Letter to ZFacts Members

[Michael Butterfield Profile]

Due to recent events and circumstances, as well as the many emails I have received over the last few months, I have decided to post the following message to all members of this site as well as anyone else who cares about this case and visits this or other sites.

When I first started this site in early 2007, I envisioned this as a supplement to other sites. At the time, I was still on friendly terms with Tom Voigt, the owner of Zodiackiller.com. I also enjoyed a cooperative relationship with Jake Wark, the owner of another site, This Is The Zodiac Speaking. Voigt’s site was basically a collection of materials such as crime scene photos, official documents and more, but his site offered little in the way of context or any expanded account of various aspects of the case. Due to his lawsuit settlement with Robert Graysmith, Voigt was prohibited from posting any negative or critical comments about the author, his theories, his claims, or his books. Voigt’s presentations on suspect Arthur Leigh Allen were sorely lacking in any attempt to address the many contradictions, myths, and more often cited as proof of Allen’s guilt. These are just a few examples of the void at Voigt’s site, one which many wished would be filled by a more expansive examination of the many issues, controversies, and mini-mysteries surrounding the case.

At first, I posted various articles concerning some of the more prevalent theories and suspects. However, I never considered this site to be in competition with others. In fact, when material was already posted on another site I simply provided a link to the other site. This was part of my naive and idealistic approach, the same naive and idealistic idea I had more than ten years ago when I wanted to create the ZIC, the Zodiac Information Center. I envisioned this as a research community which would gather materials and contribute to a collective whole, creating a large database and archive of documents, photos and more, to share with anyone who sought information about the case. For various reasons, I was unable to establish the “network” that I had hoped, but this was back in 1998/1999. Tom Voigt launched his site which, in some respects, served the same purpose, so I saw no need to proceed with that idea.

The bulk of my own research was conducted after 1999 and I have managed to build my own collection of materials independent of others while, at the same time, keeping track of new developments, documents and more. Since I launched this site in 2007 – partially to counter the release of the feature film ZODIAC – many things have changed and, therefore, this site must adapt. Jake Wark’s excellent site has since closed (but is still available via the Wayback Machine here – http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://mem ... index.html ). The Zodiac online “community” has fractured into a web of splinter groups, most of which are loyal to certain sites, their owners and their theories/suspects, and many of the people who call themselves “researchers” are nothing of the sort. Some websites which claim to champion the truth and justice for the victims are curiously silent regarding the fraud committed by some of their associates or, worse, actively engaged in acts of censorship to protect said frauds. Some of the same people who are happy to attack the obvious crackpots such as Dennis Kaufman or Deborah Perez are curiously silent regarding similar characters in their own online social circles. Virtually every website is either devoted to selling merchandise, endorsing chosen frauds, or peddling a particular suspect/theory. The members of some sites mock the members of other sites, and the warring factions only further discredit and tarnish the work of the true online research community.

The recent actions and postings by Tom Voigt of Zodiackiller.com have also forced me to reassess the purpose and nature of this site. In the past, I had provided links to various documents and other material at Voigt’s site, and I had always thought that people would have access. Weeks ago, Voigt announced that he was taking down the major portions of the site because people were not giving him enough money or credit. Then, he announced that he was “immediately” providing material because he wanted to solve the case. Then, he announced that he would ban people from his site if they posted information or material on any other site. This is all on top of the fact that he already charges people a certain cash sum in order to receive important email updates in private and also charges ten dollars for access to his message board, the place where he posts information and material not available to the non-paying public. Voigt also promotes Howard Davis, Sandy Betts, Steve Hodel, Blaine Blaine, and others. Therefore, I can no longer, in good conscience, send any visitor from this site to Voigt’s. If Voigt is charging for access to his message board, threatening to ban people for sharing information, and suddenly closing major portions of his site, any link to his site would be unethical and most certainly unreliable.

The purpose of this website is to provide, gather and solicit reliable information, documents, and other material related to the case. In keeping with that mission, I propose the following and I ask for your input. This plan would encompass the rest of the summer with the hope that the task can be virtually completed by the fall.

I will put aside time to scan the mass of material that I have collected, including the official documents, photos, articles, and more. I will post this material somewhere on the site for easy access along with the pertinent information. I will process and then post the rest of the videos or radio shows and other audio/visual material in my collection and will solicit the input of others to expand the collection for online use. I will build an archive section where people can post items from their own collections or whatever they discover which will credit the contributor. With the help of the members, we can provide an online library of reliable information and material about this case which will be available to the public free of charge and credits the contributors.

This site will not be in competition with any other but independent of any other. This site will not rely on links to other sites unless necessary or legally required. This site will not try to be the biggest site but the one that provides the information people seek. I will not charge you to access this site. You will be free to post your own words and research here and anywhere else. In this manner, this site can serve as a public library.

Other sites will continue to reflect the needs and intentions of the owners and there will always be some conflict, disagreement or animosity, but this site can rise above the chaos and commercialism in order to serve a greater purpose. After all, the Internet can be a useful tool, and we can all contribute to bettering the online community. I ask for your help. I am not asking for donations but for contributions, assistance, and information to build an online database for the public.

