Response To Omar's Response To Frederic

5/17/2020 Response to Frederic –– Whole Mars Catalog
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WRITTEN BY STEVE JOBS

MAY 17, 2020
RESPONSE TO FREDERIC
https://wholemars.net/2020/05/17/frederic-response/ 1/66
My name is Omar Qazi, and I called Frederic Lambert a “complete piece of shit”. Do I regret my choice of words
and choice of venue? Yes, very much so. I apologize sincerely to Frederic, and to my podcast team. But what
can I say? At the time, it came from the heart. I own up to what I said, and I alone am responsible for it.
Today, I wanted to respond the way I should have to an op-ed published by Frederic Lambert on Electrek,
where he called out Vincent, the Third Row Twitter account, 28delayslater and others Tesla customers that
have criticized his writing. He accused his critics of “toxic spreading of misinformation” and “superfandom that
is negative for the electric revolution”.
li We’ll go through the piece line by line together so I can share my thoughts. Frederic didn’t let us know about
the piece in advance or give us a chance to respond before publishing it, even though he said he worked on it
for a while. If he had, we would have corrected all inaccuracies before publication.
Britney Spears - Toxic (O cial Video) I gave all of them the information
posted in the article on prior
occasions and they alway refused to
correct the misinformation that they
spread.
BACKGROUND ON TWITTER
To understand this week’s drama, you really need to know the backstory with me and Twitter.
Nothing interesting happened in my rst 10 years on Twitter. Then in April 2018 I got the Tesla Model 3 that I
had pre-ordered 2 years earlier, and tweeted about it.
This whole backgrond basically says “TSLAQ was rude to me so I was rude back to
them”, which is something I mentioned in my original article, but two wrongs don’t
TSLAQ make a right. Also, he leaves out important parts of his wrongdoings in this piece.
What happened next surprised me. A swarm of anonymous troll accounts started commenting on my post
making fun of me and replying with false negative information about Tesla. They assured me that Tesla was
about to le for bankruptcy, and that Elon Musk was a criminal fraud. I decided to follow them, and try and
talk to them. What they were saying didn’t at all match the experiences I was having with my new car.
Trying to talk to them didn’t help –– they just laughed. I quickly realized that these anonymous accounts
weren’t on Twitter to discuss Tesla, they were there to push a disinformation campaign against the company,
and harass Tesla CEO Elon Musk through a campaign of provocation and psychological warfare designed to
turn the media and the public against him. It went beyond just tweets and news articles –– they would chase
Tesla employees in their cars, and manipulate courts, nancial markets, regulators, or any other means
available to do damage to Tesla.
The volume of false and misleading tweets they put out about Tesla was insane. They made use of social
media well, creating memes and jokes reinforcing their narrative that were honestly kind of funny, but didn’t
end up being true. Their message was catching on and gaining wide acceptance, which frustrated me because
I could clearly see from using the product that what they were saying wasn’t true. I realized I couldn’t provide
an adequate rebuttal for massive amounts of misinformation through my personal @omarqazi account. I
would feel bad about spamming everyone who wanted to follow me personally with constant responses to
false negative info about Tesla. I realized to ght the trolls, I had to become a troll myself.
So I created a new account called @tesla_truth. To parody the ridiculousness of trusting something written by
an anonymous online account, I decided to make the display name for the account “Steve Jobs”.
TESLA TRUTH
The strategy for the account was to overpower TSLAQ with an absurd number of tweets showing the other
side of what was happening at Tesla. All day every day, Tesla short-sellers would try and push their narrative
that Tesla was about to go bankrupt any minute. By pushing this narrative, they hoped to create a “self
ful lling prophecy” where a falling stock price, loss of con dence from consumers and suppliers, and loss of
con dence in Musk would actually push the company further to the brink or even (they hoped) over the edge.
This would allow them to make money betting against the company’s stock. The group called themselves
“$TSLAQ”, referring to the Q that is appended to a stock ticker symbol when the company goes bankrupt.
Besides posting about the positives, the account also refuted the negative narrative pushed in TSLAQ tweets,
as well as by journalists who worked closely and became friendly with TSLAQ members as sources for their
articles in publications like the LA Times, New York Times, CNBC, Bloomberg, the Wall Street Journal, and
other publications. The mainstream view at the time was that Tesla would never be pro table, and short
sellers were considered the primary experts on the company.
Before long, the account really got on TSLAQ’s nerves. My view was that what I was doing would help them
avoid huge losses, even if they didn’t want to hear it. The TSLAQ community put together a “block list” of
accounts that were starting to see through what they were doing. This list of thousands of Twitter accounts
that had ever said anything positive about Tesla helped them create Twitter conversation threads that
appeared unanimously negative. Even TSLAQ members who started to express concern about what was
happening were added to the block list, forcing conformity of opinion on the threat of exile.
Omar’s beef with Greenspan has nothing to with me or Electrek.
However, there are two sides to every story. Here Omar is listing all
AARON GREENSPAN
the shitty things Greenspan did to him, but he is obviously letting out
a lot of shitty things he did to him. They are both in the wrong here.
I started the @tesla_truth account in November, and it didn’t take long before some short sellers started
getting pissed o f about what I said about them. On my birthday in January, I did some googling and realized
that a TSLAQ account called “Plainsite” posing as a 501 (c) (3) tax exempt charity was run guy a guy named
Aaron Greenspan. Greenspan had attended Harvard with Mark Zuckerburg, and turned down the chance to
start Facebook with Zuck because he “already had a lot going on” with the computer repair business he started
in high school, Think Computer.
A ter Facebook made it big, Aaron Greenspan took legal action against Zuckerburg for supposedly “stealing
the idea for Facebook” from him, aiming to block Facebook from getting a trademark on the name. He later
sued the makers of the movie “The Social Network” for not putting him in the movie. A ter that, he also sued
Jack Dorsey and Square, claiming the idea for “Square Cash” was stolen from his failed app “FaceCash” (Pay
with your face!). I personally thought it was hilarious that he claimed he invented Facebook, and posted some
tweets making fun of that fact. Greenspan didn’t think it was funny. Shortly a ter the tweets were posted, he
sent a series of threatening direct messages to the account:
Greenspan threatened to sue me unless I deleted the tweets making fun of him. I refused, as he chose to do it
in a rude and threatening way rather than trying to reason with me politely. Greenspan was enraged, and
decided to “Doxx” me for my 25th birthday. “Doxxing” is when you post someones name and private info
online for the purpose of directing harassment towards them. My identity was no secret to anyone who asked
politely, but by posting my private info to the TSLAQ community Greenspan hoped I would feel unsafe and
uneasy and avoid looking further into him or criticizing him in the future.
While most of the TSLAQ community initially criticized Greenspan for the retaliatory doxxing, they started to
support his harassment e forts as the @tesla_truth account started making fun of them too. Greenspan was
enraged and escalated his attacks on me and my credibility.
In July, Greenspan again threatened to sue me and accused me of illegally raising capital online. Although his
false accusations didn’t bother me, since I knew he was grasping at straws, I was disturbed by the e fort he was
putting in to stalk me and put out false information designed to damage my credibility and reputation. For
the moment, I shrugged it o f and moved on.
The next month, as I was preparing to be interviewed by Bloomberg journalist Zach Mider for a Businessweek
feature on Autopilot, I noticed Greenspan post this video on his “charity” Plainsite’s YouTube channel:
This perplexed me, as Plainsite was supposed to be a charity. What was Greenspan trying to do? Get me a
ticket? In the video he posted, I wasn’t even driving. Using the brand of a tax-exempt organization to push
false negative information solely to inure private bene t to Greenspan through his stock market short selling
bets seemed like a clear case of tax fraud.
I did some research and realized when Zuckerburg paid Greenspan $250,000 to settle the trademark dispute,
Greenspan “donated” it to his “charity” Plainsite, avoiding a $50k – $100k tax bill. Greenspan then set up an
“investment management” company called Turing Feynman, which I suspect is used to short the stocks of
companies like Facebook and Tesla that he holds personal grudges against.
As time went on, Greenspan became more and more enraged, and also became worried about my allegations
of his tax fraud and misconduct. On the day Bloomberg came to interview me, he published a series of tweets
and wrote an email to the entire Tesla board of directors, and a group of journalists covering Tesla where he
accused me of “harboring child pornography”. He did not mention his earlier accusations about running a red
light or committing securities fraud. Because he included Bloomberg in the list of journalists, a copy of the
email found its way to me which made Greenspan very upset when I tweeted about it, exposing his conduct.
Aaron Greenspan @AaronGreenspan · Apr 14, 2020

Kind of reminds me of that time Bloomberg cancelled my interview,
which would have been critical of $FB and Airbnb, as soon as I arrived
at the studio. Oops, never rescheduled! twitter.com/niubi/status/1…
Bill Bishop @niubi

NPR on 2014 quashing of coverage that might upset Xi and the
CCP - Bloomberg News Killed Investigation, Fired Reporter, Then
Sought To Silence His Wife npr.org/2020/04/14/828… npr has
audio of the infamous winkler conference call
Aaron Greenspan
@AaronGreenspan
Or that time a Bloomberg reporter shared an e-mail I wrote with

another Bloomberg reporter, who shared it with an unstable source
I had warned them about, who then used it to harass me on social
media—and didn’t admit it until I asked directly.
13 7:18 AM - Apr 14, 2020
See Aaron Greenspan's other Tweets
The next day Zach Mider called me on the phone “So, you don’t really have kiddie porn do you?”. I said no and
explained the background with Greenspan going a ter me. Thankfully, he understood and believed me. What
are the chances this would happen the same day I was getting interviewed by Bloomberg? It must have been
an amazing coincidence.
I wish I could tell you the story ends there, but it got worse when the feature in Bloomberg Businessweek was
nally published. Greenspan reveres in luence with the media, and o ten praises journalists in a thinly veiled
attempt to gain favor with them. The idea that I, the guy he had been trying so hard to discredit, would be
featured in Bloomberg? Greenspan was livid.
On October 9, 2019 the story went out:
Right on cue that a ternoon, Greenspan came out accusing me of being secretly paid by Tesla. He threatened
to sue Elon Musk, Tesla, and myself unless I immediately deleted my Twitter account.
Elon and I laughed at the time when he threatened the lawsuit, but before the end of October he had
succeeded in removing my account from Twitter completely. Not just my Steve Jobs account, but my personal
account as well.
The account suspension was a trying experience. Immediately, TSLAQ went wild spreading malicious rumors
that I was unable to refute because I couldn’t get into my account. They said that I had been suspended for
posting child pornography online, or that I had been suspended for harassment, abuse, or just being a rude
person.
Some people believed this narrative because my tweets were o ten rude, but this was a complete lie. I’m not a
convicted felon, and have never served time in jail. The reasons that Twitter communicated to me for the
suspension were not abuse, harassment, or pornography of any kind. Saying otherwise is a demonstrably false
lie. If you see someone saying this, it’s a good tip o f that they’re lying or don’t check their facts.
0:00 / 0:40
Frederic and Seth repeating TSLAQ’s lies about why I got suspended on their podcast. As you can see below,
what they said is nothing more than demonstrably false misinformation.
Twitter will actually tell you the reasons why you’re being suspended. If you get suspended for harassment
that will be listed as the reason, like when ZeroHedge got suspended:
I am not repeating any lie. Omar is lying by omission here. First of
all, we are not talking about his many “suspensions” were talking
about his lifetime ban of Twitter. The lifetime ban came after he
doxxed Greenspan and encouraged his fans to harass him by
publishing his phone and email.
REASONS PROVIDED FOR SUSPENSION
I can’t add screenshots as notes on this PDF, but you can find a screenshot of the tweet in
which Omar do publishes the contact information of Greenspan and says: “if you would’ like to
contact Aaron for pranks you can email or call him using the info listed below.”
On Halloween 2019, Steve Jobs Ghost o cially died. Twitter cited “multiple or repeat violations of their rules”,
referencing multiple suspensions that had occurred as a result of reports sent by TSLAQ.
The rst suspension was on November 30, 2018 –– around the same time I created the account.
The second suspension was for “impersonating” Steve Jobs. I personally thought this was a little bit ridiculous,
as Steve Jobs had passed away many years ago at that point. I was warned I could be permanently suspended
unless I changed the account name to “Steve Jobs Ghost” and changed the bio to say that it was a “parody”.
The next day, I was suspended for impersonation and trademark infringement again, a ter another report.
A ter that, I started tweeting more about Greenspan’s attempts to harass, stalk and smear Tesla owners like
me. In one of the tweets, I included a photo of Greenspan wearing a purple shirt to show my followers who it
was who was going a ter me. Greenspan responded by sending a DMCA takedown complaint to Twitter,
requesting they suspend both my Steve Jobs account and my personal account. Twitter complied, and
suspended me again.
I appealed to Twitter, telling them that the person complaining had been going a ter me and harassing me
incessantly, and I shouldn’t be suspended for posting a photo of them. Twitter initially agreed, and
unsuspended my account.
Shortly a ter, I received a call from the San Francisco Police Department Special Victims Unit, in regards to
Greenspan. Although Greenspan claimed to have evidence I was a child rapist, securities fraudster, and red
light runner the Sergeant accused me of no crimes, and did not say he was going to arrest me. Instead he just
asked me to leave Greenspan alone on Twitter. I explained that I felt Greenspan had been harassing me
relentlessly, and the sergeant asked “Do you work for Tesla?”. I told him I did not, and he thanked me and said
goodbye a ter warning me to “watch it” before things got “a lot worse”. I don’t know what Greenspan told the
police, but providing false information to law enforcement is a crime.
Then, one day later I was suspended again for “Spam”. I certainly wouldn’t categorize my tweets as spam, so
this confused me.
Another anti-Tesla account, “Bertel Schmitt” likely coordinated with Greenspan on this nal suspension a ter
becoming upset that I had revealed his ties to Volkswagen, calling the credibility of all his anti-Tesla tweets
into question. I was just watching a documentary on Net lix about the Volkswagen diesel fraud, and he was
being interviewed for it as a “Former VW Advertising Exec”. I recognized him from Twitter and posted “a
picture saying “Wow look its Bertel”, but this made him very angry for some reason. He said “I was never a
Volkswagen exec, they were my client” and took several retaliatory actions against me. Twitter rules state that
veri ed accounts that engage in retaliatory harassment will have their veri cation removed, but so far Twitter
hasn’t taken action.
Net lix: Dirty Money, Hard NOx

