-Odyssey posts. They're now assigned to the HHI "Administrator." Which tell us:

1. They're worried about Odyssey coming after them (and, it would be sooooo hard to determine the identity of the "Administrator"); and
2. They're cowards

We know this: we're as excited by the start of Doc's trial as we are the beginning of NFL Training camp! We think it likely to be a highly interesting and entertaining forum on HHI's operators and tactics.

Mac-A-Doc, the Deep Lurker Chuckling Plucker

Don't look now, but Doc (aka "nauticalresearch"), has outed yet another one of his aliases on Yahoo. How many times is that now, five or six?

Our favorite mental midget has been posting recently as "mcaguy13," undoubtedly to give his better known alias a low profile as his libel trial moves closer to reality. We've no doubt he has other aliases as well, particularly "laughinggull51," who bears all the Jack Ass characteristics of a Doc front man (i.e., post OMEX "news" perceived by HHI as negative, and hammer away at it over and over and over and so on).

Does this surprise us? Not really. But it does demonstrate the HHI poseurs can't argue the merits of their opposition to Odyssey on their own. They have to resort to multiple false aliases to create the appearance of widespread support and uniformity of opinion. As we've known all along: their opposition is a sham perpetuated by a bunch of true-believing liars and frauds. We hope someday the truth and motivations behind HHI's coordinated attacks on Odyssey will become publicly known. As we've said, Doc's trial could result in some most interesting revelations about the history poseurs and their tactics.

The Queen Bee will not be happy about this mental melt-down, which used to be something of a tradition for Doc on Yahoo on Friday evenings. (He once got so pounded he accused Jeff, and later Odyssey, of selectively editing and deleting his posts and having full control of the Yahoo board -- makes a lot of sense, doesn't it?) Let's put it this way: as the evening wore on, Doc became less and less coherent.

Perhaps we're in for a reprise tonight? Excelleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeent.

P.S. If you're puzzled by our headline, it's simply a mash-up of Doc's self-outed identities.

Indiana Bartram?

Perhaps in defiance of our pronouncement of relative quiet regarding HHI's OMEX posts, Doc and Solomon had the usual witless back and forth. After Bartram posted a long list of Odyssey insider transactions stretching back to '88, the Angry Twit sniffed, manicured pinkie aloft, nostrils aflare, a final word:

Solomon: "How much did the investors get back?"

Twit Minor, who just can't let the Big Stinky Cheese have his rhetorical moment, chimes right in, the Chihuahua to the bulldog:

Doc: "Of course Solomon the answer is nothing."

Yes, of course, the answer is nothing. Not one investor in Odyssey has ever made a penny on his or her investment. Which, of course, explains the preponderance of class action lawsuits that resulted against Odyssey, right? (Reality: there hasn't been one.) If this isn't libel, we don't know what is. And notice how Solomon cleverly has his yappy minion say it for him -- the one who already finds himself in court for such comments.

He's not called the Queen Bee for nothing, baby.

Solomon, quite pleased with himself, then cites PT Barnum in comparison to Odyssey. Which is funny, because, if multiple Internet sources are to be trusted, Old Man Bartram has quite the shallow showman reputation himself. Take a look (click the link, search the page for "Bartram"): he's been called a fake archaeologist, a fraud artist, a big mouth, and our favorite, a poseur.

Any smoking guns? No. But, added up, something smells decidedly fishy. We're actually most intrigued by the reoccurring allegation that Bartram passes himself off as an archaeologist to others. We reported on this once before. But for what purpose? Fraud? We're looking into this more diligently.

For someone who's devoted a fair amount of time criticizing the credentials of Odyssey's staff archaeologists (who actually posses accreditation), what does it say about Bartram's penchant for claiming he's one himself? We know this: he's not an accredited historian nor an archaeologist. Of course, he could simply say he's an amateur member of those fields, but his bellicose, bloated ego just won't allow it.

Is there more? We think so. Stay tuned.

You smell smart...

