alt.astrology
FAQ
The Proto Jai Maharaj Periodic Informational Posting
Roy Johnson's Jai FAQ
Also of interest:
Tim
Skirvin's Killfile Dungeon
SourceFrom: L. M. P. McPherson |
Data23) Who is this "Dr. Jai Maharaj" person who posts so prolifically? Answer: This person has generated so much annoyance in this and other groups that Roy Johnson (rjohnson@shell.com) created a FAQ about him. See that FAQ for full details. (If you cannot find it in alt.astrology, look in rec.food.veg.) Briefly, his legal name appears to be Jay Stevens (e.g., this name appears in the articles of incorporation for his "Mantra Corporation"). He used to post under that name in other electronic forums, but when he discovered the internet, he decided to use a more Indian-sounding name, and began calling himself "Jai Maharaj." Lately, this name has evolved into "Dr. Jai Maharaj." In 1990, he was claiming that his birth name was Jai Mathura. He has many internet accounts, and he sometimes edits the headers of postings to obscure their origin and author. He is believed to create alternate personas and post under additional aliases to give the impression that he has supporters. Such personas are often recognised by their tendency to use the term "Swami" for him. He has a "library" of articles that he posts, re-posts, and re-posts again, ad nauseam; this accounts for his ubiquity on the net. Each posting contains a .sig file that advertises his vedic astrology business, so the large volume of his postings appears to be part of a marketing scheme. (The official purpose of Mantra Corporation is listed as "business consulting, marketing, advertising and related services." Despite anything he might say, this company is *not* a non-profit organisation.) Netters have dubbed him "Jai Mirage" because they think he is a fake -- a con man. Don't be taken in. And please, please, please don't respond to his postings; he generates enough net "noise" as it is. Just put his most usual alias (Jai Maharaj) and/or all of his net addresses in your kill file for this newsgroup (see the Jai Maharaj FAQ for a list of these addresses). See # 22 for instructions about editing a kill file. For the curious, he once claimed that his birth data are October 7, 1946, 9:15 am (-5:30 h), New Delhi, India, 77E12, 28N36. Oh, and by the way, he is in the habit of posting a slightly edited version of this FAQ, changing this answer into an advertisement for himself, inserting a diatribe against western astrology at the beginning of the file, and putting his most common alias (Jai Maharaj) at the head of the list of contributors to the FAQ! There are two terms for this activity: plagiarism, and copyright violation. (The latter is one of his favourite activities; he often posts large excerpts from books without the authors' permission, and sometimes without giving the authors credit.) |
Source%:%:%: The Proto Jai
Maharaj Periodic %:%:%: |
Data1. Who is Jai Maharaj? Jai Maharaj is the 'Voice of Mantra Corporation'. Though it is seen as just one poster posting all the stuff on Usenet, it is widely suspected that Jai is not the only contributor. 2. What newsgroups are home to Jai Maharaj? You're kidding. Any newsgroup on Usenet, forums on Compuserve, practically anything anywhere anytime is home to Jai Maharaj. Just post on any of the following groups on Noosenet and Jai is very eager always to share his wisdom with any group. Jai's wisdom is presently available on the following groups: alt.astrology The Usenet graph of Jai Maharaj in a brand of vedic astrology :
----------------------------------------- 3. What do you need to do to get in the good books of Jai Maharaj? Well, say that Vedic astrology is good. Don't ever be a animal killer/eater. Also see Q. 4. Also ask Virendra on alt.astrology. 4. What do you need to do to get in the bad books of Jai Maharaj? Just flame him on Usenet for 5 days. It helps if you are quite "popular" or "widely known" on a newsgroup. Else you aren't worth Jai Maharaj's time. Say that Vedic Astrology is a fake. Or that Mantra Corporation is misusing Internet/Usenet by advertizing using the 4-line .sig. 5. What is common between Jai Maharaj and John Palmer? Both have claim to being one of the most "popular" persons on Usenet. Jai has accused lots of people with "LIBEL". JP has slapped virtual lawyers on many. 6. What is different
between Jai Maharaj and John Palmer? 7. What is the
mark of a Jai Maharaj posting? Your tax dollars at work! Till date, he has never been seen from a commercial account. Once in a while, mantra corporation (which has the same mcimail number apparently as jaimaharaj@mcimail.com) uses the UTexas gateway to pass out its distilled wisdom. 8. What do I do if I don't want to see Jai's postings at all? There is a wonderful
mechanism on bulletin board systems called "Killfile". Use it.
