Christian McLaughlin
This aims to cover the history of Christian McLaughlin in the past unofficial Jacksonville Linux Users Group community. We would first like to thank Christian for his service to the United States in the United States Navy, and to all those who do and have served, especially, those who paid the ultimate price!
Given Christian's service to the nation, one would assume Christian to have respect for authority, seniority, and the rule of law, but in a free nation, even those who serve have free choices. This is not to disparage Christian, but this is his current unbecoming conduct, that is not reflective of his service or that of those who serve and do respect all the aforementioned.
Christian has a few monikers, Github handle caburmij, Gitlab handle caburmij, Discord handle caburmij (482037804583616512), X handle caburmij, and for reference, Christian's LinkedIn profile a.k.a the-hacker-chris, and his old LinkedIn profile from the navy.
This is a work in progress as Christian's community actions and conduct continue, and this page will be updated accordingly; time permitting.
To be noted, Christian is not from Jacksonville, Florida, he was not born here, he did not grow up here, he is not native, he was deployed to the area in service to the United States Navy. It is unknown if he even maintains a legal residence in Jacksonville, Florida, or anywhere in the State of Florida. He should consider returning to where he is from and stop causing problems for natives in a city his is not from and seems to have no respect for its history or native citizens.
That Christian McLaughlin is not behind bars in PRISON, is a travesty for the legal system!
The Jacksonville Linux Users Group Inc, dba JaxLUG, did not want nor asked for this mess, and this is extremely unbecoming situation for the entire area, much less our mission. Early on, Christian had a choice, cooperation or resistance, and it is clear, Christian chose opposition and ridiculous resistance, not to mention defamation and criminal activity, no matter the cost to the area! It was and is Christian who holds tremendous hostility towards William and took repeat unilateral actions. Christian has made his own bed, and things could and should have been otherwise. Nobody wants to see Christian arrested or in jail/prison, but since he refuses to stop, refuses to cooperate, and refuses to do the right thing by the community, then violations of the law must be prosecuted!
JaxLUG Start
Given there are no rosters or way of tracking in the past unofficial Jacksonville Linux Users Group it is hard to determine the exact date when Christian showed up, but the first publicly confirmable record is when he presented on 2021/06/16, but there does not seem to be a recording available online, nor any links to the presentation files, and that record ONLY exists in the poorly maintained meeting history page.
Also in 2021, it seems another, Dan Bidleman may have been seeking to encourage Christian to perform a "leadership" role in the group. This will have to be further detailed at a later time, but another, William L. Thomson, was working to get the unofficial Jacksonville Linux Users group meeting space at Florida State College at Jacksonville (FSCJ) via one of William's contacts, Ernie Friend; who has since departed FSCJ. William was unfamiliar with Christian, William did not want to risk his reputation with FSCJ on Christian which seems William was correct on, and therefore, involving Dan in communications with FSCJ and not Christian. Dan failed to proceed beyond the shown message.
Read more about the tragic history behind the JaxLUG and Florida State College at Jacksonville (FSCJ), in the Story of the JaxLUG and Florida State College at Jacksonville.
JaxLUG Leader
Christian McLaughlin is NOT the President of the Jacksonville Linux Users Group Inc. a Florida Non-Profit Corporation 501(c)(3), for more information please refer to the legal page.
There are no public records or means to verify, much less any legal authority, or similar, but it appears in July 2025, Christian was "elected" to become the leader of the past unofficial Jacksonville Linux Users Group at a in-person meeting by unknown voters with unknown unrecorded results. This positions has been referred to by legal titles such as "President", but the group has not had a legal presence since 2004, see the Unofficial Community Leadership page.
Christian has no verifiable means of anything, publicly or privately!
Furthermore, the group failed to ever maintain any sort of voting records and history. This is an issue William L. Thomson Jr. has raised for over a decade and a half with the group, on proper elections, voting records, legal structure, etc. But, at minimum, something better than a handful of people, along with any new people, showing to an annual in-person meeting and "electing" a leader via some process that likely has differed each time for years. The majority of time, the "leader" has been one of a handful of the same group of people for about a decade, until, Christian.
What Christian does have is control over the old unofficial Discord, where he has abused his server ownership, removing William's server permissions, removing William from the private wheel group channels, later timing out William, then banning William from server, etc. Christian seems to have finally obtained domain name record control over jaxlug.net, after a newly created fraudulent Gitlab, and the rest is unknown, as various accounts on various platforms were created and are owned/controlled by various individuals; a mess to be documented.
JaxLUG.net DNS
Where a lot of this starts is in August 2025, no longer verifiable due to Christian's removal of William from the unofficial Discord server, after removing server permissions, then later removal from the private wheel channels, were for weeks Christian was complaining about inability to access jaxlug.net domain name records. After the group had lost jaxlug.org in 2023, when Christian was active in the community!
The problem was, the domain was managed at a location that did have multiple contacts, but the 2FA only went to the first phone number on file. All the phone numbers were unknown, and people in the wheel channels, including William, were working to figure out who all the numbers belonged to, one being Dan Bidleman, but seems the first was Michael Potts, we ruled out Gene Cronk, and most others, but Michael was unavailable and unresponsive for weeks!
