Black. Duncan Black.
July 28, 2004 12:31 PM   Subscribe

The true identity of the "mysterious" Atrios has been revealed.
posted by PinkStainlessTail (51 comments total)
 
this is bad because I've been posing as Atrios for months now -- getting lots of free drinks, dinner invitations, sex
posted by matteo at 12:41 PM on July 28, 2004


I am Spartacus Atrios.
posted by jpoulos at 12:45 PM on July 28, 2004


I am Duncan Black.
posted by nofundy at 12:58 PM on July 28, 2004


Who is he and why should we care?
posted by KirkJobSluder at 1:01 PM on July 28, 2004


So what's the deal with this - I was reading Atrios's coverage of the convention yesterday after being away from the computer for a few days, scrolled all the way down to the bottom and saw "A weblog by Duncan Black," and thought: Huh?

Anyone got the goods on why he decided to unmask, now?
posted by kgasmart at 1:02 PM on July 28, 2004


His name is Duncan Black.
posted by grabbingsand at 1:11 PM on July 28, 2004


What KirkJobSluder said. Can someone in the know give us the Reader's Digest version?
posted by falconred at 1:13 PM on July 28, 2004


His name is Duncan Black.
posted by solistrato at 1:17 PM on July 28, 2004


I've heard his name is Duncan Black.
posted by DBAPaul at 1:20 PM on July 28, 2004


he's a blogger (see first link). a popular one. and he used a fake name b4. Markos Moulitsas Zuniga?

as for why we should care who he really is? ...
posted by mrgrimm at 1:23 PM on July 28, 2004


Some people say his name is Duncan Black.
posted by mr.marx at 1:27 PM on July 28, 2004


His name was Robert Paulsen.
posted by mrgrimm at 1:29 PM on July 28, 2004


Duncan Black is his name, but I hear he spells it really weird, in all lowercase with spaces between each letter, like "d u n c a n b l a c k." It's even that way on his license.
posted by brownpau at 1:29 PM on July 28, 2004


I just had some serious deja vu. Was he a grad student at Brown in the mid-90s?
posted by PrinceValium at 1:34 PM on July 28, 2004


Markos is from Daily Kos, Atrios has been a pseudonym from the beginning of the blog. I suspect that because of the large amount of money that his website raised, and because in American politics money = power, he had little choice but to reveal himself. From what I have gathered, it was an "open secret" for the last few months, but his attendance at the convention probably forced his hand at revealing himself.
posted by plemeljr at 1:49 PM on July 28, 2004


"He's very red. Must be "angry" or a "communist" or something." -praktike (give that user a mefi account!)
posted by shoepal at 1:50 PM on July 28, 2004


From Mediamatters.org:

Duncan B. Black holds a PhD in economics from Brown University. He has held teaching and research positions at the London School of Economics; the Université catholique de Louvain; the University of California, Irvine; and, recently, Bryn Mawr College. He also has been involved with grassroots political activism. Black is a Senior Fellow at Media Matters for America.

posted by trox at 1:54 PM on July 28, 2004


Duncan Black, the next time you're in New York, do please let me treat you to a drink, sir!
posted by DenOfSizer at 1:59 PM on July 28, 2004


Word on the street is that his name is Duncan Black.

I hear.
posted by Outlawyr at 2:07 PM on July 28, 2004


This Atrios, is it something I would have to give a shit about political weblogging to know about?
posted by majick at 2:16 PM on July 28, 2004


More than you probably wanted to know:

Atrios is a liberal firebrand weblogger whose pseudonymously published site has become enormously popular, both in terms of traffic and the amount of money he has raised for Democratic political candidates this year.

His reasoning for publishing under a pseodonym was because he was a teacher in Pennsylvania somewhere and didn't want to risk his day job.

Now that he has parlayed his Internet microstardom into regular appearances on Air America Radio and invites to some big Democratic political gatherings and is earning at least $1,000 to $2,000 in BlogAds by my casual estimate, he probably realizes that (a) someone was going to out him, and (b) he ought to ride the fame train while he can.

I like Atrios and have supported his site by buying ads in the past, but I've always been uncomfortable with people who take shots without subjecting themselves to the same scrutiny, so I'm glad he's going public.
posted by rcade at 2:33 PM on July 28, 2004


Duncan Black, the next time you're in New York, do please let me treat you to a drink, sir!

And let me treat you to dessert!
posted by lia at 2:33 PM on July 28, 2004


^if you know what she means
posted by dhoyt at 2:34 PM on July 28, 2004


I won't admit my real name.

Which reminds me to check to make sure I haven't.

