Zach Horan (legendneverdies) Banned

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xxaaaxx
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Re: Zach Horan (legendneverdies) Banned

Post by xxaaaxx »

Good riddance. Whenever I'd see an episode on youtube, or a recap on fikkle fame etc., and see the same cigar comments every time a woman won, other than being disgusted it surprised me that he was still acting like that elsewhere, but apparently behaving here. The fact that he wasn't actually makes more sense. What a creep.
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Re: Zach Horan (legendneverdies) Banned

Post by seaborgium »

xxaaaxx wrote:Good riddance. Whenever I'd see an episode on youtube, or a recap on fikkle fame etc., and see the same cigar comments every time a woman won, other than being disgusted it surprised me that he was still acting like that elsewhere, but apparently behaving here. The fact that he wasn't actually makes more sense. What a creep.
Alietr and the mods kept him on a pretty short leash here, as far as I know. He more or less toed the line a lot of the time, but occasionally he couldn't resist posting a cigar comment, and it would be quickly deleted and he'd lose his posting privileges for a while. I admit I thought that sufficed; I didn't know he dodged the law by PMing other members.
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Re: Zach Horan (legendneverdies) Banned

Post by Bamaman »

I saw a video recently where a woman champ lost to a man. He lit a cigar for her for the games she had won in the past.

I think someone with his knowledge and interest in game shows is great on a board like this, but it has always struck me as a little obsessive and his darker side is just strange.
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Re: Zach Horan (legendneverdies) Banned

Post by Rafferty Barnes »

I feel like we as a community have tolerated him for far too long, and I include myself in that. I was aware of his schtick soon after I started trying to get on Jeopardy! In 2007 and became active on the boards. He was banned on the Sony boards but sometimes his posts would get through. Every youtube upload with a female champion he was there, every local news article about a woman winning on Jeopardy he would be there. Then when I won in 2011, I found out that it was more than public posts. He sent me a message on facebook. He sent me a PM on the Sony boards. He commented on the WWTBAMBored posts about me. It went from being mildly creepy to a little concerning. But I said nothing, just blocked, deleted, reported where I could and moved on.

Then in May when I appeared on a Jeopardy Live Panel he tweeted at me. I can't tell you how panicked it made me feel that he had found me in a new place and I had his attention again. Still I said nothing except blocking him on twitter and telling a few friends. It made me start to dread my upcoming appearance on 500 Questions instead of looking forward to it, and not want to go on the Live Panel again.

Then he posted on the 500 Questions thread on WWTBAMBored with cyberial cigars for me and Pam. http://wwtbambored.com/viewtopic.php?f= ... 50#p498584 I finally told him off. I was amazed that there were several posters there who were not aware of his full extent, some who hadn't even noticed that he only did it to women. I thought everybody knew, and I was the only one sensitive enough to be bothered by it. After that I started to talk to other women, and found out he was pming champions on jboard, finding women's e-mails. He's done it to minors who have appeared on the show. A search of youtube comments finds some where he mentions he knows where that champion lives and might come to her house to deliver his cigar in person.

I have everything screencapped now. I wish I had thought to save everything from 2011, since a lot of it has been taken down now. How ridiculous is it that I have a folder marked “evidence” now just because I won on Jeopardy? My husband begging me to remember to think of protecting my family before I make myself a bigger target online?

He scares me, and it took me a long time to come public with that. I feel comfortable sharing here since I'm a longtime boardie and I've made lots of friends and met dozens of you in person. How do you think a female Jeopardy! champion felt when she comes here for the first time unaware and gets contacted by a poster with thousands of posts and everyone just rolls their eyes at him, or when she googles her name and his comments come up over and over? Why was he not banned the first time he PMed a woman here? How many comments on your blogs and youtube channels does he have to make before you block him? How many chances does one person get because he has a lot of obscure game show knowledge, at the expense of literally every woman champion from the last 8 years at least?

I need the help of the good guys here to make the online Jeoparsphere a fun place for women to analyze wagering to death and share obscure trivia without getting harassed.
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Re: Zach Horan (legendneverdies) Banned

Post by Robert K S »

For my part, I've tried reporting his posts on Facebook, choosing the most appropriate "reason" for their inappropriateness among the limited set of reasons they make available through their system. I always get the reply message that my report was looked at but that the post was not removed because it did "not contain nudity".
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georgespelvin
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Re: Zach Horan (legendneverdies) Banned

Post by georgespelvin »

I was not aware that Zach Horan was back here or that he was "legendneverdies". Of course, I don't hang around here that much so I guess that's not surprising.