This caused William to get involved, where he rather not, but the group having lost jaxlug.org, and also potentially losing jaxlug.net that Gene had registered in protest of William's reluctance to hand over control of jaxlug.org domain, which William did to Dan, and they all lost jaxlug.org.
History was repeating...
Discord Server Owner
It is unknown when exactly in 2025 Dan Bidleman transferred ownership of the Discord server he unilaterally created in 2020 without discussion to Christian, also without discussion or even mention to others. What is know is Christian abused this new Discord server ownership in creating and abusing rules, and later, removing the more than four-time senior William's server permission, in addition to removal from private "wheel" channels, timeout, and ban. It appears that Dan transferred this server to Christian in September 2025, but the exact date is unknown.
Christian is advised to transfer the ownership of that unofficial unauthorized Discord server to the Official Legal Jacksonville Legal Users Group Inc. or to simply delete the server; as we have our own. Christian continues to operate this server as if it is his own and his community.
Rules and Respect!
As William returned to being active in August 2025 in the past unofficial Jacksonville Linux Users Group, due to the call to action over the jaxlug.net DNS situation and Christian's noise, William began looking around, and William had noticed a lot of rules. The group had existed for several decades without a bunch of rules. With decades of community experience, William knows most times in communities, over-policing, unbalanced, and unequal application of rules is highly destructive, as was the case for Gentoo Linux. This is a major lesson the Jacksonville community need not learn the hard way.
William has a lot of issues with rules Christian was unilaterally producing. Prior to actions, William was in the private wheel channels and the rules changes were NEVER discussed. Christian made them at his leisure and enforced them at his discretion, and never equally, never against those he liked, and at times, literally started creating rules specific to William, or Christian's perspective of William's conduct or intentions.
Even then, actions Christian took against William, removing server permissions, removing from wheel, timing out, later complete removal from server, were not part of any documented procedures or rules. Christian and others can claim otherwise, but cannot prove otherwise, short of logs from private discussions among "wheel members" of a public community group. There should be absolutely no private discussions held on anything, if anything, read only channels, so some can discuss, and all can view, just as the State of Florida has Sunshine Laws. Honorable, justifiable, provable conduct, can always be done in public, absolutely no justification or need for privacy or secrecy of any kind!
Christian has abused his control over a platform! No rules exist anywhere other than the unofficial Discord server that he owns, rules that HE produced, and only editable by HIM! Rules should be made public online, and come from the community, even its leaders should serve the will of the community, NOT produce rules themselves, for themselves, to serve themselves!
Christian created, abused, and used rules to take away William L. Thomson Jr.'s voice, to take away his freedom of speech, in a public community in the United States!
Christian, who served in the United States Navy, seems to have forgotten the most fundamental principle that people of the armed forces should seek to uphold, both foreign and domestic. Especially, when dealing with a more than four-time senior member of the community, with vastly more community and industry experience, much less recent academic accomplishments at FSCJ and UNF! Christian had no right or justification to take away William's voice, but he did so with a motive.
William, is the type of person that Christian, of the US Navy, deems to be a harm to the community, and therefore, must lose their voice, their freedom of speech. Why? To prevent William from having any influence, to being able to tell any truths, to being able to progress things in ways that Christian is incapable of, and since Christian refuses to work with William, actions had to be taken to counter Christian's extremely harmful actions. Harmful in ways Christian may never understand, or at least will not till a few decades later of community and industry experience.
For likely, the first time ever, in some over two decades, that anyone was banned from anything in the JaxLUG community, was in 2025 by Christian against the more than four-time senior, William L. Thomson Jr.!
Declined Role
As documented on our open legal positions page, William L. Thomson Jr. made an offer to infer the legal title of President, which Christian McLaughlin did not legally posses nor any form of informal documentation, and Christian refused the offer in-person on 9/17/2025!
Christian declined a legal role and position, that William had spent his own money and time, and instead, Christian has chosen active opposition against William, including, but not limited to, theft of ideas. Christian fears Williams leadership, and at multiple opportunities, is taking Williams ideas, while working against a legal organization. Committing various known acts of public fraud!
Github Lies!
Christian is disrespectful to the point of slandering William, who can no longer speak or defend himself, and telling public lies. This is a direct result of Christian's lack of knowledge of the community, being more than four time junior to William, who William back in 2017, mentioned moving to and using Github in this post to the now unused, dead, getting spammed, google groups mailing list.
William cannot take over something he created and has owned the entire time, several years before Christian ever was around the community. But, some people cannot be bothered with history or facts!
While another member Ramon Dominguez-Garcia, who is openly both hostile and rude towards William, despite William's first contact with him, a stranger at the time, being very cordial, and William giving Ramon access to the Github account William created years prior. It was Ramon, or another, not William, who in turn gave Christian access. Again, all proving, William, cannot take over something he had owned the entire time. William did change their ownership, to prevent them from taking further action against William, and this enraged Christian and Ramon; much more so Ramon. They both have equally exhibited extremely poor leadership judgement and skills!
The only hostility, is that which is directed towards William! Christian using lies to slander William, and it sure sounds good, "hostile take over of our Github"! Everyone dislike the evil villain William. It is not theirs, nor William's, but the communities, and now property of a proper non-profit that can exist regardless of any individual. Many people fail in stewardship treating community property as their own, which it most certainly is not anyone's but everyone's!
