Lil' Cunty Sylvester, Exposed

From the Gawker, 1 Mar 06:

The 'Voice' Is Even More Fucked Up Than Usual

Here’s what we know: This week’s Voice had a cover story by hotshot young Nick Sylvester reporting that men around New York are using Neil Strauss’s The Game, about pickup artists and their techniques, and that women are increasingly aware of this and outsmarting their would-be seducers. We know said cover story has been removed from the Voice website. We know that the Voice’s acting editor-in-chief Doug Simmons, to whom we were referred when we called because the paper’s PR director has left the company, hasn’t returned our message. And we’re reliably informed that the newsroom — such as it is anymore — knows some sort of big shit is going down but isn’t being told what.

Here’s what we hear/speculate/gather: People quoted in the story claim they never spoke to the reporter. Editors at the paper now believe Sylvester likely fabricated material. Writers at the paper believe this is because young Sylvester — a former Harvard Lampoon kid who writes criticism for the Voice and indie-music reviews for Pitchfork — didn’t quite get the whole big-reported-cover-story thing, which he wasn’t really ready for and which Simmons was pushing him to do. Simmons, merely the acting editor, is trying to make a splash so he can get the job permanently. This is not the sort of splash he had in mind. Sylvester may or may not have fainted in Simmons’s office while being berated. And everything in the usually boisterous office is being kept very need-to-know.

Please insert an “allegedly” into every sentence of that second, speculative graf. We’ll let you know more as we do. Meantime, we’ll actually have to trudge to the corner a pick up a Voice. How delightfully old-school!

UPDATE: And here is an archived or cached or something version of the article, sent in by a diligent reader.

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Can't say I didn't warn everyone.

Best,

TS

Comments

Anonymous said…
karma's a bitch, ain't it nick? a harvard grad who didn't do his research for the cover or the "e-thics" article? oh, the irony! and when did research become a four-letter word? shameful, nick. truly shameful.

work on your "game," old boy, because you're gonna need it when your boy/girl friend dumps your sorry ass and you're trying to figure out who's gonna hire a beta manlet like you.
Spaulding said…
Wow... Just...Wow...

Well, I guess this certainly doesn't surprise me. I mean, with the whole M.A.N. thing, it was really made clear that this guy didn't know how to do research.

I'm a JMC junior in college, co-majoring in newsreporting and public relations. To say the story of Mr. Sylvester is a perfect case study in how not to act as an ethical journalist would be quite the understatement.

I'm gonna get extra credit points for bringing this issue to class on Friday. KA-CHING!
Spaulding said…
Editor’s Note: What Happened to That Cover Story?

March 1st, 2006 8:53 PM

Early Wednesday morning, the Voice learned that the concluding section of this week's cover story, "Do You Wanna Kiss Me?" by senior associate editor Nick Sylvester, contained fabricated material. In that section, Sylvester says he met at a New York City bar with three TV writers who had flown in from L.A. to test their updates of pickup techniques from Neil Strauss's book, The Game.

That scene, as Sylvester now acknowledges in the statement below, never happened.

We have removed the article from the Voice website and begun a review of the entire piece. Sylvester has been suspended.

What follows is Sylvester's statement:

Dear Voice Readers,

I did not meet Steve Lookner in New York at Bar 151. The trip and my encounter with him, DC, and Vali did not happen as I reported, or at all. The scene was a composite of specific anecdotes shared to me primarily by the two other parties, DC and Vali; Lookner did not share or take part in these anecdotes either. I deeply regret this misinformation, and I apologize to Lookner for his distress, which I certainly never intended.

Sincerely,

Nick Sylvester
ommyth said…
Hugh, 007,

I earlier reveled in an intensely gratifying two-minute (OK, twenty-minute!) smirk and chortle session, but I'm done laughing.

Now, I just feel befouled. It's not every day that a Jason Blair wannabe crosses my path... Good riddance, bad rubbish, etc.

TS
Dat RoRo Kid said…
funny...i was just about to send you the link when i see you beat me to the punch.

who the fuck cares about M.A.N. anyway? what a stupid topic to spend space supposedly reserved for somewhat intellectual discourse...
ommyth said…
DRK, it's good to see you in the blog again.

It's a current topic of speculation here at TLASILA HQ whether Slyvie's suspension will be lifted, or he'll be shit-canned altogether. I suppose he'll be able to stay on at Pitchfork, bastion of integrity that they are, but if the latter position falls through, there's always work for a debased Harvard alumnus at Fox... I can easily see him fetching tea for John Gibson, and perhaps eventually graduating to writing leads without, of course, having to resort to all that pesky research. His time at the Voice will have served him well. See? Always a bright side!

Best,

TS
Dat RoRo Kid said…
typical Harvard brat...they have it so fuckin easy (occupation-wise, not pussy-wise)

I visited the Harvard Lampoon 'castle' one time (as a good high school friend was part of it) and needless to say the night we spent there was as simultaneously creepy and pretentious as you could get...artifacts included the largest chair in Massachusetts and some early Samurai armor they'd often use to play baseball with...pretentious, privileged and PAID...good weed, though.
Spaulding said…
Dat RoRo Kid said...

