Escaped spammer kills himself
Comment Yay. No, YAY!
NOT ALL STORIES have a happy ending, but the tale of escaped spam king Edward "Eddie" Davidson sure does. After walking away from prison, he got a gun, killed his family, then killed himself.
While it is hard not to feel bad for his brutally murdered wife and child, not to mention his wounded daughter, Eddie's suicide itself is the stuff of happy thoughts. Every deceased spammer is a million fewer in-box-clogging, malware-infested mails a day, so lets tip one back for liberal gun laws.
Law enforcement sources had originally thought Mr Davidson's despondency was due to his losing the millions of dollars he gained by helping the widow of an African dictator liberate her fortune from that continent on a hot email stock tip. That eventuality was quickly ruled out. Police are now investigating if some miracle blue pills guaranteed to work found in his car's glove box were related.
In any case, the spammer is no longer on the loose, and while he only got a taste of what he deserved, it is a good start. Condolences to his family, none for him. May his colleagues follow his lead in short order. µ
Comments
Really?
He deserved prison, but I don't think the minor inconvenience of you having to delete some junk emails means we should celebrate a man's death....
Seriously Charlie, you've already got a bad name with your anti nVidia articles but this just takes the cake (the cake isn't a lie!).Its pretty bad taste to laugh about some idiot who killed his family then topped himself. If people hear about the initial "Man murders family then kills himself" they're not likely to suddenly go "Oooh he was a spammer? That's ok then!"
Seriously not cool man
Happy ending?
Hate spam like the rest of us, but that's pretty low, even by Inquirer standards.Fanbois Unite
This could be the only time Charlie that you've been able to unite fanbois the world over, irrespective of their colour or creed.I do feel very sorry for the Spam King's family though.
YAY DEAD JOURNO + FAMILY
Today, or possibly tomorrow, awful journo, Charlie Dumbasfuck killed his whole family and self in bizarre masturbationary fantasy. YAY. Cool. He's dead! Celebrate good times tonight!Poor taste
An ill judged article in very poor taste - it may have been OK to gloat if he hadn't murdered his family, but given the circumstances of his death I don't think it appropriate to take any satisfaction from his death. Giving your condolences to his dead wife and child doesn't excuse you for writing this cr@p. If I were you I'd remove this article completely, it does the Inquirer no favours.All spammers should be put to death
If they just gave him the electric chair, all of this could have been prevented. Hmmm, even better, we could wire spammers up and let each junk mail victim send an extra volt of juice to them.marvin3m.com/pics_odds/ODDS08.JPG
Disappoined
Have to say I enjoy the inquirer, but this is too tasteless - "let's hear it for liberal gun laws" was the comment I thought was completely out-of-line. You seem to see it as your role to hold others to account, and therefore you should hold yourself to a higher standard. The spammer is one issue (albeit a grey one), but his wife and child ... their fooking child ... makes this an area that you shouldn't be taking the wii out of no matter how much you try and distance yourself from those deaths...Now do the right thing - appologise and get back to slagging off gfx cards...
Out of order
"While it is hard not to feel bad for his brutally murdered wife and child, not to mention his wounded daughter" -He slaughters his wife and his own children. Innocent people died at the hands of someone they trusted to protect them. Yet all you are concerned about is the fact that his work filled up your "junk mail" folder or, god forbid, required seconds of your precious time to delete it. Time which, lets face it, isn't precious to anyone but you.
The tone of your report is shocking, arrogant and quite simply out of order. You are a self absorbed dick.
Torment
Well, for those of us who believe, his torment is just beginning.took the words right out of my mouth!
charlie demerjian, a man after my heart!I'm in awe
I largely expect a pile of shite when i see your name at the top of an article, but you've really outdone yourself with this one.:D
Made my morning.ehh... Not the killing part, but the article itself...
Thumbs-up, Chaz.
Stupidity
"Condolences to his family"What family? He killed them, dumbasses.
Wow, no WOW
Congratulations, this truly is a new low for you Mr Demerjian.What?!
