by Matt Marquardt –
Time for some blunt talk. This is an update to the public on the status of NorthIowaToday.com.
Throughout its existence, practically since the day it was launched on October 1, 2010, NorthIowaToday.com has been under attack on a number of fronts.
Among the first attacks were cowardly legal threats from the Globe Gazette and KIMT. The next attack came from City Hall, when I was personally told to “give up” by our mayor. There have been countless other attempts by various culprits to bring NIT back down from the heights it has so quickly reached.
Over the past two years of the existence of NorthIowaToday.com, several influential persons in Mason City have approached our advertisers in an effort to diminish or completely remove their presence on NIT. These same persons have taken it upon themselves to move against me personally and my business in general. Their apparent goal is to destroy NIT by any means, thereby protecting their own agendas and keeping the whole story from you. These people hate truthful reporting and want only to continue their free ride from the other media at the expense of the greater public. They despise the fact that NIT answers to no one but our readers and cannot grasp the fact that thousands of people read NIT everyday.
Now, just this past week, a massive spam campaign was launched against NorthIowaToday.com which nearly brought down our web servers. At about the same time, comments that NIT readers wrote on our site were systematically deleted from our system by an unknown source. The deleted comments were critical of influential people in Mason City and the surrounding area; no other comments were deleted. The comments are gone and there is no trace of them left. We have received numerous emails and complaints from our readers pointing out their missing comments. Our web hosting provider has been less than forthcoming and provided minimal support so far in investigating this incident. In fact, they went so far as to make changes to critical NIT web files and even shut NIT down for a brief time without consulting me.
I consider all of the above to be attacks upon myself and NorthIowaToday.com and it is taken very seriously. The persons responsible have made it difficult at times to deal with the regular day-to-day operations of this business while working to produce the content our readers demand. The above mentioned malfeasance will be investigated in perpetuity and I hope to discover the identities of all involved.
I want to assure our loyal subscribers, advertisers and readers that the despicable attempts by these people has thus far failed. NIT is stronger than ever and will continue to grow. We continue to add paid subscribers, as we near 250 after 11 weeks of offering subscriptions. We add new, eager advertisers each week.
We have upgraded and solved (for the time being) the story commenting issues and now once again are able to allow comments from NIT readers to instantly post to our site.
We will continue to upgrade NorthIowaToday.com and address other technical issues while working to bring you the news and information the other so-called media ignore.
In closing, you, the NIT reader, might be able to help. I would ask that anyone with information about any of the above issues contact me immediately, via email at staff@northIowatoday.com or you may call our office at 515-897-1144. Your information is appreciated. Thank you for reading.
I have to wonder why a bunch of people would launch massive campaigns against you to bring you down? Perhaps you’re shady or something? Or you report crappy news? Or maybe your news is libelous? Or maybe it’s North Iowa Mugshots – and the fact that you make it out to be this great public service, but all you really do is stir up more trouble and hate?
Gosh, other than all of that – I’m not sure why anyone would be so mad at you!
I am guessing this comment will mysteriously disappear 😉
Yup, status quo. Keep your mouth shut or any unwanted comments will receive severe retribution from the establishment. Including police harassment, smear campaigns, and/or physical confrontation (e.g. Weaver vs Hickey round 3). Talk about bullying kids in school, I wonder what the bullies parents are teaching em…
DOS (Denial Of Service) is not taken so lightly any more. There are many laws involved here, none of which evidence can be shuffled under the rug by local enities. Unless of course such parties wish to be considered criminally involved.
These kind of actions leave a very long paper trail (or electrons if you prefer).
The laws were set up this way to protect both private and commercial interests, as well as lovers of Free Speech. It is no different if I were to write a comment on paper, or electronically regarding criticism towards our elected representitives. Both are protected.
And there are many organizaions who’s goals are to protect those consitutional rights, foremost is the Electronic Frontier Foundation. A great resource.
Sure glad I read this article before I wasted $2 on a subscription. I guess I’m just not paranoid and tight enough to subscribe.
Freedom of speech, I can say there are times I think your articles go to far, but that is my opinion and at any time I can stop reading, Freedom of Choice. What I do not like or want to see happen is the freedom of speech taken away from an enity of any kind. Agree or disagree I get to have that choice, because of the freedom of speech. If what you have written is not fact, then city govt or state employees can go through the proper channels an sue for slander (etc) because it appears that is not happening, and someone is taking efforts to hack, delete, etc goes to show probably are facts being posted and they do not like it. I am sorry for you trouble as I get to hide at home behind a made up name and you and your staff daily place your name on your articles and take the heat.
Geez. That,s a bunch of crap. Keep digging.
It is well known around town that people that know about these things opinion are the top honcho and his right hand obnoxious goon council person are probably the ones behind this attack on NIT. I have been told that people have been told to back away from NIT and not to use them and this was done by city officials. It is my opinion that these folks that told me this have no reason to mislead me.
To answer a question that has come my way more than once, no, you do not need to leave your name nor identity when contacting me with information. Just leave the information anonymously if you feel more comfortable doing so. Thanks again to the persons who called and sent emails the last couple of days, and to those who will do so.
Matt I sent an email to you but it bounced back? I won’t reveal anything about it here but I think you will see there is more going on than you know. I have seen and heard some things that disturbed me that you should know about.
