Cerebral Wolf: Goon Leadership or Lackey?

“He who knows not and knows not that he knows not: is a fool - shun him." - Proverbs

Less than a week ago representatives from our blog were approached by someone claiming to be a member of GSF. The man referred to as Cerebral Wolf had answered questions for us previously in regards to our Corp Power Rankings series, but seemed almost too happy to do it, much like a subordinate just a little too eager to give his credentials. "Me! Me! Look at me i'm a Goon!" was what the skilled observer would have seen. Shame on us for not knowing better.



In our observations of the Goons they rarely come across as brash, immature and unsure of themselves. Those unfamiliar and inexperienced with power usually carry traits like these. True powerbrokers command respect, they rarely demand it. EVE history tells us that some may not like the Goons place in EVE but few would argue they didn't earn it. GSF was not always Goliath, they were once David. In our experience the man known as Cerebral Wolf comes across as a frat boy so beaten down during his own hazing, that apparently he must now force others to experience it. Watching his message board bravado and the other dead giveaways of insecurity is laughworthy. He clumsily approached us and before even outlining what it was he wanted, he had already both threatened and tried to bribe us. While we played along in the interests of collecting dialog for this piece we were still amazed at what took place.

Here's a transcript of the conversation: [he first engaged a member of our blog on our blog email, who later passed him off to me.]
Who's the best person to direct some questions to about your site?...Nameless514?
Whats your name in Dust?... Who runs the site?
I can answer any questions you have. this is *******, one of the senior writers. We have 6 Dusters Blog avatars in game for different reporters. we only observe at this point.
I very much doubt you only observe and don't play the game.
[I would point out how initial engagements should be devoid of confrontation, but its exceedingly obvious to those of us with actual negotiation skills. If you consider something not believable, file it away for reference. choose your battles, noob]
What if i told you that Digi, Goonwaffes intelligence guy (Who does this for a living in real life, do a google search to confirm this) could confirm that Bruce Harmon is not an actual real person, has no social security number, no registered address and the facebook account that's claimed to be him is accessed by multiple ip address all over the country and that it would be pretty much impossible for a single person to get to all those locations in the time between the account has been accessed?

I'm sure you're aware of Goonwaffes history with rooting out spys and things and that we're really good at it.

If we're wrong, i want to talk to Harmon on Skype, with Video or we're going to be running an article on the whole thing and upset a lot of people..
[his first mistake, demands and unsolicited threats. This is how adolescents negotiate. It was clear at this point to anyone paying attention that he was a goon henchmen and wielded no true power]
You can come clean and allow us access to what information you have and work with us or you can try and work against us and have everything crumble around you.
[Tsk, Tsk. Has there ever been a more heavy handed and botched introduction? He's clearly not a poker player as he's revealed his hand before the first card is played. If his intention is to create an adversarial and confrontational situation then he's succeeded. if its his intent to bargain with us or propose a partnership he's failed before he's even begun. keep reading, at this point he was passed off to me]

i'm confused as to what services you're offering. my intent was always to fold the blog into a bigger publication (evenews24,themittani.com) and get more writers on board but I dont follow in regards to what you're asking. You mentioned access to the information we have. please be specific, what info is that?

You guys must have Intel sources on MAG players and clans, things we dont have easy access to yet. Your news site was clearly made with propaganda and intelligence in mind like many are, despite you leaking your own storys for dramatic effect you have also gained access to some news storys you otherwise wouldn't have got.

We have access to information on EVE you won't be able to get anywhere else, we have made many tools for people we know to use, such as GARPA which is pirated and used by my eve players due to how good it is, we are the only Corp with a genuine, cash funded research department. We have recently released a program that can track all cyno and large fleet movements in game just from data CCP releases with the in game map.

Not to mention the money that comes from being affiliated with us, our major players have their eve accounts paid for, even our FC's. Dust will be no different, goonwaffe paid for my 6 Merc packs for laying the ground work for the Corp, the site, domain name, recruiting, gathering information. That's just the start. I get 500m isk for every article I write for themittani.com which will fund dust. Im sitting on over 13 billion isk right now.

We want a relationship with a MAG Corp. They will have views and insight we won't possess till post launch and that's too late. It can be you... Do the research, we look after our allies, we dont treat them like pets like many eve corps do. We also need someone who can bolster our ground troops in the short term if something happens we can't deal with or if we want a problem correcting without our name on it. We can also provide you that support through eve, we have non affiliated help eve side for orbital support or anything you want to grab without using our name to be honest.

The sky is really the limit right now.
[did this guy just tell a complete stranger that GSF can track fleet movements? I hope thats not actionable intel their rivals might find important. and oh my, promises of riches, merc packs and isk. we might have fallen for it save the fact that he's affiliated with GSF. in all things, never forget that your reputation proceeds you. accept this and you'll be better off for it. here's the best part: "we look after our allies, we dont treat them like pets like many eve corps do." right after threatening to make our world crumble around us. a real salesman, this guy.]

I understand, and while this may hurt our bargaining position a bit, its important to share because its the truth. What we do we do for fun. We do this because we enjoy it.

We cant be tempted with money or scared by threats. Its more important to us that our motivations align than anything else. If they do, we'll work together, If they don't we won't. its really that simple. You were lucky enough to be part of a game where the possibilities were endless, a true sandbox. The game we came from (MAG) had limitless potential but no endgame. There was no reason for anyone to play past the level cap and so myself and a few of the other ***** guys created one. We started the blog to create a timeline, track the game's history, seminal events and help to better form the community. Of course members of MAG's hardcore community were instantly hooked. Eventually we were able to have a staff of more than ten writers from different factions and that gave us balance in our heyday. You take these for granted in EVE. Not so long ago someone familiar with New Eden posted an EVE scam on the MAG forums titled "Should Devs allow this?" It got so many comments that it drew tons of interest. Many of the hardcore people from MAG started to look at your game at that point. Soon after Dust 514 was announced and the rest is history.