How you can have anything good to say about the murder of a 3 year old girl is shocking.I'm very disappointed
Excuse me?
Where do you draw the line on when it is/is not acceptable to celebrate someone murdering others and committing suicide? Do you seriously believe that this guy's family will take any comfort in your pitiful expressions of condolence?I believe this article is insensitive and in VERY bad taste.
Talk about rough
I can apreiciate a man who is true to himself. Chummer was a spam king, and he went out murder spamming his family. Hazzahh!LOL
Thats a bit harsh don't you think?burningbird.net
Ignore the pesky little problem of him killing his wife and a three year old girl...oh happy day.Do the world a favor: Never. Write. Again.
what a pointless article by a pointless little man
i normally dont comment on articles but the idiocy of this article requires it. Whatever idiot wrote this story should be sacked. This story is a perfect example of what is wrong with journalism today. the killing of a small child , woman and the critical wounding of a young girl along with the suicide of the father is never ever a cause for celebration no matter what any of them did. The Child did nothing, the wife did nothing and the teenager did nothing!!then on top of gloating over the murder of the small child the moronic author adds inference that the suspected cause is the father not being abl to "get it up" or i assume thats what the mention of the " little blue pills that always work" refers to.
to be honest the author of this article should take a gun to his head, he obviously wouldnt wound any vital organs
Tacky
Dude, you need your head examined. Seriously.This is a tragedy, and we should all regret it. No matter what the man had done, and no matter how good it might be that he won't send any more spam, this was not a happy conclusion.
You have twisted view on the importance of life
Seriously twisted, insensitive and downright messed up. What I took from this story is that murder-suicide is an appropriate and fitting conclusion to the inconvenience of spam. What's your appropriate and fitting conclusion to a person who sends chain mail? You're messed up mate and this has not given me any more information on the story and too much information on you as a person and the Inquirer as a news site.Umm...
Tad insensitive there Charlie...I wouldn't have batted an eyelid if he'd just popped a cap in himself, but the wife and kids is not good.
This story has also been picked up by Teh Rogister, where Lester seems to be on his holy high horse.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/07/25/inquirer_spammer_comment/
Oh and pulling it off your front page doesn't help... They've cached it of course... DMCA take down? :-)
Disgusted
I am disgusted by your glee at a murder suicide. You should be ashamed.Bad Taste
You should be ashamed of yourself for writing this. The horrors the women of that family faced in their last moments of life and now facing the rest of their young lives with no mother and father- there are NO HAPPY thoughts in that scenario.You need to figure out at what point your heart disappeared and was left with a dry rock of cynicism.
sick
I can't believe you are still employed, the crap you spew.entirely tasteless article
Hang your head in shame, Inq.Sorry, that's too much...
I (unlike some) actually enjoy charlie's NV bashing articles as a bit of fun, but this is too much. I can't believe I'm posting a serious comment on the inq, but I can never condone this despicable attitude towards the death and injury of innocents. Full apology from CD and his sacking might bring me to peruse your pages once more, but for now the red mist has settled, and you're off my favourites. Guess I have to go back to the reg then... it might be full of stories about bicycling squirrels, but at least theres no callousness. Sorry to come across like a rabid HYSer, but I'm really angry about this. Charlie, for this and this alone, I feel justified in saying you are a c*nt.Happy?
Wow... I don't know if I'm ever excited that someone brutally kills themselves and their family... That's pretty brutal.. even for the inquirerWell written. Never mind the screaming hypocrites.
Brilliant piece, Charlie.You may have noticed a bunch of screaming hypocrites over at El Reg, denouncing the "vile Inq scumbags" like there's no tomorrow.
Global warming deniers. ;P
Anyway, I'll drink a beer to the guy's oh-so-very-tragic death tonight.
