Just a quick announcement similar to the ones I’ve already made on Google Buzz and Twitter:
Quite a few friends and acquaintances have recently informed me that someone is going around the internet, mostly on blogs and news sites relating to China, intentionally posting comments under my name. Naturally, these comments are categorically offensive and they misrepresent my views and positions. If you see a comment elsewhere (not on china/divide) that appears to be from me, I can almost guarantee that it is not actually by me.
This impostor originally started on several blogs I have a history of regularly commenting on, such as chinaSMACK, ChinaGeeks, and ChinaHush. Prior to that, the impostor was a regular troll of mine who would literally follow me around on various blogs insulting me and calling me names, including CNReviews and here at china/divide. I don’t know when or where this guy originally developed his infatuation with me because he has used different names and identities over the past few years, and continues to do so. As you can imagine, it thus takes awhile to realize that this new guy who is harassing you is actually the same guy as before. Of course, after a few episodes, I can piece it together, especially after he does something or another to give himself away. Then he changes names and comes back another day.
Why would someone go through all this trouble and to such an extreme? Well, I’m sure it must’ve begun with some disagreement over some China issue or another. However, unlike the vast majority of my other detractors who have the base maturity to simply disagree with me or keep their disagreement confined to the level of a personal dislike, his grudge is apparently so strong it compels him to go around trying to smear me, first under a variety of fake aliases (including both male and female names, Western and Chinese names) and now under my own name.
The idea, ostensibly, is to alienate me amongst the people who run websites about China or regularly read websites about China, earning me enemies and giving as many other people as he can the wrong impression about who I am and what I believe. Sometimes he tries to make me look like a China apologist while at other times he tries to make me look like a China basher. He also enjoys making me out to be a racist bashing other countries and peoples.
Initially, an easy way to tell if a comment made under my name was really by me was by checking for my avatar/profile-picture and whether or not my name linked to china/divide. Unfortunately, the moment someone else pointed that out upon seeing one of the imposter’s comments, the impostor started adding the link and moved onto blogs where the comments don’t include commenter profile pictures.
I really appreciate many of my friends and fellow bloggers for catching some of his comments made under my name and recognizing them to be very unlike me, notifying me, and then doing what they can to help stop him. Unfortunately, while each blog can easily ban him, there’s probably no way to completely stop him short of him giving up himself (which seems unlikely if he’s been doing this consistently over the past few years and goes to such extremes as multiple identities, sock-puppetry, and actually posing as me). He’ll just go onto another blog and continue. If you’re a blogger and you’re willing to try, please contact me directly and I’ll share with you a few things you can do. You may even find other aliases he’s been using on your blog.
Overall, I’m going to stop commenting on blogs and websites in general, apart from a handful where I know the owners are moderating against my imposter. While this is unlikely to prevent those unfamiliar with me from developing the wrong impression of me from my impostor’s fake comments everywhere else, at least those of you who already know me won’t confuse the imposter’s comments as mine. As is, I typically blog my reactions these days or comment on stuff through Google Buzz. So, if you see a comment that appears to be from me on some blog here or there, please do me a favor and openly reply to it suggesting that it is my impostor. It may not do much to stop the guy but at least it’ll bring in some doubt, which is better than nothing.
Just for fun: Every single one of us (often at different times and in different situations). The above image is from this great collection. Might be interesting to see which ones you self-identify with and which ones your detractors will label you with. :)
In other news: Sorry for the light posting around here lately. Think of it as the calm before the storm.
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I got you good. I even did things you didn’t know about. You’ve got a nice profile on gay.com.
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lol
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You forgot the part about ordering extra large pizzas and pr0n sent on behalf of Kai.
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I can see an “All about Eve” scenario developing here.
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Impostor eh? That’s pretty convenient.
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Convenient for what?
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Parties, get-togethers, important business meetings, entertaining the kids at the zoo, etc
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am with you brother, 110%
If it is one thing I hate, its a “Faker” and school yard “bullies” too
I got your back!
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You need a tripcode, lol
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Kai… Through the Looking Glass, does your blog speak to a potentially new and most dangerous form of character assassination? As we all know, the China Wall has ears receptive to certain disruptive comments. Is it possible, certainly during the Great Cultural Revolution it was, that an impersonator could now purposely put an adversary–you–in jeopardy with the CCP from his laptop?
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You speak in riddles.
Sorry, just watched Prince of Persia (fun, recommend it).
Definitely character assassination, and it is definitely apparent that impostors are an inherent danger of blogging and commenting under your real name.
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Prob the same person/people who create sock puppets to vote themselves up on sites like Chinasmack when it had the voting system.