Things appear to be slowing down on the history poseurs' website regarding Odyssey. Evidence? Check out the latest titillating topic posted by Solomon:

"The Role of the House in Early Neolithic Ireland"

Wow. Pretty exciting, meaty subject, uh? We suppose the Angry Twit thinks posting this stuff gives him a veneer of academic legitimacy -- like it's a simply a scent you slap on, an Eau de IQ. Maybe this is why Bartram claims academics flock to him: he promotes obscure esoterica; they make him appear smart. A win win!

Oh sure, you still find the usual garbage, like tired, old information about insider transactions, and heavily recycled news articles about Spanish government allegations of cultural crimes (oddly enough, though, still no word from the media about those supposed 50 arrests of government officials for consorting with Odyssey, go figure), but it's unquestionably gotten quieter about OMEX.

Perhaps a certain person is waiting to see what effect his potentially libelous remarks have on the already fragile universe about him? (Hey, why are we hearing that music from Jaws all of the sudden?)

P.S. It truly pains us to see a picture of our hero Mark Twain on HHI. Twain hated the sanctimonious and hypocritical and savaged folks like Doc and Solomon in his day. (We're certain he would have spat on Smitty. Then again, who wouldn't?)

Queen Bee Bartram

We warned you we could be really collectively stupid and immature. And we hate to disappoint. So today we're sharing a song we wrote, inspired by a very clever friend who, almost as an aside, noted that Solomon, aka John Bartram (the Angry Twit), appears to be HHI's Queen Bee, with the rest of the poseurs merely busy buzzing worker bees.

So without further ado, and with deepest apologies to Koko Taylor (our official Goddess and muse), we offer you the following tune sang to the bluesy strummings in the key of E.

Bartram's Queen Bee Blues

Well, I'm a queen bee, baby
Buzzin’ round Odyssey’s hive
Yeah, I'm a queen bee baby
Buzzin’ all round OMEX’s hive
And when you hear me buzzin'
You know you’re hearing jive

Now I'm not so young and able, to buzz all night long
Aww, I said I'm just not able, to buzz all night long
So when you hear my little minions buzzin’
You know some proxy stinging is going on.
Hear them buzz!

Well I'm a queen bee, baby
Won't you be my friend?
Yeah I'm a queen bee, baby
Please won't you be my friend?
Together we all can sink Odyssey
And shut-up this bald, drunken Mother Hen

Well there’s Doc and Smitty and Mcaguy
And Andy and Frigata and Fleas
A jackass named Laughing-gull
And a rat who goes by “friend-of-steves”
What do they have in common?
What do they do indeed?
They all do my frantic bidding
To bring Odyssey to its knees
Oh yeah yeah

Now why do we all do it?
Why do we buzz with such hate?
Why do we risk lawsuits and sanctions?
When we’d much rather masturbate?
The answer is very simple
The meaning is very clear
We’re a bunch of insignificant losers
Who haven’t been laid in years
Oh yeah yeah

That’s all of it now, baby
Your queen honey bee is done
It’s time for me to shut my yap
And get HHI moving on
I hope you liked my singing
I hope you liked my song
But oh, my God, whatever you do
Don’t compare me to Smitty’s schlong

Oh yeah yeah
I mean no, no!

And there you have it, ladies and gents: Art.

A Cabal of Sanctimonious Misanthropes

We obviously hit some raw, exposed nerves yesterday with our very popular "smithvi2003" profile (our site received over 1,000 hits in a just a few hours and our comments section is as active as it's ever been).

Naturally, this makes us happy.

Not surprisingly, some of the HHI poseurs on the Yahoo board are suggesting today that Odyssey is behind our work or involved in what we do. Well, we said this our first day in existence and we'll reiterate it now: HH Watch has no relationship with Odyssey Marine Exploration whatsoever. We don't seek or receive ideas or suggestions from them about anything we write about. In fact, we're pretty sure they wouldn't want anything to do with us -- we have pretty righteous potty mouths, after all.

(And besides, we've already made our feelings about Greg Stemm well known.)

What's more, we don't focus exclusively on HHI's Odyssey writings. We've ripped them on all manner of other hypocrisies and lies on other topics. We're equal opportunity when it comes to exposing and slamming the history and archaeology poseurs.

