There have been several occasion on Peach Pundit where Clayton or I have said that the anonymity of our commenters is protected. We value your participation. We know that some people here have multiple accounts and we do our best to weed them out. We also know that some people here post from the same computer, but are otherwise different people — we know that for a fact.
One of our contributors published some IP addresses yesterday making accusations into the identity of one individual. It apparently did not occur to him that, given the nature of campaigns, more than one person may use a computer in a campaign office.
Unfortunately, I was traveling yesterday and did not notice until about ten minutes ago. My email overfloweth. Thanks to all of you who emailed. That post has disappeared as has the front page posting privileges of the poster. It will not happen again.
That post was in clear violation of previously stated rules on this site about the confidentiality of commenters. My apologies to those involved.
{ 43 comments }
Bill Simon 05.27.06 at 11:34 am
ACTUALLY, that pisses me off more now. I laid Brian Laurens OUT with my post and called him for what he was…a dishonest SOB for accusing someone of doing the EXACT thing he was doing. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr…
Erick 05.27.06 at 11:40 am
Sorry Bill. But it as inexcusable.
Bill Simon 05.27.06 at 11:45 am
It’s okay, Erick…I’m fine now…
Bill Simon 05.27.06 at 3:41 pm
Rumor has it that currently-suspended-Peach-Pundit-front-page-poster Brian Laurens is NOW EMPLOYED by the Bill Stephens Campaign for Secretary of State.
Rusty 05.27.06 at 5:51 pm
Anyone engaging in astroturfing should be exposed. It’s flat slimy. From where I’m sitting, I have no way to knowing who is telling the truth, so I guess I have to leave it at that.
debbie0040 05.28.06 at 8:34 am
Rusty, several people can use the same computer. Brian was out of line. The IP address was not the IP of a computer of the Handel campaign.
Some internet providers and companies use what is called
NAT. The company I work for uses that. It is very likely that is what Comcast does.
http://www.howstuffworks.com/nat.htm
It is good news for the Handel supporters that Brian is working for Stephens. That means Karen is assured of victory.
atlantaman 05.28.06 at 10:14 am
Knowing just enough techno stuff to be dangerous, I’m curious as to how someone can identify user’s IP addresses. I can understand the concept if you are the webmaster, but how do you identify IP addresses on someone elses website?
In light of the Cathy Cox incident and the Brian incident my interest has peaked.
Bill Simon 05.28.06 at 10:47 am
Rusty
Let me get this straight…you go on blogs BELIEVING that most of the people tell the truth? That would mean that people on blogs would be an extreme subset of the population in that they would tell the truth more often than the regular population.
Are you an idiot? Because, you have to be one in order to believe that you can divine who is telling the truth on a blog in the first place.
Atlantaman
With WordPress (the software that makes this blog exist) tracks every post by its IP Address. You don’t see it, but anyone who has Administrative access to the “behind-the-scenes” workings of the blog can see it and access it.
Bill Simon 05.28.06 at 10:48 am
An “it” needs to be inserted between the right-parentheses and the word “tracks”.
Rusty 05.28.06 at 12:35 pm
Bill, if you want to get in a name-calling match, I’m okay with that. I can get a lot more acerbic than “idiot.”
And no, I don’t think most people tell the truth on blogs. However, astroturfing goes well beyond just half-truthing and partisanship and into the territory of spam, except worse because it’s usually performed on behalf of a company or political party viewed as “legitimate.” See this example on my blog.
I’m not going to tell people here how to run their blog, but I plan to go much further than Brian did if I catch anyone else astroturfing on my blog.
And speaking of not believing everything I read…
I’m not real prone to take Debbie’s word for anything. If she says Brian was “out of line,” that makes me question the logic of taking his post down even more. Unless Debbie knew I’d react that way, and purposely endorsed the right explanation because she knew I wouldn’t believe her. Hmm…
George Allen 08 05.28.06 at 2:40 pm
I missed all of this. Did Brian accuse someone of working for Handel? If so, who did he accuse?
Brian from Ellijay 05.28.06 at 3:10 pm
BTW, As I have stated many times on this blog, I am not employed by any campaign nor am I affiliated with any campaign this cycle.
Just so yall realize, what I posted was the truth. If it was not Steve then it was somebody from the Handel campaign. Point proven. I posted the IPs and emails to provide evidence, so yall could make a decision for yourself.
