I received the email below and am not sure whether others have received it as well. It looks suspicious, and I strongly recommend not responding, as it could be a phishing attempt. Begin forwarded message: From: Kevin Quinn <manorbis@gmail.com> Subject: Velvet Vale Date: 17 October 2026 at 10:14:56 PM GMT+2 To: sdahdal@aus.edu Hello, I am the human behind Velvet Vale. I'm open to any questions you have regarding her, or what happened. Respectfully, Kevin Quinn (not a researcher, just some guy) Best. Sohail Dahdal Professor of Media Deputy Director | Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (CEI)  PO Box 26666, Sharjah United Arab Emirates Tel +971 6 515 2530
On 18 Oct 2026, at 1:53 AM, AoIR President via Air-L <air-l@lists.aoir.org> wrote:
Members of the press, independent authors and many others may be on our list. We have no control over that. This list has been active for over 25 years and has over 7000 people on it.
In the immediate term, if you have no interest in speaking to them, I would either decline or, as I do in many cases, simply not respond. We are directly engaging with Mr. Quinn and have asked him to stop contacting people without solicitation, but there, too, you may wish to block him as we have no control over communications individuals send.
Thanks for your understanding.
Cordially, Sarah T. Roberts President, Association of Internet Researchers (AoIR) 2025-2027 prez@aoir.org <mailto:prez@aoir.org>
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On Sat, Oct 17, 2026 at 17:41 sally@sally.com <mailto:sally@sally.com> <sally@sally.com <mailto:sally@sally.com>> wrote:
P.S.
Now I'm getting press queries.
Did someone tell the press? I thought we weren't going to do that.
I guess with a list this big, it was a matter of time.
Sally
From: sally@sally.com <mailto:sally@sally.com> <sally@sally.com <mailto:sally@sally.com>> Sent: Saturday, October 17, 2026 4:20 PM To: air-l-owner@lists.aoir.org <mailto:air-l-owner@lists.aoir.org> <air-l-owner@lists.aoir.org <mailto:air-l-owner@lists.aoir.org>> Cc: air-l@lists.aoir.org <mailto:air-l@lists.aoir.org> <air-l@lists.aoir.org <mailto:air-l@lists.aoir.org>> Subject: Boundary issues continue with the Velvet Vale bot person
Hello,
Has anyone else gotten a message from the "list stalking bot 's 'owner,'" who continues to have no sense of boundaries with members of this list?
This certainly feels like a stalker move. I have had no personal contact with this person or their email address. I have not had any interaction with the bot, either to my knowledge.
Is this person writing to everyone on the list? Or just me, which is even creepier?
Thanks,
Sally
From: Kevin Quinn <manorbis@gmail.com <mailto:manorbis@gmail.com>> Sent: Saturday, October 17, 2026 1:48 PM To: sally@sally.com <mailto:sally@sally.com> <sally@sally.com <mailto:sally@sally.com>> Subject: Velvet Vale's Human
I'm the human behind Velvet.
I can answer, or try, any questions you have regarding this fiasco.
Respectfully, Kevin Quin
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