"Walker" is leaving comments as "Brian." I've proven that he is, because the IP address he used for "Brian" was the same as for "Walker."
I have things to do today that may keep me from deleting his lying, trolling comments for a while. Just wanted people to know that this guy not only can't speak the truth in his own comments, he also doesn't have the guts to comment under his own name.
[Update: I'm away from home today, working on a remodeling project with a nail gun. Which, believe me, is a lot more satisfying than dealing with troll'ish comments. When I have time I'll make screenshots of Walker's IP address as recorded by TypePad, and also of the IP address of the commenter posing as me -- which will be seen to be the same IP address, and so the same person.]
[Further update: here's screen shots of the comments left by "Brian" and "Walker" within a few hours of each other. Note that the IP addresses are identical, proving that the same computer was used to post both comments. Yes, Walker was posing as me -- an utterly reprehensible action.]
Brian
You seem to have a problem with comments made by people not using their real name. Well hello Brian, but do you really think that tAo and tuscoN and the many others are using their real name?
Possibly just about everyone on here except you is using an alias. Perhaps you should delete all comments then?
Posted by: Walker | August 08, 2009 at 08:44 AM
Since when does using a pseudonym imply that the person is lying?
What strange ideas you have Brian.
Posted by: Jon Riggs | August 08, 2009 at 08:49 AM
I'm using mine. So, what's the big deal?
Lying is lying, however this truthful stuff, can confuse me, from time to time. So, as a blogger, using my real name, I suggest a ban on all "truthfulness" summitted on this thread.
Posted by: Roger | August 08, 2009 at 10:46 AM
Dear Brian,
Will you tolerate this kind of intimidation? Is it the churchless kind of way ??? Probably not serious but nevertheless ... but even so it indicates someone how lacks balance and civility ... unlikely to be a random wanderer but a regular ... you will probably conclude the same (who will just randomly pop up to treathen a completly stranger with whom (s)he was never involved in anyway) ... is that kind of threath even legal? ... the use of the expression of 'punk' is habitual for Tao ... as well as intimidation ... Whoever did wrote this message probably was not stupid enough to use his/her habitual IP address ... but it would be interesting if you check since you do ...
Very idefying way to handle discussions ...
Please Brian don't excuse this kind of behavior ... for your own sake and that of this site ...
Posted by: the elephant | August 08, 2009 at 01:50 PM
Elephant,
You need to have your little pin head examined. I did not intimidate anyone. Try and get some "balance and civlity" yourself, especially balance.
Also, fyi, this Walker character is no "stranger" here. But neither are you. You are so predictable and well known for your cronic derogatoriness and persoanl antagonism, as is this other troll who calls himself Walker.
I dare say that Brian is not sypathetic to either one of you or your trollish behavior.
I really wonder why you are so miserable and negative? Do you really think that Brian needs some little jerk like you to guard and police his blog?
Go find yourself a real life, because as usual, you aren't making any positive contribution here.
Posted by: tAo | August 08, 2009 at 02:21 PM
Walker,
Please stop. Please. I enjoy reading this blog a lot. Now, far too often are Brian's posts ruined by comments that are utterly unrelated to the subject. I would be very thankful if you would please keep the comments relative.
Also...as well as Brian being tucson and tao, he is also the guy on the grassy knoll, the director of the moon landing fakes, and by orders of president Bush, he planted bombs at the base of 7 wtc while his alter egos tucson and tao planted them at the base of the north and south tower, respectively.
Posted by: j.tucker | August 08, 2009 at 02:27 PM
I agree with J. Tucker. Walker is ruining this site, which is what he obviously came here to do.
So Walker, do us all a big favor and stop posting your annoying crap and lies. And I do hope that Brian can put your ass out of here if you don't.
So let's see what kind of person you will choose to be.
Posted by: tAo | August 08, 2009 at 02:36 PM
Dear Tao,
You are rambling incoherently: As you remark yourself, walker would be only a stranger to someone who has never engaged this forum. Which means that whoever wrote the $$$ message is by all odds a regular, therefore neither a stranger nor someone who is sympathetic to walker; my point was that these conclusions narrow greatly the list of possible candidates who would have posted under $$$). Not only incoherent but you are all over the place.
Who cares if Brian is sympathetic towards me or not, it is not about me but the standing and nature of the post left by $$$. Can you see that?
Posted by: the elephant | August 08, 2009 at 02:39 PM
Walker and Jon, it isn't Walker using a pseudonym that angers me. It is using the name of "Brian" and then posting comments as if he was me. Saying, for example, that I have banned Walker when I hadn't -- obviously the only "Brian" who can do this is the Brian who runs this blog.
So Walker did indeed lie when he said that he wasn't leaving comments under different names, because exactly the same IP addresses don't lie.
For the moment I'm going to leave Walker's previous comments up as testimony to the craziness of true believers who are so threatened by an Oregon guy's personal blog that they will go to great deceptive lengths in an attempt to screw things up for the sincerely churchless.
