Thanks for all the kudos again.

But Loh and ducktape DO have a point.

I try to be even-handed, and I'll probably continue to try to be even-handed. I read once -- I forget where -- that working for a truly bad boss or dealing with a truly bad roommate is an opportunity for personal growth. At the same time I realize that I really shouldn't treat people like KenyanBorn equally with the people here that I admire, respect and love. But instead of insulting them or treating them unequally, I've been trying to find creative ways to deal with them. Maybe that's not the best approach, if Loh and ducktape think they're being treated equally with human garbage.

Those of you who saw my posts on GretaWire know that I can flame with the best of them (or worst, depending on your viewpoint). I made the phrase "lying, unpatriotic, unAmerican birther SCUM" almost a trademark. When KenyanBorn joined up, she pissed me off the same as the rest of you. But instead of calling HER that, I applied my trademark to birthers in general. I mocked her arguments. I tried out about eleventeen fake Jefferson quotes. I put her thread in Teh Funny Stuff and made sure she knew it was because I thought her arguments were a joke. No one can really accuse me of being nice to her, but I never did call her any names or say that SHE was lying, unpatriotic, unAmerican birther SCUM. Which she is, but I was trying to stretch my creativity. I was trying to be unpleasant toward her without personal insults, and I hope I succeeded, even if she seemed to deliberately misunderstand my attitude.

Loh and ducktape are eligible for membership in the Grumpy people, if they file an application. Loh has damn good reason, after wrecking his shoulder and carving his head into a new and creative shape like he did. And ducktape and I share a special bond, after meeting in Phoenix. She can grump anytime she wants. She gets her dander up, and more power to her. It isn't like I've ever given a board warning to anyone who does insult a birther, I just nag now and then, like I do. But maybe there's a good reason NOT to treat birthers equally with the rest of you, even if they are registered members of the board. I'll work on that.

Noz got pretty much exactly the 3 step treatment suggested by Reality Check. He was warned, and warned more than once. When he called Sternie "a hypocrite and a coward" he was baned for a week, but I let him come back. When he came back, he accused one member of giving $5 blow jobs and and another of "fingering yourself". He actually had more than three strikes against him.

jy1977 couldn't keep from calling Dwight Sullivan a traitor. I warned him, then when he ignored several warnings I baned him for a week. I definitely would have let him back in -- get this -- seven days later. But he made at least four separate tries to re-register and sneak back in under the wire before the week expired, and all four times his first post accused Dwight of being a traitor again. He's the poster boy for "not getting the message," so he's brunt toast.

(Y'all can't see any new member's first three posts until they're approved by me or the mods. So you know.)

MichaelN is still a member. He's annoying in that he rehashes the same false arguments again and again, but he doesn't insult people and he doesn't really spam us, and if he keeps going like he's been going, he's not in line to be booted.

But I see a difference between those folks and KenyanBorn. It's true, I didn't warn her. She was under the impression that she wasn't violating any rules and that I'd protect her from the mods. She thought she was golden, and then I yanked the rug out. She sent me an email, by the way. She complains that "All I've done is post facts and post a few important current events." She thinks maybe getting baned was "a mistake," and she's awaiting my reply (but I have important stuff to do).

Her reaction sort of shows the reason I didn't bother warning her in advance. Does anyone think a warning would have made the slightest impression on her? She was a special case, quite different from Noz and jy1977, who showed up at least pretending they wanted a rational debate on the issues. And they wanted to be part of the board, which KenyanBorn really didn't. Noz is still pissed that he got baned. He's been posting on PJ and sending me PMs there to politely inform me that I'm a fascist moderator and a shitty human being and a hypocritical piece of crap without scruple. He's trying to worm his way back into my good graces that way, I reckon. And jy1977 still shows up in the chat room on R.C. Radio, in order to stay in contact with his good buddies from Fogbow.

But KenyanBorn made it clear that she didn't care if she was baned. A warning would have made her behavior worse, IMHO. She was getting ugly enough, and would have gotten uglier.

Anyway, thank you all for giving me your thoughts. I'll ponder the idea of a special group, but my instinct is that you don't need birthers identified for you in order to be able to detect their presence.

