yes, this is they. they is us
Well, you can see by the comments on the post below that pointless internet drama is the catalyst for ever-more-random explosions of other pointless internet drama. There’s some sort of magnetic effect going on, in which the drama calls out to drama queens, and so you have a post about a fanblog at WordPress.com being taken down generating a rather heated (or icy, depending on your point of view) and completely unrelated 24 comments about the infallible superiority of the Echo commenting system, my unspeakable rudeness at DARING to insult the commenting system, etc etc.
So I wonder what kind of comments this will generate. It’s a comment thread on Gawker in which the whole thing was discussed again. The Baroness and I have nothing whatsoever in common, but we’ve always gotten along pretty well because we respect one another and don’t believe the world needs to be filled with people who are identical. I mean, how do people who agree on everything even HAVE discussions?
I think Monet died before he really hit his stride artistically.
Yup, he sure did!
End of conversation.
Anyway, here it is for good or ill. By the time I wake up tomorrow, this post will probably have 789 comments about how it’s all my fault NASA cancelled the space shuttle program or something. It’d be typical. Putting it over the jump so this page doesn’t become endless, but all the good stuff is there, INCLUDING THE DEADLY ASSASSIN.
Is Gawker ever going to comment on any of the Julia Allison nonsense?
@fatmonalisa: They there said they would prefer she didn’t get the attention.
Edited by Baroness at 01/06/11 6:54 PM@fatmonalisa: Ok, I see it’s worse than I thought. Maybe they should.
@Baroness: What is this?
@Baroness: Do you ladies have a link?
@tunamelt: I believe our friend Raincoaster has what you’re looking for. [raincoaster.com]
@fatmonalisa: I really hope not. Those were some of the most insufferable posts I’ve ever had the pleasure of skimming.
@DogsOfWar:
(Edit: I see your link approves of the shutting the site down, because whatever. Ok. )Here’s a good summary of what’s gone down.
Here is the exiles’ discussion. Some funny, some alarming stuff. Fake lawyer emails, psycho messages to the mods and at least one commenter- all anonymous!
[getoffmyinternets.net]href=”http://gawker.com/tag/comment/”>#comment-22104
Yeah, Gawker should be all over this.
WordPress looks pretty stank here.Edited by Baroness at 01/06/11 7:23 PM@Baroness: Thanks, that’s quite a bit more detail.
I guess the moral of the story is to just host things yourself. Though that does add cost and complexity you’re not forced to follow the whims of WordPress.com.
@fatmonalisa: Post it in tips. Maybe Max will pick it up in the overnight shift.
@DogsOfWar: I want those 10 minutes of my life back.
(Not a dig at you or raincoaster. Just…I need a break from the Web, I think.)
@Myrna_Minkoff: I know what you mean. At least raincoster got to the point by the second paragraph though.
@Baroness: It’s getting worse. Julia’s father sent a threatening letter
#crosstalk#tipsEdited by fatmonalisa at 01/06/11 9:15 PM@Baroness: It’s not a post about whether or not I approve of WP.com policy. It’s a post about how dense some people can be about inflexible policy, and how other people get dragged into others’ emotional dramas.
I’ve had my own dealings with WP.com on issues like this, which you can read all over my blog (particularly under the Censorship category). I’m not saying it’s right or wrong; I’m saying that if you violate the terms of service, BAM, this happens to you. It just always does.
You might also note I told them exactly how to get the site back online AT WordPress.com. The person arguing with me said Julia approved of the site and that was proven; that makes it simple if true: she just has to contact WordPress.com.
In fact, Julia has decided she doesn’t approve of the site, and she’s apparently exercised her right to report them for a violation of which they’re guilty. So the contract is null and void.
WP.com gave them an export file with everything in it. It’s easy enough to set up, either at Blogger for free or even at WordPress.com for free AS I SAID as a private blog. Private blogs don’t get reported.
And trust me, I put it in #tips. I put it there at dawn. And then I emailed Richard. Nothing.
Perhaps they’re waiting for something interesting to happen. That wacky letter might be just the thing.
@Myrna_Minkoff: I felt much the same and I had to LIVE it.
And then of course, being me I blogged it, because I knew it’d get hella hits, which it has. I think Gawker is just waiting for GOMI to stop crashing so they can write this up without linking to my site. The Dark Lord hates me, it seems.
@raincoaster: I hear you, RC, and your post was amusing (and I like your blog!). I guess it gets to the larger questions of how exactly it violated the TOS, and there’s no real answer at this hour. And I don’t think you’ve read about some of the peculiar threats the mods of it have been getting, as well as mere commenters there. It’s larger than the technicalities of the WP TOS, is the thing.
