[Closed] Legitimate to "out" forum users?

Name 'n shame Mitch. Go on. Go on. Go on.

I recently overheard a prominent stw'er is also a member of a dogging website. NO I wont name names but I want to know how this person...found out..

This is definitely not me.... I'm not prominent.

DD - it wasn't one of the usual suspects, but other than that, I don't want to risk opening up that particular can of worms again. For what it's worth, I think he had previous.

Ok, fairy Nuff Mitch.

As for outing people, I think a more justifiable outing is of plastiques on sports threads. 🙂

Mitch Fred?

God no, Fred was a mate of mine.

I've had the random emails sent from folks on here having a go. I too know the identity of the mysterious dogger.

Munqe-chick - Member
Cougar that's acceptable,

POSTED 3 HOURS AGO # REPORT-POST

You think, I'm not sure thats legal.

binners - Member

There are some right slimey little cowards all over the Internet. Including Here too. I've had someone go out of their way to pull a right devious little stunt on me that impacted on me, pretty seriously, in the real world. All anonymously of course, like the weasel they are. I've a pretty good idea who it was. Maybe one day our paths will cross. I do hope so.

I've also had emailed death threats. Seriously. I shit you not! obviously I was really really scared! Someone hates me that much, they were prepared to go to the drastic length of sending a threatening email!!!! Eek!!! They must really mean business!!

I have only had nasty emails from three forum dwellers so far, smurfmatt, the great Fred & some tune who still post's so I wont mention his name as last time he reported me & I got banned.

You need to choose your mates carefully binners 😉

I met up with Hora once in a car park with a view to assasinating him, but bought a nearly new frame instead. 😉

I feel so impotent. Nobody ever threatens me 🙁

All the (many) emails I get are to tell me just how splendid they think I am. Admittedly, most of those are from Mrs Darcy, but.....

richpips - Member

I met up with Hora once in a car park with a view to assasinating him, but bought a nearly new frame instead.

A nearly new frame from Hora, well I never...

Find it a little bit bonkers that folk would take a forum argument so seriously.

I find it more bonkers that someone would make the effort to email someone directly....

It is the Internet.

It is not real life.

I couldn't disagree more.

This tired old argument gets trotted out regularly, and it implies that the people you're interacting with are nothing more than NPCs in a computer game. It's a fallacy.

The medium is irrelevant. You're still dealing with real people. If I rang you up and gave you a load of abuse, would it be ok because it's "just a telephone, it's not real life"? Of course not. You should treat people with the same degree of respect whether you're face to face, on the Internet, or using any other medium. Even if you decide that that respect is "none at all", the medium shouldn't change that.

Last time I looked it was not compulsory to log into an Internet forum, just sayin like.

It's not compulsory to answer your phone - does that mean if I ring you and launch a tirade of abuse it's ok, because its not real life?!

What about your front door?

No defence at all.

Just saying...

Last time I looked you can hang up on the phone, and shut your front door. There's always an answer.

Some folk need to chill out on both sides.

Last time I looked it was not compulsory to log into an Internet forum, just sayin like.

And yet, here you are.

I think I'm going to add "just saying" onto my list of weasel phrases that includes "no offence" and "I'm not racist but".

Binners if I found myself in a situation like you describe I would be having a word with myself no really
If you are attracting that sort of toss then you need to walk away from the keyboard man.

What cougar said.

Last time I looked it was not compulsory to log into an Internet forum, just sayin like.

Last time I looked you can hang up on the phone, and shut your front door. There's always an answer.

You can run away from someone trying to stab you.
So that must be ok too.

Seriously badly thought out.

Well done cougar took you less than 5 mins to start insulting. You have to laugh.

Well, that's ok, it's only the internet. It's not like it's real.

Forums. Get incensed by all means if you're some newb.

Else just see that some people (the majority) are straight up, some think they are being clever with witty one liners, and some are anti the vibe of where they've found themselves, their only consolation being that someone replies to them.

If I could just wade in uninvited in the real/not real discussion, I think that is the use of anonymous usernames that makes it a bit more like a game than real life. The very limited possibility of suffering any real consequences lets the truly odd people really go to town...

I've had sexually charged emails from:

Junkyard

His name used to conjour-up images of a sweet if not slightly argumentative (possibly senile) old man. It now has male whorehouse undertones that, TBH, I'm finding a tad disturbing...

<glitchbump> And for what its worth, the worst I've had was being signed up to some interesting new mailing lists... which to be fair made me chuckle.

I think that is the use of anonymous usernames that makes it a bit more like a game than real life.

No different if you're around for a while. You'll be found out, maybe not your real name etc, but you'll have a profile.

It now has male whorehouse undertones that, TBH, I'm finding a tad disturbing...

