Gary Weiss, a former contributor for Forbes, Salon and The New York (NYT) Times, has apparently been caught writing a blog on The Daily Kos with a false name and even discussing himself in the third person through an alter ego, “Tom Sykes”.  Andrew Perez, another blogger from the Daily Kos has stated that administrators have banned “Tom Sykes” from the website as a result.

Judd Bagley of DeepCapture.com initially uncovered Mr. Weiss’ alter ego, who apparently refers to himself in the third person.  Bagley had been following Gary Weiss for years as a result of Weiss’ persistent defense and deep relationships with naked short sellers.  DeepCapture.com is a website led by Overstock Inc. CEO Patrick Byrne, and is devoted to reforming the “capture” of Wall Street’s reporters and regulators.  The website has a particular interest in the subject of naked short selling.

Weiss over the years had a particular interest in defending the practice of naked short selling and perhaps even somehow represented the naked short selling lobby, according to Bagley's articles.  Bagley had previously said that he had exposed Weiss for editing Wikipedia and feverishly creating and defending biased entries about naked short selling and other related topics.  According to Bagley, Weiss has also been banned from Wikipedia for indiscretions there.

Bagley and others suggest that recent reforms against naked short selling have embarrassed former defenders of the practice, which may be why they have attempted to reestablish themselves in creative ways.  Just two years ago, it was commonplace for reporters, regulators and experts to question whether or not naked short selling even existed.  The phrase "so-called naked short selling" still brings up thousands of results on internet search engines.  But just last week, the SEC banned the practice permanently after the SEC Chairman Mary Shapiro had called addressing the problem a top priority.