Friday, July 14, 2006
More stupid eBay sellers
Before I dive into the topic, I've gotta touch on a group of stupid people who AREN'T eBay sellers; specifically, some of those who commented on various blogs about the nauseating behavior of the woman described in my last post. Several days after the scandal broke, while most folks were still justifiably fuming, a few morons actually had the gall to start saying that it was time to drop the matter and stop criticizing the guilty party. Say WHAT?!! Since when are people supposed to cater to an evildoer by only giving them their well-deserved rebukes for a limited # of days? *I* maintain that just the opposite is true, that people should hammer evil types for as long as possible, to make them and their fellows think twice before committing their next ugly acts. Granted, if people were still talking about an incident of online misbehavior MONTHS later, that'd be indicative of them being obsessive and not having lives, but what better target for them to focus their energies on than a bad person?
If you're thinking that the "mean comments" should be brought to an end because most people don't want to see negativity like that when they come online, you've got a case... IF you make a habit of calling for a halt in the OPPOSITE situation, when evil people target innocent victims; do you? When you see posts on any sort of online forum where insults, foul language, personal comments and general abuse are being launched at someone, NOT in retaliation for wrongdoing but just because the attackers don't like them, do you always jump in and insist that the belligerent posts cease immediately? No? It's alot easier to demand that the good guys shut up than it is to confront the bad guys, isn't it? What's RIGHT to do isn't influenced by what's easy, though; since no one has the b@lls to defend the innocent, they need to refrain from defending the guilty as well.
Ok, on to eBay sellers. One of the most annoying categories in this genre are the ones whose auctions make it look like you can get an item at a smokin' price... until you realize that the shipping is a ridiculous amount that makes the item NOT a good deal, perhaps even a terrible deal. My initial reaction to auctions like this was that they were meant to trick unwary buyers into rushing eagerly into making purchases without noticing the shipping (and so how much they were actually having to pay), especially with "Buy It Now" auctions; I'm sure this IS part of what's going on in most cases, but my husband, who, unlike me, has sold a few things on eBay, filled me in on an even bigger reason that unscrupulous sellers charge ridiculous shipping amounts... to pay as little to eBay as possible by making the vast majority of the total price be for shipping (since eBay only takes a % of the item price, NOT of the shipping and "handling" costs). EBay has known about this forever, and has always issued vague threats against those who did it, but never followed up on them, as evidenced by the rampant abuse of this fee-avoidance loophole; at LONG last, they reported in an email sent to all members last month that they're taking action, the result of which has been... no reduction whatsoever in this kind of misbehavior, as far as I can tell.
Since this issue involves a massive loss of revenue to eBay, it's reasonable to believe their claim that they're starting to enforce the rules about what constitutes fair shipping and handling (although why they waited this long to hire a few more low-paid workers to do so is beyond me-eBay itself is bursting at the seams with stupidity, let's face it)... so why aren't the SELLERS taking it seriously? Oh, I'm sure SOME are mending their ways, but it doesn't take much to find plenty who are still doing it; when I did a search for keyrings a few days ago, for example, I discovered literally hundreds of auctions where the shipping for a tiny little item that could be sent in a padded envelope with a couple of stamps was $10, $15, even *$20*... and I don't mean shipping from other countries, I mean within the USA. Because my search was sorted to have the cheapest items 1st, and they were all charging 1¢-10¢ as the official prices of their items, I went through PAGES of results without finding a single auction that wasn't a shipping scam; I saw RED, and so started reporting them, using the link at the bottom of each auction page that says "Report this item"... which wasn't as large of a task as it seems, since it turns out that just a handful of sellers was involved, each with a huge # of items.
I just now did that same search, and guess what; ALL of those auctions are GONE, which means that not only is eBay actually enforcing this, they're doing so at a speed that's in wild contrast to their usual snail's pace. I don't know what eBay did to those sellers, whether they just made them re-do each auction with proper shipping and prices or if they were penalized in some way, but at the very least this has to go on their records, so that if they pull anything else it'll show that they're repeat offenders; it was pretty stupid of them to risk not being able to do business on eBay over a tiny thing like keyrings, don't you think? The other sellers who continue to flout the rules are equally lacking in brain power; I suppose that, like most stupid people, they'll have to learn the hard way.
Here's an example of a different kind of eBay seller stupidity: I saw an auction for a cute stuffy, which, despite being claimed to be in totally clean condition, had some dark brown specks on its nose that sure looked like dirt; I wrote to the seller asking if they were lint or stains. She responded:
"Hello! I took some better photos of the item and re-listed it. Sorry about that!"
