Tim Farley

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Software engineer & skeptic (born 1962)

title: "Tim Farley" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["american-skeptics", "1962-births", "american-atheists", "people-from-edison,-new-jersey", "writers-from-new-brunswick,-new-jersey", "living-people"] description: "Software engineer & skeptic (born 1962)" topic_path: "geography/united-states" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Farley" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Software engineer & skeptic (born 1962) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox person"]

FieldValue
nameTimothy Patrick Farley
imageTim_Farley_at_Dragon*Con.jpg
captionAt Dragon*Con 2011
birth_date
birth_placeEdison, New Jersey, US
knownSkepticism, podcaster, computer security, computer software engineer
websitehttp://whatstheharm.net
http://skeptools.com
nationalityAmerican
::

| name = Timothy Patrick Farley | image = Tim_Farley_at_Dragon*Con.jpg | caption = At Dragon*Con 2011 | birth_name = | birth_date = | birth_place = Edison, New Jersey, US | death_date = | death_place = | death_cause = | occupation = | known = Skepticism, podcaster, computer security, computer software engineer | spouse = | parents = | website = http://whatstheharm.net http://skeptools.com | nationality = American | television = | education = | alma_mater =

Timothy Patrick Farley (born August 12, 1962) is a computer software engineer, writer and instructor who lives in Atlanta, Georgia. He is an expert in computer security and reverse engineering as well as a skeptic. He was a research fellow of the James Randi Educational Foundation. Tim Farley is the creator of the website What's The Harm?, a resource where stories are documented and categorized about the damage done when people fail to use critical thinking skills. Farley was also instrumental in the apprehension of spammer "David Mabus."

Early life

Farley was born in 1962 and grew up in Edison, New Jersey. He later lived in Valdosta, Georgia and in Atlanta, Georgia.

While in high school and college, Farley was involved in Star Trek fandom and wrote for and edited several fanzines. Most of his writing was non-fiction, examining the science of Star Trek such as the technology shown. In 1985 Farley created the Star Trek Historical Calendar which related science, cartoons and historical facts associated with the series. This venture in college he credits with guiding his later interests in his "This day in skeptic history" project. He was also president of two different Star Trek fan clubs at different times: VISTAS in Valdosta and ASTRA in Atlanta. Later he worked on the staff of several Atlanta-area conventions including Atlanta Fantasy Fair and Dragon Con.

Professional career

His professional career has been in software development, specializing in network communications, computer security and reverse engineering of binary software. He has worked for several Atlanta-area software companies including SemWare, Magee Enterprises, Internet Security Systems, and SPI Dynamics among others.

He has written a number of articles for computer periodicals about programming, computer networking and other topics. He has also written a chapter for a book on computer networking. As an expert in reverse engineering he has been quoted in BYTE Magazine and contributed material to the book Undocumented DOS and other books.

He has participated in computer industry standards committees and has presented at computer industry conferences. He has received three patents for his work in computer security. Farley has also worked as an instructor for commercial computer security training, including reverse engineering and secure application development. ::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0c/TimFarley-TAM9.jpg" caption="Tim Farley at TAM9, July 2011"] ::

Career as a skeptic

Farley is the creator of the web site What's The Harm? which documents the damage done by mistaken beliefs, misinformation and pseudoscience.

In an interview with Richard Saunders on the Skeptic Zone podcast, Farley discussed how he wanted to try to stay focused on "concrete stories of people that actually got hurt" that he could cite with some kind of "decent documentation". He stated that he wanted to keep the format simple so that anyone could comfortably access the stories, on any browser with no flashy videos. He hopes to expand the site into longer feature stories of some of the more documented or popular stories. Saunders stated that the site "has a wealth of information, if someone asks you "what's the harm?", you can run to this website and see that the harm is... lack of critical thinking."

Farley has written on skeptical topics at his Skeptical Software Tools blog and elsewhere. He also been published in Skeptical Inquirer.

Farley has spoken at local skeptics meetings such as Skeptics in the Pub in Atlanta, Boston, Reno, Nevada, Washington, DC, Manchester, New Hampshire and Madison, Wisconsin. He presented at several SkeptiCamps including Atlanta in 2009, 2010 and 2011 and New York City in 2009.

