Troll takes credit for controversial Megan Meier blog
One of the mysteries following the suicide of 13-year-old Megan Meier seems to have been solved. In the weeks after the public became aware of the Dardenne Prairie teen’s death - she hanged herself after being tormented by a fictional MySpace boy - someone started a controversial blog called Megan Had it Coming.
No one took credit for the blog, though its author claimed to be Lori Drew, the neighbor who is accused of helping to create and use the fake MySpace account to torment Meier. Drew denied it was her creation.
It turns out the blog was created by someone with no apparent local ties. In a recent New York Times magazine story, author Mattathias Schwartz looked into the bizarre world of trolls - those folks who delight in wreaking havoc in the online world.
One of the trolls interviewed for the story, Jason Fortuny, takes credit for the Megan blog:
In fact, Megan Had It Coming was another Jason Fortuny experiment. He, not Lori Drew, Fortuny told me, was the blog’s author. After watching him log onto the site and add a post, I believed him. The blog was intended, he says, to question the public’s hunger for remorse and to challenge the enforceability of cyberharassment laws like the one passed by Megan’s town after her death. Fortuny concluded that they were unenforceable. The county sheriff’s department announced it was investigating the identity of the fake Lori Drew, but it never found Fortuny, who is not especially worried about coming out now. “What’s he going to sue me for?” he asked. “Leading on confused people? Why don’t people fact-check who this stuff is coming from? Why do they assume it’s true?”
You can see a little more of Fortuny’s world on his blog, which he calls: “Getting away with everything you can only dream of.”
Tim has covered a wide range of topics, including tourism, crime, aviation and gambling, since becoming a reporter in 1990. The Oklahoma native joined the Post-Dispatch in 2007 after spending nine years in Orlando. In his spare time, he's often exploring one virtual world or another. He can be reached at tbarker@post-dispatch.com. 
That is disgusting. Why someone wanted to keep the hate flame going is beyond wrong. All he did is cause my grief to the family.
Amazing. Jason Fortuny tries to come across as a guy who is doing the world a favor by showing us what he can get away with. I certainly hope Mattathias Schwartz and Tim Barker realize what a tasteless scumbag this guy is, and does NOT deserve the notoriety he is getting. Give me a break.
This is part of the on-line underbelly - featuring some very sick souls….
Very sad and very pathetic. Yet another minefield in life in which I have to inform my children. I feel sad for their generation.
Fortuny is relatively well known within weblogging, and few of us will give him the attention he craves.
It was foolish and irresponsible of you to give him that attention, or link to his weblog. The Times article was a justified link, though again it gives attention to people who desperately crave the attention.
Make no mistake: Fortuny doesn’t help anyone but Fortuny. Also you may want to use better judgment about what you define to be “top story”.
This is amazing. What people will do to have their 15 minutes of fame. My prayer is that some hacker is out there and rocks this guy’s world. Making light of someone’s suffering is inhumane. Then boasting about it and promoting your blog is even worse. I do not think this needs to be taken care by law enforcement, it needs to be taken care of by other cyber people.
It’s an interesting argument about not linking to Mr. Fortuny’s site.
Obviously savvy Internet users will have no trouble finding his site. But I tend to lean toward making it as easy as possible for anyone viewing my blog to see the things I’m talking/writing about.
……………………….A VERY SICK INDIVIDUAL……………………..
DOES SOMEONE OWE LORI DREW AN APOLOGY????
Has anyone ever heard of the concept of “no such thing as an unselfish act”?
Well if people started to accept the truth that is no such thing as an unselfish act we would all be happier….We all do what is in our interest in some way or another.
Long live the selfish!
The Post-Dispatch, always first with the news…oh wait, this news came out at least a week ago. Well, I guess at least it got published…eventually.