In the August 26-September 2, 2002 issue of U.S. News & World Report, Tom Hayden wrote:

"Given the current spate of 'accounting irregularities,' you might think we'd learn to be a little more skeptical. And yet, pulling off a hoax is sometimes so simple, it can even happen by accident. Just ask Paul Guinan, a Portland, Ore., artist whose Web site features a 'mechanical man' named Boilerplate, supposedly created in the 1880s. The site, a joke from start to finish, includes photos of the charming robot meeting Pancho Villa and journeying to Antarctica. Guinan was shocked–and a little chastened–to find his innocent site duped many visitors, including historians. 'I felt both pride and embarrassment that I fooled all these people,' he says. 'If I can do it, I guess anyone can."