Kai you do get yourself into these long arguments with what I see are obvious troll attempts though. My guess is that one of the thin skinned China-bashers got upset at “losing face” when arguing with you on some website and decided that this is the best way to get back at you.
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The guy has created sock puppets on more places than just chinaSMACK and I know that because he did it on CNR and china/divide as well. This is definitely him getting back at me for not letting him continue calling me names or engage in sock-puppetry here.
I definitely do get myself into long arguments but in my defense, I do have some troll-dar. If I didn’t, I’d probably respond to a lot more comments, right? The problem with this guy is that he keeps changing names and then actually intentionally targets me for arguments. It takes me at least a few comments before I begin suspecting its the same guy and he usually gives it away when he begins focusing on personal attacks instead of the original subject that was in discussion. I’ll ignore him and then he’ll come back with a new name and the process repeats.
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Kai. I’m a bit lost on the tecnicalities here, but does this creature have an identifiable writing style. You could hide avators/names and most in the community here could identify the poster. This one is clearly a monomaniac…
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K-Dub, I can totally relate to this. Not nearly on the same scale, but I was posting here in Prague on a group blog a couple of years back — perhaps similar to the setup here at “divide” — and I had this twirp troll tail me around like a suppurating blood clot everywhere on that site. I could not dog the shitbird, it was astonishing. Couldn’t shake him and none of my witty dismissive remarks was enough to get the jackass to lay off. Didn’t even matter what the content or character of the argument I was making in the post; I could do no right in this guy’s eyes (if you want to read some of our legendary exchanges, I’ll email you some links offline). Somehow this cretin continually pelt me with ad hominem attacks and other veiled threats.
Someone — I’m not saying this guy, but it damn well looked as though it was — even went to the extent as to grab my namesake’s Twitter alias (sadly still not in my stable) in addition to somehow sussing out my cellphone number here through some inside connections at my provider and dogged me down everywhere I walked. I was getting fuck you calls at like 2am for a couple of weeks, and it was insane. At one point I started getting really concerned for my personal safety, just like in that film Talk Radio (starring the incomparable Eric Bogosian http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096219) which somehow made me realize that I wasn’t living in Kansas any longer. I was beginning to doubt the veracity of our democracy-aspiring ways in our completely uncorrupt and love-and-be-loved post-Communist Czech Lands ;-P
Let me assure you there’s *nothing* you can do against this person, who is likely a male. Women — and it’s so true — just don’t possess this sort of online vindictiveness or malice that so epitomizes the way fermenting internet bang males in China or the Diaspora like to operate. It’s got a male’s M.O. all over it. Moreover, the harder to try to shake them off, the more they’re going to come at you — so it’s time to erect hedgehog barriers along the path to our e-fortress, wield the equivalent of the Green Destiny in your hip pocket, and start working your shadow boxing in the event you’ve got to open a tin of whoop ass on some stalker who will likely want to take you out at the next intersection with a crowbar. I suggest you start doing pushups, situps, and stare at yourself in the mirror doing the equivalent of what those crazy Koreans do to psyche themselves up when a demo is called against the Dear Leader and his showerless DPRK minions.
In any event bro, I totally got your back.
If this were the Jets and the Sharks, I’d be your pipe-wielding wingman. If anyone dares to mess with you, there will be a reckoning.
I think all of us here are willing to take one in the chest cavity for you, Cap. We are all willing to take one for the team here.
All in agreement?
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Are you talking to King Tubby or me?
I appreciate you guys having my back just as I appreciate a lot of my fellow bloggers for tipping me off that something was afoot. I’m glad all these acquaintances weren’t made in vain.
For the sake of fairness to my fellow man, I do remember some horrible Facebook/MySpace stories involving women doing similar things. LoL, either way though, so far, he’s only escalated to being an imposter and hasn’t bothered me in real life (as far as I know).
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kedafu. Lux Interior and Ivy Rorschach. Songs the lord taught me.
*****A man has really got to know his limitations.****
Next time it will be my 100 lite version for you. However, continue with your homework, young master.
50c. OMG Give up those delusional substances….. I’m your friend, giving you really good advice. Best KT.
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I’m sure, er…scorned women are equally as capable of the vileness which is online stalking. I didn’t mean to preclude them from the fun. ;-) I just think that for a women to spend all her time in such a vindictive state of mind…it’s not in keeping with the trends. Not saying it’s impossible, but I think most of the hackers, trolls, and other online stalking dung-droppings are mostly male. Truth o’ the matter…
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Hi Adam. I think we had a recent misunderstanding…my bad as I have learnt to say. Got to admit when I left China I destroyed my pretty flash homepage with some pretty serious book reviews which took ages to write….but no one bloody read them anyway. It was a trivial site, but I could navigate the gismos. No FB, twitter or any other instant device.