There’s a multi-pronged thing going on against RBNS it seems, and if JA succeeds in shutting them down, there are some larger questions. The mods will probably let it all go and fold. I see you have a distaste for the place, but there has to be an interesting story behind what’s gone on. Gawker should get on it, but .. the new direction is, no one cares about Julia Allison. They’re right! But it seems like a juicy story nonetheless, with the McCain boy being perhaps a factor, Gawker’s own run-ins with lawsuits and censorship.
Anyway.. it’s interesting.
@Baroness: Oh I have years, literally years of experience with WordPress.com and I can tell you exactly how in their eyes it violated ToS. It’s literally specifically the letter that Alana Joy posted and I reposted: that it’s a site dedicated to hating on a single person. Those blogs are specifically not allowed at WordPress.com, as you can see from this link:
(last line on the page is very specific)
I did see on GOMI the weird letters and threats and assorted chaos, but I didn’t want to touch that with a ten-foot pole. It’s not WordPress that is sending that stuff, and I really, REALLY do not want to get in the middle of this catfight between JA, RBNS, GOMI, etc, etc. You couldn’t go just halfway in and do the story justice, and I don’t want to go that deep in. My angle is just the WordPress.com thing.
I find fandom fascinating as a phenomenon, and Julia Allison, while completely non-interesting to me as a person is interesting as a phenomenon. I have no doubt at all Gawker WILL blog about this, but they’re probably dispatching Richard to the blog admin’s house with care packets of herbal tea, a flask of strawberry wine, cat toys, and a Mary Engelbreit collectible figurine so he can get the interview.
@raincoaster: I hear you. I disagree about the nature of fandom as you use it, though. I think they really do loathe her. Maybe she’s the prissy fake they all knew in high school, I don’t know.
“Julia Allison, while completely non-interesting to me as a person is interesting as a phenomenon. ”
Still, in 2011? For someone who presented herself on the cutting edge of tech, her “phenomenon” was quite a while ago, and an overstatement to begin with. What’s she doing now? She seems barely solvent.
Look, I don’t dislike her, and will admit to being an RBNS lurker because those bitches were funny. But the shutting-down of that place goes beyond TOS, WP, and the Twitter exchanges you’re dwelling on. It’s a bit beside the point.
It’s testing the extent of free speech- believe it or not, most posts weren’t libellous obscene jihads. They were quotidian bitcheries. I’m wondering if you know her personally, actually. Nothing wrong with that. I’ll bet she’s fun. But there’s a lot about this whole thing that stinks.
@Baroness: I respect you but I don’t understand your point about the shutting-down. I know the guys at WordPress.com personally. Have known them for years. For them, it really is just about that. They got a report of a violation, they shut it down. Someone reported the new one, they shut it down. That’s how they operate and they don’t get involved in Byzantine vendettas or reputation management or anything.
Not to say such things aren’t going on. I’m just saying that it isn’t specifically why the blog got shut down. Somebody reported it, after all. However sweeping their mandate may be, for WP.com it was a simple matter.
Get my smelling salts! Teh Intarwebs are getting up my nostrils
As for free speech, I’m a strong advocate of it and my record will speak for itself on that. What I’m saying is that it is unrealistic to pretend this is a moral question: it’s a legal one.
Do they have the right to say everything they did? Absolutely.
Do they have the right to force WordPress.com to publish it? No, they don’t.
It’s not a censorship situation like the Satanic Verses. I’m quite sure the contract with the publisher didn’t specifically exclude books which would offend Islam; if it had, they’d have been perfectly within their rights to pulp the books.
In agreeing to the Terms of Service, Reblogging Nonsociety lied. They said they wouldn’t set up a site devoted to taking down one person, and they set up a site specifically devoted to this exact thing. I can’t get behind that.
As for Julia Allison, I don’t know her personally. I do know a couple of people she’s met. I also find it hilarious that someone on GOMI thought she might be having an affair with Matt. She’s no more his type than she’s my type. Someone very wise once said she’d make a very good Pretty Third Grade Teacher. I think that’s about right. In the meantime, she’s that inner third grade teacher trying on the outside to be a cross between Paris Hilton and a William Gibson character, and she just doesn’t have it in her, on either side.
She reminds me of those 23-year-olds in PR and restaurant marketing that stand around at parties hoping their hair looks good.
But the phenomenon: yes, that is still interesting. If you think the fame maelstrom around her has wound down, look at the kerfuffle over this blog deletion! Look at some social media “guru” going apeshit in my comments section over (of all things) my preferences in commenting systems. These are side-effects of fame.
