Jerome Svigals doing an AMA on Reddit right now

He worked on developing the first electronic computer, becoming one of the world’s first digital programmers. Starting with IBM in 1954, Svigals was the company’s first employee hired for marketing the professional computer. He devised the strategy of selling computer support services and eventually ran IBM’s global marketing system. In the mid-1960s, he conducted initial research on a machine-readable storage medium and became project manager for magnetic stripe cards. Regarded as the father of mag-stripe cards, Svigals brought the technology to the air transport, mass transit and banking industries. Thereafter he became the key figure in establishing national and global standards for magnetic stripe data storage. He has authored 25 books on card technology and banking, and is a leading consultant to the financial industry.

Mr. Svigals called me out of the blue about FaceCash a few months ago. He introduced himself as the father of the plastic payment card, which he developed at IBM. It sounded to me like he wanted a seat on our Board of Directors. This seemed strange because he hadn't even signed up for the product, but I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt and at least meet with him.

After meeting Mr. Svigals, who was quite dismissive of everything we were doing, I did some more research into his claims. He may have authored 25 books (Amazon.com lists 17 of them), but none of them are available for purchase in stores, and many are no longer in print. The vast majority are more like updated pamphlets than books, and they are mostly about smart cards. See http://www.amazon.com/gp/search/ref=sr_nr_seeall_2?rh=k%3ASv..., which have not become prevalent in the U.S. despite his predictions (which seem to go back years).

Mr. Svigals also did not single-handedly invent the plastic payment card, though I'm sure he played a supportive role at IBM. He has edited the Wikipedia entry on the subject to insert himself into the card's history, but it's very hard to tell if his description is accurate without independent verification from someone else at IBM at the time. As best I can tell he worked in the Asia Pacific division but was not on the core team developing the technology.

I wish him well, but would warn people that he has a tendency to inflate his claims, which shouldn't be necessary given all that he knows anyhow.

In 3 hours after submission he didn't answer a single question. But he was confirmed by a mod/admin.

Or the comments are getting lost. Reddit seems to be having some database corruption problem right now.

In a thread in /r/linux, I replied to a comment. Then I submitted a new comment. Then I deleted the new comment.

A little later, checking my overview, the comment I had NOT deleted was missing--and a comment from a different user (properly attributed to that user) was listed in its place. Going manually to the /r/linux thread and finding where my comment was supposed to be, I find that it has indeed been replaced by that other person's comment.

Back in my overview, if I click his comment to be taken to it in context, I'm taken to a /r/sports thread, where that user has several comments and where his comment that is now in /r/linux would make sense.

I submitted a ticket to let them know about this.

I'll be answering questions throughout the day today, starting at 12:00 PM EST.