Intellectual Theft
If all this is not enough, Christian has to steal William's ideas. The first being meetings in advance, which Christian stole the idea from William in this patch committed at 11:07:56 AM EST where William mentioned “We will be looking to fill the 2026 calendar with presentations as much in advanced as possible!”.
What does Christian turn around and do? Steal William's idea, and then, presents it as his own, PLAGIARISM!
Christian's announcement at 12:53 PM EST, hours after William made the commit, and because Christian was still on the Github account, he was notified, he was aware of William's commit, and well...
One of many ideas Christian has gotten from William, the #job_board channel in the unofficial Discord, the idea of holding Install Fests, that the group has not entertained in years or held one in decades, of having a permanent location for meetings, as William had been working on with FSCJ since 2021, and was actively working on in 2025. Christian feels Keiser University is superior to FSCJ, despite the fact that FSCJ has numerous campuses, vastly more students and resources, and could integrate into FSCJ curriculum, among other things.
The problem is, William has vastly more ideas, plans, things in the works and things already done than Christian can possibly ever do, and this is why Christian has acted against William, going against the best interest of the community, for his own selfish ego-driven agenda and interests!
Note: There was a live link to the commit instead of patch, but since Christian McLaughlin complained to Github about this very page, and Github was sued by the Jacksonville Linux Users Group Inc., and as a result, to respect Github and prevent future complaints from the little bitch Christian, our website repository is temporarily private while still on Github for now, which Christian has also copied on his fraudulent Gitlab, making repos there private.
Trademark Symbol ™
Another idea that Christian stole, and is using incorrectly, fraudulently, and potentially civilly illegal, is the use of ™ as he has seen William. However, Christian, unlike William, has not filed for, nor obtained any trademarks, as William has filed for both federal and state, and has already obtained two trademarks in the State of Florida, can obtain others, in addition to the legal rights per the legal name, Jacksonville Linux Users Group Inc. All this and more can be found on our legal page, all things Christian does not have, and likely expects some other to do and pay for, etc, assuming they can, after failing to simply maintain a domain name, the lost jaxlug.org.
Christian knowingly and incorrectly using the ™, knowing the existence of this legal entity, and our legal rights in the State of Florida. Christian is exposing himself to legal liability that which he cannot defend himself, and in doing such, he exposes others to the same. This includes general liability, if someone is injured and they sue the wrong entity.
Regardless, Christian is knowingly improperly using ™ and knowingly presenting himself as something he is not against a legal entity! He needs to stop immediately, remove all references, and cease all future activities or face legal repercussions and consequences.
Creating Structure
Then, to bring it all home for the holidays, Christian decides, let's create structure like what William has already started doing. However, unlike William, a walker, Christian, a talker, needs others to walk for him, Christian talks others into walking for him, and that doesn't work with William, who walks, though William talks and types a ridiculous amount, William clearly walks as evident by this page, this website, the legal efforts, past efforts, etc.
In this world, there are two types of people, those who talk, and those who walk. Sometimes those who walk, stop to talk, but most times, they are busy walking. Others, who like to talk, they will seek to talk others into walking for them. It is said better in this youtube clip from the movie Hustle & Flow.
While Christian is busy doing all that talking, seeking others to walk for him, William has been busy walking!
Walk the walk, talk the talk! Haters will always hate!
Treasurer Spot
Christian is still at it, seeking a sucker, a treasurer, to expose themselves to things he isn't even thinking about. How will money be collected? Where will it be stored? What sort of records and accountability, etc.? An individual will what, mix this with their personal, or open a personal bank account and use it in some way as an organization? This just leaves so many unanswered questions.
Time and time again, people seek to have multiple people do what it takes a one. All things we have long had setup, please see our financial page, that William did mostly within a week; bank account and state trademarks withstanding. There is tremendous irony in all this!
When William first become involved in the unofficial Jacksonville Linux Users Leadership, guess what role William first was asked to fill? Treasurer, I shit you not!
This mailing list post used to confirm William's role as unofficial secretary per the unofficial president Matt Young, but Matt titled it as "treasurer/secretary (intern???)". In the same thread, in another post from William where he suggest himself as treasurer. Yet another post from Matt, where he is asking William where things stand with a bank account. Isn't life ironic?
Christian can continue to try to recruit others to do the things William has already done. Or Christian can get out of the way of progress, as he is clearly, holding things back, stealing ideas, and incapable of doing himself what he routinely seeks others to do. You lead by example, not by request!
Whats this for?
This is pretty mind blowing, not just on Christian's behalf but the entire group. One must decipher the meaning from Christian's reply, does he not know what a CVE is, is he not curious, no mention of it being a Linux Kernel issue, etc?
This is just really hard to comprehend. Anyone even new to the security field should know what a CVE is, the Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures system (CVE), which should be like a bible to people in security. Much less NIST, the National Institute of Standards and Technology Compliance. The link involved both, so how could a security professional not know of either, or both, or comment? Nor anyone else...
CVE-2026-23005 In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved... Falls on deaf ears in a Linux Users Group, which mostly consists of alleged "security experts". No, "Am I impacted?", "Do I need to update my kernel?", etc; nothing!