There’s someone quite famous following me on Twitter, and it’s equal parts amusing, amazing, and revolting to watch how the fangirls treat him. Every morning a cadre of them wake up and say “@famousperson I hope it’s a great day where you are.”
Okay, fine, but then they go on with “I’m gonna clean the litterbox hahahaha @famousperson”. And “@catlady i no! i wuz so mad!!! those were my best doilies! @famousperson”.
And then, at the end of each night, a special “Good night, sweet @famousperson”. From every one of these women, many of whom are friends on Twitter. It’s quite fascinating to watch, and very educational. For half a second, the fangirl cadre thought he and I were dating, and I got included in the @’d all damn day, which skeeved me out so much I had to post on Twitter and my blog that we weren’t. Poof, it stopped.
Also, I lost 100 or so new followers right then, but easy come, easy go, eh?
See? All this fandom stuff does fascinate me, far more than the stars themselves do, however bright, or however faded.
Well, with the exception of Julian Assange. I’d far rather mess around with him than with this stuff any day. Guess that damn US government must have erased my contact data from his Macbook, eh?
Oh, still here? Well just to top off a perfect day, the blog network went down, the cat puked on the sofa, so I cleaned it up and went downstairs to get into the cosy, clean bed, and who should join me there but a FUCKING BLACK WIDOW SPIDER? at which point I swear like a drunken sailor at it, shake it off my computer cord, and bolt back upstairs, tweeting as I go of course.
Whereupon I receive this, from Rob Cottingham the social media strategist/satirist/artist. And that really did make it all better for awhile.
Clearly Julia Allison's enemies have become more creative
raincoaster 
….but at least Black Widow spiders are pretty — all glossy black, adorned with red belly bling.
It has been dully murdered, for you.
DAMN YOU FOR THIS COLD SNAP, RAINCOASTER!!! AND WHY DID YOU HAVE TO KILL ALL THE BIRDIES IN ARKANSAS?!?!????? WHATEVER, OUT OF HERE!
“Dully murdered?” Your husband bored it to death? I can believe that.
“And this one time, I was reading Canadian Cynic, and…”
BN, its NOT MY FAULT!
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It was because you insulted her not the commenting platform, by saying she should do whatever you said like a normal person, you were saying she wasn’t. And you were wrong anyway. Why do you keep saying she got mad about the commenting when she made it clear she was mad you were needlessly rude to her. Are you retarded?
[IP 75.85.1.59, same as Alana Joy]
Also don’t you see how by writing all this crap you are the same exact beast as any RBNSer? You seem to get off on people “driving up your comments”, it’s kind of pathetic. Link/Cat Lady bait. Ew.
[IP 75.85.1.59, the same as Alana Joy]
Well, now you’re saying she was insulted because I said she wasn’t normal. Indeed I said that, but since in her second comment on my site she said:
Normal is average and average is nothing I want to be.
Best,
AJ
So, if I had called her a normal person she says she’d have been insulted. And if I’d called her a not-normal person, you say she’d have been insulted.
What I’m saying is, she was spoiling for a fight and won’t take the rap for it.
By all means, continue to drive up my comments. My “evil plot” is working.
I believe I’m expected to say “Mwahahahahaha” at this point. So, here goes:
Mwahahahahahahahaha
See what you’ve done now?
You started it being a dickwad to someone you don’t know and you blame her for reacting? She wasn’t looking for anything you were.
You are as pathetic as your ass is large.
[IP 75.85.1.59, the same as Alana Joy]
A fanatic is one who can’t change his mind and won’t change the subject.
Winston Churchill
I made a crack about a commenting system. A couple of days ago now. It’s time to get over it, all of you.
Right on with that quote and that would be you. Any decent person would admit it was douchey to say, would own they were wrong about the stupid commenting system (you were), and STFU. You? You write another blog and mention it and point the finger where you started the bull shit. You’re disgusting.
[IP 75.85.1.59, the same as Alana Joy]
Do they not have enemas where you come from? Because I think you could benefit from increased regularity.
Oh, I forgot. “Mwahahahahahahaha.”
Why are you bullying this poor girl Raincoaster? You made a mistake, her commenting was fine she showed it. You were ignorant to then insult her. Just say you’re sorry. You really are. Sorry.
[IP 75.85.1.59, the same as Alana Joy]
ps Ugliest websites I’ve ever seen from a self-proclaimed pro.
[IP 75.85.1.59, the same as Alana Joy]
Whoever told you I was a website designer was as demented as the rest of you. Where are you getting your information from, a randomizer?
Baroness know’s what she’s talking about. You don’t ‘get it’ anywhere do you?
