As a trap, David, and it worked.
New poster, if you really are new, you have no context for your statement and are posting in the dark. It would require more effort on your part to wade thru the “crap” the rest of us have been thru than a reasonable person would want to make, unless they are obsessed. Are you?
Obsessed? Nope, just read a lot. I have the ability to assimilate information also. Do you?
Just as a demonstration of the ravings I got, Phaedrus’ email to me:
[quote]
Dear Shannon,
I would like to say a few things to you. First, I know you are Clark K, in fact I have enough evidence that if the matter were to be decided in a court of law I would win. I prefer not to disclose my methods or the facts that they uncovered but I assure you they are all legal and moral. I respect you and in some sense even like you, but I was less than happy to find out you are Clark. You can deny it all you like; the findings of fact and the weight of the evidence are against you. I know other things about you as well. I know that you have been abused and are a very sensitive person. Not only have I practiced law but also I have more than a small amount of psychology in my training. I saw your paintings and they made me weep. I am sorry for whatever happened to you. I find it interesting that a lady who can see “beauty” in a pile of garbage and thinks animals have emotions cannot see any good in me. If you are as adept in shifting your perception as you say you are, you have the ability to see me as good. Your reasons for not doing so in reference to me are of your own choosing and even you might not be aware of those reasons.
Your reasons for disliking me are two-fold. One, my actions, I take full responsibility for my actions which during the flat earth thread left much to be desired at times. If I were to do a fearless inspection of myself even my motive (not wanting to get close to others) might appear weak. Two, your subjective interpretation of my actions, since the flat earth thread I have made quite a few friends, if I upset you in that thread I have no doubt that you are not pleased to see others getting to know me and like me. If anything, it might make you more upset than you already are. If their were many who disliked me after the flat earth thread I might be more inclined to
say I am just a jerk, but since others disagree with you and your small
coterie of friends I split the blame evenly between us. You used Clark in a vicious way to lure me into a trap, something I’ll not likely forget. Nevertheless, I will not reveal your second persona to anyone for any reason. Your secret is safe with me.
I noticed too a similarity between you and andros (androgynous? As in your male counter part?). But I have not done the investigating to see if you are “him” as well. Perhaps you aren’t and you have made me more suspicious than I should be using reason as my guide.
(A note: I have done a lot more investigating since I began this letter and I KNOW that you are andros as well. Stop this at ONCE! If you persist I WILL expose YOU for the fraud that you are, I will inform Libby first, I am sure he will be pleased to know that the Lady? he admires so much is SO sick. You are trying very hard to discredit me and it would be in YOUR best interest to cease and desist, because if you don’t I WILL let the entire board know what you are and what you are doing.)
I also noticed that you have read C. S. Lewis. No one reads him unless one of two things has happened. One, a person is seeking; I rule that out in your case but not entirely. You may be searching and it is so veiled I cannot see it. Two, and the more likely, is that a friend or relative gave you the book or at least suggested it. If that is the case you have a “fundie” or close proxy in your life or perhaps had one at one time in the past. IF that is true I can understand your atheistic stance more clearly.
I know you are sensitive and so am I. I play classical guitar among many instruments and have a fair understanding of the arts. People like us are touchy, no denying it. I have told the board of my losses and I assure you they are real. Perhaps in my sensitive state I should not post until I get a better handle on things.
Here is a part of a letter I sent to someone who requested the admin. for my e-mail address. It should give you a better insight as to where I am coming from.
"In the past five years I have lost my daughter, my wife, my mother and my sister.
My daughter was an only child and left me no grandchildren.
My wife was an old childhood sweetheart (I knew her 38 years).
My Mother died of Cancer; I was her only son (I am a cancer survivor).
My sister departed after a long battle with Crohn’s disease, she was my only sibling.
I don’t know if you have read C.S. Lewis but he has a book called, “A Grief Observed”.
Here are a couple of quotes:
“Meanwhile, where is God? This is one of the most disquieting symptoms. When you are happy, so happy that you tempted to feel His claims upon you as an interruption, if you remember yourself and turn to Him with gratitude and praise, you will be-or so it feels-welcomed with open arms. But go to Him when your need is desperate, when all other help is vain, and what do you find? A door slammed in your face, and a sound of bolting and double bolting on the inside. After that, silence. You may as well turn away.
The longer you wait, the more emphatic the silence becomes. There are no windows in the house. It might be an empty house. Was it ever inhabited? It seemed so once. And that seeming was as strong as this. What can this mean? Why is He so present a commander in our time of prosperity and so very absent a help in our time of trouble?”
“Cancer, and cancer, and cancer. My Mother, my Father, my Wife. I wonder who is next in the queue.”
“I have no photograph of her that’s any good. I cannot even see her face distinctly in my imagination. Yet the odd face of some stranger seen in a crowd this morning may come before me in vivid perfection the moment I close my eyes tonight. No doubt, the explanation is simple enough. We have seen the faces of those we know best so variously, from so many angles, in so many lights, with so many expressions-waking, sleeping, laughing, crying, eating, talking, thinking-that all the impressions crowd into our memories together and cancel out into a mere blur… But her voice is remembered-that can turn me into a whimpering child.”