This shows that in a community of so called "security experts", there are very few, even if they have the skills, they clearly lack the interest to discuss the matter at all. This continues to shed light on the fact that so called "security experts" in Jacksonville, Florida are complete frauds. Christian holding $200 a day sessions at B-Sides Jax in 2025, as well as being a speaker, along with speaking at other conferences and events. It is more than evident, Christian has no clue on matters he clearly should be very experienced and well versed.
Why people in the tech industry repeatedly pretend to have skills they clearly do not, failing to realize how obvious their lack of skills are to the skilled. Tech is not an industry you can fake it till you make it! In tech, if you fake it, you won't make it, and Christian is just a flimflammer.
Buy a Mac
The mind blowing activity continues, on 2/24/2026 here is Christian shockingly promoting buying a Apple Mac to a Linux community... At first, one would think it would be for the obvious, installing and running Linux on Apple hardware. Ok, lets Goooo! But, that was not the case. There was never any commentary on installing Linux on a Mac, just expressing how this is the best time in history to buy a Mac of any kind. Propaganda and marketing anyone?
A lot of people installing and running Linux for the first time are likely to do it on a second-hand computer. Typically, only advanced and seasoned Linux users would install it on new hardware, much less purchasing an Apple Mac to install Linux. Surely not discouraged, but this was not the recommendation. Nothing against promotion of Apple products, but how does this relate to Linux?
One would think this to be just an isolated incidence, but here a week later on 3/3/2024, still talking on about the price of Apple Mac computers, and this time going one further. Making a horrific comment that Christian foresees "a massive shift from Microsoft Windows to Apple Mac", not Linux. This should make it pretty clear, the entire promotion here is Apple Mac and not Linux. Going back to talking about people priced out of Apple will think twice over Windows, and Linux, well, who cares...
Not talking about installing Linux on Apple Mac hardware, not that people will be shifting from Microsoft Windows to Linux, any distro, but instead to Apple. This is pure Apple Mac propaganda and promotion that really has no place in a Linux community. It is one thing if involving Linux, but Linux is never mentioned.
Christian McLaughlin is no true Linux user, no true Linux geek or person, no true Linux evangelist. Christian McLaughlin is a pretend Linux User! A real Linux User promotes installing Linux on their grandparents pacemakers!
5-Years Experience
It was stated that Christian McLaughlin had been around for about 5-years, and with his own declaration, that coincides with research; an example of personal statement reinforcing publicly known facts. Never in industry nor community, should anyone with 5-years of experience negate, usurp, disrespect, or silence anyone with seniority, much less experience and skills they lack. This shows very poor judgement, leadership, and is exemplary of self-serving behavior.
Anyone is free to have an opinion at and from any level, but in tech communities, especially ones around education and learning, there should be some level of respect. Otherwise, why should Christian's 5-year opinion have any merit?
Christian McLaughlin has gone way to far here!
Anyone is free to their opinion, but nobody should be actively and openly disparaging college education in a community with active college students! Students, especially young students, are faced with many challenges, and even elder students, can question the fruitfulness and worthiness of a college education and degrees. It is not uncommon for anyone to question to cost, time, and benefit of a college degree. It is fine to be against college for many reasons, but again, one should not be casting doubt and more pressure to active college students. This is not just poor judgement, but absolutely terrible out-of-touch leadership!
Many do find and have profitable career paths without degrees, but most of the world is shaped by people with degrees. If you find yourself never working with people with degrees, there might be a reason, you may consider changing that, and seeing what it is like only working with degreed people. Either way, it is always interesting having people disparaging something they have no experience with, or failing to see the bigger picture. Guess where Linux originated from, Linus Torvalds using Unix in college...
While attending the University of Helsinki in the fall of 1990, Torvalds enrolled in a Unix course.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux#Creation
How a college course can inspire a student, who then, in turn, changes the world! What if Linus never attended college, would Linux exist? Good thing Linus was never exposed to Christian.
We Have Officers
Some people just do not get it. The best leaders, know how and when to be a good follower, and the best leaders are only as good as those they lead and their delegates, meaning, a leader cannot do it alone, they need others, and not just officers. It takes a community to well, be a community.
However, some still do not get it, even when being explained to by their buddy, Christian and John Aff aka Panda are buddies, and yet, Christian still cannot hear out his own buddy saying, do not do it all, delegate to others, and not just officers. Others are here to help, just reach out!
This is what happens when people fail to understand the audience, or even worse, fail to attract said audience, and as a result, you lack delegates. Officers should be the last ones doing things in a community, and that should be more clerical, behind the scenes, not front and center.
Granted, this may not be the most obvious, too many chiefs, not enough warriors, said otherwise, to many chefs, not enough patrons, or bluntly, over serving an audience of none or a few. When leaders outnumber followers, Houston, we have a problem! This should be a blaring sign of lack of a audience and out-of-touch people ruining a community, but well, when you are out-of-touch...
The idea is supposed to be a community, not officers, or a group of friends claiming to be officers, claiming to be a community. This is not how you grow a community, you need less officers and more members, and ideally, skilled members who attract others of all levels. Members grow the community and drive the activities, events, etc. Officers, simply plant the seeds and do the clerical things needed, like renewing domain names and providing online facilities for members to interact using open-source software and Linux.
Notice of Intent to File Suite
On June 20th, 2026 the Jacksonville Linux Users Group Inc received correspondence from Christian McLaughlin notifying of intent to file suit pursuit to Florida Statute § 770.1. Christian McLaughlin seems to have forgotten about his defamatory actions on public platforms such as Discord, see above, Linked in via this post, and many other places in person and otherwise. If Christian McLaughlin is concerned about pages like this, then he should reflect on his own actions against William L Thomson Jr that lead to the creation of this page, which all his actions predated this page, as in, had Christian not conducted himself as he did, this page would not exist.
As long as Christian McLaughlin continues, we will express our First Amendment Right of Free Speech to tell the truth here about Christian McLaughlin, on a private corporate website, and not on popular platforms exposed to hundreds, if not thousands or millions of viewers, as Christian McLaughlin has done against William, repeatedly. In fact, the only reason Christian has not been sued by the Jacksonville Linux Users Group Inc and William, separately is,
Where does Christian McLaughlin even reside?
Christian's day and time in court will come, but may not be on the side he is expecting, as we are tallying up the bill for a quantitative lawsuit to recover substantial financial losses, and that is regardless of any criminal charges; we will pursue financial remedy even after Christian is arrested. If Christian dare sue the Jacksonville Linux Users Group Inc. over his fraudulent activities, not only will he lose, a counter suit will be filed immediately and he will be liable for all expenses plus damages!
Till then, Christian, Cry Me a River... Little Bitch!
Federal Mail Fraud
This is quite mind blowing, sending notice of lawsuit using an address in Idaho that Christian McLaughlin better have as his legal registered address, or some legal association, otherwise, he flat out committed Federal Mail Fraud. This is not the conduct of an authentic and genuine person.
9169 W State St #4484
PlayGO, Boise, ID 83714
Even if the address is legitimately associated with Christian, he mailed it from Jacksonville Florida, 32277, per USPS Tracking 9589 0710 5270 2329 9538 73, which if that is not a crime, then again, it is still not the conduct of an authentic and genuine person. Actions and how one conducts themselves is quite telling.
Christian is using this service physicaladdress.com, relaying his physical mail through Idaho to hide his presence. Authentic, honest, genuine, bona fide people do not hide as such, only cowards, con people, flimflammers, and people seeking to do things they should not, hide behind some virtual address.
Response to Intent to File Suite
Unlike Christian, we will not play games, use out of state addresses, anonymous email address, and respond publicly to each of the points Christian raises, which are civil issues, despite his criminal and prior civil defamatory conduct against William, fully documented in this very page; expressing our First Amendment Right to Free Speech!
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Given the fact that Christian committed a form of Fraud in sending this notice using a virtual address service, this point is proven, publicly; Christian commits various acts of fraud!
Claiming to be the president of a legal Florida Non-Profit Corporation with full corporate and trademark protection in the State of Florida, is not only committing fraud, but is criminal corporate identity theft, punishable under Florida Statutes Title XLVI. Crimes Chapter 817.
FRAUDULENT PRACTICES, § 817.568 Criminal use of personal identification information. — §§ 817.568(e) “Person” means a “person” as defined in §§ 1.01(3) The word “person” includes individuals, children, firms, associations, joint adventures, partnerships, estates, trusts, business trusts, syndicates, fiduciaries, corporations, and all other groups or combinations.
However, Federal Mail fraud, usurps, State Corporate Identity Theft. Two police reports have been filed with Jacksonville Sheriff's Office Department of Economic Crimes reported to Detective Fountain; JSO Case # 2026-102392 on 2/20/26 and 2026-337988 on 6/10/26. A report has been filed with the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) as well; Submission ID e58b787187464673ad34a3e24e4d19bd on 3/18/2026. Additional reports and complaints will be filed until action is taken against Christian McLaughlin, to bring him to justice for his crimes!
Christian McLaughlin is a criminal corporate ID thief and fraudster!
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Christian has, and continues to steal so many ideas, it is hard to keep up, and requires it's own list. That Christian is intending to file suit, is something he faced himself on September 17, 2025, from the Jacksonville Linux Users Group, Inc. The list starts there and then.
- Christian stole William's idea about filling the meeting calendar in advance, as shown.
- Christian copying William on usage of ™, covered below in #6, as shown.
- Christian copying William on creating organizational structure, as shown.
- Christian copying William on financial activities via creating a non-compliant Treasurer position, as shown.
- Christian copies and follows William in Federal Trademarks, William applied in September, 2025, with Christian filing a Federal Trademark on June 23, 2026, as shown.
There are many more and this list will be updated in time as factual evidence to substantiate is acquired. None of these are opinions, evidence is provided with each, proving fact. Does Christian McLaughlin even have any original ideas or thoughts that do not originate from William?
Christian McLaughlin is a Plagiarist and Intellectual Property Thief!
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Christian is among “so called ‘security experts’ in Jacksonville, Florida [who] are complete frauds.”, is a factual statement of opinion based on William's interactions with Christian. It is also pretty evident here, from his own statements and public conduct, not knowing what a CVE and claiming 5-years experience.
