Sunday, November 08, 2009

Commenting changes

Ladies and gentlemen, I apologize, but the comment section now requires that you be a registered user. The many people signing off as "Pat Riot" have been making homophobic remarks for far too long, but now they've resorted to racist "coon" and "porch monkey" comments.

The time is past. I believe in free speech, but I also believe in taking responsibility for your actions. Anonymous comments don't get to happen any more. This won't stop the problem, but it will at least cut it back for now.

This isn't stormfront.org, kids, nor is it freerepublic.com. You don't get to make your ignorantly racist statements, and now you have to take some credit for your words.

(You know, the racism and some of those last comments lead me to believe that at least one of the "Pat Riots" was a guy calling himself Rodger on this blog - fascinating how he "proved" his points so poorly that at least one other of his own contributors were making fun of him, and he ended by throwing up a wall of illogical conspiracy theorist garbage, and then blocking any response I made - OK, I only tried twice. I'm stubborn, but I can take a hint.)
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Update: So, based on limited comments from the remarks section, and conversations with two friends over in meatspace (yes, I do have friends, hard though that may be for some of you to believe - very forgiving friends, but friends nonetheless), it would appear that I have to take responsibility here (much though that pains me) and start moderating the comments. (On the other hand, this will allow me to drop the requirement to sign in, so there's a bonus...)

(Yeah, it's depressing - I'm approaching a half-century of life, and they've finally managed to make me take responsibility for something...)

We might be tweaking things for a day or two (take that however you want), but we'll see how it works.
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Update: Wow. This is actually kind of hard. I so want to respond to this moron. It's been three days, and I've deleted five posts from him. It's like he's some weird stalker who can't help himself. He's claimed (despite all evidence from his own site) that he "proved" that I was lying about my military record (I showed that what he thought was reality was false, but he didn't feel like accepting that), he claims that I can't go a day without saying "homophobic" or "racist" (I'm not the one that shouted "coon" or "porch monkey," nor am I the one with the frequent "you must be gay lovers with Diogenes" references).

And the fact that I'm reporting all this here means I'm probably in for another two additional weeks of ignoring him. Wow. It's like having a stalker who can't do anything to you - you aren't scared, you just wonder how long this has to go on....

22 comments:

The Real World said...

Its like elementary school. The ignorant and the childish get brave if you give them a wall to hide behind.

Its sad, but its a fact of life. The insane end of the right wing is getting louder every day. And if you let them scream from a hiding place, they vomit up some of the most disgusting stuff.

Its a shame that you had to, though. Most of your crazies were anonymous, but you had a few who weren't coompletely insane, like Steven K, Paul Ellis, Ginger, people like that.

There's always one stupid who ruins it for everybody else.

StevenK said...

Hi NC. Oh well, I can't say I can blame you for doing this. I guess this means I won't be able to post here as often, 'cos like I've said before, my %@?&$#%!!!ing home computer for some crazy reason refuses to let me log into my Blogspot account (in case you're wondering, I've entered this comment from my work computer -- during off hours, natch).

Oh, and I'm curious: Just which thread did you have to eliminate Patsy's racist garbage from? If you'd rather not elaborate, I understand.

Peace out, dude.

Steven

Nameless Cynic said...

It was the most recent homophobia thread - he (they) apparently took objection to me pointing out that the school bus beating of a white student by two black students had already been shown not to be racially motivated.

Sorry to be a problem. Any chance you're just misremembering your password? You could try changing your password from work, and then trying it at home.

Just a thought.

The Real World said...

Have you ever figured out how many Pat Riots there are?

Nameless Cynic said...

I've actually considered that question. (Mostly last night driving home, to be honest - it's just been noted and ignored, prior to this.) I've seen the differences in writing styles, but it's the fact that he's talked to himself once or twice that clinches it, though.

This last time, the response was in 5 or 6 separate pieces - I don't know if it's multiple people, or just his way of organizing, or that he can't sustain a thought for longer than a few minutes.

I think that there's essentially 4 primary possibilities (with variations, of course).

There's two or more people doing posting under that name, and they all know each other.

There's two or more, they don't know each other, and all but one of them started doing it just to be "funny."

There's only one person, and he's batshit insane - what we read it the voices in his head flowing through the keyboard. (This possibility has a certain charm.)

Or there's only one, and he does it by way of "cover" - it doesn't matter what he writes, he can always claim "that wasn't me!"

Well, now I've taken steps to ensure that, by signing in, either it will all be one person, or a group working together - either way, he/they get to be responsible for their own words.