There was no need to re-list the stuffie, and the photos she already had were crystal-clear and didn't need re-doing, but that wasn't the stupid part; that came when I saw the new auction... with pics that weren't anywhere near as close up, such that the spots weren't noticeable unless you knew where to look, accompanied by text that still claimed that the item was in clean condition. I wrote back and pointed out that using pics that didn't show the spots as clearly did NOT handle the issue, and asked again whether what I saw was removable or stains; finally, she admitted that there WERE "2 spots" on the nose, and altered her new auction to include that info, although she did NOT add any of the better pics. The REALLY stupid thing is that there are at least EIGHT tightly grouped spots, and her winning bidder, if any, is in for an unpleasant surprise... and so is the seller, if that buyer gives the sort of reflexive negative feedback that's common for this sort of situation. (Yes, I DID tell her that she should give full disclosure and use the original pics, or try and clean the stuffie's nose and see if she can reduce the spotting, but she hasn't replied to me or altered her auction page-no surprise there.)
What is so flipping difficult about examining an item carefully and reporting its flaws (if any) accurately on an auction page? Or about cleaning each thing thoroughly so that it looks its best in the pics and brings the best possible price? I can't tell you how many times I've seen an auction where the seller said something like "it just needs some cleaning up" or "there's one faint little spot that I'm sure will come out"... just CLEAN the damned thing already, figure out what its actual condition is, and THEN list it!!
The stupidest eBay seller for July award doesn't go to the clueless stuffie lady, though; it goes to the man I bought a nifty decorative doodad from early last month. When a couple of weeks passed after we'd paid him without the item showing up, I sent him a polite message to nudge him about shipping it; he didn't reply, but they usually aren't businesslike enough to, so I didn't think anything about it... until ANOTHER 2 weeks had passed without the item's arrival, at which point I sent a much LESS polite message. His response was that it had been delivered A MONTH AGO; he included the tracking # with which to verify at the FedEx site that they'd left the box on my porch on the date he'd given me, and said that he was SURE he'd sent an email with that info the 1st time I'd contacted him (instead of using the eBay message system as I had, as he was supposed to)... that's right, when a buyer asked him where their package was LONG after he'd thought they'd gotten it, instead of scrambling to sort things out like any sane person would, his reaction was to supposedly toss off an "it was already delivered" message (as if it was possible that I'd just FORGOTTEN I'd received it!!) and then never follow up in any way. He did NOT contact FedEx to see if they'd had my address wrong, or had gotten the package back, or who knows what else, and, when he didn't get a reply to his mythical email, he did nothing about that, either; he must have somehow thought that my silence meant that, what, I'd suddenly remembered that I had the item, or had shrugged it off and decided to accept the loss without a whimper, or.... ???!!! What possible train of thought could he have had that told him that he didn't need to pursue this issue with me any further? How STUPID do you have to be to find out that a buyer didn't receive an item you'd thought had been delivered and NOT DO A SINGLE THING ABOUT IT?!! grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
The seller's brain-dead-ness caused a two week delay in trying to find where my item had ended up; that's a LONG time for a package to be floating around on one's property, or maybe a neighbor's property, during which it can be stolen, hauled off with the garbage, knocked into the street and run over and who knows what else... and believe me, I made that point clear to him. He claimed he'd refund my $, but that 1st he'd see if he could replace the item; he was supposed to call me last Monday to tell me which way we were going. In the meantime, I made up fliers with all the relevant info and my husband taped them up around the neighborhood, so that if anyone had had the package delivered to them and either not had the correct addy to know who to give it to, or had been procrastinating so long they'd forgotten about it, they'd bring it over... but days passed with no one coming forward with it.
Monday came and went with no word from the seller; since Tuesday was the 4th, I let it go, then Wednesday I figured it was the day after a holiday... by Thursday, though, 3 days after he was supposed to contact me, I was all ready to send a VERY pointed note. I brought up the message system, and... I heard the quiet inner voice say "no," so I didn't write anything. Again, Thursday evening; "no." And on Friday; "no." AND GUESS WHAT SHOWED UP ON MY BACK STOOP ON FRIDAY EVENING?
I still can't frigging believe it; the disappearance of the package, the seller's stupidity, the lack of response from the neighbors, the inexplicable insistence of the inner voice that I hold off on haranguing the seller, those things were surreal enough, but a week after we did the fliers, a MONTH after it was delivered, when I'd given up all hope of ever getting it, it shows up?!! :-O
There was no note with it, and we never got a phone call, so we don't know who had it. The box had been opened, nearly shredded in fact (the item was intact with all its parts and wrappings, luckily), my addy was correct and perfectly clear on the label... why did it take so long for whoever'd had it to hand it over, and why was it done anonymously? In theory, someone could've been on a really long vacation and just collected the package, which had been on THEIR porch, that day, opened it, realized belatedly that it wasn't theirs, and... but what sort of person would just dump the box at my door without re-sealing it for safety and leaving a note with it? This is a well-to-do area, and our neighbors weren't raised in barns, so... our best guess is that one of the rotten teenagers that lives around here and is responsible for a steady stream of petty vandalisms stole it, and then after the fliers were put up either their parents or a friend saw one, remembered that the thief had an item matching the description in their room, and made them give it back. I HOPE it wasn't parents that let the thief get away with not speaking to us personally and admitting their wrongdoing, but with today's lax parents anything's possible; although, as always, my preference is for evildoers to suffer, I'm so excited to have my item that I can't fret too much about it.