If you are annoyed,
you can send mail to postmaster@<node> where node is 9. Why this FAQ? There are countless people on Usenet who still don't know Jai Maharaj and this humble effort on my part will probably enable people from far and wide to get to know the personality of Jai. btw, there is also a alt.fan.jai-maharaj. Please spread the Jai Maharaj message for the good of the world. Contributions to the FAQ most welcome. If anyone wants to take over the FAQ, you are most welcome to. Please post everything on the newsgroup. Every effort has been made to present facts. Corrections welcome on that count from anyone, be it from Jai Maharaj or John Palmer. Jai anon.penet.fi. Jai Jai Maharaj. Jai Julf. -=Om Jai Maharaj=- |
Source
The Kook of the Month
for May/June, "Jai Maharaj," has added soc.culture.usa to the
list of groups he bombards with his propaganda trolls, so here's He'll reply to this with old, edited posts that "prove" that I'm a forger. They are discussed in item #17. The upshot is: try to ignore him. He's not fooling anyone. |
Text
Note: Jai's accusations in response to this posting are explained in #17. So now he doesn't need to post it. Recent Changes: 8 Jul 95: Jai wins
Kook of the Month, see #1 This is the Jai FAQ for rec.food.veg. I used to say it has few sources, but the response has been so great that I have lots of sources. Still some inaccuracies, but unlike Jai, we're trying to propagate the truth. 1. Isn't Jai just a well-meaning, enthusiastic vegetarian with a poor understanding of netiquette? A: No, and it is extremely important to understand this. Jai is a malicious troll intent on introducing as much noise into various newsgroups as possible, specifically noise about himself. It is pointless to try to reason with him, pointless to instruct him in proper netiquette, and not worth your while to debunk his arguments because he will simply repost them. Jai was voted "Kook of the Month" for May/June 1995: > From: mlegare@wetware.com
(M. Legare)
A: Jai is not interested in credibility. He is interested in Jai. He simply wants attention. In fact, he is getting much pleasure from reading this very posting. 3. Is he actually a doctor? A vegetarian? A Hindu? A: He is almost certainly
not a doctor. His status as a vegetarian and/ or Hindu is largely irrelevant.
