Difference between revisions of "Grant Steinfeld"

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(splitting out "Bukanator" info into separate article)
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'''Grant Steinfeld, a.k.a. Bukanator''' was an early participant in [[Lonelygirl15 (production)|Lonelygirl15]], and shot some still photography of the filming of the first episodes of Lonelygirl15.
 
'''Grant Steinfeld, a.k.a. Bukanator''' was an early participant in [[Lonelygirl15 (production)|Lonelygirl15]], and shot some still photography of the filming of the first episodes of Lonelygirl15.
  
Steinfeld is a San Fransisco area software engineer who briefly played the role of Bukanator, who was a fictitious early fan on YouTube who supposedly started LonelyGirl's first fan site, lonelygirl15.com.
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Steinfeld is a San Fransisco area software engineer who briefly played the role of [[Bukanator]], who was a fictitious early fan on YouTube who supposedly started LonelyGirl's first fan site, lonelygirl15.com.
 
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The character of Bukantor was supposed to appear like a regular fan; however, when it was discovered this "fan site" was actually created a month before [[Bree]] started her vlogs, the Bukanator fan site quickly found itself at the eye of a storm of suspicion. To cover his tracks, the character of Bukanator claimed that Daniel had actually registered the website as a joke (reasons for this have been given as either because Daniel told Bree if she ever started blogging he bet she'd become famous and would need a fan site, or that Daniel registered the site because Bree bragged if she were to ever upload vblogs to youtube she'd become famous).  While Daniel had registered lonelygirl15.com, but had no plan of using it, so the story went that Bukanator e-mailed him asking permission to make a fan site and Daniel handed the already registered one over to Bukanator.
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Bukanator claimed to be a Web designer with an interest in photography.  Under his watch, lonelygirl15.com remained almost completely stagnant.  He would upload the videos, but with virtually no promotion of the site or its forum (which were silent) almost no one ever went to it. Finally a few core fans began talking at the forums and eventually a community was built up there, though none of this had anything to do with actions on Bukanator's part.  In fact, he was widely criticized by the fans at the forum for being a poor moderator.  They made many pleas for improvements to the site and especially the forum, and despite the occassional promise he'd do something about it, Bukanator never actually did anything. Frustration with his site eventually led a group of fans to create and move to an alternate fan site, [[The Children of Anchor Cove]], and virtually all forum members joined it, leaving the official forum near silent once again.
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The character of Bukanator continued to operate the board well after Steinfeld's exit from the project sometime in July 2006.  It is unknown who was moderating at the board in his absence under the name, and it's hard to know which moderator shortcomings were Steinfeld's.
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==Dismissal from the project==
 
==Dismissal from the project==
  
In July 2006, Steinfeld was shut out of the project.  Without informating the creators of Lonelygirl15, he went to Candace Murphy, a reporter with ''[http://www.insidebayarea.com/columnists/candacemurphy Inside Bay Area]'', and told her that Lonelygirl15 was a production and encouraged her to hack into the Lonelygirl15 e-mail accounts to learn the identity of [[the creators]].
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In July 2006, Steinfeld was shut out of the project, but still had access to Bukanator's e-mail accounts.  Without informing the creators of Lonelygirl15, he went to Candace Murphy, a reporter with ''[http://www.insidebayarea.com/columnists/candacemurphy Inside Bay Area]'', and told her that Lonelygirl15 was a production and encouraged her to hack into the Lonelygirl15 e-mail accounts to learn the identity of [[the creators]].
  
 
He later told a different version of the story to [[Virginia Heffernan]] of the ''New York Times''.  Steinfeld claimed that he grew tired of running the site and dropped out of the project after fans discovered that the site had been registered before the first Lonelygirl15 video was posted on YouTube.
 
He later told a different version of the story to [[Virginia Heffernan]] of the ''New York Times''.  Steinfeld claimed that he grew tired of running the site and dropped out of the project after fans discovered that the site had been registered before the first Lonelygirl15 video was posted on YouTube.
  
Some of Steinfeld's photography of the shooting of the early Lonelygirl15 episodes was published in the ''New York Times'' without permission, and were briefly available on Steinfeld's personal web site.
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Some of Steinfeld's photography of the shooting of the early Lonelygirl15 episodes was published in the ''New York Times'', and was briefly available on Steinfeld's personal web site.  Because the terms of Steinfeld's Non-Disclosure Agreement are unknown, it is unclear if his release of the photography violated the NDA.
   
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==References==
 
==References==
  

Revision as of 21:27, 5 October 2006

Grant Steinfeld, a.k.a. Bukanator was an early participant in Lonelygirl15, and shot some still photography of the filming of the first episodes of Lonelygirl15.

Steinfeld is a San Fransisco area software engineer who briefly played the role of Bukanator, who was a fictitious early fan on YouTube who supposedly started LonelyGirl's first fan site, lonelygirl15.com.

Dismissal from the project

In July 2006, Steinfeld was shut out of the project, but still had access to Bukanator's e-mail accounts. Without informing the creators of Lonelygirl15, he went to Candace Murphy, a reporter with Inside Bay Area, and told her that Lonelygirl15 was a production and encouraged her to hack into the Lonelygirl15 e-mail accounts to learn the identity of the creators.

He later told a different version of the story to Virginia Heffernan of the New York Times. Steinfeld claimed that he grew tired of running the site and dropped out of the project after fans discovered that the site had been registered before the first Lonelygirl15 video was posted on YouTube.

Some of Steinfeld's photography of the shooting of the early Lonelygirl15 episodes was published in the New York Times, and was briefly available on Steinfeld's personal web site. Because the terms of Steinfeld's Non-Disclosure Agreement are unknown, it is unclear if his release of the photography violated the NDA.

References

Candace Murphy, insidebayarea.com

Virginia Heffernan, The New York Times