His were some of the most disgusting I can tell you. If you'd like a copy then email me at deadl[b][NOPE, modz][/b]

No different if you're around for a while.

People say stuff on here that they wouldn't post for example on FB, all the time, it's part of the attraction of a forum.

If the only thing that guides your moral compass is the risk of consequences, well, see the religion threads.

People say stuff on here that they wouldn't post for example on FB, all the time, it's part of the attraction of a forum.

I kinda see what you're getting at. Then again, I probably say things with my mates when we're having a beer that I wouldn't say at a wedding. It doesn't give me an excuse to be abusive to strangers (unless, lime some strangers here, they deserve it).

A quick scan and you're in Shropshire.

Sorry, but COMPLETELY disagree. If you've been around for a while, yes people on here 'know' you, but it isn't linked to real world consequences

If I was after you of course. 😉

Haha Richpips, but Shropshire's quite big, and I've absolutely no vested interest in staying covert. You may be knocking on doors for some time. I see your point, but mine stands...

Cougar, I completely agree personally, but this is the human race we are talking about...

DD; I'm not excusing the behavior, it ranges from unacceptable to abhorrent in my mind. I'm just offering an explanation for it.

Oh, and i'm not even suggesting that the quasi-anonymous nature of the internet forum is a bad thing, it certainly allows for a more frank and interesting exchange of views than would otherwise be possible... See; politics threads.

Cougar, I completely agree personally, but this is the human race we are talking about...

Sure.

Which is why, like other antisocial viewpoints, it's worth challenging.

I view forums as something fun to do when i'm bored.
If the weather is nice then i'll be out with my dogs, riding my motorbike or cycling....if the weather is crap or its a slow work day then forums can be good fun.

Sadly some people (lets call them losers) confuse internet banter and the risque attraction that comes with the forum anonymity for real life interaction.
This is pitiful, people who get angry over what a stranger says to them on a forum should pour themselves a drink and reconsider their priorities....i often wonder how these delicate flowers get through life when just about anything can cause such offence.

Internet forums are fun, if you're not having fun step away from the keyboard and do something else with your time.

"people who get angry over what a stranger says to them on a forum should pour themselves a drink.."

There's yer problem 😉

I think I'm going to add "just saying" onto my list of weasel phrases that includes "no offence" and "I'm not racist but".

cougar +1

and my all time fave:

"It's not that I think it's wrong, but what will other people say"

But the flip side of the people who get too upset is the people who say really offensive things because they'think what they say doesnt matter or are out of reach of a well-deserved slap. Personally I'm pretty relaxed about all this Internet stuff because I know there is an infinite number of dingbats with net access and it's not my job to correct them all (even if I knew the answer).

It's all "real life", though.

I'd suggest that what goes on in an internet forum is not 'real life'....my family, friends and colleagues matter to me (and it that order too)....everybody else is just passing through my life....and personas on a forum arent even people i'm ever going to meet.

To get upset by a complete stranger is bizarre.
If somebody has no bearing on your physical day to day life then they are insignificant....why would you let somebody that insignificant upset you?!

I had somebody email me to tell me they wouldn't like to think of me being allowed to teach children....because I pointed out to them(by email) the wheels they had just offered me were actually more expensive than new retail. My suggestion of surprise that anybody had ever had actually shown an inclination to HAVE children with them brought an offer to drive from, I think Kent, to the North East coast of Scotland to sort me out.Oh and as BarnsleyMitch said, don't get me started on what you get emailed if you have any religious belief(I used to)and dare to say so on here.

yeah, but you can also have physical real life workmates who are inconsequential arseholes with a refuse site for a mind, who you could happily not come across ever again. And people (and they are people) on a forum can come across as quite likeable and likeminded. Just saying..

Its all real life.

Humans are a social animal, its in our very nature to be driven to interract with others, and to a large extent we measure our self worth by what others think of us (although we don't like to admit to it).

Internet forums are just another channel of communication, relatively new so we're still working out the rules, but no less 'real' than sending a letter, talking on the phone, or chatting to a stranger in the street.

Of course you will take an insult differently from someone you don't know than you would from a family member or close friend, but that's not to say that insults from strangers can be dismissed as harmless. In fact, random and seemingly motiveless acts of malice can be some of the most disturbing, because they go against our innate sense of 'fairness', defy our ability to rationalise them, and are the most difficult to mount a defence against ex post.

It's also why random acts of kindness from complete strangers can be one of the most rewarding of experiences!

True, the anonymity of internet forums gives a certain freedom to express views and display emotions that we might not be comfortable with in other circumstances, and this can be seen as a good thing. But it shouldn't be used as an excuse for antisocial beahaviour that wouldn't be tolerated in other media, or to pretend that insults or threats somehow 'don't matter', just because you haven't physically met the person you're making them to (yet!).

Just sayin... 😉