At 04:41 PM 5/30/2003, you wrote:

Hi all look we all know that I can be more than a little abrasive when people I dont know come in out of nowhere and accuse me of not knowing my facts, or lying about history. Its one of my weaknesses. I hope everyone also knows that I generally try to be patient and get people to work together (even if its in what Mr. Kemp calls teacher mode), asking specific questions, giving specific examples, etc. I hope that my positive contributions over the long haul outweigh the negative ones. If thats not what people think, I really should just take off ;-)

The most recent unpleasantness is really weighing on me. Llywrch e-mailed me and asked me to feed no trolls while he tried to get some cooperation, and I pretty much have but in the meantime, if you look at the user contributions, you will see that really nasty accusations about me and, to a lesser extent, and one who has tried to step in, all over the site. They are almost entirely taken out of context or deliberate misunderstandings or misquotes.

I also believe that this person has shown up in at least two other guises in the past, and had run-ins with, or left comments about me or my contributions in each persona almost all repetitions of the old HJ controversies, but with a French nationalist flair. The person is now also accusing me of forcing others in some way to join in a persecution, and also claims that I regularly try to get people to leave through bullying and intimidation (boredom and wordiness perhaps &). Oddly enough, some of the people he seems to be saying I forced outare the very people I think are his other personae.

Not only is there a possibility of the troll-like habit of changing identities, but I notice that many of the excuses given to others as to why he cant get along is because of a cross-cultural language problem. While it is true that he writes these comments in a quaint and stilted manner, his tirades (especially those directed against me) are amazingly fluid and use lots of polysyllables (apparently, several of us cant be understood because our words are complicated its kind of like that old SNL skit about the defrosted cave-man).

Anyway, could someone not currently involved (or who has not yet been blasted) PLEASE take a look? Theres a frightening amount of commentary, but I think this person is not in any way aware of how to work with others or really interested in participating in a positive manner. I am not using the bword, but if that is already something this user is under (it has been suggested hes DW), then its not a problem. If its not, perhaps someone with a Voice of Authority (and in his eyes, the only authority is Jimbo, whose wrath he threatens regularly) could ask him nicely to quit his abuse and play nice?

Thanks!

Julie

Now, I'm not saying that I believe this... I certainly wouldn't want anyone to take this the wrong way and think that I was accusing anyone of anything or besmirching anyone's good name, but:

Some people seem to think that T may be one and the same as JD, look at the similarity of some phrases and attitudes, particularly the use of the odd "somebody called X" or "somebody who calls themselves X" and other similar phrases. It has also been suggested that T is the same as the probably-about-to-be-banned V, and that their "conversation" is either between comrades or an attempt by one individual to confuse things.

Again, I'm not saying that I believe this, draw your own conclusions.

Oh, for the record, there have been certain users lately, no names of course, who have been attempting to distort the way that the Clovis issue has gone down. I trust that everyone who is truly interested is going to read ALL the articles before they jump to conclusions. I'd hate to see anyone unfairly characterized as a troll.... almost as much as I'd hate to see a troll unfairly characterized as a legitimate contributer.

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Dante Alighieri dalighieri@digitalgrapefruit.com

"The darkest places in hell are reserved for those who maintain their neutrality in times of great moral crisis." -Dante Alighieri, 1265-1321

Julie-

Not only is there a possibility of the troll-like habit of changing identities,

I would like this to be omitted in the discussion until there is solid evidence. It's not like this cannot be provided: You can ask Brion or Jason, for example, to compare the server log entries by Triton and another user and see if they come from the same IP address range. Until then, in the interest of fairness, let's assume that Triton is a new user.

I do agree that Triton is steering away from trying to find a compromise in the one discussion which I've taken a look at (French monarchs), and always returning to the level of personal accusations, which is of course unhelpful. He is certainly trolling to some extent ("Mr. X, Sir .."), not sure how much. I do not think we're close to a ban, though, given the standards on this kind of drastic measure in the past, which often creates more problems than it solves (because people keep coming back).

Hmz. I'm beginning to sound like Cunctator. Let's see if there are any vandals to ban ..

Regards,

Erik