Witch hunts on the SDMB

The BBQ Pit
1

Well looks like Number Six/Kaitlyn (the K6 appellation drives me crazy, for some reason) debacle has apparently unleashed in some people a desire to “out” their pet nemeses. Suddenly the name of the game seems to be “If you can’t beat them, expose them as a fraud!”

Seriously, if anyone’s deceptions on this message board have any sort of meaningful, lasting impact on your life, your decisions (past or future) or the way you view the world, perhaps it’s time to actually step back and take a look at what’s wrong with that picture. Maybe I’m jaded, but I take everything I read here with an acre of Utah flats. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been moved and touched and angered and disgusted by things I’ve read here, but if I were to find out today that the Poster X’s relative never did die, or never existed, or if Poster A’s claims to be a world-renowned matzoh-maker were unfounded, it’s not going to be an earth-shattering event. Maybe I’d feel silly for having been moved or amazed, but that’s my own fault, and no one else’s.

I’m here for recreation and socialization and a sharing of opinions, facts (like how fast you have to drive to keep up with the sun), and ideas. I’m not here to change my life; and I’m not here to make any decisions that are affected by whether someone is gay, liberal, bilingual, alien, or ambidextrous. I’ve made some friendships through this board that are very important to me, but they had very little to do with how the person represented themselves here, aside from maybe a common interest or outlook. Once you take it off the boards, it’s a completely different animal altogether, so what someone says or does here has so little bearing on anything that I just can’t see getting riled up over someone’s deceptions.

I have a great memory, and can remember stupid facts and data, but if one day, I realize that Poster K’s claim of beef-allergies directly contradicts her “I just ate the very best steak” thread, I’m not going to sweat it. Because, really, who cares? Who wants to second-guess everything they say because it might seem to contradict something stated earlier? What if Poster K found a great beef-allergy treatment, but never thought to post it?

We’re all people here; I’m not trying to imply that everyone on the board is only a string of 1s and 0s. But no poster here has a responsibility to any other poster here (aside from off-board relationships, of course) and to suggest otherwise strikes me as an interesting combination of narcissism and insecurity.

My point is, the witch hunt theme is not a very pretty one, and to me is an indication of a much stronger attachment to this board than I think is warranted. It’s the best message board I’ve ever seen, and I think we have one of the most amazing collection of people here, but (to use a phrase I really detest), at the end of the day, it really is just a message board. If this trend keeps going, eventually the board will just fall apart as more people start trying to pick apart the credibility of other people - especially when it starts to take on a note of truly pedestrian stuff that, even if accurate, have absolutely no bearing on anything whatsoever.

2

“Hear, hear” to your whole post. I think the board is seriously in danger of coming off the rails these days. I’m wondering whether an enforced one week cooling off period by shutting down the board isn’t in order. That would suck, but it would suck less than losing the Dope forever, which is where I think we’re headed.

3

I must be reading the wrong threads. Haven’t seen any of this myself.

4

There’s only been one thread thus far, and it wouldn’t have been hard to miss.

Give me a fucking break–ONE example (or even a couple more!) isn’t enough to start frothing about witch hunts, especially when public opinion in that one thread is decidedly against the OP. This pitting is just frivolous drama that could just as easily have been expressed in the Phlosphr thread.

5

Zoe calling out Philosphr.

I really, really hope that this crap doesn’t turn into a trend. Zoe’s point in that thread is dubious at best.

6

Zoe vs. Phlosphr

Aslan of Narnia vs. Ilsa_Lund

7

OK, ok.

Two threads, and still no mob-mentality.

We still need more for a full-blown witchunt. :stuck_out_tongue:

8

I’m missing where I had any drama or frothing in my post?

9

Yep, and they’re already talking about ratting out a bunch of people for some supposedly “odd behavior.”

Jesus, and you say I don’t have a life?

10

Oh how I hate to sound like an old, jaded what-have-you but I’ve seen worse, right here at the old dope.
If I wasn’t at work, I’d link to the ugliness-- the past whoosittidooty with TubaDiva AND Number Six is just the latest in a series that started even before I registered. And I missed the exalted '99 start date by 1 month and about 5 days.*

*Yes, I’m still bitter about it. Yes, it means nothing. No I don’t care that it means nothing. Whose gonna out me on this?

11

A question for TellMeI’mNotCrazy, what if hypothetically *Qadgop the Mercotan ** turned out to be a grocery bagger his whole life? And all of his/her medical advice and information had been stuff that he had read or stuff he had just made up. Should his posts re: medical information and claiming that he is a medical professional be taken to task because he says in a later post that he’s a grocery bagger or should we just let that ride?

