After Motor Trend's Jonny Lieberman found himself the victim of a savage Facebook LOLing by professional automotive internet troll Jack Baruth, newly-annointed Motor Trend editor-in-chief Edward Loh jumped to his beleaguered number two's defense. It's not pretty.
Displaying a clear ignorance of official Internet rules and regulations, the still wet-behind-the-ears Loh broke the first rule of troll defense - don't feed 'em. The result? An epic slap-fight not seen since that one time our own Ray Wert and Loh's predecessor Angus MacKenzie went at it in the Detroit Auto Show press room four years ago — and I came to his defense at the Firehouse later that night.
(I'm going to take the boring parts out and skip to the fun — Ed.)
Jonny Lieberman:Writing for Motor Trend Classic takes up about 1/4 of my professional time. For all involved, it's a labor of love. Sadly, because it really is a hard-to-find, expensive and print-only book, lots of my friends never get to see what we're up to. However, we just made the decision to — when aporpos — share some Classic content online. So, I present THIS!
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Jack Baruth If only we had men with the work ethic of the Motor Trend Classic staff here in Marysville. I could easily see getting a few cars out the door by the end of the month, pretty much every month. When I think of the hard work involved in driving someone else's car around for a bit, taking photographs of it, and then being aporpos, I literally shudder.
At this point, surely you're pulling some kind of Joaquin Phoenix thing, right?
Ed Loh Ah yes, those hard working blokes in Marysville. Between cashing checks in the service of a major automotive company, they somehow find the time to take potshots at journalists they are clearly jealous of, glibly copy edit the Faceook posts of said journalists, and pen poorly written diatribes about the navel gazing topic du jour. DONG! (<—- did I do that right?)
Jack Baruth That would be "journalists of whom they are clearly jealous," Hemingway
Jack Baruth And shut the fuck up when grown men are talking.
Ed Loh Awww. Seems I struck a nerve. Sorry Jack, I'll dial it back.
Jack Baruth It's just that I really want you to shut up so you can get moving on the tough work of getting next month's Motor Trend Classic into Barnes&Noble... so they can send 90% of them back.
Ed Loh Even if we sold but one issue of MT Classic, that would be more of a contribution to the greater (automotive enthusiast) good than your constant stream of bilious nonsense. Instead talking out of your thin-skinned ass, why don't you stick to maintaining the stability of Honda's network infrastructure and writing secret Jonny Lieberman mash notes. It gives him a giggle, which, in turn, makes me happy.
Jack Baruth It took you three hours and forty minutes to craft that response? No wonder it takes all month to make Motor Trend Classic.
Jack Baruth Oh, and nice job "liking" your own response. You can't drive and you can't write. Your only talent is sucking cock CHEVY VOLT CAR OF THE YEAR AWWWW YEAH.
Ed LohIt takes three months to make Classic.
Ed Loh A year has 12 months. Motor Trend Classic is a quarterly. Honda IT is apparently seriously fucked.
Jack Baruth Not as fucked as your mom. Do something.
Jack Baruth For a guy who can barely rewrite a press release, you can sure throw a softball.)
Ed Loh As follow up to "Yer Mom" jokes, sys admin Baruth will extend a finger and ask you to pull it!
Jack Baruth would rather be a sysadmin than do your job. It pays better, I don't have to suck anybody off, and I don't have people refusing free subscriptions to my magazine. You have the unique distinction of being unqualified to run the worst mag in the business. Fuck you, fuck your mom, and when I see you in person I am going to put your bitch ass in check. Peace out, PR girl.
Ed Loh Aww, leaving so soon? I was just getting going. :0( A thin-skinned, self-hating, negative-Nancy, potty mouth sure, but a quitter as well? I thought all Honda employees were instilled with Japanese fighting spirit.
Ed Loh Oh and please identify yourself before acting upon your threat. Jonny told me a lot about you today, but I still have no idea what you look like and would hate to miss having my "bitch ass" checked. Ganbatte!
Jack Baruth Your casual racism aside, I am not a Honda employee. Honda Manufacturing is one of two dozen clients for whom I've done consulting work in the past couple of years. Let me tell you something serious: building cars is hard work. If my people were as low-performance as yours, there wouldn't be any cars on the lots. I have a lot of pride in some of the Marysville crew. How much pride do you have in anything you've done?
Ed Loh Now wait a minute, you mean this whole time I've been besmirching Honda's fine reputation by assuming you were a full time employee? Shit. Sorry, Honda. My sincerest apologies to everyone at HRA. I stand corrected.
Jack Baruth HRA doesn't build cars. They're the ones who write your articles for you.
Ed Loh Now I'm really confused, Mr. Part Time Sys Admin. You have people? And they build cars too? But where do you find the time to be the legendary Internet Billy Badass Baruth?
Ed Loh Especially between dropping f-yo-momma-bomblets and threats of imminent beatdowns...
Jack Baruth Edward, I think my Facebook is broken, it isn't showing the response of yours where you told me you have pride in what you've accomplished at Motor Trend. That *is* the case, right? This is your full time job. It represents the best you can do, presumably. Are you proud of what you've done?
As for a beatdown, I have no intention of hitting you. I don't hit women, children, or little people.
Ed Loh Hey PTSA, here's a suggestion: when you want someone to take you seriously and answer your questions, it's better not to preface such requests with "fuck your Mom" and "I'm gonna check your bitch ass." Such commentary tends to lower the discourse. I owe you nothing but my pity. Which you have.
Jack Baruth You're afraid to answer the question. You don't have the guts to stand behind your work. One more chance: Is what's happening at Motor Trend the best you can do? Yes or no? Answer the question.
Ed Loh Part Time, I've been told the appropriate response here is DONG! I don't know what it means but it gives Jonny the giggles so it must be good.
Ed Loh Wait, was that my LAST chance to answer your question? Shit.
Jack Baruth Tomorrow's headline on TTAC: "Motor Trend Editor In Chief: 'I'm Not Proud Of What I Write.'" Any reply?
Ed Loh Yes. Is this another empty "check your bitch ass" threat?" If so, I accept.
Ed Loh And what is a TTAC?
Jack Baruth It's like Motor Trend Classic, only people read it. Jonny will fill you in; he used to work there.
Ed Loh That's weird. I thought he came from Autoblog. He never mentioned this TTAC.
Jack Baruth So you're one of those hands-on Editors-In-Chief.
And that's where it ended 11 hours ago, with Loh apparently learning that squaring off with Baruth is like trying to fight with a feces-covered bear trap — you can only win by not playing.
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