Nuclear Names Proliferation

There's been much gnashing of teeth in Topixland about the new policy of allowing registered users to hide their ISP locations. Some people think it's a bad thing because it allows trolls to operate with impunity.

Um, they always did before. I do not see this as different. Since the change there are hundreds of new avatars on the scene belonging to dozens of old posters. My troll alone has probably registered six new avatars and is proudly following me all over Topix as s/he reprints things that I've written here or in the threads, lest I should forget things I've written or, like millions of other people, I do not read my blog.

One of the most amusing taunts I've read on Topix is an all too familiar one where a registered poster questions the manhood of an unregistered poster. The wording varies but basically it's this: "If you had THE GUTS you would register WITH YOUR REAL FAKE NAME rather than using an UNREGISTERED FAKE NAME like THE COWARD YOU ARE!!!"

You are so right, "Poophead 1961". Ma and Pa Poophead raised a fine son or daughter and are surely proud. Say, are you kin to "Poopyhead 101" from the US forum?

Yeah, registering a "real" fake name takes guts. My troll must be easily six times the man or woman that every other poster is. Some are TWENTY times gutsy, I guess.

People really do put a lot of stock in their thread persona. Honestly, I do. Ferrerman is me, is an extension of my personality. I get a little pissed when some jerk hijacks a variation of my avatar as has been done several times in very weak effort to fool others. Imitation is NOT the sincerest form of flattery. It's really just cheap, fakery. One lady added an "r" to Ferrerman and even went as far as to add an age-appropriate photo like the one I sport of me as a six year old. I was VERY creeped out as I believe the photo she chose was of her hated ex-husband, someone she has surely entertained thoughts of killing. Gee- I'm in good company! But, for a time, the avatar she chose did fool a few people who either wanted to be fooled or just didn't pay attention.

"Hmmm, Ferrerman is usually funny and or poignant but in his last few posts he's taken to talking about what a jerk he is. Well, THAT'S different!"

Yes, it is. That was the ...tact...one of my trolls used several months ago when s/he and some of her gang were involved in a very bitter feud with me. Now, s/he or they are simply posting quotes of mine under a new, false Ferrerman banner as well as under other false avatars. My friends picked up on this rather quickly. Enemies didn't seem to notice anything beyond anti-Ferrerman sentiment and were just happy to have new allies in the fight against Ferrerman. Hows that go- "The enemy of my enemy is my friend"? Politics and Topix makes strange bedfellows indeed.

Some people are excited when they get their own troll, even kinda proud. It does (sorta) show that someone cares. But, the word troll itself is overused, if not mis-used and misunderstood. It's often used to dismiss anyone who disagrees with you. Over in the Chicago forum with the dregs and ninnies, it's a derogatory term for pretty much anyone who posts in "their" threads without their expressed written consent. It used to be most of the dregs weren't registered. Angelique770- ironically - encouraged ALL the dregs and ninnies to register so they "couldn't be trolled". S/he did this by trolling various dregs to show them what could happen, I guess. S/he had a proxy server at the time. I believe s/he did this so that s/he could more easily google people's registered screen names and keep tabs (and files...) on them for whatever scientific (insane...) purposes s/he had. I resisted registering because I'm lazy and because I had already developed a practice of changing my names to suit whatever theme I was posting. Alert readers usually knew it was Ferrerman clowning around to make a point so, it wasn't like I was hiding. My ISP and my "style" generally gave me away, especially when I was the ONLY person posting out of Westchester, Illinois. It was very hard to hide back then.

Irony. I only registered when 770 and teri@home trolled my name so much that I felt registering was the only way to ensure the safety of my good, fake name!
More irony. As soon as I registered, teri came up with the afore-mentioned fake Ferrerman avatar!

Talk about your nuclear arms proliferation! Where was my multi- zillion $$$$ "STAR WARS" system? I could have bankrupted them like some say Reagan did the Soviets.


These are dangerous times in Topixland. Indeed. Any two-bit punk with an agenda can now be a super-power. As if...

Thing is, there's only one Ferrerman. The knock-offs can fool some of the people, some of the time but, they do not- nor will EVER- have what it takes to be a FERRERMAN!

Somewhere in a bunker near Portland Oregon, a troll is culling words from this post, proving his/her futile existence...

And so it goes...