I have just received notification (8.48am PST so they must have got into work early) that my Original Post announcing my departure from the forums has been rejected, which presumably means that the whole thread is now unavailable to anyone except me.
What was interesting was that no-one pointed out that I had mis-spelled "goodbye" as "goobye" a mechanism which I used to ensure that it would be possible to find the post via Search if the authorities tried to hide it - or to see if it was available via the normal external Google Search.
I put the deletion of the thread down to the fact that it garnered three times as many views and twice the number of posts as the thread announcing that Philip Linden was leaving . . .
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I do not think that is the reason for the thread's deletion, despite it being much more amusing than my own thought. Someone, and I am fairly certain I know who, has been on a one man crusade to "curtail" the most regular forum posters. It would only take four alts for them to auto-delete anything they disagreed with, by ARing a post 5 times. This person made it absolutely clear they were on a mission to stop particular posters from being able to post at all. They stated it many times over, had a major run-in with me, then suddenly stopped posting, and yet I know they lurk regularly. If my theory is correct, then I could accurately guess at the names of those regular forum posters who will have suffered recently, and quite suddenly, from a hugely increased number of deleted posts.
ReplyDeleteI assumed it was Sus (and her pets or alts or the rest of the Forum Alt Cartel) who perpetually ARd me, Magnus, because I humiliated her posts so often. DO you have a better suspect? This isn't the forums so no-one will discipline you for accusing someone, whether it is fairly or unfairly.
ReplyDeleteIt might be a case of a Sybil personality instead of the obvious choices. Maybe folks will come here and post ... that would be very interesting.
ReplyDeleteThe trouble is that everyone has a pet scapegoat, generally based on their own personal sparring partners. One guy thinks it's his ex. Pep believes that is is Sus and crew and vice versa. Others that it is L/Seicher, Carole, Cato etc ad naseum.
ReplyDeleteOne thing we do *know* is that not only does Torley read the forum, but he has had some of his posts removed and is aware of what is going on to some degree.
Someone is AR'ing. That is inarguable. My guess is LL let us make our bed and now expects us to sleep in it. If GD withers, so much the better.
Laurin's point, that everyone has a pet scapegoat, is a good one, certainly everyone has an idea of who might be ARing everyone they disagree with.
ReplyDeletePep, I would be nervous of naming names, mostly because of how this person (let's call them R) behaved in the forums. At first R was merely demeaning, calling me a "girlie-man", then they threatened to slap me around, but escalated this to stating they would be happy to serve jail-time to kill me.
What triggered this extreme reaction? I replied to a post Daria made, with the words, "I agree". R's main problem was Daria and yet they reacted to my comment in an extreme way, ridiculing me several times in threads I had taken no part in.
As far as I am aware, a rather large pond separates R and me, so his posts, although I was appalled by their bile and hatred, did not worry me. However, R then threatened to harass my 13yo god-daughter, a member of the TG and an occasional contributor to the forums. At this point, I contacted the lab and R's posts were removed, in their entirety.
R has only posted twice since his threats of two months ago, a rate greatly diminished from his previous of many times a day.
As R had referenced me in many threads, ridiculing me at any opportunity, and given the threat he had made about my g-d, I added R to my email notifications' list. I wished to see if he continued to post anything threatening, so I could contact the lab and have it removed. He had already upset my g-d with his death threats, etc. It's not a function I had used, but I was intrigued it has a date column and this seems to give an indication of the time since their last activity. As R has not posted for ages, this must be an indication of when they last signed-in to the forums because this currently stands at a few hours ago.
Now, the reason for wittering on through that long(er than intended) story is to give some background to what I have observed. You see, R did not just have a problem with me, in fact his only problem with me seemed to be that I had agreed with Daria and he had more of a problem with her. Not just Daria however, R stated, many times over, his contempt for the most regular forum contributors and styled himself as a forum vigilante, likening himself to some sort of Robin Hood, someone who was going to stand up for the small guy and cut down the "power" of all the forum heavyweights.
I believe R has a number of alts and is using the "5 hits and a post auto-deletes" rule to carry through his stated threat of silencing anyone he dislikes and this is evidenced by the fact that I will post (or someone from R's dislike list will post), the post will often be removed and there seems to be consistency with the date or last activity column in the email notifications' list. I sat back for some time, carefully watching posts come and go and noting R's last activity time and there certainly seemed to be a connection; enough to suggest that it may not be mere coincidence. When I add that consideration to the fact that posts from anyone who might be on R's short "like list", irrespective of their content, are not removed, then it seems to make sense to me.
I agree with Laurin. At the moment all people are talking about is guessing who is who and who is doing what. Now I just read someone is convinced that Wasted = Pep!
ReplyDeleteOh. Sorry,I forgot to say: Hi Pep!