Christian McLaughlin has repeatedly acted against William L Thomson Jr, defaming and shaming him, publicly in numerous venus and interfering with his masters education at University of North Florida in William's final semester, taking away William's First Amendment Right of Free Speech and other things in order to avoid William challenging and proving that Christian lacks the skills he claims. If things were otherwise, Christian would not fear William in taking away his voice and allowing challenge, proving to William and others he is skillful.
Lacking skills and being willing to put in effort to learn is one thing, being intimidated by skills others posses that you may lack and taking action against others is no way to advance oneself, nor is good for anyone. Christian's actions are not that of someone willing to put in the effort to learn.
Christian McLaughlin is not a Security Expert, he is a Fraud; a Criminal one!
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Christian is using all resources available to control and steal the narrative which is inline which the activities of swindlers, con-artists, tricksters; one who gains his way by tricker and expedients, rather than through earnest efforts and activities. Christian McLaughlin is most assuredly not bona fide.
Christian McLaughlin is Flimflammer!
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It is proven that Christian has lied publicly regarding the JaxLUG's Github Account that William created before Christian was likely even in Jacksonville, Florida. Christian continues to tell Lies regarding Williams' status regarding the JaxLUG, as he mains circular arguments, there is no roster, it is unorganized, etc, yet somehow William status is what Christian claims it to be on any given day. Again, all because Christian fears challenge from William. Christian cannot have a technical debate with William, without losing his temper, his candor, and all around self-control, because, the truth hurts!
Christian McLaughlin is a Liar!
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When William started using ™, after filing active trademarks with the State of Florida, and pending Federal Trademarks, Christian without anything, proceeded to copy William. Christian may make some false argument of non-existent common-law, which does not exist in the State of Florida, and if it existed Federally, would only apply if another did not own the rights, which the Jacksonville Linux Users Group Inc, not William, owns the rights in the State of Florida to JaxLUG and Jacksonville Linux Users Group.
Christian McLaughlin has no legal right to either, and therefore, his usage of ™ is incorrect fraudulent, and a qualifier for Corporate Identity theft under Florida Statute § 817.568, among other qualifying activities; holding meetings, attending conferences, etc; actions conducted under a stolen identity.
Christian McLaughlin is improperly using ™; he copied William...!
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Christian McLaughlin does not have a clue about things he should, if that it is otherwise, then, he can easily restore William's voice and allow challenge. Otherwise, Christian has no clue, and hides behind abuse of platforms he is in sole control, like the inept coward he is; only cowards hide and silence others, a real security professional would not run and hide from challenges, but rise to the occasion.
Christian McLaughlin does not know what a CVE is, he had his chance, he has been called out, and like a little bitch, he is upset. The truth hurts!
Christian McLaughlin has no clue on Security matters he should and did not know what a CVE was, but he knows now!
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Christian McLaughlin runs around promoting Apple products, proclaims to use one quite a lot, and many other things that prove at best, he is a part time Linux user. It is not his desktop, his daily driver, it is not on all his systems; a Linux only person. The list goes on and on, and once again, Christian is intimidated and fears having to qualify the skills he claims which he does not posses in preventing William from showing the world the truth about Christian McLaughlin. He can continue to attempt to silence such via actions against this page, actions against FREE SPEECH, which is quite amazing someone who served has such disregard for the most fundamental principle of the nation.
Christian McLaughlin fears being called out by a 26-year Linux veteran, William, and Christian is just a Linux hater, no true Linux user would take such against actions those with skills far superior to theirs, not to mention, community seniority, and many other things. None of Christian's actions are that of a true Linux anything; more the actions of a tiny person!
If people like Christian are what Linux is about, then, Linux has no future!
Christian McLaughlin is a FAKE Linux scammer who promotes MACS!
Christian McLaughlin is dishonest, he has no integrity, and he is professionally incompetent and inept as an information security professional, and even more so, as a Linux anything! Anyone who believes otherwise has been conned. All statements are stood by as official opinion of the Jacksonville Linux Users Group Inc. expressing their First Amendment Free Speech Right.
And Christian McLaughlin needs to learn how to fold paper properly...
Federal Service Mark Fraud
One would think Christian McLaughlin to have enough criminal activity between state criminal corporate identity theft and potential federal mail fraud, but that has not stopped Christian's criminal activity, and seems he wants additional federal charges. Christian McLaughlin, or his proxies, have committed federal fraud in the United States Trademark and Patent Office (USPTO) in submission of a fraudulent service mark application for the mark “JAXLUG” in Application Serial No. 99899323.
This fraudulent federal service mark application was filed knowing that the Jacksonville Linux Users Group Inc. dba JaxLUG, a legal Florida Non-Profit 501c3 Corporation, is already pursuing the very same mark “JAXLUG” in Application Serial No. 99399026, under a different class, as you cannot apply for the same mark in the same class while an application is pending. William filed in September 2025, both state and federal trademarks linked in our legal page, yet, Christian waits until June 23, 2026 to file the fraudulent service mark application. Of course, not copying William...
There is little to no chance this application can be approved or processed legally due to ownership issues, among other issues. This will end up being a shit-stain for the community, as Application Serial No. 99899323 will be denied and/or abandoned and become an embarrassment to the official and legal Jacksonville Linux Users Group Inc. dba JaxLUG, with legal corporate filings. Not some fantasy what ever Christian is proclaiming. Did Christian file this intentionally to tarnish our brand and reputation?
Christian still does not understand, Corporate, Trademark, and other Laws exist for a reason, and all of that starts with a Legal Entity. Clearly, Christian being a professional flimflammer, he cannot be bothered with petty details such as Laws or legalities; as rules do not apply to Christian! Christian is just racking up the charges here, and these Federal criminal violations will come with a much higher cost than the State criminal activity. We will start a Go Fundme for Christian's commissary; we are a charity after all!
Fraudulent Owner
This is quite unbelievable, and seems to be a deficiency in the United States Trademark and Patent Office (USPTO) application systems, that allows for application of a Trade- or Service mark, without a valid legal entity to own said mark. This seems counterintuitive, but clearly, Christian McLaughlin misses the mark on many obvious things.
Current Owner(s) Information:
| Owner Name: | Jacksonville Linux Users Group |
|---|---|
| DBA, AKA, Formerly: | JaxLUG |
| Owner Address: |
1207 Delaware Ave #3904 Wilmington, DELAWARE UNITED STATES 19806 |
| Legal Entity Type: | UNINCORPORATED ASSOCIATION |
| State or Country Where Organized: | FLORIDA |
Who is registering this mark and who would it belong to?
An Unincorporated Association, a non-legal entity, cannot own a Trade- or Service mark or anything because it is Unincorporated and not a legal anything. To own or have any rights in the United States you must be something, typically covered by the umbrella term “person”, which under the law covers many types of legal entities, but does not cover Unincorporated Association. Therefore, this application makes no sense.
Not to mention criminal Federal Corporate Identity Theft, as the State Organized is Florida, and then fraud, using a Delaware Address. Christian is mistaking this for some Fortune 500 company shell game, where they register the corporation in Delaware, as their headquarters and operations are in other states. In this case though, it is just straight fraud, as the “Where Organized”, has nothing to do with the owner's address, and again. Who is the owner? This is an owned Identity in the State of Florida, that Christian is , actively and repeatedly via numerous avenues and in numerous places, stealing our Corporate Identity!
The trademark application shows a change of address which is signed by Christian McLaughlin, legally claiming in a Federal Trademark Application, that he is the president. As previously stated, Christian is not the legal president of anything, a concept he simply cannot understand; without filing legal status, you have no legal status, and even more so, you cannot violate the legal rights of those who have status. The only status that Christian McLaughlin has is that of a criminal fraudster!
International Class 038 vs 041
This is both insulting and quite telling, when applying for a trade- or service mark, it is required to specify one or more classes to register the mark under. For this fraudulent application, International Class 041 was chosen, rather than, Class 038, and the difference in class is quite telling, and a choice for everyone to make; Social or Technical.
Do you want to be part of a social Linux group, or a technical Linux group; which is of benefit to your career and society?
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- Class 038 - Telecommunication Services - 99399026
- Computer services, namely, providing on-line facilities for real-time interaction with other computer users concerning topics of general interest.
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- Class 041 - Education and Entertainment Services - 99899323
- Social club services, namely, arranging, organizing, and hosting social events, get-togethers, and parties for club members
The differences between the two are telling, and never in the 30-year history of the JaxLUG, the Jacksonville Linux Users Group, has it ever been considered a social organization. That is insulting to all Linux Users Groups, to assert that LUG's exist just for Linux socialization, if that was the case there would be no Linux or LUGs. There are numerous avenues available for people to socialize, including around technology, and LUGs, they are for learning about Linux first and foremost, socializing is secondary if not non-existent.
What the JaxLUG, the Jacksonville Linux Users Group has done for 30-years, that Christian with his miniscule 5-years cannot grasp and refuses to learn the JaxLUG history, is to connect local Linux people with other local Linux people through providing various online services. Originally, via the mailing list, and then website, which transitioned from forums, to wikis, and the use of IRC, all Class 038 Telecommunication Services, and even the proprietary Discord, which Discord is trademarked under Class 009 for their software and Class 038 for their services. Therefore, the correct class is Class 038 and not Class 041, at least with regard to Federal Trade- & Service marks, State is a bit different.
Federal Trademarks are for usage outside of the State of Florida. Florida State Trademarks are for use within the State of Florida. Despite what Christian wants others to believe, the JaxLUG, the Jacksonville Linux Users Group is a local community, primarily based in and around Duval County, Florida, and in general North East Florida, Jacksonville Metropolitan Area. The only interstate or out of state business the JaxLUG routinely conducts is simply utilizing services that are provided by companies that reside and operate outside of the State of Florida jurisdictions, such as Discord, Meetup, etc. Entities that are registered in other states can optionally respect Florida State Trademarks, but they have no choice to accept Federal Trademarks. Thus, the difference between Federal and State Trademark, classes and uses.
State International Class 042
The Jacksonville Linux Users Group Inc. dba JaxLUG, has two State of Florida trademarks under Class 042, and this is fitting for our in-state activities, as these activities will never be conducted outside of the State of Florida. In fact, it was the State of Florida Department of State, Division of Corporations that recommended registration under Class 042 instead of Class 038, given the different uses; in-state vs federal.