However, if the HHI misanthropes want to persist in perpetuating this false claim publicly, and if one in particular, who's about to go to court for libel and defamation, wants to keep spreading this lie on Yahoo, we'd be more than happy to provide an official statement or documentation to the court to show our complete independence, should it come to that.

Is that clear enough? We think so.

Finally, a post-mortem on Smitty: for a while yesterday, incredibly, he rather lamely posted on Yahoo about actually being a victim of a "personal attack." After we wiped away our tears (of laughter), we couldn't help but be intrigued by this pathetic position. After all, if you take the time to read the sordid collection of his Yahoo posts -- his very own words -- the guy would stoop to any level to personally savage other individuals and companies. We sensed nothing more than a defeated, demoralized palooka. We're guessing his HHI masters certainly couldn't have been amused.

And, if Doc or his lawyer is intending to use Smitty or others as some kind of character witness during his libel trial, as "smithvi" suggested (and we find this highly suspect: who will pay for this spectacle? Doc has already pled legal pauperism to the court), then we think this long trail of Smitty slime would certainly make for an interesting inclusion in the court documents. Lord forbid the scumbag actually got up in front of a courtroom (though we really like the comedic possibilities in that scenerio!)

Smitty's obviously ashamed. He should be -- his sordid past caught up with him. And it couldn't have happened to a nicer feller.

Profiles in Cowardice: "smithvi2003" (UPDATE: HE'S now known as "garscrappa")

Smitty and his gargantuan snoz, right

Today we launch our "profiles in cowardice" series, beginning with the least interesting but easily most annoying of the Big Three HHI poseurs: "smithvi2003."

Also known derisively as "Smitty" on Yahoo (where we think he's also probably "gldn_fleez," among other aliases), and as "satdiver" on HHI, he first began posting, we're certain not coincidentally, on May 18, 2007, the very day Odyssey announced the Black Swan (BS) find. He initially posted as a seemingly innocent, merely curious fellow. But in very short time, he launched attacks on Odyssey that, in retrospect, appear clearly to have been coordinated with other HHI negative posts, particularly those of Doc, aka Jim McManus.

It wasn't long after these first posts that Smitty began his infamous "follow the buckets" act, which he repeated ad nauseam until some Yahoo members were ready for murder in the first. He alleged, rather clumsily and stupidly, that Odyssey was faking the BS find, a charge loudly echoed by Doc (not surprisingly, this is part of Odyssey's libel allegations against him). Smitty was widely mocked and quickly debunked for his "theory's" inconsistencies and outright falsehoods. Based on our reading of Odyssey's court filing against McManus, we're amazed Smitty wasn't sued himself. (Perhaps he just seemed mentally incapacitated to Odyssey's lawyers?)

Public disdain and personal shame didn't slow down our Smitty, though. He hammered away at this "theme" for weeks. Mercifully, he was ultimately drowned out by the flow of facts released by the company and by members who took the time to pick apart his weak, inconsequential case. Eventually he stopped referring to it altogether, but not before his reputation as a sloppy, repetitive village idiot was firmly entrenched at Yahoo OMEX.

He disappeared on and off for several weeks at a time, and more recently appeared to be trying to establish a more reasonable, respectable reputation as someone who well understood the shipwreck/underwater salvage business. We've no idea why, but we suspect it may have had something to do with him realizing that his past posts spoke volumes about him personally, and that as he became identified as an aggressive opponent of Odyssey, his own words might come into play. And, low and behold, enter stage left, one of our kind readers entered at a most fortuitous time.

We've zippo interest in the mass of garbage posted by Smitty about Odyssey. Too many have had to endure that annoyance already. No, what we're interested in sharing is Smitty in his own words. We warn you: his Yahoo posts, a sampling of which are linked to below, are highly disturbing, even for the appalling level of cruelty and insensitivity that dominates much of the Internet today.