Privacy yet being accessible is a hard gig.
Empathise with Kai’s rotten situation. He puts out the op pieces that enables the rest of us to vent in various ways.
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Song of the article and King Tubby,
Rock Superstar, Cypress Hill baby
desposit 50c to play
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Tubs, as Kai says…”you’re speaking in riddles…”
I don’t know what you’re talking about. The only “fallout” I know of is that you “condemned” me at my blog for having moderated comments, and I didn’t have a snappy-enough comeback for you so I left things fallow. I simply chose not to respond…
As far as I’m concerned, no harm, no foul, but the comment moderation at my blog stays. ;-) Especially after what I’m reading Kai’s been through of late…
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Kai, speaking as one the has several “evil dopplegangers” at the China Daily BBS – all created by one Darrell Coleman – do take some care. Depending on what vendetta this person has – he/she/they may attempt to attack you in real life, in terms of harrassing calls to your employers/family/friends. Furthermore, you may find that this person(s) may have a level guanxi to cover his/her/their butt if you decide to take legal action.
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All that over opinions on China? Yikes.
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No… more like objecting to him doing a hatchet job on a guy named Andrew Noseworthy (i.e. trying to get the police to arrest him on charges of pedophilia) – who helps run a site called http://www.gzstuff.com. After that, it was direct and personal attacks on me, my wife, and daughter – all using photos of myself that I have uploaded to the Internet.
As it stands – it has been a very uneasy truce between me, him, and the folks that run the site…
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Exactly what I was just telling him above, Matt. Right you are.
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Adam – was it an expat having a go at you or a native? If native, you’re right, you have few options. However, if an expat is at play… {evil smile} … you will not believe a report to that expat’s embassy will do. I found that very useful in dealing with a couple of other twits in past.
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I wonder how this would work, Matt? How would you even initiate something like that?
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It’s quite simple – if you have identified said twit’s nationality – you simply gather the posts, tapes of harassing phone calls, etc. – and then mail them to the twit’s consulate. He gets tabbed as an “issue”, and when he goes in for a visa extention, or any other business, he gets to play 50 questions with the consulate officals. This works better if you have copies of filed police reports.
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Hm… any reason why my gravatar hasn’t updated at your site Kai? Had to change it after Darrell decided to “coop” my last photo.
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It may be that the servers haven’t updated yet but double-check your settings just in case.
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Thanks Kai
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Brother “see and told”
tonight,
thee, night 21 years +
am getting my own
AVATAR!!
– give me few minutes—
you know how it is with a proxy server 在中国
50c
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I dont know about you,
but that is my Avatar!
you see it?
Pika-BOO!
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Does 50 cents really buy you enough crack to get THAT fucked up, Kedafu?
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WHAO sexy!
your a man who plays with fire, is that pic that you are using some sort of doctored photo or depicting some sort of real event… the kind of event which makes june 4 important to remember?
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Nothing happened on June 4th.
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That’s a fine idea indeed…I wonder, though, how much corruption would play a role in tearing the noble efforts asunder…I mean, I can totally see, like, the Canadian Embassy here in Prague not wanting to make a ruckus with some EU state given the tense relations between those two entities (the Canadians still require the Czechs, the Romanians, and the Bulgarians to seek visas before entering Canada, and these three countries are all EU Member States — I can explain why if you wish, though this is a bit beyond the purview of what I’d wanted to say). Rather than submit said harassing materials to the host country’s Ministry of the Interior (or something similar), the embassy in question may instead choose to withhold the documentation.
But it’s still a darn fine idea…and that’s presuming the “investigation” into who is in fact doing the harassing is identified and, moreover, that the law enforcement agency in the country in which we find ourselves actually enjoys working, instead of sitting on its fat ass. Though this is completely beside the point… ;-)
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Adam – it is all about the cage rattle – especially when said harrasser is not expecting blowback – I would suggest that you review the case of Pranknet and thesmokinggun.com, I think you will be surprised at how fast that group shut the hell up once law enforcement started to take a real look at their activities.
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http://www.popehat.com/2009/08/04/the-smoking-gun-exposes-the-vermin-of-pranknet/
Kai – have a feeling that your guy is probably someone that will hide behind mommie just as fast as Tarik did – only question is, is mommie CCP or PLA?
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I personally doubt it is someone involved with the Chinese government.
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Never underestimate the damage that a spoiled ’4-2-1′ brat (whose parents, or grandparents with party connections) can do Kai. Dealt with one before at the China Daily BBS, turned out he was the son of a former P.R Chinese Ambassador. Take Care.
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I was wondering what going on. I thought maybe you were really busy working like the average money makers in your craft.
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B-Real. Homework morning when I just came upon your posts on Chinahush re Kai’s imposter and your link back to my correction to this so-called Kai remarks about sex diseases and my response that STDs are in all neigbourhoods and have no respect for national boundaries.
Thought it was very unlike Kai to make such a stupid comment. Unfortunately, I was enoying an alcohol event when I pounded out my response (don’t recall looking for his avator at the time), but thought that the sex disease comment was out of character.
There were two other similar very short comments which also came to my attention.
I would go for Hank.
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I noticed this person, but I didn’t think it was an intentional imposter because it made a post somewhere that seemed to suggest it was female… I figured it was just a coincidence, like the Chinese person who shares my initials who has made some nationalistic posts on Stuart’s blog and elsewhere. But if he’s started adding the link, I guess it is intentional. What an odd person. Honestly Kai, you rub me the wrong way at times too (would you have been so full of praise for that “what’s wrong with Chinese teens” article if the exact same words were written by somebody who wasn’t Chinese, or would you say “hey, don’t get me wrong, all this is true, but you need to put it in context and realize that it’s not really that much different from anywhere else…”) but it’s hard to imagine that anyone would find you so objectionable as to do this.
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MAC,
I definitely know I rub people the wrong way at times. That’s an unavoidable consequence of having strong opinions, arguing for or defending, any side on divisive issues.
Strange, I was actually very critical of the “what’s wrong with Chinese teens” article on The Diplomat. Are you referring to the comment made by my impostor on the website itself? I ask because the only comments I made about that piece (and series) were on Google Buzz and, ironically, I said the author rubbed me the wrong way. I actually only discovered that post after someone asked me about “my” comment on the website because they thought it was uncharacteristic of me. I’ve never commented on The Diplomat before.
Sounds like my impostor has already succeeded in planting false impressions of me on you.
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Oh, yes, I guess I was fooled. I didn’t think it was the impostor because I haven’t seen that person make many simple, innocuous comments. Sorry.
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No worries. This guy isn’t stupid. Not all of his comments posted under my name are patently offensive. Sometimes they’re just patently offensive to me because they’re exactly what I wouldn’t think/say. And that’s pretty much one of his objectives, to mislead others into thinking I’m inconsistent, even hypocritical (I am hypocritical, just not in the ways he wants others to think I am).
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Was it the same guy on ChinaSACK that went by “Kai” but I pointed out that he didn’t have a link or picture with his name? I can’t remember what that guy said…
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He was actually using “Kai Pan” in Chinahush. I haven’t seen any imposters any other place.
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I’ve historically gone by Kai (instead of Kai Pan) on chinaSMACK but I’ve always had an avatar by my name there. I don’t recall seeing a comment like that but I haven’t been reading all the comment threads there lately, only a few here and there so maybe I missed it.
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It was months ago. You actually replied to it a bit later saying something tame like “there’s more than one person in the world named Kai” or something like that.
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Oh, I remember that one. That probably wasn’t my imposter and literally just someone who had the same name or wanted to use Kai as his nickname. My impostor only started last month or late April as far as I know.
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As posted on China media project,
“independently reported by Guangzhou Daily,
Southern Metropolis Daily, China News Service, the Information Times and Shanghai’s Xinmin Evening News — quoted the head of Guangzhou’s City Inspectors Committee (广州城管委), Li Yangui (李廷贵), as saying at an awards ceremony that the Guangzhou committee would build a system of internet commentators, “working together with relevant departments to strengthen processing and monitoring of online public opinion.””
so the question begged, is this an independant dude out to pick a fight, or do hired Internet commentators 五毛党 get credit even when they post under their targets’ names?
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OK, lmk what I need to do to defeat this troll on CNR.
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I haven’t seen everything the fake Kai has said, but some of it was pretty funny. I mean, it was funny in how he didn’t try to sound like the real Kai, he’d just say off the wall shit. I think to those who do read your stuff, its pretty obvious
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We have a different definition of funny! Either that, or I haven’t seen the funny stuff yet. I agree those who are familiar with me should probably think something is not quite right when reading the imposter’s comments, but he’s already managed to confuse a number of people who do read my stuff, at least on ChinaHush.
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-___________-
I recall similar instances on forums in China which don’t require account creation for posting comments…
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So was it you or the imposter who left a comment complimenting us on our new look?
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That was actually me. I momentarily forgot that I was under a self-imposed ban from commenting.