Answering a few questions

I do hope this is the only time I’ll have to address this meta. Over on Daily Kos, a user has stated that I, stormchaser, am both a Daily Kos user that goes by another nick and a sock of former Daily Kos user who was banned.    

I’m writing this both because I’ve been called out on that Daily Kos thread (which I shall not link) and to clear up an over two-year disinformation campaign against someone who is a dear friend.

More below the fold (please don’t jump if you’ve come to perpetuate strife…)

First, let me say this is not an essay to bash Daily Kos. It is a large blog and, as with all large sites, it has good and bad users.  

Here’s what it is about: A user has claimed that I, stormchaser, am both aggregatescience on Daily Kos and a sockpuppet of a former user, jhritz.  

I’ll put to rest first the claim about jhritz. I’m not her. I do know her, rather well, since we live together, and wrote about what she has been going through is this essay.  

The claim that was true: I was aggregratescience on Daily Kos.  I didn’t hide that from close friends. It was my nick there that I’d established over a year ago to obtain a TU so I could see what was in hidden comments — to determine whether the character assassination against my friend was continuing. I chose the different nick because too many knew of the stormchaser nick’s connection with her. I didn’t intend to engage there but did so because of friends there who were getting treated badly in I/P diaries. I ventured in to stand up for them.  

As some may know, I’m not overfond of the way the topic itself impacts a blog. I stand by my position against it being allowed here.  More on that below.

Whilst at Daily Kos, a particular user (I won’t name names) repeatedly jumped my threads to accuse me of being jhritz.  This user, who knew stormchaser was aggregatescience and had been told of my relationship with jhritz, made the leap (with contempt) that it must be the case that no one would live with my friend and that therefore I must be her.

That user, during those hijacks, repeated other lies about my friend. To say it pissed me off would be an understatement. It was also illuminating and became an experiment on my part to see how much I could learn about the lies that have continued to be spread and to uncover who exactly were the bad actors keeping the lies alive against someone who didn’t deserve it (no one, of course, deserves it).

What I learned, through an inadvertent comment by a user who meant well, was that the user jumping my threads had been telling other users that my friend fabricates identities, had fabricated her own father’s obituary and that she had sent out emails outing other users.  

She did none of this.  

I suppose I should explain for those unaware of the debacle two years ago. My friend got into a bad dichotomy on Daily Kos with users over I/P wars.  She didn’t deal with it well, imo, but also didn’t deserve the harassment that came out of it (also imo).  

It came to a head when she told a user to leave her alone because her father was dying.  Where it went from there was a nightmare. Users took turns accusing her of lying about her father — whilst he was on his deathbed.  Another posted part of her parent’s phone number. That user was banned, as were all users involved, including my friend.  She moved on. The others did not.  

The lies that have been spread out of that incident have become viral. Any user who attempted to set the record straight was instantly accused of being my friend with the assumption that she wouldn’t have any friends who would stand up for her.  

That’s where they’re wrong. There are plenty who are right furious (including myself) about how she’s been misrepresented. In fact, the only person in this entire debacle who has stayed out of it is my friend and, for the record, there is no way she would post on any site that won’t treat her with proper respect.    

But it’s not only the banned users who have been perpetuating this. The user who went after me on Daily Kos was not shy about repeating those lies and even expanding on them.  When I brought that to the attention of my friend, she passed on a question to an administrator as to why was this continuing and to explain to her how what that user was doing is any different than the users who were banned for the same lies two years earlier.  

The administrator’s response was to accuse her of being me (which earned me a wtf? from her 🙂 and to discontinue aggregatescience’s handle on Daily Kos. It was after that, the Daily Kos user then brought stormchaser into the mix with posted accusations, which is why I’m answering as stormchaser here.  

I would like that to be the end of it. Given the nature of what I encountered, I have my doubts it will be, but there it is. I do ask the users who have been getting so much enjoyment out of lying about my friend to consider that she is the only one not engaging with them. Those of us who care for her, and there are many, are telling you we have nothing but contempt for the lot of you and that we will continue to stand up for her.

One last thing before I let this go.  For those who have gotten to know me as aggregatescience, for good or ill, I am stormchaser here. I don’t like I/P on Docudharma because the blog is too small to handle the repercussions. If you have leftover animosity toward aggregatescience, I ask that you start fresh with stormchaser here.

If, otoh, you were friends with aggregatescience, I sincerely hope you’ll consider coming to Docudharma (I call it dharmakarma 🙂 so we may continue our discourse.  It’s up to you, but I would like it.

John