We can't post everything (after all, Smitty has posted 4,000 times on Yahoo), and besides, there's no need to -- anyone with the time, inclination, or cast-iron stomach, can just as easily read every post ever written by the deviant. Even still, the character that emerges from even this small, random selection of writings is a disgusting, highly disturbed individual. So, bear with us, hold your nose, and dive into some of the worst of "smithvi2003."

Smitty's Yahoo posts are characterized by significant patterns of crude abuse, including references to bestiality (1), incest (1), homophobia (1, 2), pedophilia (1, 2, 3, 4), sexism, creepy stalking (1, 2, 3, 4, 5), harassment (of a Vietnam vet to boot), and, believe it or not, even anti-Canadian sentiment.

We think you'll agree that what bubbles forth from this sewage is a revolting, bullying, exceptionally crude ignoramus who could as realistically handle Odyssey's role in the underwater exploration business as Charles Manson could competently occupy a Supreme Court seat. In reality, we doubt that "smithvi2003" could last even five minutes under circumstances of normal human interaction. We think this goes a long way toward explaining his deep personal antipathy toward, and conviction to anonymously (i.e. cowardly) destroy Odyssey, and obviously other innocent persons as well.

Unfortunately for him it was his own actions wielding the Internet as a weapon that chronicled his own character assassination. Ironic, huh?

Finally, thanks to our source, we're also fairly certain we know Smitty's personal identity. We see no point in outing him. As his own words demonstrate, he's nothing but a sad, sick, pathetic individual who's but an insignificant blip on the human radar. So, his name shall remain our secret. Unless the right people ask us for it, that is.

Coming up next: A Profile of HHI's "Solomon," aka John Bartram.

P.S. Several of the board that "smithvi2003" posted his vile offering to went out of business, primarily because he played penny stocks, but that did not stop us from backing up copies of his most vile posts, which are a history of his lack of character. Here they are, if you can stomach it:

Doc in the Docket (and other breaking news)

Looks like Twit Minor's libel trial is going forward. According to the Hillsborough County Court Docket, interrogatories were sent to Doc by the company on June 18th. Is it any surprise then the Big Mouth suddenly shut his yap?

Now it's gets interesting. You can count on us to report on the trial.

Also, we're thrilled beyond belief with a veritable treasure trove (sorry, we couldn't resist) of information sent to us by a reader about Solomon, aka John Bartram, aka the Angry Twit. Gosh, isn't it funny how often it is that those who scream the loudest, who protest the most vigorously, about fraud and wrong-doing turn out in the end to be the worst perpetrators of it?

We are working on our "smithvi" profile now, but here's a little tease about what you can expect from our future Bartram treatment. His past appears riddled with personal allegation of lies and fraud. Let's see how well the Angry Twit stands up to the uber-scrutiny he's directs at Odyssey and their work.

Is it just us, or do you also get all tingly when the bad guys finally get their due?

Thou Shalt be Deleted

Yesterday we reported that HHI had changed a destination page on their website from a link we provided that led readers to some banter between Doc and Solomon (which appears to have gone permanently missing, hmmmm). What was put in it's place was a rather harmless-looking membership login box.

But, take a look at this screen capture from their website:

The nitwits were actually dumb enough to reveal the source path for this "login box."

So, if you're masochistic enough to be an HHI member, and you logged in to read the exchange, your membership would have been deleted and your ability to view the website would have been permanently revoked. (The practice of banning IP addresses is common at HHI and has been reported to us by several readers. In fact, their website administrator once bragged that he had deleted over 200 memberships in a scattershot campaign to try to rid HHI of those pesky critics and skeptics.)

This illustrates perfectly the warped mind-set of the HHI leadership. They are so threatened by an alternative viewpoint, and so committed to their true-believer cause in destroying Odyssey, that even a casual reader of this site could lose his or her ability to read what HHI was saying, and not only about Odyssey-related subjects, but a host of others as well. And all for daring to read another perspective about or criticism of HHI.

What's the next heavy-handed tactic? Burning books or inconvenient documents? Air-brushing out the photographic images of those who have fallen out of favor? (Sound familiar?)

The hypocrisy and narrow-mindedness of these people never ceases to amaze us.