At some point this weekend, I'm gonna take a shot at updating the "Registration agreement" that new users must agree to in order to register as members of the board. Right now it says:

That needs work, and I'll do some thinking about what the warning should be for birthers who are joining in order to troll us ...

Great work, Foggy.
Perhaps new birthers could be limited posts per day for their first few weeks? KBOA was over 100 per day- I think a limit of 25-50 would be more than fair, ideally forcing birthers to reply with more substance knowing they will use up their posts with pointless "is too!"'s and "you're wrong!"'s.

Foggy wrote:





She posted the whole standard birther list. Even though she may have believed these to be facts, it was explained why these were not "facts". Of course covers from the National Enquirer are not important current events. She's trying to play dumb and weasel a second chance out of you because she thinks you're a benevolent dicktater who "gets" her and it's the rest of your herd that's a bunch of a-holes. This is the reason why if you're going to let birthers in, you have to specifically tell them when they're getting a warning. A warning wouldn't have made the slightest impression on Kenya, but after the fact, when she's saying " you never warned me" and " all I did was...", you'd have those warnings to show that yes, indeed she was warned. She may not have understood at the time, she may have ignored, but you can show indeed she was warned. I bet she had no idea the Kenya thread was even in Teh Funny category, she was all puffed up that she had been given her own special thread. I have managed many people just like Kenya and they just do not understand subtlety or hints or your kind of humorous nudging. This seems to be a common trait in birthers. You have to tell them very specifically " here are the rules. this is a warning. You only get 2, after that you get baned." They still won't understand or absorb what you're saying, but after you've finally had enough, you'd be able to point to they were warned.

I can be benevolent when I get a hankerin'. I can be a nice guy. Honest, I can!

Other times, not so much.


As a general rule, I agree with that. I certainly did apply that to Noz and jy1977.

But I wasn't feeling benevolent toward KenyaBorn. I'm not much concerned with what she thinks. Remember that last month, before she joined the board, she sent me an email that said "FUCK OFF OBOT!" And so sometimes, what goes around comes around ...

I did give her warnings, two of them. She was unimpressed.

haul her ass outta here!

Working with paranoids : (OK, it's on Loughner, but more appropriate here: )

Fanning the flames of paranoia
A psychiatrist wonders how a culture of Birthers and Truthers feeds the delusions of people like Jared Loughner

http://www.salon.com/life/feature/2011/01/13/loughner_working_with_paranoids/
By Peter D. Kramer

Whoa! That article contains so many interesting points that it is difficult to quote the one or two most salient statements! In the past, I have searched for a psychiatric view on conspiracy theorists and have come up pretty empty handed. This is really great insight. I would love to hear him interviewed on RC's show! A must, must read for anyone here interested in the delusional minds of Orly Taitz, Dr. Kate, etc.

Someone mentioned removing offensive posts.

If this is done, I suggest not removing the entire post (I'm not clear if that's what was meant), but editing it to remove the content with a notation "removed by moderator due to violation of the ___ rule", so everyone understands whats going on.

+1. An excellent article.

Amazing article. He articulates something I've been groping in the fog for. Fear --> anger --> hate --> paranoia --> tolerance --> acceptance --> entitlement --> anger... ad infinitum.

Perhaps the access of new members could be restricted until they have proved themselves. I was thinking of access to members details and maybe those forums with personal info, ie "Introduce yourself"
Regards ...............Dick

I agree with almost everything said here.

A few ideas.

1) When a birfer's posts begin to get aggressive/hostile, and the mods/dick tater is getting a bunch of PMs, perhaps the mods/dick tater could ask themselves: "Is this member adding enough to the board to make it worth my time to keep up with the PM complaints I am getting?" or "Is this member making my life as a mod/dick tater a living hell?" Those questions might illuminate how well the birfer is following the general forum rules.

2) Threats of lawsuits or threatening to involve TFB or members of TFB in existing lawsuits is an automatic, permanent ban.

3) Any birfer who speaks on behalf of another birfer has their entire post scrubbed and is given a warning/suspension/banning (based on where they are in the disciplinary process). Pammie Barnett is completely capable of joining TFB. As is Dr Kate. If they have something to say, they can register and say it. This protects TFB from birfers who discover that a fellow birfer threatened TFB/members without their knowledge or consent. What if Dr Kate didn't ask KBOA to post a lawsuit threat and Dr Kate found out that KBOA had threatened that without her knowledge or consent? That puts TFB in an odd position.

4) Perhaps the community should be considered a single member when insulted. I don't mean warning someone for saying "obots are idiots" or "obots are human garbage". I mean beginning a post with "Hey hosers", as KBOA did. That is hostility towards every member and is intended to allow the birfer/troll to barely keep withing the rules. If you can't call a member a name on the board, why should anyone be allowed to call the community a name? This is a measure of hostility and may help mods/dick tater see rises in hostility/aggressiveness more objectively or more quickly. I think the mods/dick tater are doing a fab job. None of those in power are unaware of an increasingly hostile member. But if our individual members can't be insulted, then why allow the community to be insulted?

On some level, there will always have to be judgments made on a case by case basis. Perhaps a question for the mods/dick tater to consider is what would call for an instant, permanent banning? Then you have a ceiling with which to measure less offensive behavior against.

Members that have been here and posted enough to demonstrate good manners are treated with grace when they screw up. I think that is a good thing. New members haven't earned grace. They should have to earn grace.

Interesting post http://www.obamaconspiracy.org/2011/01/ ... ment-87022



It could be total BS of course. That Tracy woman is seriously unhinged.

Oh and Tracy if you can read this, cutting a Congressman's brother's gas line (random example) is criminal.

Meh, Ol' Corny-copius has proved herself to be seriously unhinged. She's got most of our names? Feh, as far as I can figger, there's only 3 of us, including me, who've really been open about our real first and last names...and some of us may be funning.

As far as Tracy goes, we know she has a ton of sock-puppets, so it's not unreasonable that one of them is still here...except Foggy purged all non-posting members. Then there's the speculum that she is to be...sorry, forgot this was a straight post, not an Orly-toon. Then there's the speculation that Tracy and all her sock puppets are akshully sock puppets of Dr. Kate. That would be hilarious, but it would also, and IANAL, confine the cause of action for defamation to just one person: Me. Of course the only person who could bring such an action would not be Dr. Kate. It would be Mandy Patinkin. Well, maybe William Goldman, but I don't see that happening.

Thus, I have but one thing to say to Tracy or Dr. Kate:

Foggy - I think you are doing a great job !!!!! I have been reading a really sick site this morning - I mean scary sick..... I think I need an exocism or something. It was the Lame Cherry site. Yuck.

Can someone fill me in on KenyanBorn? She seems to be polluting the comments section on my examiner site. I really don't know much about her, other than she seems a little manic.

She was given her own thread here to try to avoid collateral damage.

This is the last page of that thread:
viewtopic.php?f=12&t=5226&p=205199


You can go back in it if you want.

Ok, so you know the first thing I'm going to ask her is how many pair of skinny jeans she owns, and in what colors ...

She'll post the usual talking points, then repeat the same old misinterpretation of Wong Kim Ark and other case decisions for a day or so. Then she'll suddenly get agitated and start doing the aggressive, all-caps insulting mari mentioned. The finale is when she develops a form of birther tourette's, starts posting photoshopped pics of the President and other spam. Then she disappears. Some say she's got to be a tweaker.

She has a couple-three sock puppets at bill's place, too-TracyinMD and one or two anonymous. And guess what?!
Mimi, we made the list this time!!!




But...now that she knows, does we has to give up our funding?

Heck no! Now ya get a raise!

oh, thanks kate! I missed it.

Tracy is truly a sick woman. Who else has a list of sockpuppets like hers? Well, other than sexually confused adolescents. And Tracy, of course. She trolls the internet looking for people to harass, as we learned from that YouTube about her.

I guess she's just looking for the attention she doesn't get in real life. Pity.

She really does spend an inordinate amount of time stalking people on the internets, doesn't she? She really must not have a life. I confine my lack of life to this place. She's all over, lifting this from here and that from there and carting it all over to Orly for a pat on the head. Think Orly gives two figs about her?