2007-05-01

A Monkey Wrench in the Spin Machine

Recently, an old Vs. foe and I were on the verge of what could've been a détente. There was even talk on a board which I frequent and he occasions regarding an absurd little alliance regarding my doing voice-work in a video of his featuring a character which Woe intended to have as a parody of me.

But after entertaining the notion for quite some time, I finally decided to let the idea quietly die. If there was to be a true détente I would've wanted rapid mutual disarmament. Not just an easing of tension, in other words, but a sort of mutually-executed establishment of a DMZ . . . a moratorium on mentioning one another on sites and so on, similar to what I once offered to Wong. (This would primarily serve my goal of trying to get various personal and/or slanderous material about me off their websites peacefully, but would also serve their goal of having their embarrassingly ill-considered claims and behaviors de-publicized on mine.)

But of course, peaceful coexistence is achieved in steps, just as the modern de-evolution of polite dialog (both in regards to the Vs. Debate and, sadly, elsewhere in American discourse) occurred in steps. By letting the idea die instead of pushing the olive branch down his throat, I hoped such a step would exist.

As I've noted elsewhere, this notion of making peace with those who have behaved so poorly toward myself and others is undoubtedly some foolishly optimistic notion, probably brain sludge lodged in my neurons after watching too much Trek. I am, of course, well aware that in some cases peace simply cannot be made, especially when one or both sides are too intransigent and too unreasonable.

This brings us to the main reason for letting the idea die . . . see, though he'd been behaving a bit better of late, toning down his rhetoric, the fact remained that Wayne was an individual whose philosophy and ethics I found utterly repugnant. He's a militant liberal, I am neither . . . he tries to get attention by being shocking and disgusting, whereas I have no such needs . . . and of course there's the pattern of he and SD.Net regarding the use of illogic, harassment tactics, and generally nefarious behavior against adversaries.

But like I said, he seemed to be toning down in that regard, so I decided to let the one small step happen.

But then the day came when I saw that Wayne had picked a new fight, even calling the new target racist for making fun of militant Islamic jihadists and a homophobe for using terms that might suggest an accusation of homosexuality on the part of adversaries.

While I recall no particular instance of a racist statement on Poe's part, the irony of his calling someone a homophobe was simply too great to ignore. Many of SD.Net's opponents have been accused of sucking on my naughtybits, and Poe himself has implied homosexuality on my part as an attempted insult on multiple occasions.

The fight had begun with the new chap when Poe tried to make fun of another YouTube vid-maker, a move which backfired for a bit since Poe had made use of the guy's video in his own without permission. The other fellow took it through official channels, resulting in yet another banning of Poe from one of his favorite places.

Thus began the war, and both sides were buttholes. The entertaining thing was that Poe's opponent employed the same sort of tactics that Woe and company have made such extensive use of at SD.Net . . . posting of personal info such as Wayne's address and a Google map satellite view of his residence, legal threats, and so on, basically spamming him with these maneuvers with a quickness. Wayne and the gang tried to respond in kind, but mostly they just bitched because all their good material was already taken.

Thus a leading member of the most poorly-behaved coterie in the Vs. Debate found himself rapidly outmaneuvered by the classic arch-nemesis of a butthole . . . that, of course, being a bigger butthole.

I could claim I was not amused, but then you'd be able to see my inability to keep a straight face even via this text.

But more importantly, it told me that Wayne had not changed a bit.

So, I decided to play a bit of tit for tat. You see, it was back in the day after I mentioned a dangerous psycho of my indirect acquaintance who had designs against me that Wayne and company put together a webpage with various personal information about me, advertising it as a one-stop shop for dirt should anyone wish to use it. Given the personal danger represented by the psycho in question and their attempts to help him, I withdrew from the debate for awhile in disgust, until the threat was neutralized.

(Of course nowadays they don't wait for someone to suggest a clear and present danger in their life for them to capitalize on . . . they trade Google map satellite views and publicly ponder approach vectors, suggesting a danger directly.)

Since Wayne and company had been and continue to be so helpful in regards to those who might wish to do or threaten ill, I felt it only appropriate to give Wayne's arch-nemesis a bit of history on who he was dealing with, as his gang and Wayne's SD.Net gang started tangling.

Thus, while condemning his tactics, I couldn't help but applaud the arch-nemesis on his overall campaign, and provide a few pointers on dealing with Wayne Poe and friends. I also provided some background info (though nothing like what the arch-nemesis had already done), and a picture as well. After all, given Wayne's old violent fantasies regarding me and the habit of his fellows to try to harass me it's always seemed apropos to maintain my own little sort of Homeland Security, in case there's chatter regarding what they might want to call a "personal encounter".

I hardly consider this inappropriate. While I've always considered the danger from such nuts minimal, hate-filled leftist moonbats like the SD.Net crowd do sometimes get so consumed by their illogic that they just snap. While I would be an unlikely target, logically speaking, the fact is that snapping moonbats aren't exactly predictable.

The world's getting uglier, after all, especially (and paradoxically) among the hate-filled leftist moonbats that are supposed to be for everyone to get along peacefully. Hell, the guys who outed Al Gore's mansion-sized carbon footprint got plenty of hate mail and death threats, and of course there's the anti-war nut who waved a gun in the face of a GOP officer in Nevada recently.

Like I said, American discourse as a whole is in decline.

But anyway, I also mentioned a few details about the group as a whole based on information that was known at the time, such as the guilty verdict for an SD.Net member charged with murder and another incarcerated for inappropriate behavior with a very minor minor.

And now that advisory e-mail to the arch-nemesis is public, which is fine. It's nothing I haven't said here or to them directly before.

But that part about other members there is new, and has really pissed them off. Wong's even tried to defend it with his usual inaccuracies, comparing their whole userlist to a town and determining that the crime rate of SD.Net is A-Okay, ignoring the fact that their genuinely active posters (of which both mentioned persons were a part) are a small percentage of the whole list.

But I digress.

Since the news came out, and since initially making mention of it to the arch-nemesis of Wayne, I have in fact kept up with the thread regarding the fellow said to be guilty of murder. I'd also mentioned that once before when talking about SD.Net, though that was just when it was an untried charge. Though the information in the support thread is all filtered through the SD.Net spin machine, there does appear to be no direct evidence linking that guy with the murder, or even the murder weapon, suggesting the possibility of his innocence. I almost decided to believe he was innocent, too, and had a little apology post regarding my past comment on the charge started here (more of that détente stuff). But, given the spin machine's usual inaccuracies, I decided to refrain from further comment, except here to say that I don't know for sure whether SD.Net had a murderer in its ranks or not. However, given the ridiculous fact of death threats over a frickin' sci-fi debate, I wouldn't necessarily put it past some of the members there out of hand.

That's as close to an apology as I'll come at this time, pending the fellow's appeal. If he's innocent of the crime then I wish him the best of luck.

However, I can make no apology to Wayne. While I might've upset proverbial karma a bit by taking my own paltry action, the fact remains that the quagmire he's now in was easily avoidable, and I can't help but feel it karmically perfect that Wayne's own vitriolic tactics would be employed against him so expertly by his arch-nemesis.

Ideally this would end up being a lesson on interpersonal ethics and etiquette, and how poisoning the well of discourse is a fallacy not only against the target but the speaker too, but I rather doubt they'll take it that way. Wayne's YouTube account has been reinstated, and the battle seems to be moving more in SD.Net's favor once they recovered from the shock and mobilized en masse.

Thus they'll probably record this in their annals as a great victory if it turns out that way, instead of the sad affair for all involved that it truly is.

Oh yeah, and they'll bitch and moan about me a lot. But then what else is new?

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'll be perfectly honest, by paragraph three I knew basically everything this was about...

Karma is a bitch G2k, remember that... be wary, but also remember that sometimes... just sometimes, Karma needs someone to dell it out for it.

*tips hat to you* a lesser man would have done that a long time ago.

Author said...

Here's some timely feedback:

"Comment: You know, I was looking at that "story" Poe did of you way back in 2002... after what happened in VTech, have
you thought that maybe this Poe guy might be more like one of these shooters then not? I mean Seung-Hui Cho also wrote
deeply disturbing "plays" as well... maybe you should contact the authorities... shit like this shouldn't be allowed.
Especially since he gravitates to a site that is such an obviously cult of personality, sticking up for murderers and
child molesters.

source: Tired of Mike Wong, Wayne Poe, and the other assholes"

The sad part is, I hit Google on this a few days after the Virginia Tech shooting, since the personal descriptions of the guy that I had heard . . . a left-leaning loner with a thing for violent fantasies . . . could easily have put him on SD.Net. But, there's nothing I'm aware of to suggest that he ever ended up there.