Uncle Slam said...

Your powers of deduction would put Matlock to shame.

The person(s) would probably have gotten away with it too, if it hadn't been for you meddling kids and your dog.

Uncle Slam said...

But it's still fine to make stupid remarks about people's perceived sexual preferences and claim all residents of certain states are inbred, right Aimless?

Nameless Cynic said...

You really are from South Carolina, aren't you?

The Real World said...

Is that him? Can you ban this guy?

Hes never right, hes really smug about beingg wrong, and Im tired of his crap. I havent been reading long, but hes annoying the crap out of me.

Nameless Cynic said...

Well, this particular incarnation of Pat Riot is most likely one of the guys from the Curmudgeonly + Skeptical blog (linked in this post). He got cranky because I had facts and he had conspiracy theories. About a month later, he (or they - I guess it would make sense for it to be several people from that blog) showed up here.

He/they have limited facts, but you're right - they're really smug about what little they think they know. And there is a certain stalkerish quality to them.

I'm going to leave this up to a vote. We can leave it wide open, I can start moderating, or I always have the option of "reverse moderating."

It's customer service time, folks. Tell me what you'd prefer.

Paul Ellis said...

If he was ever right, or even half the time, I might have more patience with him.

But when he's always insulting, always wrong, gay-basher, racist, I don't see a reason to keep him around.

Is it just me or is he a little creepy? Not in a scary way, but in that homeless-guy-covered-in-sores say?

Nameless Cynic said...

Well, to be fair, the Pat's have made a couple of good points.

Which is actually another reason to assume that they're multiple people - because so much of the stuff they screwed up on was so easy to disprove, it's confusing when he/they get anything right.

Then again, I believe it was that great philosopher John Coffey who said "even a broken clock is right twice a day."

The Real World said...

So what will you do about Eman? Because I went to his blog and asked about the medal Obama gave to Joe Medicine Crow, and he accused me of being Diogenes. I guess he claims every anonymous post who doesn't agree with him is diogenes.

thats kind of scary

Diogenes said...

This is HILARIOUS. The e-boy's gone completely off the deep end! He's convinced that whoever "The Real World" is that it's me. He's making up his own commentary as he goes, claiming I'm making commments that I'm not making, etc etc

Damn, this dude needs a life away from his computer. To think that he's a spiritual advisor for anything that walks on only two legs is scary.

The Real World said...

That's kind of insane. Hes got a whole post dedicated to telling the world that I am Diogenes.

Has he been doing this for a while or what? And Diogenes, have you actaully been sending him emails that blogger is contacting you, or is this just him listning to voices in his head?

Thats one deeply crazy MF

Diogenes said...

It's all in his imagination. He's making up all sorts of shit as he goes. I've never been contacted by anybody about anything I've written anywhere on the Internet... but e-boy seems to think that blogger is out to specially protect his little corner of the blogosphere.

He is, clearly, delusional.

Nameless Cynic said...

Does Blogger ever actually "warn" anybody over their behavior? Seems like a waste of time to me - easier just to ban you and be done with it, if anything is substantiated.

I mean, I know for a fact that I've had complaints filed (OK, to be honest, I've been told that Blogger has been notified about me - Eric is one of them, in fact), and they never called me. Am I just not trying hard enough?

I mean, if you actually are rattling his cage enough that at this point, he seems to have focused his entire blog around you, Dio, good on you. Guy's a whackjob - he needs to be poked with a stick once in a while.

On the other hand, it plays right into the Cult of Victimization attitude so prevalent in the Christian Right community. Just wait, the "War on Christmas" crap is coming within the month...

The Real World said...

But that doesnt seem fair. How can i let him know that Im not diogenes?

Nameless Cynic said...

It's too late. You're damaged goods now - especially since you posted remarks here.

Don't expect reason or logic from Eric. It isn't in him. Not part of his character.

Hell, even if you walked up to him and introduced yourself, the fact that you've been here would be too much for him. He'd just assume you're now the gay lover of Dio or me.

The Real World said...

Actualy, Im pretty comfortable with that. Although I do date boys, Im kind of sure it doesnt make me gay.

Diogenes said...

WAIT! So.. you mean..... I'm female?

beatbox said...

It looks like I'm a little late to this party, but why are you even bothering to let Uncle Slam talk? I've been reading thorugh your archives, and this guy dosen't have a point almost ever. He (or they) say the same stupid crap over and over and even when you show exactly where he's wrong he'll say it again later. ANd mostly all hes got is insults. you should drop him like a bad habit.