And the seller's response when told the amazing news? Nothing. After all his screwups and broken promises, wouldn't you think he'd make more of an effort, at least send a few words expressing his relief, if for no other reason than because I haven't left my feedback for the transaction yet? Well, that's typical of stupid people; they're consistent if nothing else.
If YOU sell on eBay, and don't want to recognize yourself in one of these rants, make sure your brain's in the full "on" position when you handle your auctions; it's not rocket science to create honest auction pages such that there'll be no surprises for your buyers, to chose a delivery service that won't lead to packages floating around the buyers' neighborhoods, and to deal quickly, professionally and fairly with any problems that arise. That reminds me; there's a seller who sold me a supposedly "perfect condition" shirt that has an indelible stain right in front that I still have to deal with, sigh...
If you're thinking that the "mean comments" should be brought to an end because most people don't want to see negativity like that when they come online, you've got a case... IF you make a habit of calling for a halt in the OPPOSITE situation, when evil people target innocent victims; do you? When you see posts on any sort of online forum where insults, foul language, personal comments and general abuse are being launched at someone, NOT in retaliation for wrongdoing but just because the attackers don't like them, do you always jump in and insist that the belligerent posts cease immediately? No? It's alot easier to demand that the good guys shut up than it is to confront the bad guys, isn't it? What's RIGHT to do isn't influenced by what's easy, though; since no one has the b@lls to defend the innocent, they need to refrain from defending the guilty as well.
Ok, on to eBay sellers. One of the most annoying categories in this genre are the ones whose auctions make it look like you can get an item at a smokin' price... until you realize that the shipping is a ridiculous amount that makes the item NOT a good deal, perhaps even a terrible deal. My initial reaction to auctions like this was that they were meant to trick unwary buyers into rushing eagerly into making purchases without noticing the shipping (and so how much they were actually having to pay), especially with "Buy It Now" auctions; I'm sure this IS part of what's going on in most cases, but my husband, who, unlike me, has sold a few things on eBay, filled me in on an even bigger reason that unscrupulous sellers charge ridiculous shipping amounts... to pay as little to eBay as possible by making the vast majority of the total price be for shipping (since eBay only takes a % of the item price, NOT of the shipping and "handling" costs). EBay has known about this forever, and has always issued vague threats against those who did it, but never followed up on them, as evidenced by the rampant abuse of this fee-avoidance loophole; at LONG last, they reported in an email sent to all members last month that they're taking action, the result of which has been... no reduction whatsoever in this kind of misbehavior, as far as I can tell.
Since this issue involves a massive loss of revenue to eBay, it's reasonable to believe their claim that they're starting to enforce the rules about what constitutes fair shipping and handling (although why they waited this long to hire a few more low-paid workers to do so is beyond me-eBay itself is bursting at the seams with stupidity, let's face it)... so why aren't the SELLERS taking it seriously? Oh, I'm sure SOME are mending their ways, but it doesn't take much to find plenty who are still doing it; when I did a search for keyrings a few days ago, for example, I discovered literally hundreds of auctions where the shipping for a tiny little item that could be sent in a padded envelope with a couple of stamps was $10, $15, even *$20*... and I don't mean shipping from other countries, I mean within the USA. Because my search was sorted to have the cheapest items 1st, and they were all charging 1¢-10¢ as the official prices of their items, I went through PAGES of results without finding a single auction that wasn't a shipping scam; I saw RED, and so started reporting them, using the link at the bottom of each auction page that says "Report this item"... which wasn't as large of a task as it seems, since it turns out that just a handful of sellers was involved, each with a huge # of items.
I just now did that same search, and guess what; ALL of those auctions are GONE, which means that not only is eBay actually enforcing this, they're doing so at a speed that's in wild contrast to their usual snail's pace. I don't know what eBay did to those sellers, whether they just made them re-do each auction with proper shipping and prices or if they were penalized in some way, but at the very least this has to go on their records, so that if they pull anything else it'll show that they're repeat offenders; it was pretty stupid of them to risk not being able to do business on eBay over a tiny thing like keyrings, don't you think? The other sellers who continue to flout the rules are equally lacking in brain power; I suppose that, like most stupid people, they'll have to learn the hard way.