He posts for the sake of posting, not to further a cause or engage in
discussion. He is like Jim Bakker, in that you don't know whether he believes
it, and ultimately it doesn't make any difference. For the record, he
has claimed to be a jd@lava.net (Jerry DeGuzman) claims to have met Jay Stevens, and in their time together, Jay told him that others post messages as "Jai Maharaj", so it could be a cooperative effort, with Jay as ringleader. Jerry also credits Jay as having done a Jyotish reading, indicating that he does practice Vedic astrology. "Jay had dark skin, long beard (and mustache, I think). Whitish/gray hair, mid-forty to late-fifty years old...I think he was wearing some kind of leather slippers -- tongs -- like what grandpa used to wear. I remember dark, drab clothing on Jay." ** Full text of Jerry's story available on request ** Apparently, the "Dr." appelation came from a time when he was pretending to be a professor at Case Western. He indicated to Jerry that he held two engineering degrees. 4. So where did the name "Jai Maharaj" come from? A: There are several theories, but the most probable answer is: Jay Stevens --> Jay Mirage --> Jai Mirage --> Jai Maharaj "Jai Maharaj" means "conquering (or victorious) king", which is not likely to be a real name. His real name is apparently Jay Stevens, which of course means nothing; in his case, that is appropriately descriptive. 5. Where does Jai get all his material? A: "Diet for a New America" is a popular book from 1987 by John Robbins. "Hinduism Today" is a periodical published by the Himalayan Academy in San Francisco, CA. It is now available on the Web: http://www.aloha.net/~htoday/htoday.html Jeremy Rifkin is another advocate of vegetarianism with several popular works under his belt. Jai posts from a collection of perhaps 50 excerpts from those three sources. He usually prefaces each repost with some name-calling directed at previous posters or "animal-killers" in general. 6. So is this Mantra Corporation for real? A: Yes, there really is a Mantra Corporation. From the State Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs database (accessible via telnet to fyi.uhcc.hawaii.edu; follow the menus through Business Registration System, then Dept. of Commerce and Consumer Affairs): > ======================================= Note especially that it strongly indicates that Jay Stevens and Jai Maharaj are the same person. Note also that it has nothing to do with Hinduism or astrology. Verifiable at (808) 586-2727 (voice) Business Registration Division or through the Hawaii INC service under %bregs. On the other hand, note that "Jai Maharaj" is credited as "Administrative Contact" in the whois database entry for mantra.com.: % whois -h rs.internic.net
mantra.com Domain Name: MANTRA.COM Administrative Contact: Record last updated on 23-Apr-94. Domain servers in listed order: PROG1.CAPRICA.COM
198.180.167.10 (thanks to gendron@dogbreath.com for this hint) 6a. What else is known about him? A: Shyamasundara Dasa
had an ugly business dealing with him, which allowed him these personal
tidbits: 7. Does anyone take Jai seriously? A: There's a poster
named Abhay who seems to. Recently, he has stopped endorsing and encouraging
Jai, perhaps tiring of him as the rest of us have. Abhay is inflammatory,
but is probably an actual annoying person rather than a pseudonymous poster.
Every so often
someone else pipes up in support of something Jai has 7a. Is the recreational value provided by Jai more than his nuisance value? A: At least one poster finds the responses to Jai's posts "enormously funny". We at Jai FAQ headquarters find a laugh at the expense of so many to be extremely low-brow. If you're going to troll, do it in groups that aren't trying to have serious discussions. 8. Why does he have so many accounts? A: We don't know.
Spreads like a fungus, though, doesn't he? Recently
(spring 95) his posts have originated from "mantra.com", a subnet(?)
of caprica.com; "aloha.com", and (I'm told) "eskimo.com".
This change may be due to the fact that the postmaster of Freenet has
promised to wipe his account if the spams can be shown to originate from 9. Why does he post the same thing over and over and over? A: It allows him to maintain a high degree of visibility without actually having to think up anything new. 10. So why doesn't everyone just killfile him? A: Natural human optimism makes people believe that if you just reason with someone, they'll behave sociably. Unfortunately, there are pathological people who take a perverse pleasure in resisting such invitations. People hoping to change him are actually encouraging him to continue his disruptive behavior. 10a: Is there any truth to the rumor that Jai is only trying to break the world's record for being included in the most kill files? A: While the Guinness Book of World Records has no entry for this catagory at this time, Jai is sure to hold the record when kill files are included. 11. What is an "Om Shanti"? A: It's a song sung by Hindu sailors. No, seriously, "Om Shanti" is a chant used by Hindu holymen as a buzzword. "Shanti" means "peace," and may be used as a greeting. "Om" is a religious word. 12. a. Why doesn't
