Email from "John Murphy" - WTF?

jimi_t2

A classic ted quote from the ''Who is John Murphy?'' facebook page;

''They say he's as big as four cats, and it's got a retractable leg so as he can leap up at you better and you know what, it lights up at night, and he's got four ears. Two of them are for listening and the other two are kind of back-up ears, and his hands are as big as cups and for some reason it's got a tremendous fear... of stamps and he's got magnets on it's back so's if you're made out of metal it can attach itself to you, and instead of a mouth he's got four arses.''

Knifey Spoony

Papa_Lazarou wrote: »

http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=118100534881812&topic=90

There's also a 50 page pdf document attached but i don't have a link for that.

Thanks for that, won't really be up for reading the PDF after that though. Not sure if this guy is for real, obviously not the story he tells but if he truly sick or just some random student messing about. This won't have been the first unusual email that i have received (or heard about) in my ucc email account.

Redisle

Strange that the guy seems to have emailed it to everyone individually though, it really looks like he was just getting individual names from the UCC site and emailing one at a time, if he had a list of some kind he would surely just have used the cc or bcc field.
I got it at around 11.13pm but didn't see it until today, very strange stuff!

Im wondering if he was going in a somewhat alphabetical order, I got it relatively early and I would be very near the top of an alphabetical list..

rebel girl 15

That seems quite weird that he would do it by individual email address

Ricky91t

rebel girl 15 wrote: »

That seems quite weird that he would do it by individual email address

Only authorized email addresses can send it to the allstudents etc

ReacherCreature

Ricky91t wrote: »

Only authorized email addresses can send it to the allstudents etc

Ah yes that makes sense, I was wondering if he/she done this in the first place.

rebel girl 15

Ricky91t wrote: »

Only authorized email addresses can send it to the allstudents etc

Yeah, but from whats been said, he sent each email individually one at a time. You can send a number of emails at a time, taken from a list online

rebel girl 15

Some person has actually set up a John Murphy account - another group been set up here

samf

Gmail has a 500 mails sent per day limit, so either he did 500 before 12pm and 500 after, or just 500 in total. Its also possible mailing list software was used to automate the sendings...... theres a lot of possibilites really.

Eliot Rosewater

Obviously my sympathies are with the guy who sent the email; compiling a 50 page document and sending it to 500 people is no mean feat. He must have a lot of troubles, more than I can imagine anyway, and I hope some form of meaningful communication can be established with him by those qualified to do so.

rebel girl 15 wrote: »

Some person has actually set up a John Murphy account - another group been set up here

One of my pet peeves with Facebook is how people there act like such sheep: once one person does something that proves popular everyone starts clamoring in to copy them in an attempt to get a slice of the "action"; ie number of people joined your group. This is something like the 6th group I've seen on this issue.

It's just like this recent facedown fad. The initial idea's mildly interesting, but I bet the vast majority of people putting up facedown pictures are just doing it in an attempt to be popular and to fit in to the fad

It really is amazing how much importance people attach to the size of the population of their Facebook group. Some people need a serious reevaluation of the meaning of success. And the merit of being an individual and being unique, while we're at it.

/rant

samf

Just heard the following:

The search directory is being turned off tomorrow. A gmail student email system was approved two weeks ago and changes are being made to the emails anyway. He extracted the emails and put them into some sort of script or programme to send one by one every 10 secs or so. Around 7000 sent so far but 4000 were blocked as spam.

rebel girl 15

samf wrote: »

Just heard the following:

The search directory is being turned off tomorrow. A gmail student email system was approved two weeks ago and changes are being made to the emails anyway. He extracted the emails and put them into some sort of script or programme to send one by one every 10 secs or so. Around 7000 sent so far but 4000 were blocked as spam.

Thanks for that! I presume they managed to track the guy down as well??

samf

I would imagine so, yes.

Iron Hide

Didnt know what to make of it at first tbh, thought it was a joke first of all but its way too in-depth to be a prank i think. I genuinely believe that the person is mentally unwell, and hopefully will not incur serious punishment for this, but rather get the help and care that they deserve.

TanG411

Does anybody have a link to it that is NOT on Facebook?

Or anybody willing to forward it on to me? Drop me a PM, I'd love to have a read off of it.