Hi Caitlin, or should I say CaTo (Don't worry, Sus and Nat will still believe that she/he is my alt, not yours) and thanks for giving me the biggest laugh of the week by pointing out an idiot suggesting I was Wasted! Was it Hallie Halsey, who is the alt of someone from the old forums who has an IQ of room temperature?
ReplyDeleteRene Erlanger seems to think you are Wasted (as in the poster I mean, hehe). I do have to say, our Spanish friend has really improved his English in a couple of days!
ReplyDeleteAh yes, my CaTo-tag on my pictures has only once gotten the attention (of Alec) who pointed out it was an unfortunate choice of mine. Oh well. You may call me CaTo, after all it's one of my nicknames in world :).
Oh, it's Rene trying to work out who Wasted is, it is? No-one takes Rene too seriously as he is an admitted accountant - like I used to be, but I am beter now.
ReplyDeleteWasted's dual personality is amusing, but it isn't me trying to use the reverse discrimination afforded by this place to ESlers - although if I had thought of it and believed I could have got away without the IP ban that he so thoroughly deserves.
Pep (Although if *I* was going to do it I would have posted only from an IP address that couldn't be linked to my main one.)
PS I am not serious about you being Cato Badger, but I thought I might as well throw you in as a distraction to confuse Sus and Nat even more.
I wonder though Magnus if that is the case in all instances. Would such a person rather obliterate posts by someone they despise than see that person taken to task in forum? I am speaking of my own altercations with Snooki (Sus) here. If the person despises her why not leave her humiliating posts there, and mine, that point it out so aptly?
ReplyDeleteAnd what of collateral damage, those posts that are not by the despised individual but are in support of said person, as well as ones like mine noted above? For it to be the work of one individual seems to require monumental amounts of time and coordination, as posts are attacked in numerous threads apparently all within a few minutes of each other.
I am afraid the "one shooter" theory is unworkable in that instance. Maybe I can't get my head around someone having 5 windows open and going from thread to thread ARing in a frenzy laughing maniacally.
(edit as you see fit Pep, I'm use to peer review)
Hi Pep!
ReplyDeleteI hear all the cool kids are doing blogs these days so I have started my own Seinfeld-esque attempt (a blog about nothing). Now I find that in order to shameless promote my verbal dribblings I have to pretend to care about what others write and participate in their blogs, what a fuss and bother! (kidding!)
a) The funniest alt call I read or heard about for you Pep was that it was no coincidence that you and Philip Linden stepped down at the same time! Pretty cool, you got the ultimate promotion in SL…and unemployed…in one fell swoop. C’est la vie, Phil.
b) I agree with Laurin and the others about the futility of speculating who is and who is not ARing posts and who is/isn’t an alt. Of course I found it amusing at times to be (one of) the prime suspects. The convoluted mental yoga that people had to twist themselves up with to get to the bizarre logic of their accusations was astounding. Ultimately, I don’t find it so amusing. There’s only so much of that of which I care to be the target. Even though she stepped full-square in it herself with some boneheaded moves, it pains me to see my friend Willo stupidly accused.
Because of an idiotic, totally convinced notion I had that Nat had AR’d a benign post of mine months back and that was just the first volley in what I was sure was going to be a horrendous feud of ARing and personal info disclosure, I outed Seicher/Leia before he did. As Dr. Phil would say, “How’d that work out for you?” I’m pretty sure I was wrong about Nat--not entirely but pretty sure. It made sense at the time but that was about the time the AR’d threads were starting to disappear.
I’d prefer not to be one of the people who is doing the convoluted logic and finger pointing. I also prefer not to accuse innocent people. I’ve pretty much decided to leave the Forum because the venom is just too high. That and the disappearing threads. That and the threads that are there are boring.
c) I agree with Magnus. There are some seriously crazy people out there. I realize I am now the target of a psychopath as was Magnus. I don’t have the luxury of a large pond between us.
My very first plog post comment!
If someone is capable of "having 5 windows open and going from thread to thread ARing in a frenzy laughing maniacally", Derek, it is most certainly the person I have in mind. However, you are right to say my "one shooter" idea is perhaps unworkable.
ReplyDeleteIt remains odd however, there are many coincidences: their stated intention to close down the more prominent forum voices and the sudden ARing of so many posts; their sudden cessation of posting, yet pattern of skulking at times similar to AR surges; and the list of posters who do, and do not, have their posts ARd, bearing considerable resemblance to lists one could have compiled from the stated intentions of this person.
However, before my, perhaps misplaced, paranoia overwhelms me, I shall stumble out with the words of Marcellus ringing in my ears, "something is rotten in the state of Denmark", and, as I mentioned to Daria earlier, I don't think it's sashimi.