(*Sorry Qadgop, you were the first name that came to mind for an example). And before this becomes a pile-on and people say that that situation isn’t exactly identical to the K6 debacle, it’s just an example of what is out there.

Yes, we should take a poster’s information that they talk about with a grain of salt but at the same time, I think it’s apropos to hold a poster’s feet to the fire if they’ve been telling multiple stories that don’t jive.

12

Just the drama inherent in starting a thread about “witch hunts” when there’s only been two instances thus far, and in both of those the members and the admins/mods are generally coming down against the hunters.

Admittedly, that’s pretty tame drama by SDMB standards.

13

OK, I’ll concede that “Witch Hunt” probably isn’t the best description, since it does imply a mob-mentality. I’m not trying to say that everyone is arming themselves with pitchforks and torches.

as for:

I’m saying that 1) you shouldn’t be seeking medical advice on the internet, and 2) the mods are fairly vigilant in making sure no truly significant medical advice is sought or offered. Why on Earth would you trust someone on the internet to be a doctor like they say? Don’t get me wrong - I don’t doubt **Qadgop **IS a doctor, and a fine one at that. But would I ask him for a medical opinion that a grocery store bagger who read all of his dad’s health journals wouldn’t be able to give me? No.

I’m saying that you shouldn’t put another poster in a position where their identity can affect your life. That’s my bottom line. Guaranteed, there are out-and-out liars on this board, and there are genuine, honest people. Why would you risk something important to not knowing who was which?

14

Er… right. No one is doing that. What, these? No, I was just… um… going to go pitch some… hay. Yeah. And then, you know… burn it. Yeah, that’s it.

I’ll be somewhere else now.

15

This is somewhat a cases of apples and oranges. Philosophr’s inconsistencies hurt no one, and have little to no potential to hurt anyone. If one of the resident MDs turns up as a fraud, there is enormous potential to hurt people via bad medical advice.

On the other hand, if someone with a history of inconsistencies comes up with a bogus sob story, and starts milking it for more than online sympathy (for instance, financial assistance), those inconsistencies should be brought to light. Certainly, non-SDMB sanctioned actions (like giving someone financial assistance) should be given with a gigantic grain of BUYER BEWARE, but it does more help than harm to expose them before the harm is done.

Other than that, I completely agree with the OP.

16

I’d describe the incidents cited above asjumping on the band-wagon rather than witch hunting. What makes them particularly ludicrous is the trivial nature of what people are being called on. If someone is passing themself off as an expert and offering what purport to be professional opinions and advice, and they trip themselves up, they deserve to be called on it. Otherwise, who really gives a shit?

17

The problem I’m seeing isn’t someone pointing out that people are pretending to be otherwise-if you find out that Qadgop really isn’t a doctor, then yes, by all means let the staff know!

Right now, however, people are going around doing searches on Dopers they have a grudge against, that they don’t like, or just want to harass, and deliberately examining their posts in order to find a discrepancy, no matter how slight, then “expose” said Doper to the community. They are doing this NOT to help get rid of any trolls, but to harass someone they just don’t like.

Over at the LJ, they’re going on, “Okay, here’s a list of people I think we should target next!” This is just a way of causing problems here-because they WANT to see a big blow up. They want to start a huge trainwreck for their own entertainment. And quite frankly, some of it borders on stalking and harassment.

If people want to go over my posts, go right ahead. But don’t pretend you’re fucking Woodward and Berstein all of a sudden.

18

I think that a lot of people are made angry when people lie about themselves for their own amusement (or to make themselves look cooler, or to claim authority on certain subjects). Now that the K6 thing has shown that this kind of lying is a bannable offense, a lot of people are bringing up things they’ve noticed a long time ago. The moderators have discouraged this kind of investigating the discrepancies between what people post about their personal lives and the reality of their lives, but now there’s a forum where people are free to share this kind of speculation and evidence, and people are discovering a lot of things that are pretty surprising - for instance, WallyM7s plagiarism and subsequent faked death.

19

I get left out of everything. :frowning:

I’ll email a list of lies I’ve told on the SDMB if someone agrees to start a thread pitting me for them.

20

What is this ‘LJ’ of which you speak?
Is it some inferior message board, devoted to tittle-tattle and envy?

Just ignore them, and they’ll go away. :slight_smile: