Public service announcement: comment troll spotted!
I have to believe that the commenter posting from the Comcast IP address 24.22.17.48 hasn’t just been doing anonymous drive-by’s here. But he/she has nothing good to say about us, that’s for sure! In 60 comments going back to March of this year, no less…
“Peter” has issues with our language choices here (a frequent theme), whether posting as “Ted” (who wants mature language) or “Tom.”
“Nino” has issues with our subject matter – but hey, so do “Glenn” and “Tara” and “David”. And believe me, we’re shaking in our shoes over here – especially since “Tom” and “Ken” and “David” must be really important, since they all own their own domains! (If their email addresses – tom@tom.com, ken@ken.com and david@david.com are any indication, that is, she says, tongue planted firmly in cheek. The rest of the crew seems to make do on variants of yahoo addresses – ken94327@yahoo.com, for example.)
Our drive-by artist doesn’t appear to have a favorite blogger here – we’re all either ‘idiot(s)’ or ’stupid’ or “jokes to this world.” And he/she doesn’t think highly of Portland either: “Portland is absolutely them (sic) most pretentious city I have ever seen.”
But despite his/her obvious maturity (after all, aren’t you impressed by an anonymous artist who does nothing but take pot shots using a plethora of fake identities?), he/she isn’t exactly infallible – witness this comment from “Tom”: “I doubt that an act like the Beastie Boys would be kept quiet until leaked to some stupid blogger. Grow up.” (Guess who ended up right here (hint: it wasn’t “Tom”)?
It’s this comment in particular that has me troubled: “So please try to start posting on important things, and I do not mean Harry Potter, or we’re going to stop reading you. I’m more than halfway there already.” (emphasis mine)
We? Is the anonymous drive by commenter known as 24.22.17.48 starting to believe his/her own myth? Or are we talking split personalities here?
Just to make it clearer to our readers when there’s a troll afoot, we’re going to call it out from now on when 24.22.17.48 comments here with a note like this:
“Barbara” is actually a drive-by, brought to you by the 24.22.17.48 comment troll. Read more about it here.
After all, you’ll have no other way to know that “Keith” and “Kenny” and “Denny” and “Kerri “and “Craig” and “Mark” and “Daniel” and “Stan” and “Larry” and “Ben” and “Roger” and “Dan” and “Curtis” and “Tam” and “Henna” and “Kevin” are all, in fact, the artist known as 24.22.17.48.
Local bloggers, feel free to pick this up for your own sites if you, too, have 24.22.17.48 raising havoc in your comment threads, courtesy of your PDX MB friends…
Over at my blog, he or she’s been Dogbert, David (twice, on different days), Dan, Lillith, and Ken R.
I for one welcome our new 24.22.17.48 overlords! :)
how much you wanna bet .48’s a shut-in that has to use a wand to dial the phone?
Trolls exist pretty much in every forum. Why take up so much time and space to acknowledge and legitimize someone like that? “Tom,” “David,” “Ken,” etc. may feel like they’re getting away with something, but you know better … and I think many posters can see through the thin veil. It’s amazing how folks can identify the same posters (even if they try to sound different).
So, more time writing cool stuff happening around our dear old Portland, and less time putting people in the stockades and passing around the tomatoes and leeks please.
Thanks!
This rules. Now if only we could find out who .48 (thanks mcangrypants!) actually is…
ruh-roh! Better release your DHCP .48! The blogger posse is out on the loose.
I agree with RA. More info on the haps within PDX…. less PSA’s.
Actually, good to remember that volume of responses does not represent diversity of responses. It’s a blog. People will do what they do. But kind of good to know that there is a way to spot the folk who misuse their individual freedom of speech by implying they speak for many.
Yes, how dare you self-monitor your site/posts and call out those that would seek to abuse a system. What’s next, calling things as you see them? For shame – we must hear about Greg Oden! (That’s what I’m supposed to say, aren’t I?)
“outing” IP.48 in public does nothing. metblogs.com in the current security model is very abuse prone. So either upgrade the posting model to something a little more robust (ie. engadget / slashdot ), accept the signal to noise ratio or leave.