Lia_lia

I thought it was all a joke really. Or a project belonging to a psychology student. And I agree with some of the stuff on that PDF. Not very shocking tbh. Whatever.

jimi_t2

Eliot Rosewater wrote: »

It's just like this recent facedown fad. The initial idea's mildly interesting, but I bet the vast majority of people putting up facedown pictures are just doing it in an attempt to be popular and to fit in to the fad

This recent what now?

maglite

jimi_t2 wrote: »

This recent what now?

Think of standing to attention, then falling flat on your face. Now take a picture of you in that position somewhere stupid.

flynny51

John is now on PROC

http://www.peoplesrepublicofcork.com/~peoplesr/forums/showthread.php?t=179926

Amtmann

A new email from "John" has just been circulated.

deisedude

Furet wrote: »

A new email from "John" has just been circulated.

Ya i just got it. Uses his real name and all this time

Byron85

flynny51 wrote: »

John is now on PROC

http://www.peoplesrepublicofcork.com/~peoplesr/forums/showthread.php?t=179926

Jesus those people should be ashamed. They're fueling the fire either through sheer ignorance of psychiatric issues or pure vindictiveness. Either way, that thread needs to be shut down now.

Byron85

deisedude wrote: »

Ya i just got it. Uses his real name and all this time

Could you pm that on to me?

save_our_socks

T.W.H Byron wrote: »

Could you pm that on to me?

Could someone forward it on to me as well? I never got the first one but found it online. Still interested to see what its all about...is it real, a well overly thought out and implemented prank or an experiement from someone in the psy department to investigate the effects of the internet?

Faith

I really doubt it's someone from the psych department. It's the wrong time of year for participants. Everyone's up to their eyeballs in studying and it would completely skew the results.

I got the second email too.

save_our_socks

Faith wrote: »

I really doubt it's someone from the psych department. It's the wrong time of year for participants. Everyone's up to their eyeballs in studying and it would completely skew the results.

I got the second email too.

Was thinking that myself, was just a theory put forth by one of the lads.

save_our_socks

Thanks for forwarding it on!

deisedude

T.W.H Byron wrote: »

Could you pm that on to me?

Sorry, i actually deleted it.

Esse85

T.W.H Byron wrote: »

Could you pm that on to me?

Hi,

Sorry if you receive this a number of times. I'm using my real name this time, partly because the
facebook profile I created last time was shut down because you're meant to use your real name,
and I can't think of a good reason why not to. For anyone that knows/knew me, yes that is where I
ended up, it's not my fault in any way.

---

Original Message

---

From: "Registrar's Office" <Registrar@UCC.IE>
To: ALLSTUDENTS@LISTS.UCC.IE
Subject: [ALLSTUDENTS] Message to students regarding external email
Date: Fri, 30 Apr 2010 09:42:24 +0100

>We are aware of emails received by students at UCC from
>"John Murphy" today. We are dealing with the situation in
>as sensitive a way as possible.

Bring me to court. I will tell them all what Dr. Byrne, UCC and psychiatry did to me and are doing to
others. I doubt UCC will get me committed again based on me emailing the truth of what was done
to me. I made sure to raise eyebrows the last time Dr. Byrne abused the system in a sickening way:
changing policemen when you didn't get what you wanted, having a clueless policeman arrest me
and bring me in for mental illness when that is only meant for if he sees someone himself out of
control on the street. That is why he signed the committal form. Dr. Byrne or another doctor hadn't
seen me in the previous 24 hours, they couldn't get my parents or a relative to so they had to get a
police officer to. And this time there is no backlog of "months", and the only reason there was that
time was because UCC was harassing me and not letting me do my assessment and exams and full
of **** the whole time. Yes they're all sick of your ****ing bull****, you owe ME two years of wages
for not letting me do my exams. Dr. Byrne and the psychiatrists should be locked up for years, I
wouldn't force them drugs as I don't support cruelty and torture in any respect.

>We would like to assure all students
>that the allegations made in this email in relation to
>people at UCC are entirely false.

No, they are all true and you know that very well.

>Could we ask for your
>assistance in the management of this situation by
>refraining from responding to the email or commenting in
>any way on the email online or on social networks.

Or what, you'll expel them as well? You'll make them go to see a psychiatrist or they're not allowed
to do their exams? Please disregard this statement by your registrar. It has to be all over for Dr.
Byrne, mental health at the college, sham committees, and a complete overhaul at this stage.