Again, it’s insane to me that he goes through all this without ever mentioning that he
released private contact information and encouraged his follower to harass Greenspan.
This is obviously what triggered his lifetime banned on Twitter regardless of what he says
about his suspensions.
To be clear, I’m defending with Greenspan did to him. They both did horrible things.
AFTERMATH OF SUSPENSION
Things were tough a ter that. I missed my friends on Twitter, and I could still see people in my noti cations
posting absurd lies and misinformation about me. The worst part was that it felt like Twitter and Jack Dorsey,
heroes of Silicon Valley that I had looked up to, had decided to side with my enemies against me. They would
be allowed to continue posting lies about me and Tesla, and I would be forced into silence.
Many Tesla customers and fans were not happy about what they saw as Aaron Greenspan’s aggressive attempt
to silence criticism about himself by sending frivolous complaints. So aan’s wife Shelly had the idea of copy
and pasting “toots” I wrote on Mastodon and posting them on her Twitter account with an Apple emoji
a terwards, so people would know it was coming from me.
My heart goes out to Shelly for helping at a very tough time. It was really sweet of her. Twitter could suspend
my account, but there was no way they could suspend everyone who shared my words on their platform –– no
matter how much the shorts hated it. They tried though: Fake reports were sent that resulted in Shelly’s
account being locked at least once, believe it or not.
WHY NOT CREATE A NEW ACCOUNT?
Others who had their Twitter accounts suspended ended up creating new Twitter accounts –– both on the pro-
Tesla and anti-Tesla side. Why didn’t I just do the same?
I was still still too wounded to try and get back on Twiter again. Having the account taken away and seeing lies
and racist hatred spread against me was tough, but there was more to it than that. The attacks from
Greenspan (which continued a ter the suspension) were only the half of it. I mention them because thats how
I got suspended, but by doxxing me Greenspan directed a huge hate mob against me who all believed I was
the devil, based on completely false or misleading information. I received threats, including violent threats,
and death threats. They harassed not only me but my friends, parents, and other members of my family. They
targeted my parents business, looking up employees of their company and replying to all their tweets
encouraging customers to boycott their products. Naturally, I received questions and concern from my family
about what was going on, and they encouraged me to stop. But I was stubborn –– I wasn’t going to stop saying
what I thought was right just because of their bullying tactics.
It’s funny my dad told me something extremely
similar several times in the past.
At one point I remember my Dad shouting at me to stop writing about Tesla short sellers, screaming “One day
you’re going to walk outside and they’re going to pull out a gun and shoot you!”. I didn’t think Tesla short
sellers would try and have me killed, but it did make me upset to think that my parents were worried about
me to that extent just because I was writing about short sellers.
Ultimately with time I realized that Twitter drama wasn’t real life, and I moved on. But I decided to stay o f
Twitter since I had been humiliated so publicly and I wanted to take a break from all the harassment. In a way,
it was a relief –– in the nal weeks of the @tesla_truth account things got extremely heated. Twitter can be a
dark place, where the worst impulses of humanity take hold. It can also be a great place sometimes.
THIRD ROW TESLA

A few months later in November, So aan, Vincent, Kristen, Viv, Gali and myself attended the Tesla Cybertruck
reveal. A terwards, we decided to record a podcast about it the weekend before Thanksgiving and just push it
out. We didn’t think much of it –– we aren’t professional journalists or podcasters, just Tesla owners and fans. I
didn’t really imagine much coming out of our shitty little podcast.
Viv @flcnhvy · Dec 22, 2019

Replying to @elonmusk @cgpgrey
You should come on the @thirdrowtesla podcast & tell us all about it
Elon Musk
@elonmusk
Ok sure
2,608 12:55 PM - Dec 22, 2019
168 people are talking about this
But a ter a few episodes Elon decided to come on the podcast and talk with us, which surprisingly drove a lot
of hate to the group from both the anti-Tesla and pro-Tesla camps. We just wanted to put out some real
information from real customers to balance out all the nonsense written in the media that tends to be driven
more by short-seller narratives than actual Tesla products or customer experiences.
So aan created the @thirdrowtesla Twitter account when we met in person for the rst time at the Tesla
shareholder meeting in June 2019. The account lay unused for while, but when we started the podcast in
November, we decided to use this as a group Twitter account, and to share episode links and news about the
podcast and Tesla.
Everyone in the group had the password, as did So aan’s wife Shelly. Gali and Vincent didn’t ever really post
anything on the account though. They each already had two accounts to manage: Gali has @G lche and
@HyperchangeTV and Vincent has his personal account and Tesmanian. They could have accessed the
account any time they felt like it, but they didn’t. So aan, Viv, and Kristen only had their personal accounts, so
they started writing some content for the Third Row account as well occasionally.
A ter a month or two, So aan encouraged me to write some content for the Third Row account too. At rst I
said no, I didn’t want to get on Twitter. But he said look, if you think of something or make a video just send it
to one of us and we’ll post it for you –– just like Shelly was doing before, but on the Third Row account.
People who have been around the Tesla community for a while gured out what was happening pretty
quickly, but others were confused. Who is writing these Third Row tweets? Why won’t they list their names?
Some people recognized my writing and said “this is Omar’s account”, he’s writing all the tweets. But it’s not
my account, and I didn’t write all the tweets. If you DM or interact with the account you should expect that
anyone on the podcast could see your message or respond to you. Another theory I’ve heard is that we started
the podcast to get around the Twitter suspension. That’s also not the case, we started the podcast because we
had the idea to do a podcast.
Some people have asked “Why not sign each tweet”, such as the way Shelly added an Apple emoji on things I
had written before she posted them. Why not say who it was when Frederic got upset?
Essentially, my friends on the podcast were taking a bullet for me. They knew about the issues that made me
not want to create a new personal Twitter account. They knew about the harassment and attacks, and the
Third Row Twitter account provided a shield for that. It was no secret that some of the tweets sounded like me
–– many people who followed me before recognized that, and if anyone ever DM’d Third Row asking who
wrote a certain tweet we would gladly tell them. But we didn’t want to broadcast the fact that So aan and
Shelly were posting content I had written, because there didn’t seem to be anything to gain from it.
Some have said “they are hiding that it’s Omar because they are violating Twitter’s rules and would get
suspended if they were discovered. But that’s not the case either. Twitter simply said the following:
The Third Row Twitter account was created by So aan and is under So aan’s email and phone number, so it is
not a new account I created. Furthermore, it was created well before my account was suspended. As far as I’m
aware, there is no Twitter policy against someone posting something I wrote on their own Twitter account.
This isn’t about being a “coward” or “hiding behind anonymity”. I wish I could have told you this sooner, but not
having my own Twitter account makes it harder. Everyone who is on the podcast shows their face, and stands
behind their comments. It’s no secret that some of the tweets sound like me, and others don’t. We just didn’t
see the need to go into detail about how the account worked because it seemed like it would only attract
unneeded harassment to the podcast and the team with little bene t.
So the Third Row team stayed mostly silent about who wrote the tweets, to protect me. But now I have to
speak up and tell my story to protect them, because people have been targeting other members of the group
for comments that I wrote and want to take responsibility for.
It’s wrong to go a ter my friends because of something I wrote. I own those tweets alone. Six people can’t write
one tweet, nor does every group member approve each tweet that’s going out. That would make for a very
boring infrequently updated page. So to try and attack Vincent or Gali or So aan or Kristen or Viv for a
comment they had no idea about is unfair, and makes absolutely no sense.
We don’t all live in some big house together. We’re friends who met because of Tesla but we have our own
lives, families, and jobs. We all live in di ferent cities. The other members of the Third Row Podcast have had
to take an extreme amount of heat for tweets they had absolutely no part in, and were deleted just a few
hours later.
In response to Fred’s “call out” op-ed and all of the hate the podcast has been getting, Vincent and Gali
decided to leave the podcast. Did they leave because of my op-ed or because Omar tweeted some nasty
things while claiming to be coming from the Third Row gang and they both
wanted to distance themselves from that? My understanding is that the
latter is true, but I can’t know for sure to be fair.
Sam @SamTalksTesla · May 13, 2020
See my bro @vincent13031925 taking a break from @thirdrowtesla.
Remember these guys are fans & owners like the rest of us. They
didn’t ask for all this attention, they don’t get paid. The podcast is to
share their passion & help the community. It should be about one thing:
fun!
@mymodl3
@mymodl3
What Fred wrote was an all time low. No community is perfect, but
to hash out personal issues with an individual in such a public way
is as low as one can go.
45 6:23 AM - May 13, 2020
See @mymodl3's other Tweets
I feel extremely sad that other members of the podcast are taking so much heat for something I said that they
had absolutely no part in. It has weighed on every member of the group immensely. It got to such a crazy level
that they le t Third Row. Please stop harassing them –– if you have any problem with my comments, take it up
with me, not them.
To my good friends Vincent and Gali, and the rest of the Third Row team I can’t apologize enough for the stress
I’ve put you through. They took bullets for me time and time again so I could have an outlet to express my
thoughts on the Third Row Twitter account, and kept quiet about it even when it hurt their personal
reputation to allow me to do so.
The intention was never to make rude comments anonymously –– we were just trying to protect the account
and team from further harassment. But now that Frederic has attacked the credibility of my friends and Third
Row, it’s time to come clean and respond to him the way I should have originally. I can’t stand for people going
a ter my friends any longer, even if it means Frederic and Electrek are going to retaliate against me next or try
and smear me like they did Vincent. This is a lie. To “smear” is to “damage the reputation of (someone) by false
accusations; slander.” What are the false accusations I made about
Vincent? All I did is point out two lies/misrepresentation he did, which I
So now you know some of the background needed forbacked withabout
me to talk proof.Frederic’s
By definition, this
post on is not “smearing”.
Electrek, and why I
angrily lashed out at him calling him a piece of shit, among other things. This was the wrong response and
really turned a lot of people against me and the team. I regret that I didn’t choose my words more carefully
and submit a much more reasoned rebuttal of the piece. But I was angry –– I’m still new to this, and haven’t
had to deal with that many negative pieces in major media outlets. It felt just like a TSLAQ attack. Let he or
she who was never gotten mad on the internet cast the rst stone. My reaction didn’t help our case, but it was
my honest immediate reaction. Now, hopefully I can give more color on why I felt that way.
AN OLD GRUDGE
Frederic was provoked to take revenge on Third Row a ter a tweet I authored last week where I said he “has the
dumbest takes sometimes”. Frederic had written that since Elon Musk had quali ed for a performance award
stock option grant, he was about to sell his Tesla stock to pay for the taxes on that grant. My rst thought a ter
reading his article was that this was a dumb takeaway –– it didn’t appear that Musk was liable for any taxes
due to simply qualifying for the performance award, and while it was always possible he could sell some stock
to pay taxes or other bills a ter he exercised the options I didn’t think it seemed like a sure thing for the
immediate future. The award apparently restricted him from selling any of the shares for ve years, and any
taxes for this year would not be due until April of the next year anyway.
Commenting on articles we disagree with is something we’ve always done with any journalist, and is not a
personal at all. In my view, if you are a journalist and write something you need to be prepared for people to
criticize it, and can’t always expect them to do it in the nicest way. People criticize us every day. Considering
some of the language I had used in the past, I considered “dumbest takes sometimes” to be a mild insult.
Nevertheless, Frederic was very upset about the tweet. He replied and later direct messaged us angrily about
the comment.
This entire proposition is false and he knows it. My piece had been in the work for 2 months before posting it
and I shared proof of that with him and on Twitter. It had nothing to do with his comment on my stock option
article. That only provided more evidence of Third Row spreading misinformation. more about that further
down
I didn’t think much of the disagreement at the time, as I’ve had many disagreements with people who didn’t
like being criticized. But Frederic attacked the account for being “cowardly” and criticizing him anonymously.
All I did is asked who was behind the comment and Omar would only say “you know who is on the
podcast”. He can hardly blame me for assuming they are all OK with making those false statments.
To understand this story you have to understand the history of Frederic attacking Vincent’s credibility. Frederic
has held a grudge against Vincent, one of the now former members of our podcast who runs a competing blog
called Tesmanian, for several years. When I called Frederic’s take dumb, Frederic and Electrek site owner Seth
Weintraub incorrectly assumed that Vincent had written the tweet and was behind the criticism. This was
completely false –– as far as I know, Vincent has never posted anything from the Third Row account. If he did,
it would be very easy to spot through stylography as he is originally from Hong Kong, and has a distinctive
writing style.
Omar’s entire depiction of the problem I have with Vincent is that I have a grudge with him and keep
attacking him which is a gross missrepresentation. Vincent falsely accused me of stealing content from
him. I believed that it was a mistake on his part, but I then provided proof that I didn’t steal his content,
“Thanks
but instead of for cominghis
retracting outcomment
from behind the podcast
he doubled downTwitter”
on his claim and had his friends, including Omar,
attack me over false accusation. Again, I shared all the proof about that.
A wrong assumption, and an inaccuracy in the story.
Based on this incorrect assumption, Frederic than decided to retaliate against Vincent with an Electrek Op-Ed
going a ter him, the Third Row Twitter account, and others as “toxic liars”. I feel extremely guilty that Vincent
had to endure so much heat and hatred a ter Fred’s retaliation, when I was the one who called Frederic dumb.
I can apologize, and Frederic could even apologize, but the attack on Vincent’s reputation can’t be undone.
This is why real journalists make sure to get their facts right before publishing.
Again, nothing to do with that. Article started 2 months before you called me dumb. Seth thought that Vincent might have been
tweeting, but I wasn’t so sure.
When I was interviewed by Bloomberg, they took a lot of care to make sure everything written was accurate. I
guess that’s what real journalists do. They asked “Was that girl an ex?” for no other reason than to “keep [me]
out of trouble”. Rather than seeking the truth and attempting to be fair to subjects, Electrek sought to push
misinformation and irresponsibly smear subjects instead.
Again accusing me of smearing without any evidence whatsoever.
Gali and Vincent have businesses where their livelihood depends on support from the community. By
attacking Vincent because of my tweets, Frederic wasn’t just going a ter Vincent’s credibility –– he was going
a ter his livelihood, and his ability to support his family in tough economic times. All for something he didn’t
even do! If you read this and care about these guys, go support Vincent at Tesmanian and Gali at
Hyperchange.
Again, I didn’t “attack Vincent because of Omar’s tweet”. I showed in my article that Vincent promoted a
Tesla fraud in the past and falsely accused me of stealing. It wasn’t about the stock option tweet.
Knowing the background of Frederic’s grudge against Vincent, we can nally take a look at the story he wrote
with appropriate context. Below are just a few of the tweets I’ve found that haven’t been deleted yet where
Frederic has gone a ter Vincent throughout the years:
Seriously? You didn’t provide any background. The truth is I had 2 interactions with Vincent prior to this. Both of
them you omit because it makes Vincent and you look bad. 1. I showed him that he was promoting a Tesla fraud
and he refused to take it down. 2. He accused me of stealing his content. I showed him that it was false and he
refused to retract the accusation. That’s my true background with Vincent.
Do I even need to go on at this point? This guy is clearly pushing a very distorted narrative. Omitting the actual background
between me and Vincent because it makes them look bad and omitting to mention that he doxxed someone on Twitter leading to
his ban.
Omar, you showed yourself untrustworthy at this point.
Pretty crazy how long he’s been going a ter the guy, right? Reminds me of Aaron Greenspan. The piece he
wrote this week was just the latest in a long line of attacks against Vincent, who is the literally the nicest guy
you’ve ever met.
Here’s what Frederic wrote this week:
FREDERIC’S CALL OUT OP-EDERIC