YAY MORE COMMENTS FOR YOU
[IP 75.85.1.59, the same as Alana Joy]
Wouldn’t a pro have a pro site? Oh.
[nice work changing the IP from 75.85.1.59 to 166.205.137.229 but I already found AND POSTED the other one in all your comments. It’s still Alana Joy, pretending to be two other people. Professional?]
Alana Joy, you’re being ridiculous. Commenting with three separate user IDs? All tracing to the same URL?
You need to get off the internet and into a life.
Ok Sherlock Holmes I’m not Alana and I never posted any URL. What’s your diagnonsense?
IP 166.205.137.229
Ah, you caught me in a mistake: I meant IP, of course. Why is your IP the same as hers or was, right up until I started editing the comments to include it, so anyone could see for themselves?
You’re psycho and pasting an IP into my comments/editing them and saying I’m her? Found a true Internet freak.
[raincoaster sez: Why has your IP suddenly changed to 166.205.137.229, the same as Deceptacon just changed to? I’m just really curious; it seems such an odd coincidence. iPhone?]
For anyone who comes across this post (no one), this heiffer is editing comments. Meaning zero credibility. If I take this girls side I must be her? I think you’re a nutcase bullying for no reason. IP addresses? Get a hobby. Next time, one you’re good at.
IP 166.205.137.62
Alana, you’re embarrassing. If not to yourself, presumably to your clients. Stop using a sock puppet army to lecture other people about professionalism, ethics, and having a life. If you don’t mind, I have four blog posts to make tonight. I’m busy. Go away.
Or, keep feeding my comments section. You can see by the Whosamungus widget that your penny-ante drama draws viewers like rotten meat draws flies. It’s up to you; just don’t blame me for your choices.
Including this one.
Who edits peoples comments pasting in someone else’s IP and throwing accusations based on that? You’re an idiot. You were from opening line to now. 12 whole people look at tour site because you tweeted your sick little lies in my comments on your page and you get a hard on.
[IP 166.205.137.62 which is indeed a mobile service provider. Looks like she IS posting from her phone]
Thanks for your continued interest in my website. You must sure like it an awful lot. Come back soon!
My reputation among my blog readers, twitter followers, Gawkerites and WordPress users speaks for itself. You, I point out, have no reputation other than the one you’ve earned in the comments on this post. You may wish to consider the implications of that.
I’ve edited ALL of your comments, to add the IP from which it was posted. Nothing more, other than a few remarks identified by square brackets as the editor’s. Anyone who’d read your comments earlier can see this, and in fact so can you; you cannot point to a single instance where I’ve edited your comments to change what you have said. Because I haven’t. I don’t do that. Only three days ago in the technical support forum I explained that I’ve used the comment editing twice in four and a half years at WordPress.com: once to edit out a child’s phone number, and once to post the IPs of the Scientologists, who were the last people who tried to pull this shit on me. They learned faster than you, Alana Joy.
Please keep my name out of your psychosis. I haven’t been to your website since yesterday. Why your blog keeps appearing in my dashboard as having linked to mine, and including my name for no reason is beyond me. Believe it or not, there are people online who don’t like it when people like you try to instigate drama towards someone who doesn’t know you and has done nothing to you. You obviously offended more than just me. I’m not sure why you would edit these people’s comments for ANY reason. I have never done that in my life on any of my sites, it’s probably the most unethical thing one could do.
As far as reputation goes, my reputation both personally and professionally is stellar and I do have one that goes beyond your rudimentary little blog. Pardon me for not knowing you are as a Gawker commenter, however people know of me from plenty of other places. What’s your point? If you could find another target that would be fabulous! Because this is truly the most disturbing personal attacks online I’ve had in some time.
Thanks so much.
~ AJ
You’re lying, Alana. It’s that simple.
I’m sure “your people” will believe you and mine will believe me, but we both know exactly what’s going on here and it’s ridiculous. Your behavior yesterday under your own name was bad enough, but this is just so Internet Drama 201 that you should be ashamed of yourself.
Yes, I can see people know you from many other places. You’re a Myspace curator; they must mostly know you from the Wayback Machine.
I’ve hosted a webseries, was featured last night on CNBC, have worked with quite a few major brands, won awards, spoken at conferences and accomplished quite a bit that I don’t expect you to know about, in your Gawker commenter fame bubble. Thanks for trying to belittle one of my gigs like that’s all I could possibly have done. I don’t care really. MY reputation speaks for ITSELF. And you are…?
Please stop harassing me for no reason. This is just creepy. How did you even find me in the first place? I don’t even know you! What’s your fixation all about? Please just move on with your life and leave me to mine.
You don’t just have issues, you have a lifetime subscription. I need to just not come back to see what a troll has to say. This is too weird.
