Me and 'Evergrey,' my digital doppelganger
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What I know about architecture and urban design could fit on the head of a pin. Like every bohemian-in-training, I went through a Frank Lloyd Wright phase in my mid-20s, but that's the extent of my "expertise."
Because it was the 1980s, I was also obligated to struggle through a few pages of Ayn Rand's Nietzschean melodrama about architecture, "The Fountainhead," before casting it aside.
Yesterday, my colleague Elwin Green forwarded a link to a Web site called SkyscraperPage.com. The link was to the site's "forum" section, an ongoing conversation among various writers.
Elwin asked: "Is this you or has someone pilfered your image?" After scrolling down the page, I had an inkling of what Golyadkin, the protagonist in Dostoevsky's "The Double," would have felt upon discovering his mirror self in social situations he'd never been in.
The photo that runs with my column on the PG Web site was attached to the posts of someone who calls himself "Evergrey." Under Evergrey's name was the motto: "Religion Is Mind Control" -- not exactly a sentiment I endorse.
According to his profile, Evergrey was born Jan. 25, 1982. He lists his domicile as Pittsburgh (Bloomfield), but there is no contact information. Other than once or twice monthly visits to Paul's CDs, I'm rarely in Bloomfield. Assuming Evergrey really is 25 and not someone passing himself off as 22 years younger than the original model, it raises a lot of questions about the authenticity of authorship and identity.
According to Evergrey's profile, he's authored 10,782 posts, an average of 6.96 posts per day according to the site calculator. I have no idea whether Evergrey has used my photo the entire time he's posted there, but he's been a registered member since April 2003.
"I'd have to say it's a breach of netiquette," said David DeAngelo, co-founder of the local political blog "2 Political Junkies." "Using someone's photo without permission -- even someone as photogenic as [you] -- as a personal avatar on a forum is misleading at best."
In "The Double," Dostoevsky's increasingly disturbed protagonist is scandalized by his doppelganger's skill at appropriating his identity and "ruining" his good name in Russian society. In the case of Evergrey's appropriation of my image, the opposite turns out to be true.
When Elwin brought the site to my attention yesterday morning, I assumed I was the victim of a weird form of identity theft. It was definitely my face running in regular intervals throughout the SkyscraperPage.com site. My outrage was in direct proportion to my ignorance about what the posts actually said.
I alerted the PG's copyright department, the sleeping monolith that keeps track of the newspaper's "intellectual property." Within minutes, it fired off an e-mail instructing the site to remove my image.
Other than a quick skim, I hadn't actually read Evergrey's posts until an hour into my outrage. What I found in the posts was fascinating and engrossing.
Evergrey is a Renaissance man when it comes to knowledge of Pittsburgh's urban development. I went from mumbling "I would never have an opinion about that" to "I wish I was clever enough to have said that."
Evergrey's posts are witty, erudite about matters I have only the vaguest notions about, and deeply knowledgeable about the city's diverse and changing housing market. In short, Evergrey made me look smarter than I am. Still, his choice of a visual pseudonym was odd. Why me?
When I finally read the welcome banner on the Web site, I knew that my initial paranoia was completely unwarranted:
"Since 1997, SkyscraperPage.com's forum has been one of the most active skyscraper and building enthusiasts communities on the Internet. The global membership discusses development news and construction activity on projects from around the world, alongside discussions on urban design, architecture, urbanism and transportation."
By afternoon, the PG's copyright department informed me that my image had been removed from the site. I was sad. It was only then I realized that Evergrey had flattered me in ways I had never been flattered before. Damn!
In a way, Evergrey is who I might have been had I stuck with my fledgling interest in architecture.
Whoever he is, it's only slightly farfetched to a fan of science fiction and comic books like myself to imagine "Evergrey" as a renegade piece of my ego that decided to go its own way when I turned away from that path.
If only I hadn't been bored out of my skull by "The Fountainhead," I could be Evergrey writing under my own name.
First Published July 26, 2007 11:25 pm