I will be traveling to California over the next week and I will be in San Francisco this weekend. If anyone has any requests for research or photos, etc., while I am there, please send me a PM. Thank you.

Sincerely,
Michael Butterfield

[speedy1 Profile]

I have to commend you on the way you've explained things and the way in which this site is conducted. Voigt's actions on his website only further the theory that he is simply a glory hound, and is unwilling to reach the truth unless there's a pay day in it for him. Personally, I am only interested in solving this case so the perp can be brought to justice ( if he's alive), and for trying to get some type of closure for the families. I have lost a son myself, and it's hard enough to put your life back together- let alone when these families have lost someone under such vicious circumstances.

I look forward to going through any information you can share, and I will post information I come across if I find it not already here.

Speedy

[MrBungle Profile]

I concur with speedy. Michael, I've said in the past that I am proud to be a member of this site, and I continue to be proud. It was obvious to me from the first time I read one of your posts on Tom's site that you actually care about this case. You always go above and beyond to bring forth all of the proper information, and you do so in a painstakingly thorough fashion. Your articles and replies to questions are always well thought out and cover all of the bases. You've chosen moderators for this message board who are all extremely knowledgeable, fair and share your vision of examining the truth and dispelling the lies and myths. And then there are the great members, all wanting these same things. Yes, I'm proud to be a member here.

While I may not be able to contribute physical materials to this project, I wholeheartedly support you in this quest, and thank you for taking the time to do all of it.

[Michael Butterfield Profile]

MrB,

Thank you-- I truly appreciate the encouragement and support of our members. I am well aware that not everyone has a closet overflowing with Zodiac materials so I don't expect everyone to be able to contribute material (and no one should feel bad if they are unable to do so). I do think that everyone will have the opportunity to contribute. I envision this working a bit like this: We can set up subject-oriented threads and pages, and then people can add to them over time if they come across some photo, some document or article online. Rather than having various links and pics, etc., scattered all over the board, we can collect, organize and present material for easy reference. For instance, we currently have a thread about Michael Mageau. As I see it, we can create a page that would contain photos, the police reports pertaining to Mageau, links to audio and visual links, and a FAQ of sorts regarding the various questions and controversies. This page would be connected to my main site so that someone could click on Mageau's name and go to the Mageau page offering all of the information they would probably seek. And, we can repeat this process for any topic. If you've been searching online and come across some article or come across some scrap of info or pic, you can post it to the main page and add to the collection.

I hope that everyone will feel free to contribute as much as they want to and are able, but I do not expect that everyone can or will. I will have to do much of the work, scanning, redacting, and more, but I just wanted members to know that I consider this to be a board for everyone and I therefore would welcome the input and contributions of our members.

[And, MrB, if you don't have anything to add, that's cool. If you just want to bungle in the jungle, well, that's all right by me...]

[Count_Marco Profile]

Good idea...

I have some videos that might interest people here on the site..

Michael: You wrote, "Due to his lawsuit settlement with Robert Graysmith, Voigt was prohibited from posting any negative or critical comments about the author, his theories, his claims, or his books."

Please tell us more about this lawsuit?

[Zsearcher Profile]

Thanks for taking the time to scan those documents Mike. If I could, I would help.

One word: Organization

Also, it would be great if someone scanned or screencapped all the FBI files into separate jpegs for each page so we can manipulate them and post the pages we need.

[Curt Rowlett Profile]

Thank you for this great explanation, Michael.

In my very first post here, I remarked how, after lurking and reading for about two days, I had became convinced that this message board was going to be something very different in the Zodiac world; and I meant different in a most positive way. I have not been dissappointed. Please let me know what I can do to help.

Slightly off-topic: I admit that this is the first time that I have read about about a Voigt/Graysmith lawsuit, (but that explains much about Voigt's sudden silence about him). As I have mentioned in other posts, I effectively washed my hands of Voigt many years ago and as such, have paid virtually no attention to what he has been up to (with the exception of hearing about his prison time and other bonehead moves). In order to avoid turning this thread into another "slap around Voigt fest," could someone PM me the details of the lawsuit? Thank you.

[metaltomato]

Outstanding.

It is good and correct and anything I can do to help, please let me know.

I have the FBI files saved as PDAs, so let me know if you want those files, and if so, how to go about transferring them.

I also have Penn's "The Second Power", however, I'm sure posting it will lead to the same tiresome conclusion any encounter with Penn seems to engender. Again, let me know if you want the document.

Perhaps there should be a way to include certain, more "sensitive" materials in the archive. Maybe there could be a section that requires the materials be "checked out" rather than published.

Lastly, the two other info gathering projects I began here, lists of all Zodiac books and Websites might be revisited and given their own space.

[Zsearcher Profile]

Good to see you MT

[Curt Rowlett Profile]

Good to see you MT

I second that. Now I've got the theme song to Welcome Back Kotter stuck in my head . . .