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.
Related Posts
-
Google Does Evil: The Rise of Brain-Damaged Pundits
The Google/China dispute has dragged on too long. Non-stop commentary has spawned legions of brain-dead pundits roaming the streets and looking for media exposure.58 Comments