What is surprising is that the mods let him back onto this board given his history. I'm a little hesitant to write this because I am friends with all or practically all of the mods here, but I think that this needs to be said. Zach Horan should never have been allowed to come back here in the first place, not only because of his behavior in the past, but because he continues this behavior, revels in it and continues it despite the fact the he knows that it offends, discomforts and downright scares people. His most recent handle here should have been the first clue that he was laughing at you for letting him back and giving him an in to continue his stalking and soft-core terrorism.

In allowing Horan back onto this message board, you showed him more consideration than you did to the many female contestants that he has harassed in the past in all online forums. You basically said that it was OK that Horan continued to harass female contestants, past and present, so long as he "behaved" himself on JBoard. The fact that Horan used the PM function here to continue to spew his misogyny should have been beside the point. Even if Horan did not do so and continued to "behave" himself here, female contestants that post here would inevitably feel uncomfortable posting in a community that included a serial misogynist who continued to ply his trade against them on all other internet forums except this one.

Make no mistake about it, Horan is sick. His comments are not about sex, but about exercising power over women that he probably sees as "uppity" for being smart and who he wants to break down because they are "beyond him". He wants to show domination over women by embarrassing them and striking fear in them. He shows no remorse and he clearly knows and fully understands what he is doing. He likely is clever enough never to move his sickness beyond the online scene so as to avoid arrest, but you never truly know with sick people as we see every day with the examples of mass murder or serial rapists.

Zach Horan is not a laughing matter nor should he be joked about. His sickness should be quarantined by every forum in which he posts simply because he is proud of what he tries to do to women and will continue to do so wherever and whenever he can. In the past, there have been discussions here (largely in Retaken Down) about how white people don't recognize how "privilege" empowers their lives so that they have more opportunities than black people. In this case, it appears that the same myopia has been employed by men vis-à-vis the women of this message board. Of course, there is no way they could feel comfortable conversing or even lurking in a community where a (virtual) sexual predator was welcomed provided that he "behaved" himself within that community, regardless of how he acted elsewhere.

Again, I am a little conflicted about posting all this because I am friends with the folks that let Horan back in here and allowing him to be here until recently, however I do still see some jokes being made about this situation (not by the mods). As such, I think that we should be absolutely clear about how serious a situation this is regarding the predator and his victims--yes, victims because anyone that does not feel comfortable participating in an enjoyable forum or is afraid of participating in an enjoyable forum because of Horan is a victim. Anyone that has her experience on Jeopardy tempered by seeing his comments--or knowing they are coming--is a victim. Each time this happens, it gives him a victory that we, who allow him to post or even be part of the communities in which the victims participate, have an unintentional role in. Make no mistake about it, Zach Horan is not a simple internet troll. He is a sexual predator, even if only in the virtual sense. This is no laughing matter to his victims, and it should not be for any of us.

P.S. As I was writing this, Rafferty Barnes posted her heartfelt and chilling account of her experiences with Horan and those which she has heard from others. Part of the reason why I posted the above message is because I am personal friends with Rafferty Barnes and she has told me what she has now told you. I'm glad that she decided to share her personal experiences here, which are much more personal and convincing than anything I could write on the subject.
Last edited by georgespelvin on Sun Sep 13, 2015 11:22 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Jeff-thecdboy
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Re: Zach Horan (legendneverdies) Banned

Post by Jeff-thecdboy »

^I seriously gave Megan Barnes a standing ovation when I saw her post here. She nailed everything (and I mean everything) right on the head about how creepy Horan has been for years and years.
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Re: Zach Horan (legendneverdies) Banned

Post by bpmod »

Rafferty Barnes wrote:I thought everybody knew, and I was the only one sensitive enough to be bothered by it.
I didn't know that the problem was as bad as it was. I found it somewhat funny when I was helping Andy move the site content (when I was taking over the hosting duties) that the only banned word on the site was 'cyberial'. I had only heard some stuff on the periphery and didn't delve into what this creep was all about. I did do my part shortly thereafter to warn at least one female Jeopardy! contestant, though, so I must have had some indication.
Rafferty Barnes wrote:After that I started to talk to other women, and found out he was pming champions on jboard, finding women's e-mails. He's done it to minors who have appeared on the show. A search of youtube comments finds some where he mentions he knows where that champion lives and might come to her house to deliver his cigar in person.
I think that his actions border on criminal harassment. Is there a possibility of getting together with his other targets to take some further action?
Rafferty Barnes wrote:Why was he not banned the first time he PMed a woman here?
I would suspect that, the 'p' in 'pm' standing for 'private', these messages are not moderated. I don't think that moderating PMs will help; it'll much more likely open up a whole new set of problems. However, I think that any individual user who sends any inappropriate PM should have PM privileges revoked. Maybe temporarily at first until some explanation is made and definitely permanently if the action is repeated. Of course, I have nothing against banning a user for that kind of behaviour, so maybe that solution is moot.
Rafferty Barnes wrote:How many comments on your blogs and youtube channels does he have to make before you block him? How many chances does one person get because he has a lot of obscure game show knowledge, at the expense of literally every woman champion from the last 8 years at least?