This site really needs to check the validity of the email addresses, half of the email addresses on this site are not valid.
Dan 05.28.06 at 3:40 pm
You know, sites like Bloglines that cache RSS feeds can be a real pain when someone tries to make something “disappear” from a blog.
NAT is used more by people at home and offices to run multiple computers off of the same internet connection than it is by Comcast. Comcast does use DHCP and dynamic addressing however. Given the fact that the comments that Brian posted both had the same IP address, and most people with “home” connections get a new IP address about every 5 minutes from their cable or DSL provider, I would say that it is more likely that whoever posted the comments did so from a work connection, which, since they were probably using NAT, could have easily come from multiple computers/people.
The other thing that could have possibly happened is that Comcast, using dynamic addressing, could have easily assigned the IP address to another user who happens to read this site who in fact had no relation to the first commenter. Less probable than the situation above, but possible.
Either way, thanks for protecting the people who use this site Erick. It’s ALWAYS a bad idea to publish IP addresses.
Bill Simon 05.28.06 at 6:52 pm
Rusty, I didn’t call you an idiot…but, if you are someone who goes on blogs believing that people on a blog ARE telling the truth, then that would make you an “idiot.” Get the difference?
Rusty 05.28.06 at 8:54 pm
Let’s go back over this, shall we? You set up a strawman here:
Which of course has little to do with my objection to astroturfing, and isn’t anything I ever actually, you know, said. Then you wrote:
So, you made an unsubstantiated assertion about what I believe and then went on to say that anyone who believes that is an idiot. You can split hairs over whether you technically called me an idiot or not, but I call it close enough. I just wish you’d been a little ballsier about it and called me an idiot directly instead of using rhetorical devices to tiptoe around it. But, that’s the Republican M.O. these days, I reckon…
Bill Simon 05.28.06 at 9:46 pm
THIS is what Rusty said:”Anyone engaging in astroturfing should be exposed. It’s flat slimy. From where I’m sitting, I have no way to knowing who is telling the truth, so I guess I have to leave it at that.
Note the underlined section, Rusty. I’ll repeat here: “From where I’m sitting, I have no way to knowing who is telling the truth, so I guess I have to leave it at that.
By that VERY statement, you are presuming that people on blogs are telling the truth, ANYWAY, right?
It doesn’t matter whether they “astroturf” or not.. Here, here’s a test: If we could magically remove all astroturfers, you are saying that YOU would be believing what everyone posted on a blog.
I don’t know whether you’re an idiot or not…but, the above statement from you IS an idiotic statement, you have to admit?
Bill Simon 05.28.06 at 9:47 pm
(Well, I guess this new version of WordPress doesn’t do underlines anymore…)
Mojo 05.28.06 at 10:27 pm
Wow, some people get so worked up over trivial matters.
Rusty 05.28.06 at 10:56 pm
Bill,
I’m going to start referring to you as “No Better Than Debbie,” or NBTD, for short. It’s just strawmen and namecalling, blah blah blah.
How does saying I don’t know whether a couple of people are telling the truth or not imply any presumption about the Internets as a whole? Again, you are putting words in my mouth.
bowersville 05.28.06 at 11:01 pm
Which trivial matters are you speaking of that get some people worked up over?
Bill Simon 05.28.06 at 11:54 pm
Rusty, you should really consider changing the name of your blog to be just plain ‘ole “radical”…’cause, the moderate folks that I know have a brain in which they are able to argue logically, and they don’t go around making statements like yours about “astroturfing” and those types of people having an impact on whether or not YOU can discern if someone is telling the truth or not.
You are, perhaps, 5 microns above the level of Brian in blogging skills. In fact, there’s your new blog name: 5microns.com.
bowersville 05.29.06 at 12:10 am
Rusty, come up off your self proclaimed carpet burned elbows and answer Bill.
debbie0040 05.29.06 at 12:38 am
Brian, you proved nothing other than the fact you are an idiot. I don’t believe it was a Handel campaign computer and probably not even the same computer.
Read about NAT.
I actually agree wtih Simon on this one.
Brian from Ellijay 05.29.06 at 2:10 am
You havent seen any of the SNs I exposed post since then have you Debbie? I am sure that the campaign was sat down after my post. Thanks for the compliment.
debbie0040 05.29.06 at 6:44 am
Brian surely you can not be that stupid. It is a holiday weekend. You proved nothing. There have been a lot of people not posting, duh!