Jai answer questions in his own words? A: He can't. Those are behaviors associated with rational human beings, and Jai is not rational, and in all probability is not a human being. 13. Does Jai have a problem with reading comprehension? A: Jai doesn't bother reading or comprehending. That would take valuable time away from reposting. Instead, he uses the very sophisticated reasoning technique referred to as "My ears are plugged, I can't hear you." 14. Are there any newsgroups I can read that are safe from Jai's postings? A: Try a moderated group. rec.food.veg.cooking in particular, for those interested in vegetarianism. 15. Which of his accounts is the best to send e-mail to? A: Jai does not respond
to e-mail. Mail sent to it will simply disappear. However, if you have
a personal message for him, such as a complaint jai@mantra.com Be sure to include the original, with all headers, and remember that "PGP-Encrypted E-Mail is Preferred!" (a statement from the header of every "Jai" post). 15a. How about writing to his sysadmins? A: Though it is unlikely to do any good as an individual act, perhaps complaints from many users will spur some action. The postings from "jai@mantra.com" come from "jai@caprica.com". If an inappropriate post comes from there, mail your complaint to postmaster@caprica.com. Include the original, and mention which groups it appeared in. You should get a response that mentions the 1st amendment. 16. How can I kill him? A: Heh, heh. Well, you can add him to your killfile. Here's how: In gnus (mark articles
deleted with "Jai Maharaj" in the from line): 17. So what is this forgery Jai accuses you ("ROY JOHNSON, LIAR, etc.") of? A: Some time ago, I was wondering how easy it was to change the headers in a posting -- could I just type the From: line? So I made up an address, "jai@navy.gov (Adm. Jai Maharaj)" and posted a little spoof about how Jai had joined the navy. I set the distribution to shell, but it got out anyway. The first line of the body said "This is just a spoof", but of course "Jai" has removed that because it would make it obvious that he is lying. There was obviously no intent to deceive on my part -- as if anyone could actually reduce his credibility. === Sources: Before you fall all
over yourself with compliments, you might consider that Jai Maharaj has
never given any evidence of actually having a claim to the title of "Dr."
And then you might consider that, given his propensity to misinform us
about his "degree", you may be as misinformed WITH the "Fact
City" postings as you were before they appeared. Just a brownie point
for you Dr. Maharaj, keep the FACT CITY coming. It has been wonderfull
for a hap-hazardly informed vegitarian like me. So, for those of you
actually looking for a vedic astrologer, you will be dissappointed to
know that Jai Maharaj really isn't one, has no corporation, is not a doctor,
and most likely lives only in the twisted imagination of a fool who also
goes by Jay Stevens. More interesting, however, is that Jai/Jay forges
his headers from mcimail. I didn't read whatever
lectures or insults you are trying to waste everyone's time with. Nowhere has he said
"I am a vegetarian"...I suspect that "Dr Jai maharaj"
may be no more than a clever script file, probably written for a master's
thesis in some computer-science department. sridhar@asuvax.eas.asu.edu
(Sridhar "Adolf Hitler" Venkataraman) Can anybody list
any plant-based product that could cause deceases? And don't forget to
include the source like Jai. I think doesn't matter if Jai is a person
or an artificial intelligent, he has helped hundreds or even thousands
neters to realize the truth. Finger on this johnc
on the engineering machines here at msu.edu find no such user. jai-bot: posts a
message from a library of about 50, selected randomly. The most amusing story
about him on that board, IMO, was the time when he The regular guests
of my BBS have, indeed, a thriving collection of "Om Shanti"
means "Total Peace." It is used in greeting and departing. Dr. Jai Maharaj (jai@mantra.com)
wrote: Your real name *IS*
Jay Stevens. I know, because before you became Jai In a previous posting,
Roy Johnson (rjohnson@conus.brc.shell.com) writes luxmee@aol.com, Rahul
Narain, Dilip Raheja and Jai Maharaj One of the foundations
of Hinduism (and this is clearly stated in the it is only a liar
who will not take the trouble to defend himself Have you stopped masquerading
as a professor from Case Western University? My name is Jai Maharaj. On behalf of all real
Vedic astrologers, on and off the Hmmmm... I checked
the O'ahu phone book, but no listing for "Jai Mathura" > Area: Vegetarian
=== -- |
| BACK TO TOP |