Tesla’s rise in popularity over the last decade created an incredible fanbase that would make
Apple jealous. Just as the Cupertino, California, tech company made people fall in love with their
phones, Tesla was able seduce their customers to fall in love with their cars.
However, some fringe groups have slipped into super fandom, which is becoming toxic due to
slews of attacks against anything that can be perceived as negative toward Tesla.
Electrek
It’s true, Tesla owners love their cars –– that’s a good thing. By establishing the derogatory term “super
fandom”, Frederic implies that his disagreements with his critics stem from the fact that they like their cars too
much, or are excessively positive beyond the point of reason.
How did you come up with that from what I said. I actually explain in the article that I think it comes
from tribal thinking not “liking your cars too much”. What kind of nonsense is that.
That’s never been my impression. To me it always seemed like his problems stemmed from the way he
interacted with the community.
Correcting false information has nothing to do with it simply being negative, it has to do with it being false.
False information that is positive is also corrected. Tesla owners have a lot of negative things to say, and talk
about suggestions for improvement every day. Let’s not get constructive criticism confused with misleading
clickbait –– negative stories that are not true, but generate lots of advertising revenue.
Is Frederic really concerned with “super fandom”, or is he just angry that some of the criticism has been
directed at him?
That’s actually something that I also address in the article. I’m not beyond reproach. I don’t take criticism
really well, but facts are facts. Omar lied or omitted a bunch of important things that changes the narrative.
Let me preface this by making it clear that I consider myself a fan of Tesla, and it would be hard for
anyone to dispute that. I am the happy owner of three Tesla cars (models S, 3, and X) and a
satis ed shareholder, but more importantly, I am a believer in Tesla’s mission to accelerate the
adoption of electric transport and renewable energy.
Over the last ve years, I’ve written over 7,000 articles about electric vehicles. About 6,000 of
them were about Tesla, and I’d estimate that about 95% of them o fer a positive look at the
company.
Now, I am not blind to the fact that I contributed to creating this super fandom around Tesla. I
was an early in luencer in the Tesla community as Electrek quickly became the biggest electric
vehicle publication in the world, with now 10 million monthly readers.
That’s funny. They are pushing a narrative that Elon came up with and that is also
provenly false. I still am a Tesla fan. I never “started going negative”. I just call out
Electrek negative stuff Tesla does when I think they do. That’s it. But if you look at my
overall content it’s clear that I’m still “positive” on Tesla.
Frederic was the original Tesla super fan, and also endured harassment for his positive views on the company
before he caved and started going negative. That bears the question: Is he really morally opposed to liking
Tesla? Or does he just not like the speci c people he is targeting here that have criticized his writing?
I still stand by those articles, which again are mostly positive, but I can also admit that Tesla is not
a perfect company and not beyond criticism. That’s why I also wrote several articles criticizing it.
It led to Elon Musk calling me “anti-Tesla”:
Electrek
Fred Lambert @FredericLambert · Apr 23, 2019

Replying to @elonmusk
I've always defended Tesla when it comes to fires after crashes and
the investigations that followed, but I think coverage of fires starting
seemingly on their own without crashes (like when parked or charging)
is fair. Those fires definitely need to be investigated right?
Elon Musk
@elonmusk
Also, how did you manage to get shamed into being de facto anti-
Tesla by social media trolls. Jeez …
955 3:43 PM - Apr 23, 2019
Fred Lambert @FredericLambert · Apr 23, 2019

Replying to @elonmusk
Anti Tesla? You haven’t been following my coverage closely. I’m still
extremely positive on Tesla. I wrote about 3,000 articles on Tesla over
the past 4 years. Maybe 100 have been somewhat negative, yet that’s
enough to make me “anti Tesla”?
Elon Musk
@elonmusk
Yeah, there was a major change in last several months. Everyone

noticed, Fred. Hello.
1,759 3:50 PM - Apr 23, 2019
Elon Musk @elonmusk · Apr 23, 2019

Replying to @FredericLambert
Yeah, there was a major change in last several months. Everyone
noticed, Fred. Hello.
Dave Roque
@DdotRoq
Facts. Many people stop visiting Electrek because of this.

102 3:51 PM - Apr 23, 2019
See Dave Roque's other Tweets
Elon wasn’t alone in noticing that Fred’s writing had suddenly lipped negative. His stories were o ten
sensationally negative with little basis in fact, rehashing TSLAQ talking points. A ter Elon criticized him, his
unfair and misinformed articles on Tesla escalated. He continued to ght with Tesla owners and fans and
blocked many of them on Twitter, causing further animosity between Electrek and Tesla owners on Twitter. By
the time Elon said “everyone noticed”, Frederic caving to pressure from short sellers was old news.
Why did Frederic cave? Well, as a Tesla supporter he received much of the same attacks and criminal
accusations from many of the same people who have attacked me, other Third Row members, @28delayslater
and more.
Again, what is this nonsense about “changing my tune” on Tesla? This guy is painting me as a Tesla hater. I’m literally a Tesla
shareholder. How could I be a Tesla hater?
By harassing Frederic and accusing him of insider trading and other crimes, he hoped to unnerve Frederic into
writing more negative articles about Tesla. He and his co-conspirators succeeded. When you’re in a business
that depends on your credibility, short sellers attacking that credibility can quickly in luence you to change
your tune. Frederic is hardly the only journalist that has been in luenced to take a more negative view on Tesla
through TSLAQ’s cyberbullying campaign.
Frederic makes a good point though –– nobody is above criticism. Just as he choses to criticize Tesla and Third
Row, others should be free to criticize his work without retaliation as well.
Obviously, it’s ridiculous for Musk to call someone who is a Tesla investor and who wrote
thousands of articles about Tesla’s positive impact on the world “anti-Tesla” simply because he
didn’t like a few of my articles during a time when the company was making some very
questionable moves.
Not remotely what I said. I said that it is ridiculous to call me

Electrek “anti-Tesla” not to criticize my writing.
That it’s “ridiculous” for Elon, or anybody else, to criticize Frederic’s writing is not “obvious” at all. Frederic’s
o ten misinformed criticism of Tesla and his ghts with community members were widely discussed long
before Elon’s comments. Nobody is right 100% of the time.
Not only did it make no sense, but it was also personally hurtful, since Musk is a hero of mine and
I admire a lot of what he has been doing with Tesla, SpaceX, and his other companies.
Electrek
Again, they call me sometime criticising Tesla “turning negative”.
Here we gain a little more insight into Frederic’s feelings and why he has turned negative on Tesla and many
of its customers. Frederic feels betrayed by Musk, and just as he’s held a grudge against Vincent and others he
holds a grudge against Musk too. Frederic was Elon’s rst girlfriend, and now Elon le t him for his worst
enemies, Vincent and Third Row. Is it any surprise he thinks Elon’s new girl is a trashy whore?
All that aside, he brings up an interesting point about “social media trolls.” He believes that the
Tesla naysayers and shorts who have been attacking me on social media for years have gotten to
me, and pushed me to start being negative on Tesla.
Again, that’s not true. I was more negative about Tesla around that time because I disagree with
several of its moves related to closing stores and slashing employee compensation — not because
of trolls.
Electrek
Many people were hoping Tesla wouldn’t close stores, including many of us on the podcast. That’s not why
people disagreed with Frederic.
Sofiaan Fraval
@Sofiaan
Hey @elonmusk , I’m a big fan of my local Santa Barbara @tesla

store, and service center which serves the entire central coast. Can
you make sure it doesn’t close?