Thanks for the resume and the “final” good-bye.
That’s just what you said yesterday, though.
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It’s pathetic the way you are slandering this woman. Arbitrarily pasting an IP address into comments is not only wrong but proof of nothing. It’s nauseating how you seem to be enjoying your sudden boost in comments, likely attempting to make some name for yourself lashing out at those more successful than you. Let me guess, I am Alana as well? What is my IP?
It’s also laughable that you were ranting about having multiple personalities online and are now saying that is what she has done. Yet she blogs under hew own name and you under a handle. Condescending snide words were met with the same and you act like there is some victim stance for you to take. Grow up and leave these people alone. You’re awful, writing about fan-dumb and doing it yourself.
And the nature of the slander is… what, exactly? That she’s acting ridiculous? That’s a remark I’ll stand behind 100%.
You are not the Baroness.
Your IP is 174.140.161.16 which is dynamic and traces to Portland, Oregon. The funny thing about Alana’s IP is, it’s not dynamic. That means that everything coming from her IP is coming, in fact, from her computer itself. It’s coming from one static connection to the internet, unlike most IPs.
Her name is Baroness. Mine is Dutchess. How am I impersonating anyone? I see you do think I am Alana too on your Twitter. Funny right here you prove I’m not. Desperate bullying.
Ah, it’s been a long night. You’re right, you’re a complete original in every way.
No, I don’t think you’re Alana. I just think you’re someone else who’s got too damn much time on her hands and probably too many cats. Now shut up and go away.
Although it IS nice to feel like I have a public. You’re reading my comments to other people on Gawker’s Crosstalk and following my tweets. You know, my own sister doesn’t bother following me so closely. Perhaps you should re-examine your own choice to do so.
But you said on Twitter:
@allegras FOUR now. She’s impersonating an existing, person on Gawker. Out of her depth if she thinks she can take on the Baroness I tell ya
You’re making things up and that is slander.
No one’s impersonating anyone but you’re saying that to people and saying it’s all coming from her. Liar.
Gawker comments? No. Just here.
Your ego is awe inducing.
Oh, okay. You’re only following the comments on my blog and my Twitter.
Go ahead, sue me. Take me literally, “Dutchess.” Sue me for slander. Because the first of many things I’ll school you on is how to spell “Duchess.”
As for thinking you’re Alana and then thinking you’re maybe not: well, I’m not sure either way (hey, you’d be the first to say there’s no proof…either way) but I’m within my rights to change my mind. It’s a woman’s prerogative, both in her blog and in her Twitter stream.
One thing I DO know is, you’re not in the Baroness’ league, and you’re really nothing but a low-level griefer. As I said elsewhere, there seems to be an endless supply of your type, and I’d say it was because of a breeding program somewhere, but that would imply that one of you pointless drama queens had gotten laid at some point, an assertion for which there is, naturally, no evidence whatsoever.
My family is Dutch, fucktard.
You’ve already been caught in lies. You can tell people some commenter is impersonating someone else, stirring up drama. You can tell people one girl has done it all. Outright lies. Tell one story there and another here. And just snark your way out of it. Doesn’t make you less of a liar.
How many times have I been “Caught” telling people to give it a rest, give up, go away, and stop fucking trolling?
Let me make this clear: I am not baiting you. I don’t want you. I don’t want your type. I don’t want your comments. I don’t want your hits. I ONLY want entertaining trolls, like the Albanians. The Albanians were, in comparison, entirely awesome.
https://raincoaster.com/2006/07/22/review-o-the-day-aa-gill-on-barnes-grill/
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Raincoaster = Vitriol spewing loser with an ego but nothing to back it up.
A ‘professional’ celebrity blogger actually makes a living off of it. That’s what makes them a professional. Get some perspective, but note that it’s very challenging not to post a comment telling you what a d-bag you are.
@S.A.D. Yes U R
Wow! I say you are very small piece of work that needs a whole lot of work to be able pass yourself off anything other than a troll.
Well, whatever else I am, I am making a living at my blogging. Weren’t you going to run off and read FakeRaincoaster instead? Do that: she uses small words.
Seriously, people, is this it? Is this your A Game? This is pathetic. I haven’t gone Full Raincoaster on you because you’re not interesting enough to deserve it. This is the lamest trolling thread that this blog has ever had the misfortune to host; you people are just sad. Your vocabularies are cribbed from junior high school yearbooks, and your thoughts have all the originality of a fight scene in a Harlequin romance.
TT, thanks, as always. Don’t you miss the good trolls, like the Mummified Fairy thread? It’s pretty sad when elementary school children outclass you without even trying.