Its true our intel sources are vast but only because people love to talk and gossip. We have sources inside all the major corps and alliances. Many of them feel slighted, angry or disenfranchised and instead of leaving their groups they often seek to tear them down from the inside. many also are feeding us intel for their own selfish purposes or as disinformation. Luckily we have access to most of their forums and so we can verify the information that we feel is subterfuge.

If its intel on MAG clans you want, all you had to do is ask. We'll give that information freely and at zero cost. You may feel we are engaging in propaganda and intel but it only seems that way because we have writers with many different viewpoints. Not liking our blog because of an article is like hating 60 minutes because you didnt like Andy Rooney. There are other contributors to read. In the end all we want is to start tracking the Dust 514 history of New Eden so its really that simple. So if you want to offer us anything start with writers, because that is the only thing that holds value to us, as it lessens workload and adds talent to our team.

you've said what you wanted, but without saying it. please be specific regarding what you want from us. we want writers...and you?

I want to know who's running your site right now, there's many sources but it always comes down to one person.

We know you have no leaks from us, but we could be persuaded to give you a little here and there. I could even write the odd piece if that's really all your interested in, it could serve our purposes well from time to time if im honest but first ww require transparency. Trust is the most valuable resource in new Eden and the price for ours, to further your interests is transparency.

Same me the hassle of having digi continue to look into individuals and let me in. At the moment this is pointing towards being bigger than originally anticipated and we all could save time my coming to a compromise.

Right now, my suspicions are that your Zion Shad but digis not finished yet.

[all he wants is our identity? well sure! do you need our social and credit card as well?  it makes one wonder why he would need the very thing he claims to have access to himself. a real einstein, this one. then he goes on to mention trust. A goon? excuse me one moment..LOLOLOLOLOL! it gets better, keep reading]

I am the person often referred to as Bruce Harmon and at times of i've been an amalgam of several different people, but youre asking me to put out before our first date. You've made a gracious offer of writing [keep in mind writers is plural] and our offer of intel is still good, unfortunately our identity is not. I would propose a compromise where we can provide valuable intel upon request. You can fact check it and we can build our relationship that way. We can understand you are in the business of maintaining an empire and acquiring SOV, but our business is a little different as we are cataloging info and making an attempt to tell the stories in New Eden that interest console players.

Zionshad? Even we don't know if he writes for us. We never ask our contributors for identifying information as we dont need it. We only need their writing and ideas. The one thing we allow our writers and sources is their anonymity as its oftentimes the only circumstance they feel comfortable revealing the truth or telling it. we're sure you understand.

Then if your not willing to play by our terms I will let digi work his magic and we will openly publish our findings for everyone to see. As much as you think you hold the cards, you dont. I've offered a compromise and that's the best you will get.

We are not in the habit of sharing our Intel and we look after friends, if that is not enough for you then we will do it the hard way and we make an example out of you.

We are willing to play nice, but you have to compromise too.

You'd never know how many writers you will get from us as everything would go though me for time being.

All we want is transparency. We can build on anything after that point. But the line is drawn and that's where things must start.

We have more influence in new Eden, more resources, more people, more experience and most importantly for this... A better media platform with a much louder voice.

Its your decision but your position is not as good as you think. There are other people willing to work with us.

[negotiation rule #1 no, never and other limitations and negatives are not allowed. threats are usually poor form as well. give the mark options and have him believe he can get things his way. offer to consider or ponder over the things he wants. string him along until you can trap him with your power stroke. unless of course, youre silly enough to use it in your first sentence of course.]

I guess it had to end sometime. I can confirm my dust 514 identity as Zion Shad. you now have your transparency and your compromise. what i said about the identities of the other writers is correct. our staff has undergone change tremendously since the blog began and I am the only person still on the blog that started with it.
[keep in mind this claim was made only to further the conversation, we would like to make it clear that zion shad has never been affiliated in any capacity with our blog as staff]

Reply to me from your other email to confirm please.

We wouldn't just settle for your word for right now, trust takes time Im afraid.

I will provide you with something worth the confirmation after.

[at this point we had what we needed and were done with him. but you have to admit how funny it is for him to keep mentioning trust given the history of the goons. I suppose we're only console neanderthals after all. in the end he wasnt happy and felt the need for one final threat after no response for over 12 hours]

Fine, we'll do this the hard way.

[At this point we felt no need to keep up the charade. so we ended it]

i'm confused. you wanted full disclosure you got it and now there's a problem? I told you before that threats and isk couldnt motivate us. and you use them too much for my liking. as I said before, either our motivations align or they don't, and sadly it looks like we're not on the same page. Godspeed.

There you have it. our interactions unfiltered. Our guess is that he neither speaks for The Mittani nor is anyone of consequence within The Goons. This is obviously a poor attempt at a power play by someone who got a small taste of power by being recognized for being a Goon on Dust514.com. Message board comments like "Funny that, I chat with the Mittani daily" are too sad to be funny and reek of serious confidence issues. Our negotiating with him would be the equivalent of telling a friend about a sleepover before asking our parents. A very bad idea. We see a loose cannon that is more concerned with the position being a member of GSF gives him than actually representing it. Its hard to imagine The Mittani prancing around the forums acting important or throwing threats around like a teenager. He is a master strategist, and knows his place in the EVE Hierachy, he isn't unsure of it--and there of course, is the difference with this fellow.

As always, we'll continue to update this story as more information becomes available. Do you have tips, hints or intel we might find important? email us at magww@live.com and as always your identity will never be revealed.