Here's an example of a different kind of eBay seller stupidity: I saw an auction for a cute stuffy, which, despite being claimed to be in totally clean condition, had some dark brown specks on its nose that sure looked like dirt; I wrote to the seller asking if they were lint or stains. She responded:
"Hello! I took some better photos of the item and re-listed it. Sorry about that!"
There was no need to re-list the stuffie, and the photos she already had were crystal-clear and didn't need re-doing, but that wasn't the stupid part; that came when I saw the new auction... with pics that weren't anywhere near as close up, such that the spots weren't noticeable unless you knew where to look, accompanied by text that still claimed that the item was in clean condition. I wrote back and pointed out that using pics that didn't show the spots as clearly did NOT handle the issue, and asked again whether what I saw was removable or stains; finally, she admitted that there WERE "2 spots" on the nose, and altered her new auction to include that info, although she did NOT add any of the better pics. The REALLY stupid thing is that there are at least EIGHT tightly grouped spots, and her winning bidder, if any, is in for an unpleasant surprise... and so is the seller, if that buyer gives the sort of reflexive negative feedback that's common for this sort of situation. (Yes, I DID tell her that she should give full disclosure and use the original pics, or try and clean the stuffie's nose and see if she can reduce the spotting, but she hasn't replied to me or altered her auction page-no surprise there.)
What is so flipping difficult about examining an item carefully and reporting its flaws (if any) accurately on an auction page? Or about cleaning each thing thoroughly so that it looks its best in the pics and brings the best possible price? I can't tell you how many times I've seen an auction where the seller said something like "it just needs some cleaning up" or "there's one faint little spot that I'm sure will come out"... just CLEAN the damned thing already, figure out what its actual condition is, and THEN list it!!
The stupidest eBay seller for July award doesn't go to the clueless stuffie lady, though; it goes to the man I bought a nifty decorative doodad from early last month. When a couple of weeks passed after we'd paid him without the item showing up, I sent him a polite message to nudge him about shipping it; he didn't reply, but they usually aren't businesslike enough to, so I didn't think anything about it... until ANOTHER 2 weeks had passed without the item's arrival, at which point I sent a much LESS polite message. His response was that it had been delivered A MONTH AGO; he included the tracking # with which to verify at the FedEx site that they'd left the box on my porch on the date he'd given me, and said that he was SURE he'd sent an email with that info the 1st time I'd contacted him (instead of using the eBay message system as I had, as he was supposed to)... that's right, when a buyer asked him where their package was LONG after he'd thought they'd gotten it, instead of scrambling to sort things out like any sane person would, his reaction was to supposedly toss off an "it was already delivered" message (as if it was possible that I'd just FORGOTTEN I'd received it!!) and then never follow up in any way. He did NOT contact FedEx to see if they'd had my address wrong, or had gotten the package back, or who knows what else, and, when he didn't get a reply to his mythical email, he did nothing about that, either; he must have somehow thought that my silence meant that, what, I'd suddenly remembered that I had the item, or had shrugged it off and decided to accept the loss without a whimper, or.... ???!!! What possible train of thought could he have had that told him that he didn't need to pursue this issue with me any further? How STUPID do you have to be to find out that a buyer didn't receive an item you'd thought had been delivered and NOT DO A SINGLE THING ABOUT IT?!! grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
The seller's brain-dead-ness caused a two week delay in trying to find where my item had ended up; that's a LONG time for a package to be floating around on one's property, or maybe a neighbor's property, during which it can be stolen, hauled off with the garbage, knocked into the street and run over and who knows what else... and believe me, I made that point clear to him. He claimed he'd refund my $, but that 1st he'd see if he could replace the item; he was supposed to call me last Monday to tell me which way we were going. In the meantime, I made up fliers with all the relevant info and my husband taped them up around the neighborhood, so that if anyone had had the package delivered to them and either not had the correct addy to know who to give it to, or had been procrastinating so long they'd forgotten about it, they'd bring it over... but days passed with no one coming forward with it.
Monday came and went with no word from the seller; since Tuesday was the 4th, I let it go, then Wednesday I figured it was the day after a holiday... by Thursday, though, 3 days after he was supposed to contact me, I was all ready to send a VERY pointed note. I brought up the message system, and... I heard the quiet inner voice say "no," so I didn't write anything. Again, Thursday evening; "no." And on Friday; "no." AND GUESS WHAT SHOWED UP ON MY BACK STOOP ON FRIDAY EVENING?
