Sock puppeteering - worse than trolling
Published by Avi Green on Monday, October 09, 2006 at 11:14 AM.
It occurs to me that some people cannot seem to maintain an argument or response to something without resorting to pointless attacks on their rival, and some seem to be so obsessed with being a nuisance that, even after being reprimanded, they go to such lengths as to pretend they're someone they aren't.
Such is the case with the commentor on my blog whose screen name was "Jeff Albertson" which he apparently took from the Simpsons character of the same. This commentor has just been banished for getting nasty and even trying to sound like he was being "fair". Having inspected his IP address, I discovered that this was the same troll as one I had a few months ago, by the name of "R. Johns", who seemed to be up in arms over some posts I had that for him were too conservative in nature for his tastes. And what led me to kick him out then was because of a nasty comment he made about Christopher Reeve (he implied that Reeve had the nerve/gall to uphold Truth, Justice and the American Way, but worst of all was that he was more or less insulting Reeve with what he wrote). Anyone who goes so far as to insult the memory of a man who ran afoul of as awful an accident as Reeve did a decade ago does not get very far in earning points in my book, if at all.
As I said, realizing that this was the same troll as the one who'd disturbed the peace and quiet of this blog earlier, that was one more reason why he has now been exiled, period. Not just simply because he trolled, but because he had the gall to sock puppeteer under a different name afterwards. I'm not surprised that any troll anywhere wouldn't give up so easily, but now, our dear "Jeff Albertson/R.Johns" or whatever his exact name/species is supposed to be is taking a long overdue dirt nap. Checking my backlog of other posts, I found one more from the same address I hadn't looked at before that so disgusted me, I erased it altogether. Any further messages he attempts to post whereever his computer location be will be deleted no matter the tone or content.
Most interestingly enough, the IP address, it turns out, was from around Central America, of all places. One of Hugo Chavez's cronies, perhaps? Or maybe some follower of the long deposed dictator Manuel Noreiga? Or maybe even a worshiper of Fidel Castro? Probably not, but anyone who's going to try and act as disrespectful of law and order around here as this sock puppeteer did will, let us be clear, end up having their commenting rights revoked sooner or later.
Sock puppeteering, if you ask me, is insulting and offensive, and serves little purpose other than to make a futile attempt at winning an argument that these puppet poseurs can simply not claim a victory upon. And I want to make crystal clear here that any visitor whom I find has crossed the line into disguising themselves first as one entity and then as another may find themselves subject to severe disciplinary action.
I'm sorry if I sound as furious as I am just now, but finding someone who was trying to disrupt the harmony of this site trying to sneak back in while wearing a disguise is really maddening. It's also a real shame if and when any blogger is forced to turn to Haloscan comments to keep out the troublemakers, but that's what I too was forced to do. I know it's not something one has to feel sorry about, but all the same, for me, there was still something a bit depressing about having to do it.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I am going to eat some dinner, and get ready to go to the Tel Aviv Sci-Fi Festival tomorrow, and hopefully get my mind off of this really depressing encounter. And, I'll see if I can find something else to blog about a little later as well.
Update: as an additional warning to the cybertroll, I am posting his IP addresses here:
189.153.39.166
207.248.40.56
148.244.235
61.191.20.211
207.248.40.2
207.248.40.17
200.94.204.120
201.140.6.26
201.123.208.59
62.117.35
62.117.35.196
He is to consider this a warning - that if he doesn't disappear around here, he may end up getting a call from his ISP.
Update 2: Mark in Mexico, who's been having similar problems, makes some excellent points about the rights bloggers have in deciding policy, and the rules commentors need to be wary of when commenting.
Update 3: I figured out that his specific name may be "Hector Guerra", and he's from Monterry in northeast Mexico. I once knew him from an old message board. I had no idea he was willing to go so far as to make racist cracks of this nature. Interestingly enough, to my knowledge, he may maintain an online relationship with a Jewish girl who once wrote on the same message board too. Perhaps he doesn't think so, but he's insulting the poor lady behind her back, and if I were her, I'd be very upset if I found out that he was doing things behind my back that could be hurtful to others of the same community.