Speaking at TAM 2012, Farley urged the audience of skeptics to become more involved spreading critical thinking on the Internet, just a few minutes each day. "We need more tools... we need people welding these tools, we need to be the army that is using these tools as weapons against the quacks and the psychics." He cautions skeptics not to get too comfortable thinking that science will always win, because it is right. "We may delude ourselves in thinking it [science] does not need our help." He listed many new software tools that are available on the Internet for free and are relatively easy to use, and he reminded the audience, "Our opponents are doing everything they can to push nonsense on the general public." In his final advice to attendees he stated "Spread out – Pay attention – Stop wasting your online time."

Farley was named one of the Top Skeptics of 2012 by the podcast The Skeptic's Guide to the Universe.

"David Mabus"

In August 2011, Farley played a role in the identification and apprehension of Dennis Markuze. Markuze, using the name David Mabus, was responsible for a campaign of online threats against skeptics and atheists for many years.

In June 2012, Markuze pleaded guilty "to uttering threats toward eight people" and received an 18-month suspended sentence. Farley, who had been threatened, stated for the Montreal Gazette that he believed Markuze had continued his threats against atheists right up to his sentencing. Markuze, through his attorney, denied it, but was soon re-arrested for violating conditions of his parole.

Markuze received a sentence in June 2015. It includes three years during which he is required to follow the treatment of a psychiatrist and take prescribed medications. He is also prohibited from communicating in any way with Farley.

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d8/Four_JREF_fellows_2011.jpg" caption="Four JREF fellows: Tim Farley, [[Karen Stollznow]], [[Steven Novella]] & Ray Hall. Portrait taken at The Amaz!ng Meeting TAM9 from Outer Space July 16, 2011."] ::

James Randi Educational Foundation

Farley has been affiliated with the James Randi Educational Foundation for several years. He gave a presentation at The Amaz!ng Meeting 6 in July 2008 entitled "Building Internet Tools for Skeptics." Farley was a featured guest at The Amazing Meeting 7 in July 2009 where he led a workshop titled "Introduction to Skepticism & the Skeptic Web" and also presented a paper with Christian Walters titled "How Are We Doing? Attracting and Keeping Visitors to Skeptic Web Sites." He also gave a presentation and sat on a panel during The Amaz!ng Adventure 4 and gave another presentation on The Amaz!ng Adventure 5.

In June 2011, Farley was named a research fellow by the organization. He researched the information in the organization's Today in Skeptic History iPhone app and writes for JREF's blog. In February 2014, Farley's position as a JREF Fellow ended.

At TAM 2012, Farley's lectures focused on improving activism (and reducing slacktivism) in the skeptical movement. His lectures included the workshop, The Future of Skepticism Online: Crowd-Sourced Activism and a panel Future of Skepticism with D. J. Grothe, Reed Esau, Barbara Drescher and Jamy Ian Swiss.

Podcasting & other media

Farley has been interviewed on the Skepticality podcast three times. As of Skepticality #123 he regularly appears on the program to present a short segment called A Few Minutes of Skeptic History. He has also appeared on the Skepchick podcast, Jeff Cutler's Bowl of Cheese, Skeptically Speaking on CJSR-FM, American Freethought, Nonsense Podcast, The Reality Check, Point of Inquiry, Take 5 on CIUT-FM, Skeptic Zone, Meet the Skeptics, the Norwegian podcast Saltklypa, Search Engine with Jesse Brown and WPRR's Reality Check.