I still can't frigging believe it; the disappearance of the package, the seller's stupidity, the lack of response from the neighbors, the inexplicable insistence of the inner voice that I hold off on haranguing the seller, those things were surreal enough, but a week after we did the fliers, a MONTH after it was delivered, when I'd given up all hope of ever getting it, it shows up?!! :-O
There was no note with it, and we never got a phone call, so we don't know who had it. The box had been opened, nearly shredded in fact (the item was intact with all its parts and wrappings, luckily), my addy was correct and perfectly clear on the label... why did it take so long for whoever'd had it to hand it over, and why was it done anonymously? In theory, someone could've been on a really long vacation and just collected the package, which had been on THEIR porch, that day, opened it, realized belatedly that it wasn't theirs, and... but what sort of person would just dump the box at my door without re-sealing it for safety and leaving a note with it? This is a well-to-do area, and our neighbors weren't raised in barns, so... our best guess is that one of the rotten teenagers that lives around here and is responsible for a steady stream of petty vandalisms stole it, and then after the fliers were put up either their parents or a friend saw one, remembered that the thief had an item matching the description in their room, and made them give it back. I HOPE it wasn't parents that let the thief get away with not speaking to us personally and admitting their wrongdoing, but with today's lax parents anything's possible; although, as always, my preference is for evildoers to suffer, I'm so excited to have my item that I can't fret too much about it.
And the seller's response when told the amazing news? Nothing. After all his screwups and broken promises, wouldn't you think he'd make more of an effort, at least send a few words expressing his relief, if for no other reason than because I haven't left my feedback for the transaction yet? Well, that's typical of stupid people; they're consistent if nothing else.
If YOU sell on eBay, and don't want to recognize yourself in one of these rants, make sure your brain's in the full "on" position when you handle your auctions; it's not rocket science to create honest auction pages such that there'll be no surprises for your buyers, to chose a delivery service that won't lead to packages floating around the buyers' neighborhoods, and to deal quickly, professionally and fairly with any problems that arise. That reminds me; there's a seller who sold me a supposedly "perfect condition" shirt that has an indelible stain right in front that I still have to deal with, sigh...
Monday, July 10, 2006
We interrupt your normal programming to bring you this important message
Evil people follow amazingly consistent patterns, especially in cyberspace; I've come across an example so extreme that I've decided to post about it instead of my intended topic, in the hopes that folks who aren't familiar with these patterns will be able to understand them better with the help of a real-life "story" whose full details they can see for themselves (not that the internet is real life, but you know what I mean)... and thus be better able to spot them in the future, to the detriment of the wrongdoers involved.
I've often described the behavior of online cockroaches, but I've never pointed you directly at one... and I'm not going to now, because my instinct tells me that this scumbag is eagerly doing searches for her name with one hand on the mouse and, pardon the vulgarity, one hand in her groin, but I WILL show you where to go to read up on what happened, and these places will give you the psycho's full name, the URL to her blog, and the whole disgusting story... but be warned, the posts from this despicable woman, most of which you'll find copied in the tangle of blogs these URL's will lead you to, include comments with sexual references to a 2 year old child, both of a threatening nature and suggesting incest, so you might want to skip reading the gory details if that'll bother you (I'll summarize it all so you'll know the basics of what occurred without having to subject yourself to it):
http://michellemalkin.com/archives/005504.htm
http://www.blackfive.net/main/2006/07/a_new_low.html
http://pajamasmedia.com/2006/07/goldstein_reports_protein_wisd.php
http://snipurl.com/sz5y
Here are the LOWlights of what this sick, SICK woman took time out of her life to do: She started by trolling on the blog of someone with differing political views than hers; that alone would make her a cockroach. She made personal comments about the blogger. And then, about his wife, complete with foul language. And then... reaching a level of repulsiveness that I'd never seen in all my years online... she made multiple posts with sexual references to his TODDLER, and comments along the lines of "Your full name is John Smith and you live in City X, right? I hope no one kidnaps and kills your kid," which most people have rightfully seen as being threatening.
Excuse me while I GAG.
The # and content of her posts was so monstrous that people actually started protesting; how often does THAT happen? (Not nearly often enough, sadly.) She responded as attackers who get a little of their own back always do; she started screaming that SHE was being attacked, trying to make out that SHE was the victim... but in an all too rare response, not just one but several people actually reminded her that SHE started it, and so was NOT the victim-I'm not counting on seeing THAT ever again, but it sure was nice to see this time.