Such is the case with the commentor on my blog whose screen name was "Jeff Albertson" which he apparently took from the Simpsons character of the same. This commentor has just been banished for getting nasty and even trying to sound like he was being "fair". Having inspected his IP address, I discovered that this was the same troll as one I had a few months ago, by the name of "R. Johns", who seemed to be up in arms over some posts I had that for him were too conservative in nature for his tastes. And what led me to kick him out then was because of a nasty comment he made about Christopher Reeve (he implied that Reeve had the nerve/gall to uphold Truth, Justice and the American Way, but worst of all was that he was more or less insulting Reeve with what he wrote). Anyone who goes so far as to insult the memory of a man who ran afoul of as awful an accident as Reeve did a decade ago does not get very far in earning points in my book, if at all.
As I said, realizing that this was the same troll as the one who'd disturbed the peace and quiet of this blog earlier, that was one more reason why he has now been exiled, period. Not just simply because he trolled, but because he had the gall to sock puppeteer under a different name afterwards. I'm not surprised that any troll anywhere wouldn't give up so easily, but now, our dear "Jeff Albertson/R.Johns" or whatever his exact name/species is supposed to be is taking a long overdue dirt nap. Checking my backlog of other posts, I found one more from the same address I hadn't looked at before that so disgusted me, I erased it altogether. Any further messages he attempts to post whereever his computer location be will be deleted no matter the tone or content.
Most interestingly enough, the IP address, it turns out, was from around Central America, of all places. One of Hugo Chavez's cronies, perhaps? Or maybe some follower of the long deposed dictator Manuel Noreiga? Or maybe even a worshiper of Fidel Castro? Probably not, but anyone who's going to try and act as disrespectful of law and order around here as this sock puppeteer did will, let us be clear, end up having their commenting rights revoked sooner or later.
Sock puppeteering, if you ask me, is insulting and offensive, and serves little purpose other than to make a futile attempt at winning an argument that these puppet poseurs can simply not claim a victory upon. And I want to make crystal clear here that any visitor whom I find has crossed the line into disguising themselves first as one entity and then as another may find themselves subject to severe disciplinary action.
I'm sorry if I sound as furious as I am just now, but finding someone who was trying to disrupt the harmony of this site trying to sneak back in while wearing a disguise is really maddening. It's also a real shame if and when any blogger is forced to turn to Haloscan comments to keep out the troublemakers, but that's what I too was forced to do. I know it's not something one has to feel sorry about, but all the same, for me, there was still something a bit depressing about having to do it.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I am going to eat some dinner, and get ready to go to the Tel Aviv Sci-Fi Festival tomorrow, and hopefully get my mind off of this really depressing encounter. And, I'll see if I can find something else to blog about a little later as well.
Update: as an additional warning to the cybertroll, I am posting his IP addresses here:
189.153.39.166
207.248.40.56
148.244.235
61.191.20.211
207.248.40.2
207.248.40.17
200.94.204.120
201.140.6.26
201.123.208.59
62.117.35
62.117.35.196
He is to consider this a warning - that if he doesn't disappear around here, he may end up getting a call from his ISP.
Update 2: Mark in Mexico, who's been having similar problems, makes some excellent points about the rights bloggers have in deciding policy, and the rules commentors need to be wary of when commenting.
Update 3: I figured out that his specific name may be "Hector Guerra", and he's from Monterry in northeast Mexico. I once knew him from an old message board. I had no idea he was willing to go so far as to make racist cracks of this nature. Interestingly enough, to my knowledge, he may maintain an online relationship with a Jewish girl who once wrote on the same message board too. Perhaps he doesn't think so, but he's insulting the poor lady behind her back, and if I were her, I'd be very upset if I found out that he was doing things behind my back that could be hurtful to others of the same community.
Labels: misogyny and racism, technical matters