55 5:47 PM - Feb 28, 2019 · Santa Barbara, CA
See Sofiaan Fraval's other Tweets
Frederic claims the harassment and trolls didn’t in luence his decision to start criticizing Tesla a ter years of
“super fandom” at all. Is it possible he just started to agree with them coincidentally, at the same time they
were attempting to pressure and manipulate him? You’ll have to decide for yourself. Humans don’t always
understand the factors that in luence them.
More nonsense. Shorts have been attacking me for years. While would I break now? I didn’t break. I didn’t agree with several
moves Tesla was making that’s it.
But the trolls have indeed created a landscape in the Tesla community that is worth exploring.
There’s no doubt that they exist, and they have been extremely vocal over the years. In order to
counter them, some Tesla fans have been appropriately ghting back. However, other Tesla fans
have stooped to their level in what I’d consider an inappropriate way.
Electrek
Frederic acknowledges that there is a reason for Tesla fans to rebuttal clearly false information and agrees it is
“appropriate” given the situation. If he understands that, why write the hit piece? Because “Tesla fans have
stooped to their level”? At what point did they cross the line? A ter he acted like a big bully, attacking Vincent’s
credibility? Or when they started writing casual rebuttals to his work?
YES.
What rebuttal?
Personally, I have had plenty of bad experiences with these people. They have sent me insults and
even threats at times as they see me as a shill for Tesla. One time, I even received a death threat
from an anonymous Tesla short.
It got resolved a ter an anonymous hacker friend of Electrek revealed the identity of the individual
making the threat, and I called the harassing party to express that I don’t take physical threats of
violence lightly. He apologized and agreed that it went too far.
Obviously, this is an extreme example. For the most part, they stick to insults, spreading rumors
and bad information about Tesla.
Electrek
It’s makes me really sad to hear that Frederic has received the same threats of violence that many other Tesla
owners have. The two of us have both o ten been the brunt of their attacks.
I said the same thing and the response I got is that I’m a “complete piece of shit.”
Given that, shouldn’t we be standing up together against TSLAQ rather than ghting against each other?
Turning against each other is exactly what TSLAQ wants, and they were overjoyed to see Frederic publish this
article going a ter “toxic Tesla super fans” –– an age old TSLAQ talking point cra ted to discredit positive
opinions on Tesla. Essentially, the article is attempting to shame people for holding positive views on Tesla. Is
that how you help the EV revolution? If so, why are all the enemies of the revolution cheering?
Completely false. The article clearly differentiate average fans and “superfans” who spread misinformation
There’s a breed of Tesla superfans who believe that the company can do no wrong, and they
attack anyone who says anything that can be perceived as negative about the company. They also
spread misinformation about Tesla, like the TSLA shorts.
Electrek
Nobody believes Tesla can do no wrong, nor do Tesla owners have universally positive opinions. Some Tesla
owners like the Cybertruck, and some hate it. Some love Autopilot & FSD and others would never try it. There
are no unacceptable opinions in the Tesla community.
Third Row Tesla Podcast

@thirdrowtesla
Yes, it’s always OK to disagree.
No block list in this community. twitter.com/PoetBones/stat…
Tim Foil @PoetBones

Replying to @thirdrowtesla
Is it permitted to agree with Elon that the time to open Fremont is NOW
and disagree with his endorsement of the conspiracy theorizing alt-right
musings on the coronavirus?
59 11:29 AM - May 10, 2020
See Third Row Tesla Podcast's other Tweets

@thirdrowtesla
You don’t need to agree with every tweet Elon writes just because
you like his car.
We have no block list here, people are allowed to have opinions.

287 1:44 AM - Apr 29, 2020
If Third Row truly “believe[s] the company can do no wrong, and attack[s] anyone who says anything that can
be perceived as negative”… we’d have to attack ourselves too. We’re all generally very positive on Tesla, but
that’s just our honest opinion. When our honest opinion is negative, we share that too:
Brian Lovett aka BLOVE @blovereviews · Apr 29, 2020

He knows it tanks the momentum he has and Q2 looks like a disaster. I
totally understand from that perspective. It's his company. I disagree
with his approach.

@thirdrowtesla
yup, Q2 is gonna be a shit show if something doesn’t change. his

job is to make sure it isn’t. unclear weather his approach will do
more harm than good at this point, but let’s see what happens
20 5:20 PM - Apr 29, 2020
Third Row Tesla Podcast @thirdrowtesla · May 7, 2020

Replying to @Erdayastronaut and 2 others
Elon, a bunch of tesla drivers outside california complain to me that
some of the speed limits / map data on exit lanes etc aren’t always
accurate and it’s a pain in the ass for them
works well here in CA, plans to improve map data or read speed limit
signs?
Elon Musk
@elonmusk
Yes, this is a high priority

1,802 11:35 PM - May 7, 2020

@thirdrowtesla
So apparently Alameda county doesn’t think Tesla should reopen

until June 1
4,549 10:18 PM - May 8, 2020
Wow and those are your

When negative news is factual, Third Row shares it. examples of that? Come on.
Again another lie. Where do I say that in the article? I actually say that I fall for the same tra
It’s true that Tesla owners can have strong feelings, but it’s an exaggeration to say “anything that can be
perceived as negative” is unacceptable. Frederic implies he’s never done anything wrong in his life, and the
only reason he’s criticized is because of his opinion. The reality is that many Tesla owners saw Frederic’s
attacks on Vincent’s credibility and ghts with other Tesla owners as unprofessional for the editor of “biggest
electric vehicle publication in the world”.
Frederic’s criticism applies just as well to himself as anyone else. As the “original Tesla super fan”, he has also
o ten criticized people for making negative statements about Tesla:
Exactly, I actually owned up to it in the article,
but I never use misinformation in fighting Tesla
haters.
Fred Lambert
@FredericLambert
Cramer now calling for @elonmusk to go on leave and a bunch

people saying he should step down from Tesla. I really don't know
how people have the balls to say things like that. Pushed me to
make my first meme:
393 2:09 PM - Sep 11, 2018 · Canada

What’s wrong with my meme? It’s my first one… give me a chance.
Frederic has also published false and misleading misinformation on Electrek, such as his story 1 year ago
where he said Tesla couldn’t a ford toilet paper implying it was on the verge of bankruptcy. That turned out to
be false: This story was accurate and I stand by it.
Seth Weintraub @llsethj · May 24, 2019

This is a real shame because Tesla service centers used to have the
softest toilet paper twitter.com/ElectrekCo/sta…
Electrek.Co @ElectrekCo
Tesla's new cost cutting-effort is going all the way down to toilet
paper electrek.co/2019/05/24/tes… by @fredericlambert
Tesla
@Tesla
Actually we still have plenty of toilet paper, but thank you for
checking.
We completely understand the feeling when you get stuck without a

square though.
825 8:42 AM - May 24, 2019
In the latest episode of the Electrek podcast where Frederic and Seth repeated their attacks on Vincent and
Third Row, the two admitted that the article was “clickbaity” but that it was okay because it was “entertaining”
and “made people click on the article”, bringing in advertising revenue. In other words, spreading
misinformation about Tesla is okay if you make money doing it. This is why Third Row doesn’t monetize our
YouTube channel or use advertising to generate revenue at all. We try and keep it real, and give only our
honest opinion with no need to sensationalize.
This is a complete misrepresentation of what we said on the podcast. I admitted that putting the toilet paper thing in the headline
was clickbait, but I never said it was for ad revenue or misinformation. I actually said that It was still true and only one item
amongst several others that was due to Tesla’s extreme cost-cutting effort at the time.
This article was based on several sources inside Tesla explaining the result of the company’s new extreme cost-cutting effort,
which involved Musk and Kirkhorn reviewing all purchase - resulting in each department, service centers, and stores being
extremely careful with their expenses. In one case, a service center didn’t reorder toilet paper and they ran out. I never said that
Tesla has a whole stopped having toilet paper, but it was the result of one manager’s response to Tesla’s extreme cost-cutting
measures.
You might not like that article and that’s fine. But what’s in it is factual and calling it “false and misleading” is a lie.
0:00 / 0:14
To be clear, the vast majority of Tesla fans are still acting perfectly ne. They just love the
products, the mission, and Elon Musk, and love talking about those things in a positive way.
There’s nothing wrong with that.
But a fringe group has been giving a bad reputation to the less vocal majority.
One of the best examples is a guy going by “Vincent” on Twitter.
Electrek
I know his full name but he doesn’t share it online and
Does “Frederic” not believe his name is really Vincent? only goes by “Vincent” so yeah I said he goes by quote
“Vincent” online/
It turns out this piece isn’t about “toxic Tesla super fandom” at all. It’s about speci c people who are part of a
“fringe group” that he doesn’t like. Conveniently enough, this “fringe group” is all people who have criticized
his writing. And although he may try and dismiss Vincent and Third Row as some kind of fanatic “fringe”, the
hard truth is that he may be getting uneasy that this “fringe” could grow larger than him.
That’s what I wanted it to be about. If it wasn’t clear, it’s my fault, but Omar’s
misrepresentation of the fact is compeltely unfair.
10 year head start, narrowing quickly
Again, Vincent is the nicest guy ever. Frederic is going a ter him because he thought that Vincent wrote the
tweet calling his takes “dumb sometimes”. Imagine writing a whole attack piece on someone because of
something they didn’t even do. This is not cool, it’s not acceptable journalism, and it made me mad. That’s one
of the reasons why I said Frederic was “a complete piece of shit”. As I said earlier, I should have chosen my
Again, I started writing this piece two months before that comment. Omar knows this since I presented him
with the proof, which I also shared on Twitter. Why he keeps lying about something so easly proven wrong? I
https://wholemars.net/2020/05/17/frederic-response/ don’t know. 26/66
words better but that was what I was thinking at the time. I felt really guilty that Vincent had to endure so
much hate and blame because of something I wrote.
I told Vincent about this and suggested that he should take down the information because he was
basically promoting fraud, but he wasn’t concerned about it:
This is actually the source of the problem. Vincent post misinformation and lies and refusing
to correct it, but you don’t want to get into it? OK.
Electrek
I won’t go into Frederic’s attack on Vincent other than to say this: Frederic posted a screenshot of a private
conversation with Vincent without his knowledge or permission. This not only goes against widely accepted
journalistic standards, it is also likely illegal.
Why is Frederic digging up some old stu f from 2 years ago to slander Vincent, when he’s already spread the
same message attacking Vincent’s credibility repeatedly in the past? Was it because he suddenly became
concerned that Vincent was a fraud this week? Or was it because he mistakenly thought Vincent called his
take dumb, when it was really me? Second time you falsely accusemed me of slander. It’s not slander when it’s true.
Not only you can’t prove that what I said is untrue, you don’t even want to talk
about it.
I don’t know what you call that kind of mistake, but I call it toxic. And pretending to be calling out toxic
behavior when you’re actually trying to get back at someone for something they didn’t do is about as toxic as
you can get, in my humble opinion.
He wasn’t a reliable source, so I stopped following him and I thought that would be the end of my
interactions with him.
As for him, he kept sharing information and praising Tesla on Twitter — gaining a following of
Tesla superfans.
Half a year later, I start getting a lurry of insults on Twitter from Tesla superfans following
Vincent. I come to nd out that Vincent was falsely accusing me of using information he tweeted
without crediting him.
Another massive accusation put forward without proof whatsoever.

Electrek Same thing Vincent did and was proven wrong. What’s wrong with
you Omar?
It’s an open secret in the Tesla community that Frederic avoids crediting his sources whenever possible.
Personally, I’ve had experiences where I’ve seen Third Row share something with just a few likes and a ter it
gets attention Frederic writes about it without giving any credit to Third Row. Several others have reported
similar experiences too, including Frederic using photos of their cars without credit or permission. The likely
reason for this is that Frederic doesn’t like to credit people who he holds a grudge against.
Whether Vincent was right about him stealing that particular piece of info or not is besides the point.
Everyone makes mistakes. The reason people started lashing out against Frederic is because he is a jerk –– not
Fair. Everyone makes mistake. But he was presented with proof that he made a mistake and refused to correct
it - letting his fans, Omar included, attack me over Vincent’s own mistake. That’s what is wrong here.
because they feel strongly about the issue with the source. At that point, people had had enough of his attacks
on Vincent, who is loved by Tesla Twitter.
Some went as far as reaching out to my publisher and trying to have me red:
Electrek
Earl of Frunkpuppy @28delayslater · Nov 16, 2018

When will @llsethj and @ElectrekCo admit that there is a problem with
Fred’s behavior and journalistic integrity? Fire Fred. Hire
@vincent13031925
TSLAQ is a Comedy Club

@sports_univers3
GET RID OF FRED!!!