As is also typical when a cockroach gets a little of their own back, she started claiming that she'd been THREATENED, but naturally didn't give the names of the alleged threateners, the URL's where the threats could be found, or copies of the threats. We're all too smart to believe any such accusations without PROOF, of course, but more important is what the act of making those claims tells us about the person making them; without exception, when someone starts telling you, with no details much less proof, that they've been threatened, not only have no such threats been made, but it's a sure sign that they themselves are wrongdoers... it's not just that they're lying, but that hard-core troublemakers use this specific ploy with eerie consistency (I'm still convinced there's a "How to Be a Cockroach" manual that they're all using). And one more useful tidbit; most of the time, the reason they've been thinking about threats in the 1st place is because they themselves have been making them... projection, again (see my last post), plus counting on observers having bad memories and being pitifully gullible.
Her next move was one that only the most evil cockroaches do; she claimed to have reported the nonexistent threats to the FBI. It's not that contacting the FBI is indicative in general of being evil, and I've seen no evidence that any of these people actually MADE any such reports in any case... plus, can you imagine the disgust and/or amusement of trained FBI agents upon getting a report that "people on a blog/forum/message board are being MEAN to me," even from someone who was an actual victim rather than an attacker? (I have sufficient faith in the FBI that I'm sure they can tell the difference)... it's that only people who are REALLY intent on doing as much evil as possible ever think to tell this particular lie; I don't know why, but I've seen it enough times to know that that's the way it works... maybe it's because only an evil person is STUPID enough to think that anyone believes they've made a report to the FBI, or if they did that the FBI would EVER get involved in an online fight? The salient point is; ANY time you see someone online claim that they've reported something to the FBI, and there isn't a link to where a person who clearly knows where they live has announced their intention to come to their home and kill them (or whatever) as proof that there's something valid TO report, you can be sure they're lying, and that they're the absolute lowest form of cockroach.
Did I mention that by this point in the uproar some unknown party had crashed the victim's site using "distributed denial of service attacks" (aka DDoS, "multiple compromised systems flooding the bandwidth of a targeted system," per Wikipedia), to add injury to insults? Was it the cockroach who did it, or did someone else do it to back her up? Oh, you don't think anyone could possibly side with a person who'd gone so far over the line into unacceptable behavior? Guess again; as is standard in these sorts of situations, a few misguided souls have in fact posted in her defense. One of them said that people are "rude" online all the time, and it's no big deal; since when is threatening a little boy "RUDE"? Another said that she didn't REALLY threaten the child, so it was ok to spew insults and filth, and... you get the picture. Sad to say, I've never seen a case, no matter how outrageous, where NO ONE spoke up for the evildoer; it's one of the scariest aspects of online life... especially given how rarely anyone speaks up for the VICTIMS.
Next on the agenda was the indifferently tossed-off "apology" that no one over the age of 5 would think was genuine... especially since it was followed, as always, by a bunch more abuse of the victim, in this case in the comment sections of multiple blogs. Why did she do it, then? Same reason cockroaches usually do it on those rare occasions that they get called on their bad behavior; so that they can say, "Well, I APOLOGIZED, so you can't say anything else about me, and [the victim] can't complain anymore"... yes, I know that's twisted, but not only do they truly believe that, their backers will chime in with agreement that, no matter what the attacker did before AND AFTER the "apology," having said it should absolve them from all guilt and force the victim and anyone supporting them to cease talking about it and, more to the point, cease giving the attacker their well-deserved butt-kicking for it. (This points up an easy way to tell good people from evil ones; good people understand that deliberate wrongdoers DESERVE retribution and don't protest it even if it's against themselves, whereas evil types believe that they and their fellows should get away with their deeds scot-free.)
The cockroach, who's apparently a PROFESSOR (couldn't you just CRY?), then announced that she'd RESIGNED from the university foolish enough to employ her, because people were emailing her boss about her behavior; yes, with the stupidity and arrogance typical of evil people, she was using her REAL NAME and other personal info on her site, never grasping that this could make it possible for people she'd abused and offended to get her where it hurts. She insisted that she was NOT forced to resign, that she just CHOSE to leave her job, to have no income and no good explanation for future prospective employers as to WHY she left; yeah, right. Then, she later said that she'd TRIED to resign but her boss had decided not to take any action until Monday; clearly, at least one of those stories has to be a lie, but there's no way to know which... it might well be BOTH, as she used the concept of her not working there anymore to tell people it was a waste of time to keep emailing her boss... sounds a little suspicious, doesn't it? The most terrifying comment from "her side" came in reference to the job thing; they said that she should "unresign," because she "just" had mental problems and hadn't done anything wrong... so she should return to TEACHING YOUNG PEOPLE, subjecting them to her psychosis financed by tax dollars... !!! Would YOU want YOUR college-aged kid being taught by someone who thought making sexual suggestions about a 2 year old in a public forum was acceptable behavior and/or want to pay for her to do so with your taxes? Frankly, I think that particular commenter might be the ugliest-minded person out of the whole story, given that they came up with this lunatic suggestion without the mitigating circumstance of being out of their frigging MIND like the cockroach clearly is.
