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Roger Deakins' website shut down


David Calson

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and all of this over a camera head....It really makes you think how unstable some people can be...Maybe we should ban together and track the guy down and shove a set of sticks with a geared head up his arse.

 

I think it is a big loss to all of us here who would frequent the site and one that Roger enjoyed contributing to as well.

 

-Scott

 

I second that opinion. But maybe add a wedge plate to the head.

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The only thing I could think of is an IP address block...

Even that's not reliable, since many ISPs assign IP addresses dynamically. Also, if the offender logs in from different locations (such as public libraries, or publicly-accessible wifi hotspots in coffee shops) there would be no consistency in the IP address at all.

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I found this kamerawhore post thread cached on Google:

 

http://74.125.95.132/search?q=cache:IvT7O2...;cd=5&gl=us

 

It's not unusual to find webpages that have expired, old Forum threads, etc. cached on Google if you look for them. I found this thread by simply Googling "kamerawhore" and looking for any www.deakinsonline.com listings in the search results and then clicking on the "cached" link.

 

FLASH!!! It looks like some of the site is still up, go to this URL and look around.

 

http://www.rogerdeakins.com/ph/phIndex2.php?cat=2

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This is a terribly sad thing. Too bad that one would ruin it for the rest of us.

 

I wish I could at least look at the old forums. Oh well.

 

On that note, does any one have any of the lighting diagrams saved to their hard drive? I always meant to save and/or print out but never got around to it, thinking the site would always be about.

 

A similar thing happened to a member of my family through Friends Reunited. Even though they were well used to dealing with difficult people in their day to day job, it is still intrusive and uncomfortable. With that in mind perhaps we should leave Roger and webmaster to deal with it as they see fit. Our loss, or the tragedy as someone put it, is annoying and inconvenient but is secondary to what they may be dealing with at the moment.

 

The supposed culprit is someone with some real problems to deal with, without the jokey threats made here (albeit in jest). It's the internet equivalent of the scary man on the bus shouting to himself. Odd and uncomfortable to deal with but should not be made light of.

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It's the internet equivalent of the scary man on the bus shouting to himself. Odd and uncomfortable to deal with but should not be made light of.

He reminds me of a young man I know who will start a new job all enthusiastic and within a few weeks is judging his boss as being an unfair a**hole and his coworkers as incompetent boobs. And then, of course, he quits and goes on to another disaster. Prideful judgement of others is a quick route to a personal hell.

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On that note, does any one have any of the lighting diagrams saved to their hard drive? I always meant to save and/or print out but never got around to it, thinking the site would always be about.

If you follow the link that Hal Smith was kind enough to post for us, you can log in and access the lighting diagrams. That's the first thing I did.

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This is a real bummer for me. I have learned soooooo many things from Roger and I was hoping to keep learning more. Roger is such a cool person, and it's a shame that this had to happen.

 

I only wish that the guy would have used his real name, because it would have been tossed in the mud, in this industry, for a very long time. I'm sure Roger knows his name, seeing how you put your name and email when you sign up, and I doubt that he'll be working with Roger ever in his lonely, pitiful life.

 

Anyway, yup this sucks.

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Hey Guys,

 

I sent the postmaster at Roger's site an email and this is is what he replied (Tim, as you once said that it was against the rules to post an article from another forum, I pondered over whether this applied. The only decision that I came to was that as it is an email and considering how much of a loss most people feel that it was appropriate and within the rules. If I'm completely wrong, please accept my apologies in advance and delete the following).

 

"Hi Serge,

 

Yes, it is very sad that we had to close down the forum. But unfortunately, we both have been receiving abusive and threatening emails from this individual who apparently knows a lot about us. Each time I deleted a post of his, I was only inflaming his hatred for us and making matters worse. And finally, he wrote that he promised he would "wreak havoc on the site" and cause it to close. We realized that we were spending so much time on this and also had to begin to look over our shoulder a little too much.

 

It was a hard decision since Roger is committed to sharing his love of cinematography. I considered banning his IP address but he promised me he would come back whatever I did. I think we definitely need to stop for a while and perhaps he will find someone else to obsess about.

 

Regards,

 

 

 

James Ellis Deakins

Webmaster"

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Here's hopeful... or perhaps we can cajole Mr Deakins over here? Anyone.. maybe?

 

 

Given the situation I think it would be better for him to stay away from any forum limelight for a while.

