Nicholas Ciarelli

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Nicholas Ciarelli a.k.a. "Nick dePlume" Publisher, Think Secret

Nicholas Ciarelli is an American journalist and was Editor-In-Chief of Think Secret, a website he started in 1999 at the age of thirteen and ceased publishing on December 20, 2007 after reaching a settlement with Apple.^[1] Prior to January 2005, Ciarelli was known only by the pen name "Nick dePlume" (a pun on "Nom de Plume", a French term meaning "pen name") that he uses on his website.^[2] When news spread that Apple Computer had filed a lawsuit against Think Secret, followers of the Mac rumors community began to wonder who 'dePlume' actually was. On January 10, 2005, the night before Macworld, a blogger posted an article revealing dePlume as an undergraduate at Harvard University, where he reports for The Harvard Crimson.^[3] Two days later, the Harvard Crimson covered the story of Nick Ciarelli, one of the paper's own news editors.^[4]

The Wall Street Journal has called Think Secret "one of the most influential Web sites" about Apple.^[5] Ciarelli's ongoing legal battle with Apple has been covered by The New York Times,^[6] Washington Post,^[7] Boston Globe,^[8] and the Associated Press,^[9] among other news outlets.

Ciarelli grew up and attended public school in Cazenovia, NY, where he excelled in academics, achieving Salutatorian upon graduation. Ciarelli was an active participant in the stage crew for the high school musical, and could often be found in the A/V room broadcasting on the school's Closed-circuit television network.^[10] Although he had a successful reporting and consulting business by the tenth grade, very few people at school knew anything about his online alter ego. Those who did were mostly teachers.^{[citation needed]}

Ronald Luteran, Ciarelli's high school math teacher and a longtime family friend, called his former student an "extraordinary kid with a very good sense of humor." He said the boy was an avid reader by age 5, an accomplished pianist and a keen Mac fan.^[11]