And again, in fairness, it's not "murderer" in this case so much as "person convicted of murder", a fine but nonetheless potentiall important distinction in this case . . . not to mention that according to reports there was also no direct molestation in the other case, "just" . . . and I use that term for comparison even in full understanding of how wrong it'll sound in regards to what here follows . . . absurdly inappropriate behavior with a very minor minor.

I simply make those distinctions because, unlike the other side that is content to prosecute and judge others based on spin and fancy, I aim to be fair and accurate.

Were I like some of them, I'd probably be claiming something like "they're a bunch of murderers and murder-defenders, and who knows what kiddie porn and porn given to minors is in their secret porn usergroup!!!!" . . . but I am not like them, and generally find it a good habit to avoid their ways altogether.

Anonymous said...

Dude, I'm a left-leaning loner with a thing for violent fantasies. ;-) :-P

I'm insulted, sir. Now, go to your room and don't come out till you've written a treatise on why you're really Wong's bitch.

PPfffbbbtttt

Author said...

Only if you're coming to my room with me, big boy. ;)

But seriously, you're not hateful enough.

Also, my prediction is basically panning out. Poe's response on SD.Net is vitriolic, with him calling me a stalker for keeping tabs on his obsession with me over the years (ignoring the fact that in the very same message he says he's been checking my blog, which would be him stalking me by his own criteria), not to mention more of his ever-so-ironic "homophobe"-style comments against his adversaries.

C'est la vie, I suppose. At any rate, it seems clear that he was wanting my attention, what with the recent blog-checking and his overall pattern of behavior over the years, so perhaps he's happy now that he had it for a few minutes.

Anonymous said...

Dude you need to stop obsessing about this guy. Honestly. Writing up a 1600 word essay about one guy can't be healthy.

Unknown said...

You just don't know G2k very well. I'm used to his complete discriptions and thorough evaluations...It's almost comforting despite the resulting eye strain.

Trionya brings up a good point. I'd don't know who wrote SD.net's Conquest but it was the most distrubing thing set to a sci fi genere I had ever read. From the actions known characters of both genre commit...the author apparently doesn't live in a sick enough world.

Anonymous said...

Only if you're coming to my room with me, big boy. ;)

Do I get to play Playstation and eat vanilla ice cream when I'm there? It's not worth it if there's no playstation and vanilla ice cream.

But seriously, you're not hateful enough.

[stomps foot, puts balled up fists on hips and glares]

I can, tooooo. I can fake it anyway. I wrote stuff in high school english that's better on plot alone than either part of that death fantasy stuff.

Author said...

Dude you need to stop obsessing about this guy. Honestly. Writing up a 1600 word essay about one guy can't be healthy.

Obsessing? I think not. To make an extreme analogy, it's like suggesting that the Defense Department stop obsessing over Al Qaeda. The natural response would be "Sure, you betcha, just as soon as they stop obsessing over us."

I mean really . . . he'd toned down his rhetoric some, but he had still been whittling his days away programming motions for little CGI people and drawing complex greenscreen 'stages' in order to make a multi-part video that purported to parody me, thereby adding to his one or two other videos on the same ever-so-sexy topic.

If you're breathless after reading that long sentence, just imagine the effort it would take to do what it says.

Let's also not forget that he'd said himself within the past year or two that his interest in the debate and/or Star Wars had waned toward nonexistence, though he still participated just to fight with me.

So no, I'm not going to give something that isn't mine to give.

Anonymous said...

That's a rather poor analogy, my delusional American friend. Unlike Al Qaeda, Wayne Poe isn't plotting to potentially blow you into tiny little pieces in the future.

Or, for the sake of his sanity, his continued freedom and probably his ability to see much more than Guantanamo Bay, I hope he isn't... but I'm not one to go around judging people.

I'll just offer a little advice;
You're not going to win any awards by winning a versus debate. You're not going to get a life by winning a versus debate. You're not going to get laid by winning a versus debate.

Go outside, Mr. Anderson, there's more than just your blog and your site and your political opinion to consider in life. Just grow up. Go outside and find something more meaningful to do with your life... you'll thank me later.

Anonymous said...

Well that strikes me as rather ironic Anon. After all, just coming onto this website means that you yourself likely have an interest in the vs. debate, and everyone needs a hobby, right?

Not only that, but you sound like the same guy who's been howling for days about Star Trek weapons ranges and ISD rear sensors...

Ilithi Dragon said...