This guy is seriously threatening not only Roger's safety but also James Deakins'.......scary!!

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I also got a reply from the webmaster, almost identical to Serge's, but with this little detail thrown in...

 

He appears to know far too much about our life and where we've been or will be on specific dates

 

I'm unfamiliar with laws on cyber-stalking and abuse in your territories, but in my country they are non-existent. The situation is a bit more worrying than a regular angry internet tough guy who mailbombs you every now and then.

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It almost feels like a wake or a memorial service here. Indeed, it was a big loss for those of us trying to soak up everything we can get our hands on. I know that for myself, the first time I visited Roger's site was on a slow day at work, and I couldn't stop until I had basically read every sentence on the entire website. I was always amazed that not only did he have a site that he posted so much of his expertise on, but also that he interacted with most who asked questions, and he was always super gracious. Very class act. It makes me appreciate all the more the time that David Mullen and so many of the rest of you put into your participation on this forum. Thanks guys!

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Mr. Deakins' website is one of my default browser pages. I was sad to discover he had shut it down for the reason noted by his webmaster:

 

"Thanks to the vindictive and abusive behavior of one individual, we've decided to shut down this site.

 

This was a hard decision for Roger since he has put alot into this site. However, the abuse and the threats were taking away from the goals of the site and it was just too much. In the end, we were just providing an arena for this abusive behavior and who needs to see that?"

 

Mr. Deakins maintained a forum on his site as well as graciously posting some of his notes and lighting diagrams from recent projects. I wrote the webmaster, requesting that Mr. Deakinspublish his wonderful notes and commentary and forgo a forum environment inviting feedback from anonymous, ungrateful wretches. It is a terrible thing when an entire community must suffer for the actions of one.

 

You might consider doing same at rogerdeakins.com

 

Michael

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Sad day for young DP's looking to learn. :(

 

you couldn't be more right, i'm starting as a DP and i really learned a lot about cinematograhpy and specially about shooting scenes at night just by watching the shawshank redemption, the village, or any of deakins movies, and i just found out that he had a website, cause i saw this thread, really sad that i didn't knew about his site before, anyone know if lubesky has a website?

Edited by Juan Pablo Ramirez
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I was in a kind of shock when i opened the website and this alert was in front of me saying the website is shutdown.

 

 

 

Its very sad really, i learn a lot from this website, and Roger was always very helpful in whatever i post, even very common things; i remember i asked him about Muslins and he told me in detail about that. I mean....its sad. I am from Pakistan, studying currently, I have the passion of cinematography. Though we don't have much regarding cinematography here, but Roger's work always inspired me. And i really wanted to a cinematographer.

 

 

Now this website is closed, i would suggest if anything can be done in order to start the website again. Increasing the number of Moderators will be helpful.

 

 

Regards

 

 

 

 

 

Malik Sajid Qayyum

 

Pakistan

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This is a real bummer. I just went to the site 5 minutes ago, and obviously came here right after to see what happened.

I've been busy over the past 5 days shooting my first real s16mm short and all of his advice I'd taken from the board was beyond helpful.

It's mind boggling to see how a post about a tripod could go this far because of some unstable loon. Hopefully they take some action

if any harmful threats were made, they have his IP address and with that they could call the proper authorities.

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very few things on the internet surprise me anymore...but i have to say i find this shocking...the fact that Roger was forced to shut down his great site due to the actions of one crazy!!! I second everything that has been said here about Roger's generosity...he answered even the smallest queries...this is genuinely a tragic loss...

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this is the replay i got from his webmaster:

 

 

Dear Ram,

Thank you for your kind email. The decision to shut the site was a hard one but unfortunately this individual was sending both of us very personally threatening and abusive emails and seemed to know WAY too much of our personal routines. Deleting his abusive posts seemed only to be escalating the situation.

Roger really does enjoy sharing his love of cinematography, so we'll see what the future holds.

Regards,

James Ellis Deakins

Webmaster

 

this is way more serious than i thought

i think he should go to the police

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I have clarified my position on this topic in earlier -- the shut down of Roger's website is a huge loss to cinematographers and students.

 

I totally respect Roger's decision and the hope for his eventual return online, however, I also now feel the policy of 'appeasement' may not be the best strategy...allowing one psycho to hold the entire cinematography community at ransom must never be allowed.

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