I need the help of the good guys here to make the online Jeoparsphere a fun place for women to analyze wagering to death and share obscure trivia without getting harassed.
I think part of the problem is that nobody alone could know the extent of the problem; it is only by communicating with others that we see the pattern. So, as implied in Andy's post, it is incumbent on every person that comes here to be part of the solution.

Brian
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Re: Zach Horan (legendneverdies) Banned

Post by kristinsausville »

Rafferty Barnes wrote:How do you think a female Jeopardy! champion felt when she comes here for the first time unaware and gets contacted by a poster with thousands of posts and everyone just rolls their eyes at him, or when she googles her name and his comments come up over and over?
This was exactly how I felt when I got those PMs from him during my run. I can't thank you enough, Andy, for banning him.
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Re: Zach Horan (legendneverdies) Banned

Post by Robert K S »

bpmod wrote:nobody alone could know the extent of the problem; it is only by communicating with others that we see the pattern
Take, for example, this exchange, where a woman never before exposed to Zach thanked him for his coded harassment and thought him "too funny!":
Zach Horan It's become a tradition when women win on Jeopardy! in recent years to do this. CYberial cigar uno for Katie for winning her first game and beating a seven time champion in Joon(the sixth highest regular game winner of all time). Well done Katie my dear(lights Katie's portofino)
October 12, 2011 at 10:19pm · Like

Marybeth Matz Hey, thanks Zach for lighting it up! Love that tradition.....Way to go Katie!
October 13, 2011 at 12:06pm · Like

Zach Horan And cyberial cigar dos for Katie for winning her second game. Without Joon to play against, she gets a lock game, and despite a $15,200 swing on a traditionally difficult Oscars Final J!. Well done Katie my dear(lights Katie's portofino).
October 13, 2011 at 8:06pm · Like · 1

Marybeth Matz Zach...you are too funny! Enjoyed watching someone related to me appear on the show and actually win 2 days straight....awesome!
October 13, 2011 at 10:39pm · Like
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Re: Zach Horan (legendneverdies) Banned

Post by Woof »

Wow, I am so sorry to hear about the depth of the problem and how disturbed and creepy an individual Horan is. As I am not big into social media and came to the Sony boards late in the game, I never had any firsthand exposure to the worst of his behavior (though I did hear the stories and knew about the banning of cyberial). It makes me sick, Megan, to think of the fear and discomfort that this creep visited upon you simply because of your sex and success on a game show, and by extension to all the others like Larissa, Pam, Celeste et al. who have no doubt endured similar treatment. Good riddance to him and I hope that the Internet at large can eventually rid itself of his toxic presence.
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Re: Zach Horan (legendneverdies) Banned

Post by nightreign »

I managed to avoid him when I was on the show, because I didn't win and I didn't have any social media at that time. Yesterday, though, I discovered that he said I "should be smoking a cyberial cigar" after being on a Jeopardy! Live Panel. I didn't know before now because he didn't @mention me. It's disconcerting to think that no one is immune to this. I was one of the luckier ones as I never got PMs or FB messages, but as someone who was affected regardless, thank you.

Edit: in the aforementioned tweet, he added the word "sukkahs" to the end, as if to say, "ha ha, you can't escape me." That disturbs me more than the tweet itself.
Last edited by nightreign on Sun Sep 13, 2015 12:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Zach Horan (legendneverdies) Banned

Post by Bamaman »

I think the woman on Facebook wasn't bothered by what he said because she viewed his comments as lighting a victory cigar (a la Red Auerbach) and when he said it was a tradition, she thought it was something we did for fun on here.

I can't speak for others, but as for myself, I just viewed his cigar comments as something creepy he did here and other places. When the word got banned here, he pretty much kept in check on the public boards.

