About that QAnon Paper
So, I can no longer in good faith support or stand by my work I did at MSU concerning a research paper on Qanon and disinformation. I went into it thinking it was a great opportunity to show off my technical skills and to further help me succeed in job opportunities.
My involvement in the paper can be seen here of collecting large amounts of social media data off X (formerly known as Twitter) in generation of social media graphs. I discovered a way to collect large amounts of a users following / followers to map out social networks and interests of accounts, which in turn showed influencers and social circles of the accounts. I discovered TWARC used the same methodology, I used redis as a caching system to drastically reduce duplicate API calls, and python was easily accessible as well as understandable, leading to my choice of that framework. I was not involved in the conclusions reached by the paper concerning QAnon, my work was primarily data collection, as I’ve maintained since the paper was released.
I am not interested nor do I feel it is my place to try to untangle all the information, trolling, lawfare, and surrounding personal relationship issues that have now come up around the paper. I also do not believe I should have to, as I was under the impression that it would be straight forward, void of any potential personal conflicts of interest, and strictly academic in nature.
Update: 08/24/2026
I initially attempted to address this matter civilly, but that no longer appears possible. The individuals involved have begun deflecting from the core issues and attempting to shift blame onto me for their own shortcomings in professionalism, ethics, and impartiality.
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The romantic relationship between Prof. Laura Dilley and her then-fiancé (now ex-fiancé) Arturo Tafoyovsky appears to have been ongoing during the research and writing of the paper. What remained undisclosed was Tafoyovsky’s substantial prior involvement with one of the paper’s subjects, Thomas Schoenberger, and their subsequent falling-out. Both Dilley and Tafoyovsky maintained friendships with Beth Bogarts, a former romantic partner of Schoenberger, who allegedly introduced Tafoyovsky to Dilley. Bogarts would regularly give financial aid to Tafoyovsky in exchange for his “help” in targeting Schoenberger. There are also allegations that Bogarts gave financial aid to others in exchange for services targeting Schoenberger. These overlapping personal, financial, and romantic connections raise significant concerns about conflicts of interest and impartiality.
These personal entanglements appear to have extended even to a planned documentary that would have centered on Dilley and Tafoyovsky’s relationship and their “struggle” against Schoenberger, positioning them as heroes exposing “QAnon.” The project was abandoned after Dilley allegedly caught Tafoyovsky stealing money intended for drugs and prostitutes (Dilley posted publicly on social media evidence of solicitation and drug use).
The degree of interpersonal entanglement, drama, and apparent bias against Schoenberger resembles the plot of a poorly written soap opera rather than the foundation of rigorous academic work.
Instead of accepting these issues and my very polite and professional disavowal, Tafoyovsky has accused me of being an agent dispatched by Neal Rauhauser and Trevor Fitzgibbons to “corrupt” the paper so that it could later be disavowed and discredited. It is difficult to see how such allegations excuse the underlying problems of professionalism and bias, or how these circumstances could be considered normal for scholarly research.
I did not agree to take part in a personal conflict against Thomas Schoenberger driven by convoluted romantic and interpersonal disputes. None of this is professional, sane, or normal in any way. It is neither my responsibility nor my job to untangle or endorse any of it.