@ Anon, there's also more to life than winning awards and getting laid. } ; = 8 )

There is absolutely nothing wrong with spending a lot of time on a favored hobby, be it Star Trek, Star Wars, football, baseball, stamp collecting, skiing, whitewater rafting, or Vs. debates. How someone lives their life is entirely up to them, and there is no right or wrong decision, so long as they are happy where they are, and no one else is hurt.

Furthermore, it is entirely reasonable to keep tabs on a potential stalker, which Mister Poe has thoroughly demonstrated himself to be. Personally, I would have gone straight to the authorities after having such 'stories' written about me, and pressed charges if possible.

P.S. Since you seem 'obsessed' enough to actually follow a blog, read through the comments, and then actually be committed enough to bother telling the poster to get a life, one has to wonder how much of a life you actually have. So, why don't you follow your own advice, go out, get a life, win an award, get laid, and leave us crazies alone. } ; = 8 )

Anonymous said...

Not only that, but you sound like the same guy who's been howling for days about Star Trek weapons ranges and ISD rear sensors...

Er... who's that? I haven't even touched the versus debate in quite a long time... though I'm mildly notorious from my days on STrek-v-SWars. I'm the second anonymous in the comments to tell G2k to get a life by the way; there seem to be two of us. I'm hardly obsessed with the issue, but someone out there needs to honestly tell the bloke - for his own good - that he needs to get a life.

Personally, I would have gone straight to the authorities after having such 'stories' written about me, and pressed charges if possible.

I'd have written one in return; I'm a writer and I'd simply see it as another challenging rival (but the writing style of Wayne Poe does leave something to be desired). Though I'd likely not care and just ignore the person until a real threat - beyond internet chest beating - was headed in my direction.

Since you seem 'obsessed' enough to actually follow a blog, read through the comments, and then actually be committed enough to bother telling the poster to get a life, one has to wonder how much of a life you actually have.

I was bored; I had nothing else to do for a while - and I've been working all day at college - so I had a glance at SDN out of my own sheer boredom. I stumbled onto this topic - and my first reaction was 'what the bloody hell is that man thinking?'

Personally, my life is quite busy with much more important things than the versus debate... and this only warranted my attention due to a mildly overbearing amount of that annoying trait of altruism...

I repeat what I said; Robert, do yourself a favour and at least get another hobby to obsess over... all things in moderation, so they say.

Author said...

The analogy had nothing to do with mass murder or Gitmo, anon, though of course you knew that already.

Also, seriously dude . . . it's a Star Trek vs. Star Wars tech analysis site. Do you really think anyone involved in this topic expects fame, fortune, and fawning foxy fans? Are you nuts?

This is a hobby . . . a way to take my brain out for a walk from time to time. With something like this the stakes ought to be so ridiculously low that people can be fair and honest and have fun keeping their wits sharp. It's a profoundly sad statement on human nature that such is often not the case.

The way these people behave is absurd. Illogic and lies and threats have no place anywhere, but certainly not regarding something so unimportant. It's like . . . imagine playing on a public game board against a guy trying to cheat at chess, one who gets more and more batshit when you take his pieces one by one, and finally draws a knife when you put him into check.

Now I'm not claiming to be perfectly reasonable with my response to that behavior. Most people would get up and leave the table pretty quick. Of course the freak would then claim victory, while the normal person would walk off astonished at what a frickin' loony-tune the guy was, and never play with him again.

But me? I'm just enough of an ass to want to finish the game. And just because there are several of the freaks on the other side of the table all trying to work together on the game changes nothing. I have every right to sit at the public table and take their pieces one by one, and I'll call them out every time they try to sneak a piece back on the board.

The part of the game I find intensely dull, though, is the conversation with them. I'm here to play. But, I had just enough of an ego to respond when they claimed I wasn't following the rules, and just too much ego so that I have often responded to their trash-talk and other absurdities.

Mea culpa, as far as that goes, but the original sin lies with them.

Now, as for me enjoying life offline or having other online hobbies . . . I'm doing quite well, thank you. But given how the other side (a) deals with any personal info about their opponents and (b) chase their foes across the net, do you really expect me to share any of the details with you?

Anonymous said...

Also, seriously dude . . . it's a Star Trek vs. Star Wars tech analysis site. Do you really think anyone involved in this topic expects fame, fortune, and fawning foxy fans? Are you nuts?

I resemble that remark. I totally expected babes, fame and fortune. I've already got the fame. The money's coming next and then, the babes will appear. I've got a plan.

Anonymous said...

What, I should stop using my website to pick up chicks?