by Daniel Brandt
Public Information Research
Updated: September 6, 2012
Additions or corrections to:
This picture is from a Facebook page for one "Tarc Meridian," which Tarc admits is a fake name. For now, note the "917" at the end of the link to this page. This is a clue. It says Bridgewater State University, class of 2005, and Hingham High School, class of 1999. A Google search for "tarc meridian" plus "bridgewater" yields only this Facebook page and a stub of a Linkedin page that says he's a writer from the Greater Boston area. That information is probably bogus, created to mislead researchers. The person in the picture is Azmyth Kaminski, who was once on a CBS reality show called Pirate Master. It was lifted from a Flickr site and Azmyth most likely has nothing to do with Tarc.
The real name for Tarc is Jason A. (Jay) Herlihy, age 40, from Plymouth, New Hampshire. Veromi.net reports his date of birth as 1973-01-23. Zabasearch.com recently showed four addresses in Plymouth NH for Jason A. Herlihy, age 39, but the actual street addresses were probably all out of date.
Jay also has a real Facebook page. Note the "917" at the end of this link also. The "axl" portion of the link goes back to his college days. This page correctly shows him in Plymouth NH, but there is no picture. Jay is a fan of reality shows. A recent survey by the Girl Scout Research Institute supports the opinions of various anti-cyberbullying activists, who feel that TV reality shows are partly to blame.
He is a computer technician, and has an account on Slashdot where he calls himself "axl917." His email address for this account is "axl@mail.plymouth.edu," which is an old address from Plymouth State College in Plymouth, NH. One post on Slashdot from September 2011 describes his current job: "My degree from one of those cozy New England liberal arts universities was a BA in Information Technology. Some programming, some networking, some MIS, and so on, a grab-bag. I do tech support for a public K-12 school system, and I think its kinda fun.... Our IT department is the boss, 2 techs, and 1 part-time secretary. Each of the schools have lab assistants, though they are more considered teachers than techs."
On another post he says that "I have had a [four-character] hotmail account since late 96/early 97." It turns out that this account is "tarc@hotmail.com." This is the Wikipedia Tarc — it's the email address used on a Wikipedia mailing list. On Wikipedia, Tarc says that he once used the name "Izzy" and sure enough, he used this name around 1998, as shown on a Usenet news group post from "j_herlih@oz.plymouth.edu (AxL)" that he signed "Izzy, the Kender." Elsewhere on Slashdot he writes, "About New Hampshire: No income or sales tax," and in another post he reveals familiarity with the internal workings of Wikipedia.
In this 2002 post on a game site, Tarc links to a desktop screenshot, with the now-defunct link pointing to Herlihy-controlled territory at http://mindwarp.plymouth.edu/~axl/desk.jpg. His "TARC" signature image on that post, with the Democratic donkey in the corner, is stored at Photobucket. Currently Tarc uses this same Photobucket account for his avatar image at Wikipedia Review.
The web address www.mylife.com/tarc responds with a redirect to Jay Herlihy and shows him to be age 39, a 1991 graduate of Orford School, and living in Plymouth, NH.
In college he was the webmaster for the college radio station. This started during the earliest days of the web in 1995. His email address at that time was axl@mindwarp.plymouth.edu (the website was named "Mindwarp"), and in 1997 he used the nick AxL.
One can also discern the origin of his pseudonym, Tarc Meridian. Note the text on this page where it links to "The Game Eternal - The origins of Tarc Meridian." In that story you will find this: "I am Tarc Meridian, last of the Crystal Knights."
Here is Jay's résumé from 1998:EXPERIENCE Assistant General Manager, WPCR - Plymouth College Radio, Plymouth State College, Plymouth NH 03264. May 1995 - May 1996 Systems Administrator, WPCR - Plymouth College Radio, Plymouth State College, Plymouth NH 03264. July 1995 - present Sales Floor Associate, etc..., Ames Department Store, 1 Hatch Plaza, Plymouth, NH 03264. June 1995 - November 1997 Computer Cluster Attendant, I.T. Helpdesk, Plymouth State College - Information Technologies, Plymouth State College, Plymouth NH 03264. September 1991 - present EDUCATION Major, Computer Information Systems, Minor, Engligh Literature, Plymouth State College, Plymouth State College, Plymouth, NH 03264 Graduation: 1999 (expected) HS Diploma, Orford High School, Orford, NH, 1991. Ranked 12th in class.