:D
posted by RobbieFal at 2:37 PM on July 28, 2004


Who's the black private dick that's a sex machine to all the chicks?

DUNCAN BLACK!

Damn right.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 2:42 PM on July 28, 2004


So, let me get this straight. The Atrios, is Duncan Black?
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 2:43 PM on July 28, 2004


I loved him in "Shallow Hal".
posted by RavinDave at 2:43 PM on July 28, 2004


I just loooove Duncan Black. He's just so ... dreamy!
posted by pardonyou? at 2:51 PM on July 28, 2004


I'm sure there are lots of reasons he 'revealed' himself, but wouldn't getting DNC credentials pretty much have blown any shot he had at remaining anonymous?
posted by cedar at 2:54 PM on July 28, 2004


His name is Mua'dib. Others call him Usil.
posted by mokujin at 2:59 PM on July 28, 2004


He is an immortal who has sword fights with other immortals which results in crappy-looking lightning flying all over the place. During his free time he works for an outfit called the Millennium group. Or something like that.
posted by bargle at 3:01 PM on July 28, 2004


Thanks, rcade. You have actually provided some kind of context to a post that is truly baffling to the uninitiated. Links to some random, obscure weblog (no matter how popular in it's little circle of friends) might be best prefaced with, you know, some idea of who the hell they are or why they're considered to be of interest. The clarification's appreciated.
posted by majick at 3:02 PM on July 28, 2004


I heard Duncan Black once punched a hole in a cow just to see who was coming up the road. He uses live elk for toilet paper. He once had sex with a cigarette machine. Duncan Black once showed me a video of him making love to my wife, and it was the most beautiful thing I ever saw!

Here's to Duncan Black! A ten foot tall, two ton son of a bitch who could eat a hammer and take a shotgun blast standing!



apologies to all concerned. please don't hurt me.
posted by loquacious at 3:04 PM on July 28, 2004


Well, that was quick.
posted by DenOfSizer at 3:35 PM on July 28, 2004


And I just love his devil's food cake mixes!

What?
posted by briank at 5:54 PM on July 28, 2004


Who the hell is Duncan Black?
posted by reklaw at 6:10 PM on July 28, 2004


If I had a name like Duncan Black, I wouldn't remain anonymous, because that name is too cool to hide.

"...and the coach was robbed by the highwayman Duncan Black."
"The port was sacked by the nefarious pirate, Duncan Black."
"Duncan Black is...DANGERESQUE."
posted by MrBadExample at 6:12 PM on July 28, 2004


Secret Agent Duncan Black reporting in : >
posted by amberglow at 6:15 PM on July 28, 2004


Wait, who are we talking about?
posted by aramaic at 6:24 PM on July 28, 2004


Atrios always claimed to be a Pennsylvania P.E. teacher.

Where does Pennsylvania teaching enter into the varied professor positions and career listed above?
posted by inksyndicate at 6:32 PM on July 28, 2004


I'm actually a bit disappointed to hear that he's just another poli sci professor, the idea of a regular-joe gym teacher who merely read the news and called a spade a space was extremely appealing.
posted by Space Coyote at 6:43 PM on July 28, 2004


Bryn Mawr is a Philadelphia suburb, and maybe Mr. Black happened to coach lacrosse or something.
posted by calwatch at 6:48 PM on July 28, 2004


For those who cared, it apparently was figured out a few months ago.
posted by calwatch at 6:53 PM on July 28, 2004


Aye, but is he Duncan Black of the Clan McBlack?

I will say, he's younger than I imagined him and hotter than I imagined him.

He's not Gene Lyons either. Or Sid Blumenthal. Anyway, I never really bought the whole gym teacher thing, 'cause he obviously posted pretty frequently--more frequently than your average gym teacher would have a chance to. I thought he was probably a local reporter or something.
posted by octobersurprise at 9:26 PM on July 28, 2004


s/space/spade/
posted by Space Coyote at 10:25 PM on July 28, 2004


P.E. = Political Economy.
posted by rory at 2:22 AM on July 29, 2004


No, I'm Atrios!
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 2:44 AM on July 29, 2004


On reflection maybe I should have given more background, but I guess my thinking was that if you didn't already know of Atrios, you wouldn't give a shit that he had been named and skip the post.
posted by PinkStainlessTail at 6:03 AM on July 29, 2004


I don't recall Atrios ever claiming to be a gym teacher. That speculation was offered by others.
posted by rcade at 6:26 AM on July 29, 2004


They often call him Speedo, but his real name is Mister Earl.
posted by wendell at 3:23 PM on July 29, 2004


I'm Atrios, and so is my wife.
posted by Vidiot at 12:34 AM on July 30, 2004


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