Is this blog too dangerous?

This blog gets many in Skypeland extremely angry. I often wonder if I should tone it down, censor the blog, remove controversial posts or even stop writing the blog entirely.

Today a friend sent me this message:

[9:30:46 AM] J says: hot hot hot the blog is

[9:31:00 AM] J says: a hot potato be carefull

[9:31:48 AM] J says: i like you dont want anything to happend to you

I asked which post he was referring to, and J indicated that it was the blog post entitled "Troll follies". J said that he knew the person who motivated this post, and J asserted that this person is very dangerous. I do agree that the person who inspired this post is a bit of a menace, and poses a threat to others in a variety of ways, which is why I avoid him for the most part.

Not only does any involvement with this person represent a hazard, but in all likelihood he is mentally ill, as I interpret the evidence.

In addition, he has a very long ugly record that he is attempting to avoid. He is only partially successful about hiding the truth about himself, which he stuggles to do by telling one lie after another. Unfortunately, after enough mendacity, discrepancies start to emerge. And therefore, the troll resorts to making death threats when the underlying inconsistencies and contradictions in the image he is trying to create for himself are exposed. He sputters and stutters and stammers and makes up even more flagrant falsehoods in a generally ineffectual effort to explain himself and bolster his stance. Frankly, these lame exertions are almost always a failure, and are even comical.

Of course, if I remove the outrageous material, the blog will be far less interesting. And my audience will suffer.

Why might people dislike this blog?

*People do not like me to describe what they say, even if their identities disguised, since they probably think my writing makes them look ridiculous or they believe I have misquoted them. Of course, many times I only write down an approximately accurate version of what was said, sometimes because I am not able to take notes fast enough, and sometimes because I cannot understand what has been said because of accents and technical problems. I have frequently stated that my accounts are not direct word-for-word transcriptions.

*People are insulted when they read my opinions of their behavior and views; particularly those who don't want to be challenged about their conspiracy theories, or antiSemitism, or Holocaust denialism, or White Supremacist claims or Islamic extremist beliefs or other positions. They are willing to threaten to kill others who disagree with them in conversations, so obviously they will not like it when I show that I disagree with them in this blog. Why would anyone expect anything any different?

*In some cases people attack me or threaten me in other venues. Although I only rarely respond to such foolishness in this blog, I do answer my critics in this blog sometimes, and of course this angers them.

*Some feel that I have been unfair when I point out that they hold unsupportable views, or make contradictory or ignorant claims, or make allegations that are so extreme as to be unlikely to be true.

I suspect that many who read this blog enjoy seeing the comments and characters in Skypeland examined critically. Many in Skypeland want to have the "last word" in a discussion, and often obtain the "final say" by boring their audiences to death, or by threatening those who would dare confront them in a verbal exchange.

However, they cannot control what I and others think. And this blog is a written record of what I have concluded about certain figures and situations. And I guess this angers them, since they do not really have the last word, after all.

Some want to be "thought police" and to control what others believe about them. In particular, those engaging in "trolling" strive desperately to shape and manipulate the impressions of their audience. However, the easiest way to have others think positive things is not to blurt out such stupid declarations.

Perhaps if some of the people that are upset understand they are creating a very negative impression, they might change their approach a bit. Social pressure is a powerful force. Of course, the way social pressure works is that it is painful to realize that one has acquired and projects a negative image.

In any case, many of those that are disturbed by this blog would be agitated even if the blog did not exist. Many of them are probably seriously psychologically unstable, including an array of drug addicts, alcoholics, former prison inmates, chronic liars, criminals, former patients at insane asylums, etc. Involvement with many of these individuals in any way, including listening to them passively, can stir them up, and cause them to become unglued.

This blog has a few hundred readers at this time. Of these, only a small handful can guess or identify who the disguised composite characters are based on. Those who inspire the blog postings here are as anonymous as I can make them, in many cases.

In fact, many do not recognize themselves in blog posts. Often people ask me who a given character is based on, since they are unable to guess from the information in this blog.

I think my detractors have little to complain about, although at least one of them has repeatedly threatened me with legal action and worse for what is written here. I would love to see the face on a judge when someone tried to make a case for defamation based on what is written in this blog:

*No one is identified by screen name, let alone their real name, in this blog.

*Many of the details are altered on purpose to disguise the identities of those who inspired the characters in this blog, as I state repeatedly in the disclaimers.

*The characters in this blog are in many cases composites, as I state in the disclaimers.

*I state in the disclaimers that what is in this blog is my own personal interpretation of events. I do not assert that this blog is a "true" representation and make no claims that what is in this blog is the "truth".

Finally, I believe that my readers appreciate this blog because it puts some obnoxious bullies in their place and points out how silly many of their statements are. It can be unpleasant to sit quietly and listen to garbage, and think, "My gosh, this is complete crap", and feel unable to respond in any way. There is a certain amount of comfort and satisfaction that comes from sharing opinions with others about a particularly disturbing or nonsensical exchange, and to be made aware that others were left with similar impressions.

Humans are social animals, and interacting with others to digest unsavory information or to analyze allegations that are so ridiculous that they are humorous has an appeal. In a small way, this blog presents a way for people to fulfill their desires for dissection of events in Skypeland and to associate with others with congruent interests.

To further increase the opportunity for interchange and expression, I have tried to set up a new comment system. Unfortunately, the new comment system is not yet working as it supposed to. I hope to get it functioning soon so people can given input on the posts. Hopefully I will have a rating system on the blog as well so people can see what posts are the most popular.