Michael Crook

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Michael Crook (born February 1978^[1]), also known as Michael Vogel-Delaney^[2], is the webmaster of several controversial websites. Though first noted for his service as president of the 2 Unlimited Internet fanclub "Unlimited Too Fan Club,"^[3] Crook first gained public recognition in January 2005, when the media reported that he was offering to return the digital camera of Army Specialist Elwood Wrigley for a $1000 "finder's fee" after finding it at a football game;^[4] days later Crook received further attention after he was revealed to be the owner of the now-defunct "Forsake the Troops" website, which was created to express his hate for the US military.

1 Personal life
2 Websites
3 Notes
4 External links

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Personal life

Crook was born in Portland, Oregon^[1], and baptised as a Mormon. He was raised in Las Vegas, Nevada, but is rumored to have lived in many different areas. He graduated high school in 1997, from Oakcrest High School, in Mays Landing, New Jersey. After graduation, Crook enrolled in Atlantic Cape Community College, also in Mays Landing, as a broadcasting student. As of late 2005, he lived in the Syracuse, New York suburb of Liverpool.^[5]

Crook claims ties to the white nationalist organization Stormfront. He posts there under the moniker "silentmike"^[6], often seeking companionship or offering hosting services.^[7] Michael asserts that he is not a racist, but only "racially aware." Crook explains this view on his personal website, stating that "I believe each race has the right to existence. I simply prefer...to associate with people of my own racial background."^{[citation needed]}

In regards to stories circulating that he didn't make it through military boot camp as a reason behind his views toward the military, Crook commented that "I never served in the military. I never even tried to join."^[8] He dismisses articles, letters and USENET posts concerning his enlistment as "forgeries".^{[citation needed]} However, a 1999 article credited to him in the Press of Atlantic City retells an unsuccessful attempt to join the military.^[9] This has not been confirmed or denied by the military.

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Websites

According to his personal website, Crook owns 42 domain names as of March, 2006. He has, in the past, sold some of his domain names for varying amounts of money.

His most known project, "Forsake The Troops," was created to express his hate for the army. As well as "Forsake the Troops," Crook has created websites for other groups he felt ought to be forsaken, including the local police.

In addition to Crook's own domains, there are a number of anti-Crook websites, set up by detractors who disapprove of his political ideals, or feel that he has behaved like an Internet troll. One such website is named "Michael Crook Talks Out of His Ass".

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forsakethetroops.info and successors

In January 2005, Crook created a mock organisation, which he named "Citizens Against the Troops". He produced a website for the group at forsakethetroops.info, where he posted articles belittling members of the US military.

The website attracted a great deal of acrimony, with Crook at one point declaring that he had been receiving somewhere between 75 and 100 death threats per day.^[3] Some speculated that it was only a hoax created to attract attention and spark outrage.^[10] As his infamy grew, he was invited to appear on several radio and television talk shows, including Hannity & Colmes.^[3]

His former website citizensagainstthetroops.org posted rants against the "lavish" pay, benefits, living quarters, retirement, medical care and burial benefits of United States service members. It also displayed photos of troops wounded or dead with comments referring to them as "scumbags".

Crook sold the original forsakethetroops.info domain name for, according to the buyer US$50^[11]; Crook, however, has claimed it was sold for $500^[12]. He then resurrected the content of the original site at a new location, opposethetroops.com. He also bought the domain theusasucks.info, which he had set up as a redirect to opposethetroops.com. Opposethetroops.com has now too been taken offline, and instead redirects to one of his latest projects.

On May 17, 2005, the foresakethetroops.info website bore a message explaining that Michael Crook had been beaten to death by two men, "thought to be members of the military".^[13] The story later turned out to have been a hoax.^[14] Crook denied faking his own death, protesting that his website had been the victim of an attack by hackers. He later also asserted that hackers had broken into his house, beaten him and changed his websites.^{[citation needed]}

On 11/17/05 an Internet hacking group known as the g00ns manipulated Michael Crook out of access to several of his main sites [15]: opposthetroops.info, opposethetroops.com, forsakethepolice.info, and daniellebremen.info. Despite this, a section of Michael Crook's blog appears to still be dedicated to Breman.

On 12/18/05, Crook claimed on his website he was the sender of a death wish via a Christmas Card to a wounded United States Soldier Joshua Sparling, who was recovering at Walter Reed Army Hospital. As of 12/19/2005 Crook has denied in an email to another blogger he sent the card, "I did not have any part in that. However, I think that it is a humorous, harmless stunt, and whoever did do it is a blooming genius. I have no sympathy for the soldier." while still taking credit for it at his weblog. It has not been proven who actually sent the card, however, and it has not been proven that the e-mail with the alleged quote is legitimate.

On the 30th of December 2005, the citizensagainstthetroops.org website was replaced with a disclaimer from SMIS Hosting, explaining that they consider the website "smut", and that it would remain down until the domain was transferred to its new owner. It asked for donations in support of the removal of the site. SMIS, however, is the pseudo-company started by Michael Crook. SMIS stands for Silent Mike Internet Service - Silent Mike being the online moniker used by Michael Crook.

The next day, the domain and SMIS message was replaced by the nepn.net site; Crooks claim that the domain was purchased for $2000.00, though this quickly refuted by the new owner, who had paypal receipt screenshots to prove that the actual purchase price was actually $20.

One of the domains Crook owned at one time was nodrunkdrivers.org. The domain name became the centre of some controversy when Crook posted a message to the website, saying: "It's sad that it's come to this, but nodrunkdrivers.org must be sold. The current asking price is $150,000 (USD). Unfortunately, if the domain is not sold by 11:59pm Eastern Time on October 1, 2005, an innocent kitten gets it. Unlike the similar request involving a bunny, this will happen. Don't let "it" happen to an innocent kitten."

As the deadline drew near, Crook revealed that "it" referred, not to killing a kitten (as his critics had suggested), but to giving the cat the domain name nodrunkdrivers.org. He has since explained that "the kitty says" the price of the domain has gone up to $200,000. It has since been sold.

On the 4th of January 2006, With the traffic generated by the domains citizensagainstthetroops.info, citizensagainstthetroops.org, forsakethefirefighters.info and forsakethepolice.org NEPN made its first donation to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund in the amount of $50.00 and a $50.00 donation to Operation Military Pride. NEPN says they will continue to donate to various police, fire and military organizations until these domains expire or no longer generate funds to do so.

On the 9th of January 2006, rumors spread that Michael Crook claimed that he had "thrown in the towel." Many felt that the exposure of conflicting statements, compounded by pressure from the McDonald's Corporation over his use of their logo^[16]^[17], was the cause, while others felt that it was another publicity stunt.^{[citation needed]} On 10 January 2006, the domains michaelcrook.com, michaelcrooktalks.com, and oneangryguywithawebpage.com were sold to Sugar Ray Dodge.com. There have been claims that the rest of his domain names were sold off for the sum of thirty-five dollars.^{[citation needed]} All the current owners of those particular domain names were detractors of his.

Despite the rumors that he had "thrown in the towel", the sites still came.

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Perverted Truth

Perverted Truth, a website which opposes Perverted-Justice.com, went online on February 16, 2006. He claims that PJ "seeks to ruin men's lives through less than ethical means."

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Support Abortion

Crook's latest project is Support Abortion, which went online March 3, 2006. The site asserts support for abortions, and plans to offer news, information, and resources to that effect.

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