“Have I forgotten when she cried out, “And there was so much to live for”? Happiness had not come to her early in life. A thousand years of it would not have made her blasé. Her palate for all the joys of sense and intellect and spirit was fresh and unspoiled. Nothing would have been wasted on her. She liked more things and liked them more than anyone I have ever known. A noble hunger, long unsatisfied, met at last its proper food, and almost instantly the food was snatched away. Fate (or whatever it is) delights to produce a great capacity and then frustrate it. Beethoven went deaf. By our standards a mean joke; the monkey trick of a spiteful imbecile.”
I have a deep background in Christianity. I have been to Bible College and read the New Testament in Greek. I have been a crisis interventionist for a suicide hotline and have a fair amount of psychology in my training.
I created Phaedrus to help me spend time on the board and not get close to anyone. I am in a very sensitive state right now and I need love and understanding. I DO NOT need Christian platitudes. My entire life has been one of misery, more than most have heard of for a person my age.
I do not need judgement. I need understanding.
I have had “fundies” in my life more than a little, so I am particularly leery of them and their motives have hurt me. Why do you wish to know me better? I am lonely and would appreciate more contact with others. That is my motive. I live a life of comparative isolation, but I am making steps to be with others more. I prefer to spend time with those who care about me or might want to, I do not spend time with “well-meaning” souls who “just want to help” and end up fouling things up more than helping.
I am honoured that you reached out and I hope your motives are pure."
I love animals just as much as you do, perhaps even more. I lost my best friend,
Incidentally, if you would like some evidence of Phaedrus’ lying/multiple personality disorder, check out these quotes:
http://www.straightdope.com/ubb/Forum7/HTML/000792.html
[bolding mine]
Then, in his email to me (and andros, apparently):
“KGB is/was a person who cares for me deeply…I gave up on the board and my ________ asked me if they could participate. They had already signed on and were watching. The two e-mail accounts are not joined because ____ and myself are not that connected. I asked ______ not to be so rude but they were very angry at the way I was treated on the board and as they weren’t staying they really didn’t care whether or not they would be “banned”…I have plenty of e-mail correspondence between us before the debacle of KGB during and after and have the full permission of _______ to disclose it if the need arises. An open and shut case.”
An “open and shut” case indeed. Phaedrus, either get counselling or stop lying, preferably both.
Well, well, Shannon, you finally arrived, eh?
Nice post, thank you for saving me the trouble of posting your reply which I surely was going to do. By the way, dear heart, you said you wouldn’t post the letter if I didn’t e-mail you again, right?
Well?
Why the lie? Yet, again. And I ask you to prove that you are NOT all of the above posters. I asked YOU and any others that what to, to show a simulpost of yours and your other personalities.
10 grand, Shannon. And I have the money.
It is YOU who are obessed, it is YOU who needs help. I pray to God that you get it.
You are a very sick woman and you move me to compassion, a trait that many never saw in you.
I noticed you waited again until the heat was on to bring up points to “defend” yourself. Tell me, was it the offer to Libby that brought you here? I thought THAT would bring you running. You are so easy to read.
Ken 
Phaedrus, Defender of Truth, Justice, and the Native American Way
Phaedrus, you are wrong. Period.
Gaudere is Gaudere and Andros is Andros. They are two distinct people. Their writing styles are quite unique. And quite different. What they have in common is intellectual honesty.
Give it up, Phraedus. Save your money.
Wrong. Learn to read. She said: “I see no good reason not to post this and later emails for all to see if you continue to accuse and harass me beyond this point.” Guess what? You continued to accuse and harass her.
Nice try, but people here are not so stupid, Phaedrus. She pointed out your lie and you’re trying to deflect it by claiming she lied. But, as we can all see, she didn’t. Too bad for you.
And she told you how you could go about it. Send the money to a neutral party. Then have Gaudere and Andros show up in the same place at the same time. What didn’t you understand about that simple concept?
Jeez, you really are a psycho. She needs help because you are harassing her? I think I speak for just about everybody here when I encourage you to get a grip.
David, if there were 10 grand on the line I could have anybody show up and claim they were somebody else to claim the money, Shannon is just trying to look “noblesse oblige”.
The only true way to show she is not the above mentioned posters is to bring evidence showing that she and her other “personalities” posted at the same time in the past. Incidently, it ain’t hard to come up with a list of people that HAVE posted during the same minute, I will be presenting a list of those that have. She is smart enough to “fake” that now.
Wally, I know this seems implausible to believe and if I were you I would be skeptical to but I have “proof” that she IS all three people and I will present it in this thread. If after reading all of it you still feel that it is “way out there” I would be surprised.
I’ll bring up the findings of fact and the weight of the evidence as soon as I can.