And last, but far from least, came her justification for her behavior; she said it was ok because her words were just words, and since soldiers were torturing children in Iraq (she specified that interrupting their access to fresh water counted as "torture") words didn't matter, and since the Republicans were responsible for the soldiers being in Iraq, and her victim was a Republican blogger, that somehow made it alright to heap threats and abuse on him. To give credit where it's due, most of the liberal bloggers who commented did NOT agree, and have condemned her actions... but not all, folks, not all, which should make each of us, regardless of our political beliefs, think long and hard about what level of "penalty" we think it's ok to drop on someone for the crime of disagreeing with us.
There's a happy ending of sorts to all this; as several bloggers pointed out, a variety of sites are archiving this entire incident, complete with the cockroach's full name and full quotes of her posts, so that for years to come, any time anyone Googles her, as prospective employers are doing more and more, the complete record of her disgusting behavior will be revealed... she's gonna be suffering the consequences of her inexcusable actions for a loooooong time, maybe even for the rest of her life. It's so rare for there to be real-life consequences for online evildoings... I'm gonna get serious enjoyment out of knowing that this particular lowlife is among their #.
I've often described the behavior of online cockroaches, but I've never pointed you directly at one... and I'm not going to now, because my instinct tells me that this scumbag is eagerly doing searches for her name with one hand on the mouse and, pardon the vulgarity, one hand in her groin, but I WILL show you where to go to read up on what happened, and these places will give you the psycho's full name, the URL to her blog, and the whole disgusting story... but be warned, the posts from this despicable woman, most of which you'll find copied in the tangle of blogs these URL's will lead you to, include comments with sexual references to a 2 year old child, both of a threatening nature and suggesting incest, so you might want to skip reading the gory details if that'll bother you (I'll summarize it all so you'll know the basics of what occurred without having to subject yourself to it):
http://michellemalkin.com/archives/005504.htm
http://www.blackfive.net/main/2006/07/a_new_low.html
http://pajamasmedia.com/2006/07/goldstein_reports_protein_wisd.php
http://snipurl.com/sz5y
Here are the LOWlights of what this sick, SICK woman took time out of her life to do: She started by trolling on the blog of someone with differing political views than hers; that alone would make her a cockroach. She made personal comments about the blogger. And then, about his wife, complete with foul language. And then... reaching a level of repulsiveness that I'd never seen in all my years online... she made multiple posts with sexual references to his TODDLER, and comments along the lines of "Your full name is John Smith and you live in City X, right? I hope no one kidnaps and kills your kid," which most people have rightfully seen as being threatening.
Excuse me while I GAG.
The # and content of her posts was so monstrous that people actually started protesting; how often does THAT happen? (Not nearly often enough, sadly.) She responded as attackers who get a little of their own back always do; she started screaming that SHE was being attacked, trying to make out that SHE was the victim... but in an all too rare response, not just one but several people actually reminded her that SHE started it, and so was NOT the victim-I'm not counting on seeing THAT ever again, but it sure was nice to see this time.
As is also typical when a cockroach gets a little of their own back, she started claiming that she'd been THREATENED, but naturally didn't give the names of the alleged threateners, the URL's where the threats could be found, or copies of the threats. We're all too smart to believe any such accusations without PROOF, of course, but more important is what the act of making those claims tells us about the person making them; without exception, when someone starts telling you, with no details much less proof, that they've been threatened, not only have no such threats been made, but it's a sure sign that they themselves are wrongdoers... it's not just that they're lying, but that hard-core troublemakers use this specific ploy with eerie consistency (I'm still convinced there's a "How to Be a Cockroach" manual that they're all using). And one more useful tidbit; most of the time, the reason they've been thinking about threats in the 1st place is because they themselves have been making them... projection, again (see my last post), plus counting on observers having bad memories and being pitifully gullible.
Her next move was one that only the most evil cockroaches do; she claimed to have reported the nonexistent threats to the FBI. It's not that contacting the FBI is indicative in general of being evil, and I've seen no evidence that any of these people actually MADE any such reports in any case... plus, can you imagine the disgust and/or amusement of trained FBI agents upon getting a report that "people on a blog/forum/message board are being MEAN to me," even from someone who was an actual victim rather than an attacker? (I have sufficient faith in the FBI that I'm sure they can tell the difference)... it's that only people who are REALLY intent on doing as much evil as possible ever think to tell this particular lie; I don't know why, but I've seen it enough times to know that that's the way it works... maybe it's because only an evil person is STUPID enough to think that anyone believes they've made a report to the FBI, or if they did that the FBI would EVER get involved in an online fight? The salient point is; ANY time you see someone online claim that they've reported something to the FBI, and there isn't a link to where a person who clearly knows where they live has announced their intention to come to their home and kill them (or whatever) as proof that there's something valid TO report, you can be sure they're lying, and that they're the absolute lowest form of cockroach.