No one who has investigated the above links can argue that Tarc is not Jay Herlihy. Yet Tarc still insists otherwise, and has gone so far as to claim that he purposely planted some "false trails." More than anything else, this seemed like an effort by him to squirm out from under the evidence presented above.
In a response to our email to Jay Herlihy, in which we invited him to read this page, Herlihy threatened to report this page to our service provider. We asked him to help us identify Tarc based on Tarc's recent claims of a past association with Herlihy, but Herlihy had no comment on that. All we are trying to do is to get positive confirmation that Tarc is Jay. In our experience, cyberbullying comes to a screeching halt when the bully's real name is established beyond reasonable doubt.
The failure of the Arbitration Committee at Wikipedia to consider Tarc's behavior is shameful. In our opinion, this makes them complicit with cyberbullying. Larry Sanger, co-founder of Wikipedia, reports that "Even the so-called 'bureaucrats,' the people who are responsible for conferring adminship on an account, can be anonymous. In fact, from a glance at their usernames, most of them are anonymous." There was a big stink when this site identified Arbitration Committee member Newyorkbrad in 2008 as Ira Brad Matetsky, a corporate litigation lawyer in Manhattan. Perhaps it's time to start again at the top, and then work our way down to editors like Tarc.
Currently Jay is listed under "technology" staff on an old web page for Sanbornton Central School, which is part of the Winnisquam Regional School District. If Jay stills lives in Plymouth, this would be about a 20-mile commute to the town of Sanbornton. His email address at work is jherlihy@wrsdsau59.org and that's the address he used to reply to our email. It's possible that he works out of the district office instead of Sanbornton Central School.
Ironically, considering that we're interested in a bully from Wikipedia who harasses people nearly every day of the week, the district office includes a link to a PDF file that is titled "Winnisquam Regional School District SAU #59, Anti-Bullying Resources." That document includes a link to another PDF file, Reporting document for Adult Use. That might be useful for someone who doesn't have a website.
Sanbornton also has its own subdirectory home page. There is one Bernadette Duquay-Virgin who works in the computer lab at Sanbornton Central School. She would know Jay, and be able to describe him. Even if Jay doesn't work directly from the Sanbornton campus, it's probable that he has been dispatched to the Sanbornton computer lab to check out a misbehaving printer or computer. Her email address is bdurguay-virgin@wrsdsau59.org.
Another person who would know Jay was the computer lab instructor at Sanbornton from 2009 to 2011. He is Ken Bolia, and his title now is "Technology Support." His email might still work at kbolia@wrsdsau59.org. It's also possible that he's an independent consultant by now. He's listed as a friend on Herlihy's Facebook page.
The computer lab at Sanbornton is well-equipped, considering that in early 2010 there were only 204 students at Sanbornton. That school is for children from kindergarten through fifth grade. Here is a 2009 picture of the Sanbornton computer lab:
Jay's boss is Kevin Sousa, whose title is Director of Technology for the district. The description of the Technology Plan for the district for 2010-2013 can be found in this PDF file, and Jay's description of the department in his Slashdot post is an exact match for this school district (one boss, two techs, part-time secretary, and lab assistants). Jay is probably the tech who covers the three elementary schools in the district, and the other tech (name unknown) covers the high school and middle school. Sousa's email is ksousa@wrsdsau59.org and his telephone is (603) 286-4531 ext 105. The district offices are located on the high school campus.
No pictures of Jay were found on Winnisquam District newsletter pages, nor on the half-dozen pic pages on his old college radio station site.
New Hampshire has a cyberbullying law and Jay works for a public school district supported by tax dollars. This law is apparently not broad enough to cover Jay's cyberbullying, since the students of that district are presumably not affected by his Wikipedia-related activities. The situation would be more complex if he is caught editing during working hours.
Tarc: Wikipedia editor most foul home page