"who the fuck cares about M.A.N. anyway? what a stupid topic to spend space supposedly reserved for somewhat intellectual discourse..."

Well actually, I think there are issues embedded in the whole M.A.N. "controversy" that really are (or really can be) important to intellectual thought, or even a dialogue on ethics.

Is it (un)ethical to intentionally produce/present fabricated information or to spin a web of false pretenses to advance your cause or to generate publicity?

Is that what viral marketing really is?

If so, what makes being deceitful and producing fabricated material in a viral marketing campaign more/less ethical/acceptable than, say, fabricating information for a cover story for the Village Voice?...

Should we hold those who'd consider utilitizing viral marketing campaigns (musicians, artists, authors, software programmers, etc.) to a lower standard than we hold journalists?

I'm not necessarily saying that I feel one way or another... but just to make a point, I think the whole M.A.N./viral marketing thing really could have been something worth the space in a publication somewhat interested in intellectual discourse.

Thoughts?
ommyth said…
DRK,

It's true that Sylvester came off as oddly patronizing (lots of "I really respect you and your work" rubbish) over the phone, and as - there's no other way to describe it - an utter buffoon in response to my posts regarding his slovenly, unethical Voice piece on MAN...

Conversely, one must recognize that it's not intrinsically Harvard's fault. I've met several professors here at VSU who either attended Harvard as undergrads or received advanced degrees there. To a person, they appear to be genuinely cool. No unnecessary hauteur. They seem grateful for the opportunities they've enjoyed, and in general keep things on the down-low. Maybe they're asswipes at home, but within academe...

Point is, just because someone enjoys educational, even social, privilege, it shouldn't necessarily suggest that they will grow up to be cocksuckers in general, or plagiarist grotesques like Jason Blair, Nada Behziz, Edward Guthmann, or, as an example of the newer breed interested in climbing up the plagiarism ladder from a very, very low rung, wee lil' Nick Sylvester...

Cheers,

Tom
Anonymous said…
spaulding--"viral marketing", sure, lots to talk about. I think people's dissing of M.A.N. is due to the fact that the sites themselves were based around a pretty one-dimensional joke. surely there are similar schemes that draw their victims in with something more interesting than an unoriginal, unfunny PMRC gag.
ommyth said…
smart86,

Welcome to the blog - thanks for posting.

I didn't hate the MAN web intrinsically or instinctively; rather, I just thought it obvious and kinda dreary. Which, I realize, may have been one of its design motifs and thematic intentions...

Regardless of ultimate intent, here's the scorecard:

MAN site recognition? Relatively broad. We'll give them a 77.

Conspiratorial confusion and obfuscation regarding MAN's alleged creators? Surprisingly widespread. Worth a 62.

Viral conflation and dissemination of information relevant to the forthcoming album by TLASILA? Honestly, near-zilch. An 11 at best.

Career trajectory of Nick Sylvester, expressed as an integer? -2.

Ultimate effectiveness of Internet chatrooms and blogs in feeding unverifiable information to journalists, unscrupulous and otherwise? Seemingly absolute. 90!

Gotta hit the books.

Cheers,

TS
ommyth said…
Hello 007,

I completely agree with you that the MAN row fairly howls for rigorous analysis and interpretation. The issues embedded within should be examined critically, with an emphasis on their ethical components. I've tried to begin some of that analysis here, but my proximity to the story fairly limits future palaver.

My idea for promoting our forthcoming alb centered around: having a really cool sleeve design, employing a new PR team to get the word out to print, TV, radio, and new media outlets, and touring behind the beast in August. All more or less traditional vectors... I was sent a link to the MAN web by long-time TLASILA friend Aida Ruilova. (This was way the f*ck back in November.) I checked it out, was unamused by it, and dismissed it immediately. That is, was, and remains my only position on the sight. Neither I, nor any member of TLASILA, had a hand in its creation. I couldn't seem to penetrate Sylvester's dumb, cum-clogged skull with this revelation, but his absurd intransigence was hardly my fault.

Two weeks ago I informed Sylvie that Rat Bastard was playing host to the dude who presumably created the MAN web (a noise guy from either Wisconsin or Minnesota who'd flown or driven down to Florida to take part in Rattus's "International Noise Conference") at his South Beach apartment; apparently, NS either steadfastly or otherwise failed to contact Mr. Bastard. To facilitate the transmission of info, I gave the now-disgraced Voice (tran)scribe(r) Rat's email address. According to Rat, Sylvester never wrote him.

The floor is open for suggestions.

Best,

TS
ommyth said…
It's very thoughtful of you to reiterate all that, Reg, but in truth I'm becoming tired of the MAN story, Sylvie's warped take on it, etc. So very dull...

Yours,

TS

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