Did I mention that by this point in the uproar some unknown party had crashed the victim's site using "distributed denial of service attacks" (aka DDoS, "multiple compromised systems flooding the bandwidth of a targeted system," per Wikipedia), to add injury to insults? Was it the cockroach who did it, or did someone else do it to back her up? Oh, you don't think anyone could possibly side with a person who'd gone so far over the line into unacceptable behavior? Guess again; as is standard in these sorts of situations, a few misguided souls have in fact posted in her defense. One of them said that people are "rude" online all the time, and it's no big deal; since when is threatening a little boy "RUDE"? Another said that she didn't REALLY threaten the child, so it was ok to spew insults and filth, and... you get the picture. Sad to say, I've never seen a case, no matter how outrageous, where NO ONE spoke up for the evildoer; it's one of the scariest aspects of online life... especially given how rarely anyone speaks up for the VICTIMS.
Next on the agenda was the indifferently tossed-off "apology" that no one over the age of 5 would think was genuine... especially since it was followed, as always, by a bunch more abuse of the victim, in this case in the comment sections of multiple blogs. Why did she do it, then? Same reason cockroaches usually do it on those rare occasions that they get called on their bad behavior; so that they can say, "Well, I APOLOGIZED, so you can't say anything else about me, and [the victim] can't complain anymore"... yes, I know that's twisted, but not only do they truly believe that, their backers will chime in with agreement that, no matter what the attacker did before AND AFTER the "apology," having said it should absolve them from all guilt and force the victim and anyone supporting them to cease talking about it and, more to the point, cease giving the attacker their well-deserved butt-kicking for it. (This points up an easy way to tell good people from evil ones; good people understand that deliberate wrongdoers DESERVE retribution and don't protest it even if it's against themselves, whereas evil types believe that they and their fellows should get away with their deeds scot-free.)
The cockroach, who's apparently a PROFESSOR (couldn't you just CRY?), then announced that she'd RESIGNED from the university foolish enough to employ her, because people were emailing her boss about her behavior; yes, with the stupidity and arrogance typical of evil people, she was using her REAL NAME and other personal info on her site, never grasping that this could make it possible for people she'd abused and offended to get her where it hurts. She insisted that she was NOT forced to resign, that she just CHOSE to leave her job, to have no income and no good explanation for future prospective employers as to WHY she left; yeah, right. Then, she later said that she'd TRIED to resign but her boss had decided not to take any action until Monday; clearly, at least one of those stories has to be a lie, but there's no way to know which... it might well be BOTH, as she used the concept of her not working there anymore to tell people it was a waste of time to keep emailing her boss... sounds a little suspicious, doesn't it? The most terrifying comment from "her side" came in reference to the job thing; they said that she should "unresign," because she "just" had mental problems and hadn't done anything wrong... so she should return to TEACHING YOUNG PEOPLE, subjecting them to her psychosis financed by tax dollars... !!! Would YOU want YOUR college-aged kid being taught by someone who thought making sexual suggestions about a 2 year old in a public forum was acceptable behavior and/or want to pay for her to do so with your taxes? Frankly, I think that particular commenter might be the ugliest-minded person out of the whole story, given that they came up with this lunatic suggestion without the mitigating circumstance of being out of their frigging MIND like the cockroach clearly is.
And last, but far from least, came her justification for her behavior; she said it was ok because her words were just words, and since soldiers were torturing children in Iraq (she specified that interrupting their access to fresh water counted as "torture") words didn't matter, and since the Republicans were responsible for the soldiers being in Iraq, and her victim was a Republican blogger, that somehow made it alright to heap threats and abuse on him. To give credit where it's due, most of the liberal bloggers who commented did NOT agree, and have condemned her actions... but not all, folks, not all, which should make each of us, regardless of our political beliefs, think long and hard about what level of "penalty" we think it's ok to drop on someone for the crime of disagreeing with us.
There's a happy ending of sorts to all this; as several bloggers pointed out, a variety of sites are archiving this entire incident, complete with the cockroach's full name and full quotes of her posts, so that for years to come, any time anyone Googles her, as prospective employers are doing more and more, the complete record of her disgusting behavior will be revealed... she's gonna be suffering the consequences of her inexcusable actions for a loooooong time, maybe even for the rest of her life. It's so rare for there to be real-life consequences for online evildoings... I'm gonna get serious enjoyment out of knowing that this particular lowlife is among their #.