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- Class 042 - Computer and Scientific Services - T25000001144
- Computer services, namely, providing on-line facilities for real-time interaction with other computer users concerning topics of general interest.
Note, the wording, written by William L Thomson Jr on application, was duplicated from our Federal Trademark applications, and we intended to re-file and update to include all of our activities within the state of Florida; but that is superficial, just to cross T's and dot I's.
Trademark ™ vs Service Mark ℠
While there is a technical difference between a Trademark ™ and a Service Mark/Servicemark ℠,
in reality, there is little actual difference and no legal difference, if you do any research. While it
is more proper to use ℠ for a Service Mark/Servicemark, there is no legal requirement, a ™
can apply to a Service Mark/Servicemark just the same. In fact, most will use ™ even for
Service Mark/Servicemark, because it is more well-known. Therefore, very few use ℠, and even HTML
lacks such a tag, you must used a HTML code ℠ vs the tags for trade
™ and registered ® marks.
Furthermore, there is no such thing as a Service Mark/Servicemark class and there are no Service Mark/Servicemark offices or applications, everything falls under the general term Trademark. All the classes, even those for services, are Trademark classes and they are applied for and registered in Trademark offices, under Trademark Laws. Therefore again, there is a superficial technical difference, they are one-in-of-the-same, legally, and the only real difference is ® for when a Federal Trade- or Service mark is approved and published.
Christian McLaughlin's use of ℠ is a feeble attempt to avoid criminal Corporate Identity theft, and due to his sloppiness, his past efforts on copying William and adding ™ all over the place, has left many places for him to go cleanup that mess. Which is it Christian? Either way, Christian continues his criminal pursuit of Corporate Identity Theft!
Cropped Picture of William L. Thomson Jr.
Christian McLaughlin in his continued public efforts to defame William L. Thomson Jr. using a maliciously cropped picture he obtained via some means on a web page he created with a “Banned” status; a status that Christian has manufactured. The Jacksonville Linux Users Group Inc would like to share the FULL uncropped picture, of the evil villain William...
In 2024, as a Masters in Computer Science student with a concentration in AI and Robotics under Dr Ayan Dutta at the University of North Florida (UNF), William L. Thomson Jr. joined two others from the now defunct (thanks to Nathan Nye) Osprey Robotics club in holding a STEM outreach event as part of a collegiate NASA Lunabotics Challenge, organized by the amazingly multi-talented Ned Franklin, seen on far right; William on far left with hat and glasses. It was previously shown that William was working with young 4th and 5th-grade students from Neptune Beach Elementary; or more feeding off their enthusiasm and energy that can seem lacking in adults attending college. This was a fantastic event that shows how local colleges can work with local elementary schools and inspire future generations as they themselves pursue academic excellency; local synergy, to the moon, mars, and far beyond!
UNF Won First Place in the STEM Outreach category of the 2024 NASA Lunabotics competition!
Covered in this UNF Newsroom article, and we would like to expressly make clear, while William L. Thomson Jr. did play a role in one of the three STEM events, this one that likely won the category, and William helped do the final write-up on all three for the submission to NASA judges, the overall credit goes to Ned Franklin!
In this event, Ned Franklin designed a task relating to the Lunabotics challenge, he 3D printed various parts, and came up with a whole mini-Lunabotics competition for the students to build a LEGO Robot and undertake his scaled down mini-Lunabotics challenge; simulated moon robot rover operation. This clearly was the deciding factor for NASA, as Ned, a undergrad education and arts major, was showing his talent first hand, Ned catered this entire event to the NASA collegiate challenge, and the result; UNF Wins 1st Place!
Once again, this shows Christian McLaughlin's character, and frankly, that of anyone who is believing his and others lies and slander, as they repeatedly defame William L. Thomson Jr.. Christian does not really know William, they have barely interacted, Christian just quickly feared William per his own issues and has taken numerous defaming and harassing actions against William. Unfortunately, numerous others have fallen victim to this conman, this fraudster, this flimflammer, this liar, telling lies about William.
Christian saw this FULL picture, cropped out William to use it on some page with a “Banned” status; again showing Christian's character, or lack thereof, and his manipulation of the narrative. Christian could have been a person of honor and integrity by showing the FULL picture, but that would not support his defamatory narrative against William L. Thomson Jr..
Once again, proving that most in the Jacksonville Area, who claim to be in “Security” are terrible at their profession, as any amount of real research into William would reveal the truth of his character and skills, rather than all the lies that Christian has put forth. To think Christian is anything worth being a leader of anything, much less follow or support, or a security or professional anything, and that William is some evil villain... We believe what we want to in this world!
Goodbye Christian
Christian McLaughlin should cease and desist all activities, transfer any and all accounts under his control to the Jacksonville Linux Users Group Inc immediately, to end this mess, and to start seeking religion in hope that he is not arrested on either State or Federal criminal offenses, if not multiple counts of each! Christian has overstayed his welcome, and has caused plenty enough trouble for an area he is not from, Jacksonville, and Florida, has had quite enough of Christian McLaughlin's self-serving flimflammer agenda, so he can rip, scam, and profit off others!
Christian McLaughlin, kindly, leave Jacksonville, Florida and return from whence you came!
And never return!