References, footnotes and selected bibliography

References

  1. "Non-Fiction Articles Published by Orion Press".
  2. (2003). "Boldly Writing: A Trekker Fan & Zine History, 1967–1987". FTL Publications.
  3. (1986). "1986 Fiction Writer's Market". [[Writer's Digest]] Books.
  4. (1997). "NASA/Trek: Popular Science and Sex in America". Verso.
  5. "The Star Trek Historical Calendar". [[Fanlore]].
  6. (2012-03-20). "How Star Trek Prepared me for Skeptic History". Skeptical Software Tools.
  7. (1979). "A Star Trek Catalog". [[Grosset & Dunlap]].
  8. (July 1996). "Dragon*Con '96 Con Report, Part I".
  9. (1990). "Dr. File Finder's Guide to Shareware". Osborne McGraw-Hill.
  10. (1993). "Network H.Q. Version 2.5: User's Manual". Magee Enterprises.
  11. (2000-05-03). "Vulnerability in Quake3Arena Auto-Download Feature". IBM Internet Security Systems.
  12. [https://patents.google.com/patent/US20060259973 Secure Web Application Development Environment] by Caleb Sima and Tim Farley. U.S. Patent Application# 10/908,520
  13. (April–May 1991). "HAX #61: Moving the Stack Frame's Sweet Spot". The Coriolis Group.
  14. (June–July 1991). "HAX #67: Nonobvious Uses for IF EXIST". The Coriolis Group.
  15. (October–November 1992). "Using the High Memory Area". The Coriolis Group.
  16. (May 1997). "Tech Tip: Expanding Studio's Recently Used Project List". Miller Freeman.
  17. (June 2006). "ASP.NET 2.0 Configuration Lockdown". Informant Communications Group.
  18. (1991-11-18). "Workstation Inventory Tools Collect Configuration Data". [[McGraw-Hill]].
  19. (November–December 1993). "Checking NetWare Driver Versions in DOS". Network Developer's Resource.
  20. (July 1993). "Tracking the Locally-Administered Address". New Media Publications.
  21. (February 1992). "Decoding the Alphabet Soup of Modem Labels". Computer Currents Publications.
  22. (1994). "Windows 3.1 Connectivity Secrets". [[IDG Books]].
  23. (June 1994). "Court Action: Developers Debate Stac-Microsoft Trade-Secrets Decision". [[McGraw-Hill]].
  24. (1994). "Undocumented DOS: A programmer's guide to reserved MS-DOS functions and data structures – expanded to include MS-DOS 6, Novell DOS and Windows 3.1". [[Addison Wesley]].
  25. (1992). "PC Techniques C/C++ Power Tools". [[Bantam Books]].
  26. (1994). "Network Interrupts". [[Addison-Wesley]].
  27. (1994). "Unauthorized Windows 95". [[International Data Group Company]].
  28. (March 2000). "RFC 2790: Host Resources MIB". Internet Engineering Task Force.
  29. (1999). "Lessons Learned in Commercial IDS Development".
  30. (2000). "Visualization of Intrusion Detection Data".
  31. "Method and system for managing computer security information".
  32. "Method and system for managing computer security information".
  33. "Secure web application development environment".
  34. (2011-04-11). "Alternative medicine is not medicine". [[University of Northern Iowa]].
  35. (17 July 2012). "The Amazing Meeting 2012: Tim Farley".
  36. "The Skeptic Zone #184 – 28.Apr.2012". The Skeptic Zone.
  37. (2011-06-23). "Ethics Compels Skeptical Outreach". Skepticism & Ethics.
  38. (November–December 2009). "Skepticism via YouTube". Skeptical Inquirer.
  39. (November–December 2011). "Skeptical Anniversaries". Skeptical Inquirer.
  40. (2008-08-11). "More Skepchicky Meetup Goodness". Skepchick.
  41. (2009-02-23). "Video: What's The Harm? – Tim Farley". Boston Skeptics.
  42. (2010-02-03). "Meet with Tim Farley of "What's The Harm"". [[Eventful]].
  43. (2010-02-12). "Dealing with Disaster: Darwin Day 2010 at GMU". [[Secular Student Alliance]].
  44. (2010-09-13). "September Skeptics in the Pub". Granite State Skeptics.
  45. (2012-04-21). "Tim Farley – What's the Harm?". Meetup – Madison Skeptics.
  46. (2009-02-06). "SkeptiCamp Atlanta 2009". Skepticamp.org.
  47. (2010-05-16). "SkeptiCamp Atlanta 2010". Skepticamp.org.
  48. (2011-06-11). "SkeptiCamp Atlanta 2011". Skepticamp.org.
