Silvana's E-learning and Digital Cultures Blog

The world that Dave Rock constructed and to which his fans imagined they belonged has been rocked by a group of people Dave and his fans call ‘the haters’ who allege that Dave is a convicted pedophile and that Davidsfarm is constructed to lure young male teens to visit Dave at the farm in southern Ontario.  In the section called ‘Dave’s Personal Reflections’ there is a video – Dave’s mental illness – where it seemed Dave was admitting some of the allegations but I also raised the question of whether the video had been doctored to malign Dave.  Dave’s fans rallied to defend him – an action which is consistent with feeling that they belonged to a community – uniting against an external threat.  However, the videos below are further inroads from the real world to puncture the imagined virtual community of Davidsfarm.

Valleyfever was a key player in trying to uncover Dave’s past. He posted ‘Davidsfarm officially exposed!!! on 22 September 2009

 Below is the  link to the newspaper article (referred to by Valleyfever in the video above) exposing Dave as a convicted pedophile and Dave’s response – admitting his conviction in the early 1990s.

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2009/09/22/pf-11046176.html

    Fragments from fans

krkandrew (7 hours ago)
wow dude seriously you spent 15 months trying to do this. get a life and stop screwing with peoples lives. him being a pedofile has nothing to do with him making videos and posting them on youtube.

valleyfever (7 hours ago) It has everything to do with it. It’s called luring. He is attracting kids to his farm and we will do what we can to prevent future victims.

DavidsFarm0 (20 hours ago)
lol the sadclub

PedophileRegistry (2 days ago)
Your video has been added and Davidsfarm listed.

valleyfever (1 day ago)
Thank you

tratawn (2 days ago)
Some of his videos are very good. I watched them until the news article came out. I cant in good conscious support what he has done by watching any further. What I can do is support the folks that help spread the word. Its not much but its my contribution. Maybe you should take time to talk to the sad club. There not so sad at all. In fact there great folks. Thank you

I knew that the two mothers of Dave’s children had been involved in this campaign but I only just found the video below from Anna Thoms who posted this video on 24 October 2009.  She had been reluctant to post anything before.

    Fragments from fans

scorpionpaintball007 (11 hours ago)
Before any of this was brought to my attention, or if someone else with the same (mindset)/education didnt know of the charges, and had watched Davidsfarm videos, would of known that Rock is mentally messed up in some way.

People, if you didnt know of the charges, wouldnt you think that Rock is kinda *strange*?

Or is that what most Americans think Canadians are like? lmao, People..Most people that know of Rock in Canada, Know hes fucked. He plays the states.

 skiddy8619 (13 hours ago

this is to harrynuts666:
why dont you come to my channel and talk some bs instead of here. She is simply pointing out that David Rock is a convicted child predator, and she feels that the kids who go to the farm are in danger of mr rocky. WAKE UP AND QUIT BASHING HER!!!!!!

 giberish9 (1 day ago)

Ok. Got evidence?

Annathoms (1 day ago)

This summer with a kid,

      Commentary

When I started this ethnography I was not aware of the pedophile accusations about David Rock.  As I explored Davidsfarm and learned about it, I was not aware of where it would lead.  The accusations about his convictions turned out to be true.  Whether Davidsfarm was set up deliberately as a lure for young underage males, I don’t know.  Valleyfever and Anna Thoms think so.  However, as you can see from the fans’ comments, many are unwilling to let go of their imagined community. Valleyfever and Anna Thoms have been harangued for trying to destroy their imagined community.  However, other fans are saddened as tratawn indicates above.  I think Davidsfarm is a good example of how a world can be constructed and imagined by others and how the real and virtual worlds can impact on each other.  And how it is hard to let go of an imagined world.  And how it is hard to discern what is real.  And the question it raises is whether it was the success of Davidsfarm on YouTube that led to the real world noticing and whether if without such popularity, would what was going on in Davidsfarm be noticed at all?