8:41 PM - Feb 27, 2020
See TSLAQ is a Comedy Club's other Tweets
Frederic then goes on to attack Earl of Frunkpuppy, another one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet. He is
known for posting pictures of cute puppies sitting inside the frunk (front trunk) of a Tesla. Earl couldn’t have
seriously expected Frederic to get red –– he was just defending his friend Vincent.
How did I attack Earl? all I did is point out that he was calling for me, to my publisher, to be
fired. Who is attacking who here? Come on
I nd Frederic’s attempts to take Earl’s comments out of context, without showing what Frederic himself
wrote to provoke the criticism, extremely toxic and dishonest. You might even call it misinformation.
WTF? Out of context? I presented the context. Vincent falsely accused me of stealing his content and this guy
called for me to be fired because of it. That’s it.
This makes me mad, because in addition to being a great guy Earl is an active service member with a family
and two daughters. I understand he was recently deployed abroad to help serve our country –– sacri cing
time with his family and Tesla. Like other Tesla owners, he has been attacked in ways that have gone way over
the line, including threats and attempts to have him red:
This is a new low Omar. Now you are trying to link me to some military bashing because of what Greenspan said
about Earl. This is disgusting. Earl wrongly called for me to be fired and I wrote about it. That’s it. Never said anything
about him or his work. You should be ashamed of yourself.
Would it surprise you to learn that Greenspan’s accusations of Earl “Attacking disabled people” was completely
made up, and had no basis in reality at all? Greenspan simply saw Earl following an account, and assumed he
created it. He then wrote the attack thread tagging his employer under that false assumption. It’s part of a
pattern of Aaron Greenspan pushing false and damaging allegations on Twitter that end up being completely
untrue. Why Twitter has not yet taken action is beyond me.
I never took any side on that matter because I wasn’t even aware of it. The fact that he is trying to link me to this is despicable.
You would think that having experienced constant harassment and threats from the same group of short
sellers, Frederic would side with Earl rather than inciting further hatred upon him. Unfortunately, you’d be
wrong. With Earl taken out of context, many people were mislead to believe that Earl –– one of the nicest
people on Twitter –– was “toxic”:
Honestly, there are a lot more misinformation in this post, but I have to stop now. This is starting to upset
me too much. I tried to call Omar about this and talk it out, but he is not taking my call. It’s the last time, I’ll
publicly comment about this.
Tilman Winkler @TilmanWinkler · May 12, 2020
Replying to @28delayslater and 2 others
And if I can point to a role model @Tesla fan that’s anything but toxic:
@28delayslater
Guessingpanda
@guessingpanda
I agree. 99% of the time. But the one tweet Fred referenced is
unfortunately really toxic. If I wrote that tweet Id be very surprised if
I didnt get something back. Just take it and roll with it or avoid
tweeting stuff like that.
12:33 AM - May 13, 2020
See Guessingpanda's other Tweets
Frederic thinks that “toxic Tesla superfans” who criticize him are the same as TSLAQ. Meanwhile –– Tesla
owners think that Frederic’s attacks on Tesla and Tesla owners are the same as TSLAQ. Demanding my identity
so he can retaliate? Directing a hate mob against us based on false information? Rehashing TSLAQ talking
points? He may be pro-EV, but my heart and body reacted the same way as when I was attacked by TSLAQ.
When will we realize that there is no TSLAQ except TSLAQ? We should be on the same side, but we’re ghting
each other instead of uniting against the enemy. And TSLAQ is laughing, watching with popcorn. This needs
to change.
It’s something that Elon Musk has o ten highlighted as one of Tesla’s biggest advantages —
maintaining a short feedback loop, which o ten consists of him responding directly to people on
Twitter.
But when Musk only relies on these super fans for the feedback, he is doing himself and Tesla a
disservice.
Electrek
Translation: Wahhh why won’t Elon reply to me anymore now that I’m posting false negative stories about him
😢

Replying to @Erdayastronaut and 2 others
Elon, a bunch of tesla drivers outside california complain to me that
some of the speed limits / map data on exit lanes etc aren’t always
accurate and it’s a pain in the ass for them
works well here in CA, plans to improve map data or read speed limit
signs?
Elon Musk
@elonmusk
Yes, this is a high priority

1,802 11:35 PM - May 7, 2020
Trying to blame us for who Elon choses to engage with on Twitter is not only nonsensical, but also petty. Elon
gets lots of feedback from a lot of people, most of whom love their cars. To me it looks like Frederic is less
concerned with Elon receiving constructive feedback, and more just incensed that Elon will no longer respond
to his feedback. Take it up with Elon, not us.
A ter Musk threatened to move Tesla’s California operations, which employs tens of thousands of
people, it unsurprisingly didn’t sit well with many people, including state representative Lorena
Gonzalez:
While we obviously don’t endorse this type of language, it then led to a good example of a Tesla
superfan feeding misinformation to Elon Musk, corrupting his feedback loop. The Tesla superfans
quickly went on the o fensive and tried to paint her as an oil industry shill.
Electrek
Lorena
@LorenaSGonzalez
F*ck Elon Musk.

209K 6:03 PM - May 9, 2020
47.2K people are talking about this
Look, if you’re going to sympathize with and apologize for a California politician that said “Fuck Elon Musk”,
you can’t wonder why people think you’ve turned against Tesla.
A ter So aan called Frederic to tell him Vincent hadn’t been the one tweeting, Electrek published this update:
Update: Below I refer the Third Row Podcast Twitter account as being “run by Vincent and the same
previously mentioned group of Tesla superfans”. They wanted me to “correct” saying that Vincent is not
running the account and that another podcast member, So aan Fraval, is running the account. However,
on the same day and a ter this article was published, the account claimed to be talking for all members of
the podcast including Vincent:
Electrek
As we said previously, Vincent was not running the account and as far as I know never posted anything from
the account. His writing would be pretty easy to spot if he had.
Despite us conveying this information to Frederic a ter he published the incorrect story, he put “correct” in
quotes and insists through the above screenshot that Vincent was indeed running the account.
This screen-shotted tweet, taken out of context, lists the people who appear on the podcast –– NOT the
people who are posting the tweet. Think about it, how can six people write one tweet? Everybody takes turns
hitting letters on the keyboard? Again, none of us even live in the same city.
Fred’s stubborn insistence that Vincent was indeed behind the account says a lot about his relationship with
the truth. His accusations against Vincent are clearly and demonstrably false. Yet he refused to correct his
mistakes, and insists on pushing false and defamatory information about him. If it is true that Vincent wasn’t
behind the tweets, he would look pretty foolish for launching a misinformed attack piece against him
wouldn’t he?
Well, that’s exactly what he did. You know now that the tweets that provoked him were authored by me, not
Vincent. If anyone should take the blame and respond to them it’s me. Not anyone else.
Trying to put the blame on Vincent just because you have a grudge against him is wrong. It’s just plain wrong,
inaccurate, and bad bad journalism.
Twitter account “Third Row Tesla Podcast,” which is run by Vincent and the same previously
mentioned group of Tesla superfans, posted a series of tweets read by Musk in which they imply
that she got paid by the oil industry to push some pro-fossil fuel legislations:
Electrek

Here's @LorenaSGonzalez's voting record on Oil & Gas.
Elon Musk
@elonmusk
Interesting
7,117 10:07 AM - May 11, 2020
Frederic appears to be reading further into the tweets than is supported by evidence. The tweet by Third Row
reads, and I quote, “Here’s Lorena Golzalez’s voting record on oil and gas”. Elon then replied “Interesting”.
There’s no claim that every one of these bills are “pro fossil fuels”, or that we’ve read and understood all of
them.
Frederic says this is misinformation, but it seems to be a fairly clear factual statement to me. Here is her voting
record on oil & gas. The reader can draw their own conclusions, and all Musk said is that it was “interesting”.
Let me try and explain the Lorena tweets. The rst thing you have to understand is that most of these tweets
are not supposed to be as serious as some kind of major journalistic exposé. It’s just Twitter.
What does “Fuck Elon Musk” mean, coming from a California politician at a time when Elon is trying to reopen
the Tesla factory? It means Fuck Tesla, fuck Tesla’s product roadmap, and fuck Tesla’s workers. It means fuck a
zero emissions future, and fuck Tesla existing long into the future. The longer the shutdown of Tesla’s main
factory lasts, the greater the chances the company could go under. The implications for the future of Tesla and
EVs in general could not be more serious. On top of that, Lorena followed up with several more tweets going
a ter Tesla, and also appeared on CNN and other media outlets to speak out against the company.
Pushing back against the “Fuck Elon Musk” tweet, and a series of other tweets and interviews by the California
politician is not toxic in my view. It is an important part of the political process. Lorena’s tweet got over
200,000 likes as it was pushed by Tesla’s enemies, who replied warmly encouraging Lorena to go hard a ter
the company.
If Lorena hadn’t heard anyone speak up from the other side –– anyone who believes that Tesla’s mission is
good for the world, and that the company should be supported –– it would have appeared that the public was
unanimously against Tesla. That could impact policy and legislation that a fects the company nationwide.
Remember, Lorena Gonzalez isn’t the only one paying attention to Twitter. Speaking out is now (as always) an
important part of the political process, no matter how educated your views are.
Nobody denies that Lorena Gonzalez has received donations from oil companies, including Assemblywoman
Gonzalez herself. Oil companies donate to lots of politicians. Asking why they donated to Lorena is hardly
“toxic misinformation”. In our view, it’s completely fair. You wouldn’t donate to someone who is a big threat to
your business, would you? You’d donate to try and elect their opponent.
Although some or all of the Oil & Gas bills may appear to be positive examples of regulating the industry, the
devil is in the details.
When Nalleli Cobo, a young girl who had health complications a ter growing up next to an active oil well,
campaigned for AB 345 –– a bill designed to make it illegal to operate an oil well near schools, day care
centers, residences, or hospitals –– Lorena Gonzelz was personally responsible for shelving the bill at the
committee level.
Why shelve a bill that helps prevent children from getting sick, when the only people who stand to lose are
the oil companies that have been donating to Lorena Gonzalez? Could the thought of losing their support in
the next election have ever crossed her mind? It’s not a sure thing but it’s certainly a possibility, isn’t it? Watch
the video and see what you think for yourself.
0:00 / 2:15

@thirdrowtesla
AB 345 was a bill designed to make it illegal to operate an oil well

near sensitive areas like schools & day care centers. A bill to stop
big oil from poisoning children like Nalleli Cobo.
Lorena Gonzalelz shelved the bill.
Go tell big oil to go fuck themsleves. Not @elonmusk.

twitter.com/LorenaSGonzale…
Lorena @LorenaSGonzalez
F*ck Elon Musk.
436 8:48 PM - May 10, 2020
Tesla’s CEO found their misrepresentation of Gonzalez as an oil shill “interesting,” and he o ten
retweets their congratulatory comments.
Electrek
Translation: Why doesn’t Elon Musk think I’m pretty anymore?
He found her voting record interesting. There was no misrepresentation, except for Frederic’s
misrepresentation of the tweet you can see right in front of you.
They speci cally mentioned her delaying a bill about preventing oil drilling next to schools, but
Gonzalez used the delay to make amendments and later voted for the bill.
While there’s little to no evidence that she pushed pro-oil legislature, she did receive some
money from the oil industry, which The Third Row Podcast made sound like a big deal.
It was really the rst time that Gonzalez, who is endorsed by the popular climate group Sierra
Club, has been described as an oil industry shill, and it’s obviously erroneous.
Electrek
She made amendments to the bill and then later voted for it, yes. I wonder what the amendments she made
to the bill were?