  49. (2009-12-06). "The Final Schedule for SkeptiCamp NYC 2009". NYC Skeptics.
  50. (23 August 2012). ""You are the Future of Skepticism on the Internet" – Tim Farley – TAM 2012". [[JREF]].
  51. "#389". [[The Skeptic's Guide to the Universe]].
  52. (2011-08-17). "Case Study: How a notorious spammer was brought down via Twitter". SkepTools.
  53. (2011-08-17). "Montreal police make arrest in "Mabus" case on online death threats". CTV news.
  54. (2011-08-11). "Menaces de mort sur internet: "Mourez, athées, mourez"". [[La Presse (Canadian newspaper).
  55. (2012-06-04). "''Montrealer Dennis Markuze pleads guilty to issuing Internet threats''". [[Montreal Gazette]].
  56. (19 June 2012). "''Go Tribal''". [[Skepticality]].
  57. (2012-11-20). "Crank who harasses science writers (including Ars) resurfaces, rearrested". [[ArsTecnia]].
  58. (2015-06-04). "Man who made threats over social networks ordered to follow treatment with psychiatrist". [[Postmedia]].
  59. (2008-06-22). "Tim Farley from TAM6: Building Internet Tools for Skeptics". [[James Randi Educational Foundation]].
  60. "The Amazing Meeting 6 <!--". [[James Randi Educational Foundation]].
  61. (2009-02-23). "The Amaz!ng Meeting 7 Speakers". [[James Randi Educational Foundation]].
  62. (2009-02-23). "The Amaz!ng Meeting 7 Workshops". [[James Randi Educational Foundation]].
  63. "The Amazing Meeting 7 <!--". [[James Randi Educational Foundation]].
  64. (2009-03-16). "Thoughts on Chasing El Chupacabra". [[James Randi Educational Foundation]].
  65. (2011-06-20). "Tim Farley Appointed as New JREF Research Fellow". JREF SWIFT blog.
  66. (2011-06-30). "Today in Skeptic History". [[Apple Inc.]] [[iTunes App Store]].
  67. (2011-07-07). "Researching 21st Century Skepticism". [[James Randi Educational Foundation]].
  68. (2011-07-28). "My Skeptic Elevator Pitch". [[James Randi Educational Foundation]].
  69. (2011-10-20). "Skeptic Metrics: Measuring Our Impact Online". [[James Randi Educational Foundation]].
  70. (2011-11-15). "Skeptic History: A Tale of Two Scientists". [[James Randi Educational Foundation]].
  71. (2014-06-14). "Online resources for The Amazing Meeting #TAM2014".
  72. "The Amaz!ng Meeting 2012 Program". [[JREF]].
  73. (2008-08-26). "#84: What's The Harm? Interview: Tim Farley". [[Skeptic (U.S. magazine).
  74. (2008-12-23). "#90: Tim Farley on StopSylvia.com". [[Skeptic (U.S. magazine).
  75. (2009-03-17 <!--). "#97: Atlanta Skepticamp Recap". [[Skeptic (U.S. magazine).
  76. (2010-03-01 <!--). "#123: Imagine Science – Guest: Alexis Gambis". [[Skeptic (U.S. magazine).
  77. (2010-03-15). "#124: One Nation Under the Constitution - Guest: Sean Faircloth Secular Coalition for America". [[Skeptic (U.S. magazine).
  78. (2008-12-23). "A Very Special Skepchick War on Christmas". Skepchick.org.
  79. (2009-02-28). "#51 Skeptics In The Pub – Cambridge – Boston – February". BowlOfCheese.com.
  80. (2009-03-08). "Skeptical Activism with Tim Farley". Skeptically Speaking.
  81. (2009-07-19). "Podcast #56 – Tim Farley (WhatstheHarm.net)". American Freethought.
  82. (2009-07-31). "Episode 007". Nonsense Podcast.
  83. (2009-10-05). "The Reality Check #58: Alternative Style Auctions + Interview with Tim Farley + Flamingo Colour Myth". Ottawa Skeptics.
  84. (2010-06-11). "Tim Farley – What's the Harm?". [[Center for Inquiry]].
  85. (2010-06-30). "Tim Farley interviewed on CIUT's Take 5". [[YouTube]].
  86. (2010-07-30). "The Skeptic Zone #93". Skeptic Zone.
  87. (2011-02-16). "MTS: Meet Tim Farley". [[LibSyn]].
  88. (2011-07-05). "Saltklypa #19 – Om å brenne kalorier og wolframtråder". Saltklypa podcast.
  89. (2011-08-31). "Audio Podcast #101: The Story of Mabus". [[TVOntario.
  90. (2012-06-29). "What's the Harm?". [[WPRR (AM).

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american-skeptics1962-birthsamerican-atheistspeople-from-edison,-new-jerseywriters-from-new-brunswick,-new-jerseyliving-people