Look at the following emails of other poor students that Dr. Byrne has been brutally harassing and
threatening:

"My name is <removed> and I am just like you. It all started just after Christmas. I went to the
doctor to have a wart removed and she started asking me all these crazy questions about why I was
so shy and why I never made eye contact with her. She made me see that bastard Dr. Byrne and,
next minute, they were pumping me full of narcotics in this strange room. They said it was for my
own good and that I was a danger to myself and to others because I had “acute psychosis” but I’ve
never done anything bad in my whole life. They have ruined everything for me. They even said that
if I told anyone they would have to expel me from UCC. I have been so frightened and disturbed
over the last few months but, now that I have read your e-mail, I have been handed a silhouette of
hope and, in turn, a deep anger at the injustices executed to date has been bludgeoned into life
within me. I, like you, crave for retribution and for the ultimate exposure of this callous symphony of
manipulation."

"Dear John Murphy,
Please, I need help! I feel that we are in the same boat! I am an arts degree
student and am barely making it through college. My parents are both unemployed and i can barely
afford college myself.
I went to see Dr Byrne a few weeks ago as i was feeling "down" about myself. After my appointment
with him he asked to see me again the next day. I went and he began asking me very personal
questions asking my views on certain aspects of life. Later on he suggested that i was suffering from
some sort of "psychosis". (I cannot remember the full name as it is very long). He suggested i go on
some sort of drug programme where i am given all sorts of pills and a course of injections. He did
not even give a time when this course would end. I strongly felt that i did not need this and declined.
He then became quite pushy until i just walked out. Since then, he has done some research and
found out that my mother suffered from depression 3 years ago and that she is currently on
medication for another type of illness. He has contacted my home and put allot of pressure on my
parents, this is killing them at the moment. Lately he called me and said that "my future in this
college would be questioned" if i didnt agree to this drug programme. I dont know where to turn. I
am in pieces! I have even had suicidal thoughts to make this all end, he just wont stop. He is ruining
my life and my families! I beg you, please help me, I dont know how much more of this me or my
family can take!
(This is not my real name or email address as i am terrified he will find out)."

Surely this has to stop! Surely we have to do something to help these poor individuals! Next it could
be you being forced to see these people or being expelled at the drop of a hat, like for something
you said on the internet! I received other emails like it as well.

Please, if you have any bit of sympathy and pity for the plight of your fellow students, and care at all
about the security of your own place at the college and security in your position... you don't want to
be brain-damaged by Dr. Byrne forcing you to take medication or being pushed to go to extremely
stupid meetings or being expelled, please show your support and join this group. I had the other one
set up but as I stated my profile got deleted. Please also raise awareness among your
parents/others about this abuse and ask them to join also.

http://www.facebook.com/groups/create.php#!/group.php?gid=118254931529595

Overall UCC is a sham of a college, it's 2010 and they still can't even run an email server (you have
use it on a computer in college or it's totally insecure). It's a real smart idea to have the entire
directory available in one search, then you can't even copy and paste an email address. At least
they're now said to be admitting they can't run even an email server properly and are going to use
gmail instead. If you know of any other college in the entire world that has the ability to see all the
student emails like that with one search let me know... - really, I'll send them on the pdf file and
show them what happened to me. Maybe some professors or courses are competent and good
enough, but the central core and management is an absolute farce.

Again if you're going to email me please don't use your student webmail account as I almost
definitely won't receive it otherwise.

KnifeWRENCH

^ I didn't get the first one but I did get that one. The whole thing is really bizzarre.

DingosAteMyBaby

^Wierd, it's getting creepier and creepier:eek:

misslily

I had heard that the student in question has been expelled since this all kicked off last week. I really hope that there is a support network to help him get through what he is at the moment.

My concern is that now all this information is on the web and open to absolutely anybody. The original pdf sent to UCC students has been passed around and forwarded probably and as well all know its quite easy to track down things on the net once its gone out there. I really hope the false information regarding mental health treatment is not being read by the wrong person putting someone's treatment at risk in anyway.

samf

Thats not true, the student in question was expelled last year. I'd imagine there are all sorts of theories and rumours spreading round, 90% of which i'd imagine are false.

rebel girl 15

KnifeWRENCH wrote: »

^ I didn't get the first one but I did get that one. The whole thing is really bizzarre.

Same with me, just checked my emails now - 3.41am is when I got it

It is really bizarre all things considered!

Eliot Rosewater

samf wrote: »

Thats not true, the student in question was expelled last year. I'd imagine there are all sorts of theories and rumours spreading round, 90% of which i'd imagine are false.