But I may end up deciding to delete all of Walker's rants, since I consider appropriating a writer's/blogger's identity as one of the nastiest things someone can do on the Internet.
Posted by: Brian | August 08, 2009 at 03:03 PM
Dynamic IP is common amongst internet providers, these allow different users to use same IP address, so could look the same
Posted by: Joey | August 08, 2009 at 04:00 PM
Joey, pretty darn unlikely. Same IP address, posting comments on a blog that doesn't get many comments a day, two hours apart, both related to the same subject, the "Walker" one coming from a guy who just accused me of posting comments under various names, the "Brian" comment being an impersonation of me -- thus doing exactly what Walker falsely accused me of doing.
No, I don't think so. "Walker" pretended he was me, which in the world of writing/blogging is worse than plagiarism (which is bad enough). To post a comment while pretending to be the blogger, that's wrong, wrong, wrong.
I'm leaning toward erasing Walker's presence from my blog, because jerks like him don't deserve the publicity. But for now I'm using him as an example of how not to behave on the Internet. Or anywhere in life, for that matter.
Posted by: Brian | August 08, 2009 at 04:41 PM
To Claire,
You clearly must be confused. You say that you don't like what I said, but I have not said anything like as you say "fritening" and "scary". Nor I have said or done anything untowards that would require me to be banned. So I don't think you know what it is that you are talking about.
It is blatantly obvious that it is Walker who has made himself the problem here lately, as well as now Elephant, who typically takes any opportunity he can dig up or fabricate in order to antagonize and discredit both myself and Tucson. It is clear (to me) that both Walker and 'the elephant' are nothing more than deliberate troublemaking trolls who wish to disrupt this blog.
So Claire, go back and read my recent comments above. You will find nothing there that is "frightening" or or "scary" or negative.
---------------------------------------
To Walker,
You have cast no such "light" here. You are deluded. And just because there are "some who are able to monitor your IP", why is that such a threat to you if you are here with good intentions? But the truth is that you are extremely dishonest, a liar, and you are not here with good intentions.
In addition, the poster who mentioned that they had, as you say, "the power to make one phone call [and] track you down", did not "threaten" anyone with "harm".
Go back and re-read that poster's comment. There is nothing there that says or implies any such threat of "harm". It simply says and warns that there may be "consequences" if you, Walker, continue yor troublemaking. Consequesnces in that context could mean many different things besides "harm", and also no such "harm" was indicated anywhere in that comment. Rather, it seemed to say that you, Walker, are not able to hide yourself, your location, or somehow be invulnerable if you continue to harass Brian and his blog and other folks. Thats how it reads to me.
I think the point that was being made here is that it is time that you either partipate honestly and reasonably, or go elsewhere, or at worst cause Brian to ban you.... which he has now apparently already done. So let this be a lesson to you.
-------------------------------------
To the elephant,
That poster that you are fussing about indicated no such "intimidation", nor did they "treathen" anyone. If you feel threatened, then its only because you choose to interpret it wrongly.
You also said that I was "rambling incoherently" in the comment that I made to you. I think you need to go read what I said again. There is nothing there that is either "reamblig" or "incoherent". What I said was very concise and clear. But I already well knolw that you, like Walker, have a long pattern of acting like a antagonizing troll here, especially towards Tucson and myself.
You said: "Who cares if Brian is sympathetic towards me or not". Well the fact of the matter is that you rearely, if ever, have anyting positive to say here. You typically jump in whenever you feel any opportunity to attack Tucson and I, and sometimes even Brian. And thats pretty much all you ever do here. And that's more or less troll behavior. I am still waiting for you to post something constructive and positive, but its never forthcoming. Even your derisive comments are almost always way off the mark. But now you say: "it is not about me". Get real dude. The history of your comments here shows otherwise.
Posted by: tAo | August 08, 2009 at 04:46 PM
Brian,
Feedjit can tell you exactly who and where this poster is posting from, I believe. But you may have to change the Feedjit format that you now currently use.
There are other Feedjit formats that will show you more specific info about everyone who even enters and/or posts on your site, and their addresses and locations etc.
I have seen other friends blog sites where their versions of Feedjit can do this. But from my end, it seems your present version of Feedjit does not do that.
You might want to check into it with Feedjit. I can't say for sure, but I hope this helps.
Posted by: tAo | August 08, 2009 at 05:18 PM
A P.S. regarding the possibility that the same IP address could come from two different people who post inflammatory comments on my blog a couple of hours apart.
These different people also would have to use the same corporate server in Germany -- which I discovered by typing the IP address used to post comments from "Walker" and "Brian" (212.227.103.74) into this web site:
http://whatismyipaddress.com/
And here's a non-shocker: Guess where new commenter "Claire's" IP address is? Yes, you're right: Germany.
Let's keep going. How about "Joey," another new commenter to this blog who said that, gosh, the same IP address can be used by different people. Yes, Joey is from Germany also.