I can just hear Shannon sniggering as she read your posts.
All she wants and all she has ever wanted since the Flat Earth fiasco is to discredit me.
I intend to see she doesn’t get her way.
Ken
Oh ye gods. He’s trying to do the flat earth thread all over again. Sorry–I won’t play. I won’t sit around for 1,000 posts waiting for your proof; I think you just want the attention. Your next post better have the proof, or people are going to lose interest.
How many times must it be pointed out to you that simulposts mean nothing? All you have to do is open two browers to the reply screen. Enter a different username in each browser and quickly click both “submit reply” buttons. (I realize I have now forced us to deal with simulposting trolls. My hearty apologies, all.)
So…you think that $10,000 can get two people to fly out to confirm something (I can bring ID that I am Shannon Joy Burch, including passport, social security card, driver’s license and birth certificate, and I’m sure andros could do the same), but couldn’t possibly get one person to do a simupost? Give it up. And for God’s sake, get counseling.
I’ve got an easy way: All three of you send me a color photocopy of your driver’s license. I will scan and post them, deleting your home addresses, social security numbers and city of residence (and any other information you think you don’t want online), as well as blur your last name.
If anyone is willing to go to the trouble to get a fake driver’s license to pull some elaborate multiple-personality MB posting stunt, well, more fucking power to them, I say.
“It’s my considered opinion you’re all a bunch of sissies!”–Paul’s Grandfather
Well, I’ve already given my last name. I have a scanner of my own, so I could post my ID myself. Will that get us the $10,000, Phaedy, or does it have to be a ridiculously-easy-to-fake simulpost?
Phaedrus: As someone who has never clashed with you over anything but perhaps John Lennon’s place in history, I hope you will accept the following as coming from a neutral observer.
Whether, or not, you are any of the other posters people say you are, whether, or not, you have acomplished everything you claim to have, you are still coming off looking like a complete fruitcake.
To rephrase what the OP said; If you are doing this for fun, fine. If you are serious about any of this, get help (or at least take a vacation).
Elmer J. Fudd,
Millionaire.
I own a mansion and a yacht.
Here you go. http://www.straightdope.com/ubb/Forum7/HTML/000628-10.html
On 12-9 at 11:19 am.
I propose you send the money to David B, and he’ll split it up among the people you have annoyed or lied to, according to a point system to be debated in a separate thread.
After my reasonable finder’s fee, of course.
Livin’ on Tums, Vitamin E and Rogaine
Manny, you rule! Gosh, I don’t even mind the new smilies anymore if as compensation we got the working search engine that allowed you to find that.
Oh ye gods, Shannon would do anything and I mean anything to have others see me as the old Phaedrus. You played it then and you’re playing it all over again.
How many times do I have to tell you that you ARE NOT smart enough to have “covered your tracks” before I blew the whistle on you.
No, I think 10 grand would be enough for anyone to do the necessary research to get the money, I mean, jeez, the evidence is just a click away. They don’t even have to do that if they don’t want to. All they have to do is watch the screen in great debates and see how often simulposts (same minute) occur. That would convince me, and I’m REAL skeptical.
You won’t play, good, send andros in next, maybe he will. By the way, where is your other persona? How come “he” hasn’t answered the question of counting? I proved that one beyond a shadow of a doubt in anyone’s mind.
My hearty apologies all, yeah right. Shannon you have been caught at playing a game you weren’t smart enough to start let alone finish.
People will lose interest? You underestimate the draw a fight has. You and I will finish this, and I will win. Sorry for that but it is want you wanted (a fight).
Ken
Phil, how would we know that Shannon wouldn’t get another “stooge” to sit in for her? The easiest way to prove she is not the posing posters is to show that she was “smart” enough to cover her tracks by “simulposting” and evidently she wasn’t or she would be making such a fuss about it. I would give 10,000.00 to someone who was THAT clever, but NOT to some flunky she sets up to do her dirty work.
Ken
andros & guadere,if all Pheadrus requires is a mere simulpost, do it already and end this question in his mind and split the $10K so we can move on. It’s easy money.
Hell is Other People.
I’ve lost interest already. Zzzz. You asked for a simulpost, you got a simulpost. You haven’t posted your much-vaunted evidence, just as in the “flat earth” thread. No one buys what you’re selling, Phaedy. If it’s a fight you want, well, I feel no need to respond until you post something worthy of it, i.e. actual “evidence” (or a willingness to pay up the 10k). Keep on shadow-boxing with your personal fanstasms, Phaedrus.
One las time, all together now: “GET COUNSELING!!!”
So, Phaedrus, now that Manhattan has done exactly what you asked, when will you be sending the $10,000?
Phaedrus…
Manny posted the date and time of a simulpost. Cough up the dough, the “evidence,” or shut the hell up.
And Gaudere…thank you. On behalf of all the TRUE depressives on this board (and as one who has suffered from mental illness for over 15 years) - WE’RE NOT ALL LIKE HIM!