I know it's nothing to do directly with SU, but I think that UCC detailing what has happened would put a stop to the rumour mill. With modern up-to-the-second communication networks such as Facebook, trying to avoid disclosing details will probably blow up in one's face.

rebel girl 15

Eliot Rosewater wrote: »

I know it's nothing to do directly with SU, but I think that UCC detailing what has happened would put a stop to the rumour mill. With modern up-to-the-second communication networks such as Facebook, trying to avoid disclosing details will probably blow up in one's face.

I don't think it would be fair to the student in question to detail everything, some of the stuff may be confidential, it may also compromise any sort of investigation that may or may not be in progress at the moment. They could come out with some statement to say that the matter is being dealt with, as they did before, and ask people not to discuss it- it is clear that they have not caught the guy and blocked his access. Or they could be hoping that the rumour mill just dies down as the days pass! I'd say they could be advised so far not to say anything for fear of compromising things

samf

Eliot Rosewater wrote: »

I know it's nothing to do directly with SU, but I think that UCC detailing what has happened would put a stop to the rumour mill. With modern up-to-the-second communication networks such as Facebook, trying to avoid disclosing details will probably blow up in one's face.

Yeah, i know what you mean it would stop all the confusion and stuff, but they have to protect the privacy of the ex student in question i suppose, and if they start outlining everything they know about him to everyone it may well make the whole thing worse. Also it may get the media involved, and thats the last thing they want "UCC releases in depth information on mentally ill ex student to all students" - not exactly good publicity! I'd imagine like rebel girl said theyre just hoping the whole thing will die down, as it is much less fuss was made about todays email. People dont really care anymore, but its still embarrasing how easy he's been able to contact most students mulitple times. Imagine how many more sinister uses the list of student emails could have put to, wouldnt be surprised if they disable the initial.secondname@student.ucc.ie alias for all students and just left it at the student number for the time being. Also, for obvious reasons, the SU are staying out of this one.

rebel girl 15

I'm just wondering how this guy has not been stopped sending emails to these webmail accounts - is it not possible to track down where he is sending these emails from through IP addresses and block it - is there not a way to set it up so that outside emails addresses other than the @ucc.ie ones cannot send emails to webmail accounts, i.e. make the webmail completely internal??

FarmerGreen

flynny51 wrote: »

John is now on PROC

http://www.peoplesrepublicofcork.com/~peoplesr/forums/showthread.php?t=179926

Invalid Thread specified. If you followed a valid link, please notify the administrator

samf

yeah its possible id say to make it totally internal, but think of all the legitimate emails that go to student.ucc.ie accounts from external sources? many students use it as their primary email account, any may be using it to apply for summer jobs, email friends or any other number of things, so they'll never do that. As for blocking his IP adddress, i dont think emails sent contain the ip address of the sender, but even if they do its easy to move IP address or change it with a proxy.

samf

FarmerGreen wrote: »

Invalid Thread specified. If you followed a valid link, please notify the administrator

Looks like PROC does have some form of moderation after all :rolleyes:

rebel girl 15

samf wrote: »

Looks like PROC does have some form of moderation after all :rolleyes:

I'm surprised!

Byron85

samf wrote: »

Looks like PROC does have some form of moderation after all :rolleyes:

That thread was truly shocking. They all effectively encouraged him. I guarantee you that not one of them has ever opened up a Psychology book in their lives. Cretins the lot of them.

johnny-fatality

T.W.H Byron wrote: »

I guarantee you that not one of them has ever opened up a Psychology book in their lives. Cretins the lot of them.

That quote demands some sarcastic reply that I'm not witty enough to come up with, but come on like!

You don't need a psychology book for common sense. That forum is all about sniping at whoever's on it, and is much more no holds barred than other forums, which is why 'John Murphy' probably went there: more exposure.

m2wua0ox56iz93

This post has been deleted.

lilmissprincess

Since UCC changed not only the search function but also our email addresses.... how the hell is he getting them?

TanG411

He probably had a database of student emails saved on his own computer already.

Smart lad.

samf

Yeah all he'd have to do is replace @student.UCC.ie with @umail.UCC.ie. Embarrasing for UCC that they let this happen again but to be fair to them there's not much they could do about it. And on fairness at least it's a bit more entertaining than most of the other all student emails.

rebel girl 15

It came to our name address rather than our student number - sent at 5.11 am

The Paws

I got the very long email and a lot of "stupid" etc in it!!

Scary!