You are one cold dude
You are one cold dude! SPAM sucks, yes, but it is not worth a human being taking their lives or the lives of others over. I can't imagine how sick and twisted you really must be to think that any good could come out of this tragedy. A 3 year old child is dead and you think that it was an acceptable loss? Well sir, I say that the next time you decide to celebrate someone killing their family, you should keep it to yourself instead of making yourself look like such a heartless person. I think that your friends, family and colleges need to take a long look at your behavior, because your statements border on that of a psychopath.linkage to reports of death?
Here's one: http://cbs4denver.com/local/Edward.Davidson.dead.2.779131.htmlTelling quote:
"He obviously has some unresolved issues with regard to his childhood and how he was raised that he believes impair his ability to make good decisions in the future," [U.S. District Judge Marcia] Krieger said during the sentencing hearing.
WTF ever!
Yes, it was his fault. No, you cannot blame his parents.
Happy About Death
Wow. Sounds thoroughly neocon to me, if not psychopathic.Distgusting article
The guy killed his wife and kid and you think thats worth gloating over?I'm sure most people would rather have a viagra email than a small child dies, yet alone celebrate it.
Lazy journalism, and rank unhumane behaviour - wont be visiting the site again.
All for jokes...
I'm all for jokes, but saying this story ended "happily" is going a bit too far. If it was just him, we could joke 'till spammers stopped spamming...but the wife and kids put this story into the "WTF were they thinking?" category.For shame, Inq.
Congratulations!
Nice, very nice. I think this is the same press that help the London police when they shoot a brazilian guy in the subway. A press without limits, without borders.Who inquire the Inquirer when they write stupid things?
ouch
serious lapse of judgement there. i'm all for being politically incorrect, and saying YAY would have been that - if the guy had only killed himself.toasting a double murder though is tasteless in the extreme. get a grip and retract/apologize.
Beyond Tastless
This is should not even be close to being necessary to have to be told that this article is in incredibly poor taste. Whatever he has done a murder suicide where someone kills their 3 year-old child is never ever worth rejoicing.EVER.3. The child was 3 years old.
Spam, extra pixels in your inbox became trivial pretty quick in this story.
"NOT ALL STORIES have a happy ending, but the tale of escaped spam king Edward "Eddie" Davidson sure does."
How can you even look at that opening line knowing what had happening and continue writing?
I am a classic lurker and don't complain or post much but this writer and/or editor needs to go.
Tragic
It's absolutely tragic that this man killed his family.It would have been sad if he had killed only himself. Though it would not be so appaling to many.
There is no cause for celebration.
The only good that can come of this would be increased media exposure of the spamming problem, which though annoying, is trivial in compaison to the deaths of the innocents.
It's easy to take this view after the fact, but I think that the people that didn't prevent his escape should be held accountable, if he hadn't escaped his family would still be alive.
The flags at half mast?
I'm amazed at all the people with comments about how we should all feel sorry for the poor soul who spammed us all, then finally went to a country club prison where he could just walk out, and then shot and killed those he supposedly loved. It's hard NOT to cheer at his leaving this life. All you folks who have problem with Charlie's comments are much more forgiving souls than I...evidently you didn't even cheer a little inside when you heard a spammer was gone from this earth.Funnier than hell...
Who really cares? All you people bashing the author for not caring should take a second to examine themselves rather than get on their high horse to preach their moral to someone else who obviously doesn't care. Save your self-righteous remarks for YOUR kids and family. The guy was a slimeball, no doubt, and it sucks his family had to die, but sitting here smack talking the author doesn't change that...Don't let this stop you Charlie
Charlie,I understand the nature of the feedback on this story, from both sides. I'm sure your intention was never to give slight to the tragedy of his family. Don't let one moment of looking down and realizing that your heels are on the line prevent you from speaking your mind in future. It's healthy for all of us to be challenged.
Respectfully,
-tim
Guns /the American Way
This bloke was a nutter , like vast numbers of gun happy , trigger happy creeps that you have in the land of the (formerly)free America.I believe you are all armed to repulse the next invasion of the British.
Do you have your horse all ready to ride around spreading the warning.