Want to thank everyone for the comments and emails I have received. Some very interesting information already has come my way. Some of it worth documenting. It’s amazing what people see and hear out there. No matter how small the information, it could be very important, so please send it my way.
Matt I hope you have a lawyer working on this! You’re one of the few who take a stand around here. I hope Max comes around too, we need him to stop the madness of these people.
I can’t talk about every move I am making, but I am represented by more than just a lawyer. Facts are being compiled and I am weighing what course of action to take. In the meantime, thank you for reading NIT.
Hang in there Matt, You have a lot more support then they realize.
Matt-I was pretty sure you were being hacked and hacked bad. It was somewhat irritating but I understood what was going on. I know some people around town and will see what I can find out. I really enjoy N.I.T. and being able to communicate my thoughts (although some people don’t like it). You have a tough job ahead of you and if there is anything a old man can do to help you just let me know. I have a lot of time on my hands so I am available to help if needed.
This is the the reality of the bottom feeders now in charge of our community. Its all about censorship and control. Everyone knows this has always been the policy of the Beavis and Buttwhiler gazette and their star trained monkey reporter and now with their new puppet mayor and yes men council they want no one to have any say. Keep up the great work Matt and when you have hard facts on who all is involved let us know so we as readers can boycott their businesses.
NEWSFLASH! Buttwhiler doesn’t work for GG anymore.
I kept reading how these all these people were blubbering on here about “calling your advertisers.” Hell, the only calls I had were people thanking me for supporting you. I never had ONE of those posers call me or send me any sort of email or instant message. If they would have, you would have been CC’d on it. Keep up the good work and switch web hosts.
Matt, Keep up the GOOD WORK YOU DO! I would like to see you turn up the heat on the MANY Dirty City & County Non leaders in North Iowa. In fact I think NIT would be a great way to inform voters & help promote New Leaders. Things won’t change if we don’t change things ourselves. You have my e-mail and I have a few ideas if you are open to stepping & thinking way outside the box. Why wait a few months before the next local election to see who we don’t have to choose from again.
I noticed all of the comments about how bad Judge Weiland is were all “mysteriously” deleted. Very strange.
Someone doesn’t like the truth!
When OOIDA- Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, was just getting started times were tough for the guy who started it. It now has 150,000 members. In order to help out 40 years ago drivers would “renewal” their yearly memberships a couple times a year.
Matt, I’m going to take advantage of your limited time offer banner above and “renew” my subscription.
I hope others will also.
JB Johnson
Britt
Hey Matt. I called your office and left a message. But I want you and your readers to know that not so long ago I heard a person from your story talking to an advertiser of yours and their words were not positive. The details are in the message I Ieft. You should be writing all this down and keeping a journal and then take it to an attorney.
@anonymous: I believe I am aware of this as the advertiser pretty much immediately called me and told me about the man who came by his office and what was said. We had a nice laugh about it. And yes, it is all written down.
Bob Fisher reminds me of a quote from Tommy Boy…..”I can hear you getting fatter.” One of these days they will find him dead sitting in his office with a chocolate donut in one hand and a cheeseburger in the other.
As Bender once said: B-O-O-H-O-O.
If these people are going to these lengths to delete certain comments/to bring NIT down its pretty obvious to me that they don’t want the public to know ‘something’. I noticed some comments from the Maria Ohl article were missing, also.
Stay safe NIT & keep up the great work!
Time for a new host. I’m sorry this is happening to you Matt. The other media outlets in North Iowa are a joke. Blob Fisher, the Glob and KIMT. All they do is kiss ass to the council and the chamber and sugar coat every news arttcle. It’s important for the people of North Iowa to get the WHOLE story when it comes to what happens at the council meetings, the supervisor meetings and what both boards try to hide from the public. The city council is corrupt to say the least and thanks to you for keeping the public informed.
Keep up the good work and keep your chin up! You have many fans.
What were the legal threats about?
A former KIMT news anchor named Greg Berry made legal threats to me via email after I took a picture at the courthouse during a trial. The Globe Gazette made legal threats to me after its former Editor Joe Buttweiler wrote a story for NOT and submitted it to me with photos from the 2008 flood. They claimed that they own everything Buttweiler ever did during the time he worked there even when ti was on his personal time.
Greg Berry? He don’t know his way home let alone the legalities of the first amendment. Who is he to pretend to be a lawyer anyway. If that’s KIMT’s best shot then you got nothing to worry about Matt.
I met Greg Berry once. He is typical KIMT. He wasn’t here very long (the good ones never are – the ones here a long time are stuck here because no other stations will hire them). He moved to North Carolina if I’m not mistaken.
Matt do you think your web host was involved in helping to delete the comments? How else could that happen? You really have your hands full. Hang in there. I know a lot of people talk about NIT at my work, and we all read it most everyday. Whenever something important happens, it’s the first place I go. I’d hate to see it lost.
Welcome to the real world Matt ! Corruption is in politics and lobbyists and 100 bills make it a mafia game. Hope you can sue these people – their really nobody when you catch them with their pants down – GOOD WORK MATT-
Matt, I am sorry to hear about these attacks. I had no idea how hard it is to run NIT, but I do now. I want you to know I check NIT first thing every morning and have forgotten your competition exists. Thanks for bringing us the real news. You can count on my support.