You claimed they were using more than one name to post and that is not true.
Rusty 05.29.06 at 8:10 am
NBTD,
All you’ve done is call me names, misstate my argument over and over again, and whine because I refuse to address your misstatement. Get it through your thick skull: I’m not going to address a strawman.
Then you go on to talk about how I won’t answer questions when you’re not answering any of the questions I put up. It’s like riding a merry-go-round at a fair for special needs kids.
And bowersville,
Huh? Carpet-burned elbows? If you were going to call me a fag, didn’t you mean knees?
Rusty 05.29.06 at 8:13 am
Who wants to bet on whether bowersville and debbie have the same IP address?
Mojo 05.29.06 at 11:07 am
Rusty, don’t post any evidence or the Peach Police will come for you and your uncool niece!
bowersville,
Semantics, dear one, semantics. And, what’s up with the “carpet burned elbows?” Ad hominem attack dogs are unleashed!
Bill Simon 05.29.06 at 11:44 am
Actually, it should be “astroturf-burned” elbows, eh, Rusty?
Brian from Ellijay 05.29.06 at 1:59 pm
I am still waiting to see all the comments, I want to know exactly how Bill Simon “laid me out.” Sorry Bill I am straight, so I will not be voting for your candidate nor will I be submitting to anything you say. You and Debbie are funny, are yall friends now?
Maurice Atkinson 05.29.06 at 2:38 pm
Lets beat a dead horse into dog food.
bowersville 05.29.06 at 9:42 pm
Rusty,
Apparently your imagining has run rampant.
Mojo
By what logic and reasoning did you arrive at the semantics that I was your “dear one?”
4ofspades 05.29.06 at 10:01 pm
Bill Simon - I heard that Brian has been at Stephens events sporting Stephens stickers and putting out Stephens yard signs.
Mojo 05.29.06 at 10:23 pm
bowersville,
Sorry, I was rollin’ on x.
bowersville 05.29.06 at 10:29 pm
Mojo,
Respectfully, I do not know what “rollin’ on X” means.
Bill Simon 05.29.06 at 10:36 pm
Brian,
My cold-cocking of you had to do with the exposing of the fact that you were trying to nail some supporter of Karen Handel with having more than one online blog identity, while at the same time, you yourself have been guilty of doing the exact same thing…isn’t that right “True Conservative?”
Brian from Ellijay 05.30.06 at 4:14 am
Steve, Actually you didnt hear, you saw me for yourself. Thanks for the comment. We enjoyed that.
Bill, If you go back and look I used that name for about 3 days, and then it was not in conjuction with Brian from Ellijay but instead of. I went in to my profile and changed it because I was tired of everyone personally attacking me and knowing who I was. I wanted to hide behind a moniker like everyone else so I could blast people with out them knowing who I was. I quickly changed my mind on this, and changed it back to Brian from Ellijay.
Want proof? I give Erick permission to tell ya. True Conservative does not exist. It was me changing my SN, not creating another one. Erick care to back me up on this one. And I for one do not care if my IP is put out to the world. I have nothing to hide.
Maurice Atkinson 05.30.06 at 7:39 am
Do they still make ALPO?
4ofspades 05.30.06 at 7:48 am
Brian,
What are you talking about?
4ofspades 05.30.06 at 7:57 am
Brian,
You stated -
“As I have stated many times on this blog, I am not employed by any campaign nor am I affiliated with any campaign this cycle.”
Then you admit that you were at a Stephens event.
buzzbrockway 05.30.06 at 1:03 pm
I was tired of everyone personally attacking me and knowing who I was. I wanted to hide behind a moniker like everyone else so I could blast people with out them knowing who I was.
I find that rather chicken-hearted. If you’re going to “blast” someone, have the gonads to use your own name to do it.
There are legitimate reasons for people to post anonymously on PP and Erick has provided that protection for those that desire/need it. To “blast” someone is not a legitimate reason in my view - but that’s just me.
Brian from Ellijay 05.31.06 at 1:42 am
Point proven Buzz. Thank you. I do not do it, and when/if I have everyone has known it was me. Again thanks.
Mojo 05.31.06 at 11:04 pm
bowersville,
It is slang for partaking of the illegal substance popularly known as ecstasy, or exxtc, or x. It makes you very…um…loving…and…that is where the “dear one” comes from. Sorry, my father should have spanked me more.
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