@thirdrowtesla
So this is the kind of thing i’m talking about.
They say “oh, we did end up passing the bill that keeps oil wells
away from playgrounds”
but when you look at the bill text they took away the part where
they said require them to be 2500 feet away
and wrote “require to consider”
168 11:22 AM - May 11, 2020
Looking at a di f of the original version of the bill and the version that passed, you can see that Lorena
Gonzalez changed the language from “require by ordinance that new oil and gas developments […] be located a
larger distance away from residence, school, childcare facility, playground, hospital, or health clinic than 2,500
feet” to “require the department to consider a setback distance of 2,500 feet at schools, playgrounds, and
public facilities where children are present”.
Now this is quite astounding. Here is a bill that protects the health of children. Nobody has anything to lose
but the oil companies. But instead of “requiring” them to not drill in sensitive areas, the department must
simply “consider” not putting them in sensitive areas.
Imagine if all laws were written this way. Thou shalt not kill. Well, actually let’s make it thou shalt consider not
killing. The ma a is a donor of mine, and it would seriously hurt their business if murder was always illegal.
They also pushed the start date from 2020 to 2022, giving the oil companies time to lobby for the legislation
to be replaced, removed, further weakened, or even forgotten. Keep in mind this is just for new oil wells, not
existing ones.
Once the bill passed the activists stopped campaigning, and the politicians could claim they went and
regulated the oil industry and get their good rating. But someone went ahead and made sure that the bill was
carved out to work well for the oil companies. Nobody ever said she was corrupt –– it’s just not clear she’s
ghting against the oil & gas companies as hard as she’s ghting against Tesla.
This brings us back to why Elon thought the list of votes was interesting. Why does she always vote yes on
everything? When she noticed that the bill was changed to be a lot weaker than the original version, shouldn’t
she have voted no in protest? She was the one who shelved the original bill, so it’s not like she was unaware.
For whatever reason, she didn’t.
If you simply looked at the list of bills and thought the titles sounded positive, you may be a little bit naive
about politics. Bills are o ten written to do the exact opposite of what their title claims (It’s not surveillance,
it’s “The Patriot Act!”). I’m not saying thats the case here, as I didn’t read any of these bills except AB 345.
Frederic called this incident “good example of a Tesla superfan feeding misinformation to Elon Musk,
corrupting his feedback loop”. It turns out it wasn’t misinformation at all –– Frederic just failed to read all the
tweets in the thread, let alone ask us for a comment before publishing an article attacking our credibility like
any respectable journalist would.
Besides, this misses the point: We never claimed this was some incredibly well researched nd. It was just
something tweeted out o f the cu f as we saw it mentioned by others, parodying the congresswoman’s
attacks. She said Tesla was funded by subsidies, which is false. We said she was funded by Big Oil. We’re not
the New York Times, we’re an amateur podcast that’s less than 6 months old. When we get any new info, we
always correct quickly. You shouldn’t believe everything you read online. Far from being misinformation,
digging into the assemblywoman’s motivations ended up being much more interesting than expected.
Is this an example of misinformation pushed by Third Row? Or yet another example of Frederic pushing
misinformation designed to discredit his competition? We expected better from Electrek.
Tesla superfans, who have Musk’s ear, pushed misinformation about her being a shill for the oil
industry to explain her problem with Musk.
To be clear, it doesn’t excuse Gonzalez’s comment, but I think this is evidence of Elon Musk’s
feedback loop being corrupted by this increasingly cult-like following.
Electrek
“Tesla is a cult” is another classic TSLAQ line.
Far from being misinformation, the tweets raise interesting questions. We don’t “have Elon’s ear” nor do we
tell him what to reply to. That’s his decision, and blaming us is silly. You’re underestimating Elon if you think
he’s getting confused by random tweets.
What standard are you trying to hold us to anyway? Let’s go back to Gonzalez’s comment, which Frederic says
“isn’t excused”. The conversation was started with “Fuck Elon Musk” and misinformation that Tesla is funded by
government subsidies. Before that, nobody had never heard of the assemblywoman. Calling her oil donations
into question was a fair jab back, and was far less misinformed that Gonzalez’s comments. You expect us to
respond to “Fuck Elon Musk and Tesla” with a well reasoned dissertation, where all the facts are properly
researched? It was a diss to respond to a diss, not some kind of dramatic exposé that’s going to win a Pulitzer.
We saw lots of Tesla owners tweeting about it, and thought it was interesting enough to mention.
Call me crazy, but it seems like Frederic was more upset about Elon replying to his perceived enemies than
“misinformation”. Does anyone seriously believe this tweet was the most dangerous piece of misinformation
on Twitter this week? Or was it just the worst looking tweet Frederic could nd for someone he didn’t like,
because they had just called some of his takes dumb?
It’s far from the only time that the Tesla superfan behind this Twitter account also pushed
misinformation related to Elon Musk.
Earlier this month, I posted an article about how all the requirements for the rst tranche of
Musk’s stock compensation plan have been ful lled, and in the opinion section of the article, I
introduced the possibility of Musk selling some shares to cover his tax obligations.
The Third Row Tesla Podcast took o fense to that and issued a series of tweets that turned Tesla
superfans against me again:
Electrek
This was Frederic’s provocation for writing the article. To be clear, nobody took o fense to Frederic’s prediction.
The “dumb takes” tweet only questioned whether it was as certain as Frederic made it sound. He cries foul on
“A series of tweets that turned people against me”, in an article designed to direct hate towards Vincent for
something he didn’t even do, and to Third Row for criticizing his writing.
The criticism wasn’t personal, like “George is a short tempered jerk who retaliates against anyone who
criticizes him”. The tweet simply questioned the assumption that Elon was about to sell his Tesla stock. He
very well might sell Tesla stock to pay taxes at some point, maybe even today. But it’s not the sure thing
Frederic painted it as, and he’s restricted from selling any of the shares granted for ve years.
I tried to explain to Frederic that the tweet was just a comment on his article, not a personal attack on him, but
he was furious. Writing that Elon Musk is going to sell his Tesla stock on Electrek –– a site with headlines that
appear on the Bloomberg Terminal –– is quite a signi cant statement. Just like every other article that’s
published, it deserves scrutiny and comment from the public. That discussion may lead to people agreeing it
is true, or that it is false.
I didn’t write that “Frederic Lambert is dumb”. I just wrote that sometimes his takes are dumb. I was surprised by
how angry that made him. Sure, you would expect anyone to be annoyed, maybe even to respond –– but he
got very upset. This whole article, what Vincent has had to endure for no reason, and the departure of two of
our members all stemmed from this incident. No real journalist would act like this, or use their writing to act
on personal vendettas and direct hatred towards their competitors.
What does someone who decries “tweets to turn others against me”, think about the way his misleading
article directed hate and pressure towards Vincent, Third Row, and others? Does he feel guilty, or satis ed?
The answer to that question might reveal if his article was sincere or an attempt to manipulate readers. Is
breaking up a rival podcast because they criticized you positive for the EV revolution? Or is it negative? Either
way, Frederic seems happy about what he did:
0:00 / 0:19
Frederic was happy that he was able to damage the podcast, even though Vincent and Gali had nothing to do
with the Twitter account. Positive or negative for the EV revolution?
In fact, they were the clueless ones and spreading misinformation in the process.
At rst, they claimed “incentive stock options don’t get taxed,” which is plain wrong.
A ter it was pointed out to them that it’s not the case, they tried to lie about me by saying that
taxes were due when the shares are vested:
Electrek
Yet again, Frederic published a private conversation he had with Third Row without asking permission. This is
contrary to commonly accepted journalistic standards and again, likely illegal. This is disappointing because
we tried to talk to Frederic in good faith to hear out his concerns, and he went around and shared an excerpt of
the conversation taken out of context to try and make us look bad. It’s not clear what we were talking about
from the screenshot –– Frederic had shared a di ferent article about stock options, not the one he had written.
He misquoted us as saying “incentive stock options don’t get taxed”, but as you can see in the screenshot he
le t out “when they vest”. It’s true that stock options are not taxed when they vest. Incentive stock options are
not taxed when they are exercised either –– only when the shares obtained are sold. Non-quali ed stock
options are also taxed on exercise, I believe.
He then said “they tried to lie about me saying taxes were due when the shares vested”. What we said was that
since the options had just vested and had not been exercised yet, there was no tax liability at the moment.
We never claimed to be right 100% of the time. We are just some random Twitter account with our own
opinions. But so far Elon hasn’t sold any stock. Again maybe he will soon, who knows.
If we were “trying to lie” about Frederic rather than simply disagreeing with his prediction about Elon selling
Tesla stock this year, why would we have tried to talk to him and listen to what he had to say? Why did we then
follow up with additional information based on Frederic’s request? Why would we apologize to him for calling
him dumb a ter he got upset?

Okay number one the conditions on the options grant were that he
can’t sell for five years
Heeeelooooooooo ever heard of researching what you’re writing about
And incentive stock options don’t get taxed I believe
Elon never sells TSLA. He’d rather borrow against it

@thirdrowtesla
correction on this: only the first $100,000 worth of options can be

considered incentive stock options due to a legal limit on ISO
the rest will be non qualified stock options and subject to tax on
exercise I believe
but no pressing need to exercise rn twitter.com/thirdrowtesla/…

twitter.com/thirdrowtesla/…
Third Row Tesla Podcast @thirdrowtesla

Correction / clarification on earlier tweets:
Only the first $100,000 of stock option grants in a year can be considered
incentive stock options exempt from tax on exercise
So Elon would pay taxes not only once he sold, but also on exercise.
carta.com/blog/what-is-t…
10 1:07 PM - May 5, 2020

Luckily there is no immediate need to exercise the options, and even if
he did the tax bill would not be due until april of the next year.
Selling Tesla shares to pay the tax bill would be one way to do it, but
it’s not the only way. He could also borrow, sell houses, etc

@thirdrowtesla
Fred was really mad that we said “some of his takes are really
dumb”, so we do apologize to @FredericLambert for saying that the
grant was entirely incentive stock options that would not be taxed
on exercise at all. That was inaccurate, as we didn’t know about the
$100k limit.
12 12:51 PM - May 5, 2020
Naturally, Frederic le t out our correction and apology out of the article to try and make us look as bad as
possible. I guess it doesn’t really support your claims of “pushing misinformation” when tweets are quickly
being updated with clarifying information. Omitting critical information that contradicts your narrative is
how you push misinformation, not do journalism.
In short, Third Row Tesla Podcast shared misinformation about Musk not having to pay taxes on
his stock options, and in the process, they called my opinion “dumb” and “clueless” — sending
their army of Tesla superfans to insult me.
Electrek
When we comment on a news article, our comment may or may not be correct. But that’s just what we do ––
we comment on news people are writing. I doubt we would have called Frederic’s opinion dumb, or that other
people would have poked fun at him, if it weren’t for his history ghting with and attacking the credibility of
Vincent, Elon, and others in the community.
The intention was not to “send an army to insult” anyone. We just simply wanted to express our opinion that it
was far from certain that Elon was about to sell a massive amount of Tesla stock due to a tax bill.
The negative perception of Frederic by many Tesla owners is far less about what he writes than how he treats
the community. If mobilizing your audience to attack someone unfairly is such a moral abomination, will
Frederic apologize to Vincent and retract the story? If not, his criticisms seem a bit self-serving and
hypocritical from my perspective, with all due respect to Frederic.
Are these the comments of a level headed journalist, who can easily take criticism of his work?
To me, it doesn’t seem so. The very same day, we tweeted out criticizing Russ Mitchell, an LA Times journalist
who is very friendly with TSLAQ –– they’re the only people he follows on Twitter. Here’s how he responded:
Russ Mitchell @russ1mitchell · May 12, 2020

Just asking a question. Why not have me on your podcast? Ask me
anything you want.