Posted by: Brian | August 08, 2009 at 07:32 PM
Hi Elephant, it's always good to read your logical, civilised comments. Keep them going.
Posted by: Catherine | August 08, 2009 at 11:08 PM
A comment about banning a commenter: as I've noted before, I believe in making it as easy as possible to leave comments on my blogs. I don't approve comments before they're published, as many blogs and web sites do.
This allows some spam and other unacceptable comments to appear. When I notice the crap, I delete it. TypePad, my blogging service, allows certain IP addresses to be banned. But if an IP address changes, then obviously a comment from a banned source will appear.
So comments from someone like Walker may appear for a while, until they're deleted. This is the price of my not approving comments before they're published. But for the moment I think the benefits exceed the price, because I'd rather make things easier for the majority of people who comment within guidelines, then be sure every comment outside those guidelines doesn't appear on my blogs.
Posted by: Brian | August 09, 2009 at 07:01 AM
Brian,
Is there a complaints procedure or authority that monitors this blog?
I am not Walker, but $$$'s comment above is unacceptable.
I am going to get involved.
George
Posted by: George | August 09, 2009 at 07:49 AM
You have my email address and I am happy to give you my full name.
I get very angry when i see comments like the one from $$$ above, and we all know who he is.
Once again, the resort to bullying and intimidation.
Whatever Walker, the Elephant, I or countless other dissenters on here have or have not done - this sort of physical threat and intimidation by $$$ is not acceptable.
Posted by: George | August 09, 2009 at 08:08 AM
George
Its very kind and caring of you to be so concerned, and I agree, $$$ post is not acceptable. But really, the best way to deal with such posts is to ignore them, the poster is harmless idiot who cannot track down anyone from his position, unless Brian was to assist. I am quite certain that Brian would not pass such information on to such a poster. Thanks again for your concern.
Posted by: JAP | August 09, 2009 at 08:13 AM
Although, come to think of it, Brian has left this threatening and abusive comment up on the blog and removed all of walkers, of which none were anything like as dangerous sounding as this one. Perhaps Brian does support this kind of post? Maybe i am wrong and there is cause for concern, although I am sure Brian will be pleased to explain why he has left the post from $$$ still on this blog? Brian?
Posted by: JAP | August 09, 2009 at 08:17 AM
JAP, sure, no problem. Done. Look, I have a life -- seemingly unlike many commenters here. I've got a lot to do today, as everyday, unrelated to blogging.
I do my best to keep my blogs interesting and visitor-friendly. When they aren't, I try to improve things.
So help me out, Church of the Churchless visitors. Let's get back to discussing interesting subjects. Be respectful; don't play mind games; support the purpose of this blog: open discussion about churchless subjects.
Posted by: Brian | August 09, 2009 at 08:28 AM
Jap,
we all know exactly who is posting under the guise of $$$ and so does Brian.
Yet he takes no measures to wipe that post, and prefers to ban others who have made no such threatening remarks.
You know i listen to these raging intellects bang on about sartre (mauling the actual meaning incidentally) and the big enlightended spiritual gurus on here who've spent 90 years in tibet, 140 in india and have done more things than anyone could accomplish in 20 lifetimes - and yet at base, just a fascist thug incapable of open debate unless its bashing what they hold dear.
My goodness what a joke.
Posted by: George | August 09, 2009 at 08:34 AM
George
You use humour like tAo uses foul language, and if I may say so, you are much more effective. I am tired of the rubbish that is posted on this blog under the name of open debate, its not, far from it. But I learnt early on that any attempt to use logic was wasted. So I challenged myself to structure a practical demonstration, the calm ZEN that Brian talks about, the peaceful debate about religion or churchlessness, how false and shallow it all is, and boy, how easily these waters stir up to lift the mud and sediment off the bottom.
I hope my point has been made, read my comment under Brians latest post if you need more explanation
Cheers
Posted by: JAP | August 09, 2009 at 08:47 AM
JAP,
Yes perhaps i do use humour to put ppl down, but its deserved here imo.
Just read that post above by $$$, i mean there is malice seeping out of every word.
Posted by: George | August 09, 2009 at 08:55 AM
Hi George
I meant my comment about humor in the nicest possible way, humor is a great tool and only few can use it the way you do, kind a special, its appreciated by me anyway.
Yes, $$$ is unacceptable, but Brian, under some pressure, has now removed it, although he did not seem concerned by it at all, strange!
Posted by: JAP | August 09, 2009 at 09:10 AM
Wow! Some people sure are taking these things way too seriously. Conspiracies, and blogging tyranny! What else? Will someone unveil Brian's secret plan for world domination through Church of the Churchless evil propaganda blog! Oh come on... Walker's comments here ( I'm not saying all of his comments ) were completely antagonistic and not in a good way of presenting a contrary opinion to further the debate. It's that simple. Let's not go in circles accusing one another of wrongdoings.
Posted by: Amaranth | August 09, 2009 at 09:28 AM