Peace and Joy to you all
Go Charlie!
For once it's not straight from the horses arse Charlie! Pity about the family, but one less idiot in the world.LOL
The only people here with a twisted importance on life are the ones that think the guy was worth more than his weight in carbon.6 billion people on this planet. Would be a service to the world if the measly million or two that go out of their way to exploit and rip off others for self gain put themselves away.
Next we'll be hearing whining that cutting life su^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H pulling vegetables from the ground is murder.
Disgusting
While I won't lose any sleep over his death, saying this is a happy ending is very disturbed. Seems you think his suicide was almost worth the murder of his wife and child.Stick to commenting on companies and products, and leave the rest to those whose have human feelings ...
a solid warning
It's a terrible shame about the wife and children. However, one must look on the bright side, this serves as a warning to anyone involved with a spammer, don't get married to them, don't have children with them, and generally, stay away from them. They (spammers) are already sociopaths, and very likely might become psychopaths given a short stint in low-security prison.Perhaps when they are loveless, sexless, and alone the spammers might consider occupations which do not waste hundreds or thousands of person-hours in productivity.
Joyful at least!
Oooh he was a spammer? That's ok then!how do you call 1,000,000 spammers removing their traces from the gene pool and then themselves?
a friggin' good start!
it also applies for every malware dev out there. I would be more than happy washing their brains off my hands.
as a pc technician, I have found myself wishing for this so many times, I enjoy every word of the article.
Awesome!
Great article. Keep up the good work.well that's just a new low...
I hate spam. But I hate stupid violence and senseless death more. This article, while trying to walk the line, so clearly crosses it that it makes me doubt the humanity of the author.You sir...
...may go to Hell. The tragedy of a disturbed man who murders his family and then turns the gun on himself far outweighs any inconveniences he may or may not have caused you.I'm glad there is another place for news such as your website carries. For I'm out of here.
low
This isn't 'edgy' nor does it 'challenge' us in our or opinions or running close to line on a website with sharp editorial. It adds nothing, mealy revelling in other's personal tragedy. It's not 'sick' or 'shocking', just bloody ignorant and immature. You're an unpleasant person.Sad little man...
Not the spammer (who, along with the souls of his family, clearly deserves pity and prayers), but the 'journalist' who thinks that someone's death (including those of innocents including children) is a good subject for fun.Shame on you and your absolute lack of morals and decent behaviour.
What kind of monster are you?
This article is disgusting not because it gloats over someone's suicide (though there is that). It is disgusting because it presents the murder of two people - a mother and child - as a side issue that pales in importance to what's really crucial: Charlie gets less spam.A woman and child were murdered, guys. Wake up. That's a hell of a lot more significant than your email troubles. Unless you're a sociopath, of course (in which case you're not any better than the dead spammer). Or an idiot. There's always that.
"Flame the author" button
Obviously the article is written in such a way that people should be upset and write a lot of comments, which generates page views.I just wonder in what way Mr Demerjian is better than the spammer in question? One thing is certain - if Charlie would put a gun to his head I would not shed a tear. I would not send condoleances to his family either, I would congratulate them (the paralelles to the spammer are only partial in my scenario).
So, Charlie, do the right thing! You will not be missed.
How low can you blow?
Honestly... Even hardened Exchange and Spam filter admins don't harbour so much hatred. As Hokum said, jail yes, death no. You have to be a pretty low character of questionable sanity in order to rejoyce in the fact that some poor schmuck killed his wife, his 3-year old daughter and shot his other teenage daughter in the neck. Charlie, check yourself in for some lengthy treatment, will you?Congrats
Personally I Agree W/Charlie and thank the Inq for allowing him to say what I was thinking, I pity his family. Period. Full Stop.You're a moron, Charlie...
...an utter moron. A three-year-old child died at this idiot's hands. Nothing following that can be a happy thought. D*ckhead.I don't often read the Inquirer, but I'll read it far less from now on. I'll also look into complaining to whatever authority regulates your site's work, if one exists.