@thirdrowtesla
Thanks for offering Russ! I think it could be an interesting

discussion. We’ll talk it over and see if we can schedule you
sometime.
82 4:45 PM - May 12, 2020
This was the same day Frederic’s hit piece was published. Even though he was attacking Tesla, we conversed in
a way that was polite and cordial. The two of us should hate each other: No journalist is closer to TSLAQ than
Russ, and he even donated his own money to Plainsite, Aaron Greenspan’s fake charity that has been
harassing me for over a year.
This “journalist” is literally funding the people who are harassing and attacking me and my friends. And yet
Third Row is still able to have a cordial conversation with him online. Certainly doesn’t t with the narrative
that crazed Tesla superfans personally attack anyone who says anything “even slightly negative”, does it? Russ
is as negative as it gets! I’ve criticized Russ’s writing and tweets many times, but that doesn’t mean I have
anything against him personally.
Again, the community’s dislike of Frederic is a lot less about his writing than the way he interacts with Tesla
owners and fans. Many love his site, but those who have had talked with him have noticed he can be a jerk
with very thin skin. He is stubborn and demands apologies rather than o fering an olive branch. Many people
in the EV community were upset with us calling Frederic names, because of how much he’s done for the EV
movement. But let’s run a little thought experiment here: What if Russ had sent us the same messages
Frederic had? Does this look reasonable?
Should a journalist react this way when someone critiques their writing? No? Then why is it ok for Frederic?
Because he’s a blogger? Or because he writes about EVs?
There’s a lot of things you could say about Russ, but even the most TSLAQ of the TSLAQ journalists is able to
keep his cool when Tesla fans criticize him. Is it too much to ask for Tesla owners to treat each other the same
way?
Despite the fact that I am arguably one of Tesla’s and Elon Musk’s biggest fans, some people will
continue to see me as an enemy and ignore all the facts laid out in this article about the
misinformation spread by this fringe group of Tesla superfans. It’s easy to sling mud anonymously
on Twitter.
Electrek
Again, it’s not about how big of a fan you are –– there are all kinds of viewpoints in the Tesla community: some
positive and some negative.
If we are really just “a fringe group spreading misinformation”, why does he need to “sling mud” at us? Frederic
isn’t the enemy, he’s on our side of the EV revolution. But what he did in this piece was spiteful, vindictive, and
wrong. That shouldn’t be what the EV community stands for. This is a sad an embarrassing moment for all of
us, make no mistake about it.
But for those who want to improve communication around Tesla and elevate the community, I
have a few suggestions.
First o f, we should clean up our ways to communicate, and for that, I think Don Miguel Ruiz’s Four
Agreements are a good starting point:
1. Be impeccable with your word.
2. Don’t take anything personally.
3. Don’t make assumptions
4. Always do your best.
If we can follow those principles, and by “we” I mean myself, too, I think we are going to be in a
much better place to communicate.
I know I am not without blame in this whole thing, because I o ten break some of those
principles, like the second one. It’s hard not to take things personally when you are so invested in
something.
How about this, Tesla superfans? I promise to be better at following those principles, and you do
the same. Tesla and the entire EV community are going to be better for it.
Electrek
Here, we couldn’t agree with Frederic more. If we had all not taken things personally, not made assumptions,
and done our best this piece would have never been written. It’s great that he acknowledges his own mistakes
–– we’re aware of our own laws too. Ironically, the entire attack piece seems to violate his own advice.
Publishing private conversations without permission was not impeccable to his word. Writing an attack article
and mobilizing his audience because someone said his takes were dumb was taking things far too personally.
Assuming Vincent was behind the tweets just because of a past grudge was a very bad assumption. And if this
is Frederic at his best, I’d hate to see him at his worst.
If Frederic really wants to follow these principles, and pledges not to retaliate against people who he feels
have slighted him again, the community is already on the road to a brighter future. So far, that remains to be
seen.
Can you teach an old dog new tricks?

The piece was quite insidious and well executed. It simpli ed the issue as a “good group” (Frederic) vs a “toxic
group” (Frederic’s critics). In doing so, it directed a lot of hate towards our podcast and other Tesla owners
mentioned in the article. People were highly motivated to lash out against “the toxic group”, lest they appear
to be “toxic” themselves, in which case they would be shunned and denigrated.
But let’s be real. This isn’t as simple as good vs evil. Yes, I can be a toxic asshole. But Frederic writing a
retaliatory piece to turn his audience against Vincent and Third Row based on incorrect assumptions was toxic
too. Let’s not kid ourselves about what’s going on here.
And you, the reader –– you’re toxic too. Everyone who read the article and went out attacking others for being
“toxic” based on bad information –– that’s toxic too. I’m toxic, you’re toxic… we’re all a little toxic. Rather than
pointing ngers at each other, let’s take a good hard look in the mirror and try and be better.
LG Swerv
@LovellGilbert_
stop being so quick to point the finger at everybody else and finally
take a step back to look in the mirror to make sure it ain’t you.
146 10:37 AM - May 16, 2020
No message spreads alone. We all decide who to follow, what to like, and what to retweet. Rather than virtue
signaling, be the change you want to see in the world. What we see on Twitter is just a re lection of ourselves.
If you want to ght misinformation, start thinking for yourself. Don’t believe everything you read online,
especially not on social media or some dude’s blog. Don’t run and join the mob when they’re going a ter
someone –– try and talk the mob down. Be a voice of reason in a mad world. One person can make a big
di ference. That advice stands no matter who is calling you to attack.
Aaron Greenspan might look bad for attacking Tesla fans, but did you consider what I might have tweeted
about him that provoked him? I don’t think that excuses his behavior, but there are two sides to every story
and I le t that out. This is what thinking for yourself means.
MY INITIAL REACTION
Our response to the article –– speci cally the tweets authored by me –– was extremely poor. Part of the
problem was that I didn’t actually read the article before responding to it, and neither did So aan (he asked
me to send him a PDF so he wouldn’t have to visit the site). I knew the piece was going to stress me out and
make me upset, so I avoided reading it which was a big mistake –– I fell right into the trap.
When I rst opened the article, I just skimmed it and saw Frederic going a ter Vincent and Third Row,
featuring private conversations and without comment from any of us. That made me upset and angry, and I
took it personally. A lot of negative stu f has been written about me on Twitter, but it’s never really happened
on a major blog or news outlet. I handled it re lexively, by lashing out at Frederic, calling him names, and
cursing at him. I apologize to Frederic for reacting that way and should have read the article rst –– maybe
then our tweets wouldn’t have sounded so tone deaf in relation to the ostensible call for peace being made.
When Frederic saw the Third Row Tesla tweet calling him a “complete piece of shit”, he called out the entire
group on Twitter. He took a tweet from a di ferent thread, and used it to imply that everyone was saying he
was a complete piece of shit. This drew an extremely negative reaction from the community, who saw it as a
Third Row doing exactly was Frederic was ostensibly speaking out against rather than just an early reaction to
a “call out” piece on the group that none of us had read yet.
Yes, calling Frederic a “complete piece of shit” was kind of toxic. But was it any less toxic when Electrek owner
Seth Weintraub called Tesla owners “pieces of shit” himself? Let’s not rush to pass judgement before re lecting
on our own behavior rst.
As you can see in the above screenshot, Frederic and Seth have been using the TSLAQ talking point of “toxic
Tesla fanbois” well before the Third Row Twitter account was created. How could Third Row be responsible for
creating this “toxic culture” before it was formed?
Following the anger and blowback from the above tweet, Vincent and Gali announced that they would be
leaving Third Row. Can anyone really claim attacking rival publications to the point where team members
leave is positive for the EV revolution? Or is it just positive for Frederic?
This tweet and others like it have now been deleted out of respect for Frederic.
We apologize to him and our readers.
It was I, and I alone who wrote that Frederic was a “complete piece of shit”. Please don’t blame any other
members of my group for what I did. They were kind enough to let me have an outlet through the group’s
Twitter account, and because we didn’t want to say it was me it blew up in their faces. Other members of Third
Row shouldn’t have to pay for my careless actions. I take the blame alone, and would much rather leave Third
Row myself than have Gali or Vincent leave.
Rather than furiously demanding the person who called him a “complete piece of shit” reveal themselves,
perhaps Frederic should re lect on what conduct and behavior caused so many Tesla owners to like such a
hateful tweet in the rst place, to the point where it spread far enough for him to see it? For every person who
liked it, I’m sure there was at least one who didn’t because they thought it was too rude. The reactions were
not shown in Fred’s tweet attacking the group, because he cropped them out.
My teammates have su fered a lot, and that’s not fair. Leave them alone –– if you have a problem with what I
said, take it up with me.
Look, I never said I was a perfect person. I’m an asshole, and a troll. I don’t deny that. But there’s more to me
than just that. People who have actually gotten to know me would also tell you that I can be caring, insightful,
and a good friend. Frederic isn’t one dimensional either, nor do I claim to know him. Some old habits die hard,
and with the account less than 6 months old we’re still trying to gure out what kind of content people want
to see on Twitter. Please try and forgive us for the times where we’ve struck the wrong chord. This whole
writing and interacting with people thing is new to me –– I’m a computer programmer. I’m still trying to gure
it out.
We’re still learning how to do this, and what our place in the community is. You have to understand, this really
came out of nowhere for us. Just 5 months ago, we had 420 followers. Now we have over 25,000. We’re still
getting used to the responsibility that comes with that. The idea that people are reading our tweets or caring
about what we say is entirely new to us, and to me in particular.
I’m just another idiot sharing their opinion. You might think “why are so many people listening to this stupid
asshole”? Honestly, I ask myself the same thing. I don’t know how we got here. All this attention –– the positive
and the negative –– has caught me completely by surprise. It’s clear from this experience that there’s a lot of
growing I need to do if I want to be more than just a huge troll.
Brian Armstrong @brian_armstrong · May 12, 2020

You have to be ok with people hating you to do anything interesting it
turns out. Nobody mentioned that growing up.
Figure out what you feel is right and go for it, regardless of what others
think. The world is full of people who will criticize you, no matter what
you do.
Paul Graham
@paulg
The hating wasn't so visible when you were growing up.

Unfortunately Twitter surfaces it all.
182 1:44 AM - May 13, 2020
When you’re in the public eye, a certain number of people are going to hate you. I know that, and I accept that.
If you hate me or my friends from the podcast, that’s ok –– I hate the shirt you’re wearing. You might say I don’t
know what shirt you’re wearing, and that’s true –– but you don’t know me and my friends either. The Third
Row account isn’t mine, so I can’t say everything I really think. If you think you know who I am because you’ve
read my tweets or watched our podcast, you’re oversimplifying me just a bit too much. If I had something very
negative to say about Tesla, having someone post it on the Third Row account wouldn’t make much sense.
That doesn’t mean I don’t have any opinions other than what’s tweeted.
It’s frustrating not having a Twitter account and being able to respond to people myself or say what I think, so I
ask that you not try and judge me too harshly based on misinformation you read online. It’s amazing how
quickly I’ve become disconnected from people I used to talk to every day just because I lost my @tesla_truth
account. It’s sad to see some of those familiar faces going a ter me based on a lot of BS.
Some people are upset with us, and for good reason. But for those who know that people make mistakes, and
want to stick around and give us another chance, we promise we’ll make you proud and try and do better.
WITH GREAT POWER COMES GREAT RESPONSIBILITY
We may not have adjusted quickly enough to the growing voice Third Row had in the Tesla community. We
understand now that with more power, we have more responsibility to do the right thing. That doesn’t just go
for us, but for other publications too.
Using one of the biggest EV blogs to go a ter a 6 month old podcast you don’t like isn’t heroic. It’s petty, and
beneath a publication like Electrek. Had I been in Frederic’s shoes I would have reached out and tried to o fer
mentorship instead. “Hey look, I was a super fan in the past. You have to be willing to criticize Tesla too. This
might not be accurate”. We may not have agreed with his advice, but we would have listened. A larger
publication attacking a new entrant feels like bullying to me, not justice. Since Frederic published his criticism
of Third Row, we’ve heard a lot of people tell us that a toxic publication shouldn’t have a voice or support from
readers. I agree with this strongly, as long as it applies to everyone equally and not just us.
WHAT NOW?
What do I want out of this now? What do I want to happen next?
Well, for starters please leave my friends on the podcast alone, including the two who le t. Don’t make them
su fer or give them heat for something I did that they had no clue about. Reach out to them and tell them you
love them. The mistake and wrong reaction were mine and mine alone. What can I say? I can be an asshole. My
friends were kind enough to let me have a voice even though I already lost my Twitter account once. Don’t
make them su fer for their kindness, or hold them accountable for my actions. I own my words completely and
always have, and will deal with the repercussions myself.
I never intended to hide, or refuse to admit that it was me who called Frederic a complete piece of shit. It was
just my background with Twitter that created an awkward situation.
One possibility is that I’ll see retaliation from Frederic and Electrek now that he knows it was me. But if
Frederic was sincere about what he said in the article, I hope he won’t. Don’t tell anyone I said this, but I don’t
actually hate Frederic and Electrek –– I actually kind of like their site. I probably read the site at least once a
month, and they o ten break stories that I nd interesting. I’m glad they’re there and wouldn’t be happy to see
them shut down. Frederic deserves credit for what he’s done. I just naturally sided with Vincent when Frederic
started questioning Vincent’s credibility. What choice did I have? Vincent is my friend, and he was hurt a ter
getting picked on by a bully who was much bigger than him at the time. Frederic probably never imagined
that guy he went a ter would grow to rival him in in luence, or start a competing blog. He thought he would
just “unfollow, and that was it”.
Wouldn’t it be great if Frederic stayed true to his word –– one of the four rules he mentioned? If we both
followed those rules? When we rst started the account and shared stories from Electrek, many Tesla owners
got upset. They told us “I never read Electrek, please don’t link to them”. So we didn’t. Well Electrek covers
some interesting topics sometimes. We would be a much stronger community if Third Row could share
content from Electrek, Electrek could share content from Third Row (as they have in the past), and we could all
get along without worrying about some stupid ght ruining everyone’s week. That might be easier said than
done, but I hope we can at least say “whatever” and move on. I don’t have anything against Electrek or Frederic.
I don’t even hate Aaron Greenspan or Keith Watson, and would talk to them if they ever reached out to me.
Life is too short to hold stupid grudges. Let’s unite against whats really toxic –– polluting gas cars. Not turn
against each other.
If Frederic really wants to heal the divide between himself and so many Tesla owners, it starts with mutual
respect. Don’t dismiss Tesla owners as “toxic super fans” just because they disagree with you or you think their
opinion is “too” positive. Apologize to Vincent and the community, and start unblocking Tesla owners who
were just trying to defend their friends. Frederic should retract the misleading op-ed as a show of good faith,
or at the very least replace Vincent’s name with mine and apologize to him. When one is kind, kindness tends
to return to them.
Kim Paquette
@kimpaquette
Half of #Tesla twitter has Fred blocked because he his an awful