Megan, I was unaware he had taken it to the level he had I hate that you felt afraid of going on a TV show just because some wierdo was cyberstalking you. I don't know all the laws regarding that type of thing, but if he is sending messages to Teen Tourney players, that seems like an area where law enforcement should get involved.

I agree he should never have been allowed on here to begin with due to his history on the Sony board. But maybe they just wanted to start everyone with a clean slate and with his catch phrase banned, it wasn't going to be a problem. But if we are going to have open debates about allowing TPH to post on here, I think banning him long ago should have been a no-brainer.

As a male, I agree that it is difficult for me to completely understand how a woman feels seeing an unwanted sexual type message directed towards them. So maybe I was just chalking up his comments as something of a joke and became immune to them after seeing them so many times.

I have been on other boards that had issues with people like him and they would have a tendency to pop up again. Hopefully if he does that here he will be caught quickly. I also hope his name is on the "Do Not Call" list at Jeopardy headquarters.
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Re: Zach Horan (legendneverdies) Banned

Post by TomKBaltimoreBoy »

nightreign wrote:I managed to avoid him when I was on the show, because I didn't win and I didn't have any social media at that time. Yesterday, though, I discovered that he said I "should be smoking a cyberial cigar" after being on a Jeopardy! Live Panel. I didn't know before now because he didn't @mention me. It's disconcerting to think that no one is immune to this. I was one of the luckier ones as I never got PMs or FB messages, but as someone who was affected regardless, thank you.

Edit: in the aforementioned tweet, he added the word "sukkahs" to the end, as if to say, "ha ha, you can't escape me." That disturbs me more than the tweet itself.
This right here should be grounds for legal action. The poster's signature is "Kid's Week 2011." That makes it STILL harassing a minor.
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Re: Zach Horan (legendneverdies) Banned

Post by ElendilPickle »

kristinsausville wrote:
Rafferty Barnes wrote:How do you think a female Jeopardy! champion felt when she comes here for the first time unaware and gets contacted by a poster with thousands of posts and everyone just rolls their eyes at him, or when she googles her name and his comments come up over and over?
This was exactly how I felt when I got those PMs from him during my run. I can't thank you enough, Andy, for banning him.
I've mentioned elsewhere that his behavior is still a problem on WWTBAMBored and elsewhere. Tomorrow, the new Millionaire season starts, and he will start going after any woman who does well on the show, including some former J! champions and contestants who have taped. He's already started there:
http://wwtbambored.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=50368

I notice people have complained about his posts on the Bored, and I have flagged his posts and asked that he be banned, but nothing has happened yet. If people here would be kind enough to take a minute and contact the mods, maybe that could change.
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Re: Zach Horan (legendneverdies) Banned

Post by sarah0114 »

I had a similar experience to the one copied above where I went "Oh, a well-respected Jboarder is PMing me to congratulate me on my victory. The whole cigar thing is weird but maybe a cigar is just a cigar. That must be how things are done here." Once I saw his comments elsewhere and realized he was doing it to all female contestants (and only female contestants) it grossed me out that I had thanked him and that it was clearly not just a cigar.
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Re: Zach Horan (legendneverdies) Banned

Post by Rafferty Barnes »

ElendilPickle wrote: I've mentioned elsewhere that his behavior is still a problem on WWTBAMBored and elsewhere. Tomorrow, the new Millionaire season starts, and he will start going after any woman who does well on the show, including some former J! champions and contestants who have taped. He's already started there:
http://wwtbambored.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=50368

I notice people have complained about his posts on the Bored, and I have flagged his posts and asked that he be banned, but nothing has happened yet. If people here would be kind enough to take a minute and contact the mods, maybe that could change.
Careful. I just saw he's logged in right now there. He may be watching to see who comes over.
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Re: Zach Horan (legendneverdies) Banned

Post by Bamaman »

My only exposure to the WWTBAM board is when I hung out there after the Sony site shut down. A number of us posted there and had game threads going but I haven't posted there since this place started up. I can't believe the mods there let that go on.
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Re: Zach Horan (legendneverdies) Banned

Post by bpmod »

Woof wrote:Good riddance to him and I hope that the Internet at large can eventually rid itself of his toxic presence.
I am sure that this creep is only the tiniest tip of the internet's iceberg. I don't hold out much hope that they will ever be rid of, but, even if it's like whack-a-mole, let's work together to eliminate them as they rear their ugly heads.

Brian
...but the senator, while insisting he was not intoxicated, could not explain his nudity.

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Re: Zach Horan (legendneverdies) Banned

Post by harrumph »

Sorry that anyone had to deal with this criminal behavior.
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