person who gets into fights and blocks those who disagree with
him. This started over a year ago. I was blocked for defending
@28delayslater. twitter.com/ElectrekCo/sta…
Electrek.Co @ElectrekCo
Tesla superfandom becomes toxic, negative for electric revolution [op-ed]
electrek.co/2020/05/12/tes… by @fredericlambert
168 11:07 AM - May 12, 2020
I also hope Vincent and Gali will decide to return to the podcast. I would much rather leave the podcast than
see them leave. A ter all the hate, I’m not really all that sure what I get out of doing this. I guess your internet
friends aren’t your real friends, but Gali and Vincent and I and the rest of the group have been through a lot
together. They’ve come and stayed at my house when we attended events or interviewed Elon together, and
those were great experiences I won’t forget easily. I understand that they need to protect their own businesses
and are tired of putting out res I started, so I don’t hold anything against them. But it’s de nitely sad to see
them go, knowing it’s all my fault. The remaining Third Row members aren’t posting anything I’ve written on
Twitter, and So aan has changed his Twitter password and not shared it with the rest of the group as we
decide how to move forward. The community has spoken, and they don’t want me on Twitter –– so that’s not a
place where I will be.
Let’s not kid ourselves. This was no cry for justice. This was some dirty, dirty business. It’s a truly embarrassing
moment, not just for Frederic and his critics, but for the entire Tesla community. I hope we can look back at it
as a turning point in discourse, but we won’t be able to make that happen alone.
THE DAY THE WAR IS OVER

Someday soon the war against EVs will be over, and we will have won. As that day approaches, we’ll all need to
re-examine ourselves. Our actions in wartime will make little sense in peacetime. Will Tesla fans keep
annoying journalists covering the company forever? Who do you want to be, and how will you change once the
war is over? Where will you go?
We fought this war for a world that’s less toxic, in a literal sense. For less air pollution, and less needless lives
lost in car crashes every single day. In championing that future, maybe we all become a little toxic ourselves (in
the metaphorical sense). You can see the scars of our past in the way Fredric and Third Row treated each other.
The EV community is a small little bubble. When the war is over, everyone will drive EVs. Talk to the thousands
of new Tesla owners around the world, and most of them have never heard of Electrek or Third Row. Many of
them don’t even know much about Elon Musk. This revolution is for everyone –– every man, woman, and child
on Earth –– so let’s not aggrandize or demonize ourselves so much that we believe one person can
singlehandedly bring forth or stop the transition that’s already in full swing. Electric autonomous vehicles are
coming, whether you want them or not.
Don’t ever be ashamed to say you love your EV, or correct misinformation –– no matter how hard the powers
that be push back against you. I promise I won’t either. I won’t be needlessly rude to Frederic or hold a grudge
against him, but I’m not going to stop criticizing him or anyone else because they tried to bully me to stop.
Calling out bullies is what I do. And if I have to die for saying what I believe, so be it. I will never cave to
pressure, as long as I’m still breathing.
I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right
to say it.
Evelyn Beatrice Hall
Shoutout to all the people who still keep a ghost emoji in their display name or bio, or have Steve Jobs as their
pro le picture. I see you out there keeping the memory alive, and I love you.
To those who have supported us in spite of attacks on our character and credibility, we thank you from the
bottom of our hearts. It’s been a rough week, and your support means everything to us. Can we all try and
make the next week better?
P.S. If you know anybody at Twitter who might be able to help me, or have any legal advice on how to deal with
the issues described in this post, there’s a contact button on this page.
SHARE IT FOR A FREE TESLA:
 Twitter  Facebook
LIKE THIS:
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Petition Under My Name December 5, 2019 Believer
January 20, 2020 In "Jaguar" December 11, 2019
In "Damn Shawty" In "Damn Shawty"
POSTED IN DAMN SHAWTY, DISINFORMATION CAMPAIGNS, ELECTREK, ELECTRIFICATION

REVOLUTION, FREDERIC LAMBERT, PODCAST, SHIT ON A PLATE, SHORT SELLERS, TESLA,
TOOTS.
15 THOUGHTS ON “RESPONSE TO FREDERIC”

DREAM_PIPE
M AY 1 7 , 2 0 2 0 AT 3 : 4 0 A M
I knew it was you O, but said zip all (G blabbed in a tweet a week back, which he then deleted).
I wouldn’t want another twitter ban for any of you.
Plus your tweet vernacular and sense of humour is your “tell”.

I like your stu f. Stay Safe.
p.s. I don’t think Twitter helps by having a non-linear timeline. People see tweets out of context and pile on in.
it’s a source of endless confusion (possibly designed to keep you there).
Liked by 1 person
R E P LY
STEVE JOBS
M AY 1 7 , 2 0 2 0 AT 3 : 4 1 A M
hahaha yeah the design of the system can cause a lot of problems
Like
R E P LY
TESLALISA
M AY 1 7 , 2 0 2 0 AT 5 : 1 3 A M
Fred is a piece of shit. Oh, and Seth is an asshole. And Aaron is… “JEEEzus” there’s no one word I can draw
from…
Like
R E P LY
TESLALISA
M AY 1 7 , 2 0 2 0 AT 5 : 3 2 A M
Still angry. And get your butt back.
Like
R E P LY
CENTRAL SCRUTINIZER
M AY 1 7 , 2 0 2 0 AT 6 : 4 4 A M
Omar we gotta get you back on social media.. you are a valuable weapon in the ght.. i saw you posting a few
times on SeekingAlpha you should drop some bombs there.. if there’s anything i can do to help let me know.
Liked by 1 person
R E P LY
STEVE JOBS
M AY 1 7 , 2 0 2 0 AT 9 : 5 9 A M
haha yeah maybe that’s a good idea!
Like
R E P LY
XENIUS
M AY 1 7 , 2 0 2 0 AT 6 : 4 7 A M
Finally nished, good read, Omar.
The ghosts are still with you.
Liked by 1 person
R E P LY
STEVE JOBS
M AY 1 7 , 2 0 2 0 AT 9 : 5 9 A M
❤
Like
R E P LY
H U B E R T S AV E L B E R G
M AY 1 7 , 2 0 2 0 AT 7 : 0 0 A M
Thx for the long read. Luckily we are in Corona lockdown and had some spare time, to read it all.
Must have been a hell of work to put it all in line. Please keep going.
Will have no problem to continue reading your blog, as well as follow Third row podcast and Electrek News.
As an Tesla owner and Shareholder, I am grown up enough to read between the lines and make up my own
opinion. Please stay safe and sound! Hubert
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R E P LY
STEVE JOBS
M AY 1 7 , 2 0 2 0 AT 9 : 5 9 A M
thank you ❤
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R E P LY
ANT
M AY 1 7 , 2 0 2 0 AT 7 : 2 3 A M
Personally I enjoy your sense of humor and there was a massive void le t when “Steve Jobs” was no longer on
twitter! I hope that won’t be the case with Third row. Appreciate the full disclosure (even though it was not
required), good to set the record straight anyway.
Loading...
R E P LY
STEVE JOBS
M AY 1 7 , 2 0 2 0 AT 1 0 : 0 0 A M
thank you ❤
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R E P LY
ADOLFO
M AY 1 7 , 2 0 2 0 AT 8 : 3 8 A M
Omar your explanation article is very commendable and I applaud you for coming out. As a newer owner in
the community I o ten asked myself what was going on as tweets were exchanged. Theres always 2 sides to
every story and I’m glad I got a chance to hear yours. Let’s be more positive, still resist were its necessary, but in
a tactful way. Remember you can say something without actually saying it, and that’s powerful. 😉
Loading...
R E P LY
P R AV D U H 1 5
M AY 1 7 , 2 0 2 0 AT 8 : 5 3 A M
Miss U O!
Prav
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R E P LY
STEVE JOBS
M AY 1 7 , 2 0 2 0 AT 9 : 5 9 A M
miss u too ❤
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R E P LY
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5/17/2020 Response to Frederic –– Whole Mars Catalog

WHOLE MARS CATALOG

WRITTEN BY STEVE JOBS

Aaron Greenspan @AaronGreenspan · Apr 14, 2020

Bill Bishop @niubi

Or that time a Bloomberg reporter shared an e-mail I wrote with

See Aaron Greenspan's other Tweets

On October 9, 2019 the story went out:

Net lix: Dirty Money, Hard NOx

WHY NOT CREATE A NEW ACCOUNT?

THIRD ROW TESLA

Viv @ﬂcnhvy · Dec 22, 2019

168 people are talking about this

See @mymodl3's other Tweets

Omar, you showed yourself untrustworthy at this point.

Here’s what Frederic wrote this week:

FREDERIC’S CALL OUT OP-EDERIC

It led to Elon Musk calling me “anti-Tesla”:

Fred Lambert @FredericLambert · Apr 23, 2019

127 people are talking about this

Fred Lambert @FredericLambert · Apr 23, 2019

Yeah, there was a major change in last several months. Everyone

323 people are talking about this

Elon Musk @elonmusk · Apr 23, 2019

Facts. Many people stop visiting Electrek because of this.

See Dave Roque's other Tweets

Not remotely what I said. I said that it is ridiculous to call me

Hey @elonmusk , I’m a big fan of my local Santa Barbara @tesla

you make sure it doesn’t close?

See Soﬁaan Fraval's other Tweets

Third Row Tesla Podcast

Yes, it’s always OK to disagree.

No block list in this community. twitter.com/PoetBones/stat…

Tim Foil @PoetBones

59 11:29 AM - May 10, 2020

See Third Row Tesla Podcast's other Tweets

Third Row Tesla Podcast

We have no block list here, people are allowed to have opinions.

57 people are talking about this

Brian Lovett aka BLOVE @blovereviews · Apr 29, 2020

Third Row Tesla Podcast

yup, Q2 is gonna be a shit show if something doesn’t change. his

See Third Row Tesla Podcast's other Tweets

Third Row Tesla Podcast @thirdrowtesla · May 7, 2020

Yes, this is a high priority

166 people are talking about this

Third Row Tesla Podcast

So apparently Alameda county doesn’t think Tesla should reopen

988 people are talking about this

Wow and those are your

Cramer now calling for @elonmusk to go on leave and a bunch

393 2:09 PM - Sep 11, 2018 · Canada

72 people are talking about this

Seth Weintraub @llsethj · May 24, 2019

We completely understand the feeling when you get stuck without a

164 people are talking about this

One of the best examples is a guy going by “Vincent” on Twitter.

Another massive accusation put forward without proof whatsoever.

Earl of Frunkpuppy @28delayslater · Nov 16, 2018

TSLAQ is a Comedy Club

GET RID OF FRED!!!

See TSLAQ is a Comedy Club's other Tweets

See Guessingpanda's other Tweets