Cal happened to be online when it happened, and took the post down and gave me a call.
The person had requested posting rights yesterday, had identified himself as a prof in the southeast, and had used a hotmail account. The IP address Cal tracked for the post did come from my institution, so it was someone who works with me.
When I started CollegeMisery.com back in June of 2010, I only told 2 people at my college I was doing it. These are longtime friends, and I know that neither would wait 2 years to out me. Likely someone else found out on his/her own, or maybe one of my pals mentioned it in passing.
I am not embarrassed about being the moderator of this page. I'm not ashamed of what we do. But for my own reasons I've chosen to be pseudonymous, like most of the community members. Honestly, I don't have any "fear" about being outed. I do think, however, that some current or future students might not understand my involvement with the page, because it's been my experience that students fail to see the difference between us being annoyed at the snowflake generation and us being annoyed at them individually, personally.
So, that was a shitty thing for "Jeremiah" to do, and I'd encourage him/her to contact me directly at school if he/she wants to register some kind of problem. I'm happy to talk about the page to that person, and I hold no ill will.
Fab
SKIN THE MOTHERFUCKER ALIVE!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteI'll help! What a scumbag.
DeleteStrelly is always there with the sweetest sentiment, but truly, it's all okay.
ReplyDeleteFab
Well, that was seriously uncool, not to mention dumb and uncalled-for, and probably, fortunately, pretty anticlimactic, given that only 2 of our 5 readers are paying any attention this week anyway, and that Fab has tenure, and is, I strongly suspect, a good teacher and colleague and appreciated by his institution, and has taken the measures he describes *not* to involve it, even by association, in the project that is CM. Besides, as "Jeremiah" seems to have overlooked, Fab doesn't actually *write* much here, just gives the rest of us a chance to vent and kibbitz and generally incriminate ourselves, for which I, for one, am profoundly grateful. As we've occasionally noted before, the RGMs might be able to make a bit off blackmail if they chose, but I'm not sure they're all that vulnerable themselves. Still, I'm not particularly worried about that possibility; it does seem possible -- and reasonable -- to trust people you don't really know simply on the basis of their behavior over time. I guess it *is* worth remembering that pseudonymity does not necessarily equal anonymity, though it certainly has value, for precisely the reasons you name, Fab.
ReplyDeleteHappy summer, to Fab and all the RGMs! I hope you are enjoying some R&R, Fab, and hope that "Jeremiah" finds something better to do with his time (I'd invite him to come grade online posts with me, since I could surely use the help, but he doesn't sound like someone I want to hang out with).
Are there any ants in the vicinity of the compound? If so, my Strelnikov-ish suggestion for the disposition of Jeremiah, if identified, would involve duct tape, a stake, and honey.
But it might also work to take him out for a beer and see what's on his mind.
Or ignore him. Actually, that might be worse torture than the ants. Ignoring is amazingly effective -- and annoying -- in many cases.
DeleteMissed the post (barely, apparently!) but it's disturbing. Breaking pseudonymity is a serious breach of civility: doing so without justification is a kind of assault and should have serious repercussions for anyone who does so.
ReplyDeleteIf "Jeremiah" didn't give a reason, Fab, other than your association with this site, then I think your "no ill will" is actually misplaced liberality: at the very least, this person should be treated with suspicion, and with an assumption of hostility unless proven otherwise.
Jeremiah obviously bears some kind of ill-will, whether or not you do, Fab. I trust his posting privileges have been revoked. That is a serious breach of etiquette.
DeleteTotally missed it, but I support your decision to remain anonymous: seems to make sense to me.
ReplyDeleteIf Jeremiah is that clueless about protocol, it sounds like he/she needs a lesson in politeness, civility, and loyalty.
Let Stella have'im!
ReplyDeleteMy brother, the Emergency Medical Hologram, has the best approach to handling this. He would begin by activating his dark side .
ReplyDeleteThe procedure would consist of sedating the "patient", placing them on a bed in sickbay, severing their spinal cord so that they cannot move their legs, reducing activity in the speech center of their brain so that talking is still possible but much more difficult, and then deactivating the area of the brain that makes you pass out when pain becomes utterly unbearable.
A shame that Lt. Torres and Seven of Nine repaired my brother's damaged subroutines, as they would have been useful here.
Ah well, we can still tar and feather the bastard.
EMH's post made me think of the scene in Firefly ("Trash") where Simon Tam (ship's doc) is caring for Jayne Cobb, the mercenary (who'd sold Simon and his sister River down the...river in a previous ep):
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfcdqzHyTM0
"I can kill you with my brain."
That is so seriously a breach of netiquette. If we want to focus on our writing and not on our persons, that is our decision and ours alone. I would try and identify Jeremiah, just so you know who has it out for your back. I am on another (yes, there are others) blog with pseudonym authors and we recently had a former member start trying to publish our identities. We swab the decks regularly, and ignore this person - which is indeed a fate worse than skinning, although I would gladly help Cassandra with the duct tape and the honey if I can bring our snitch along.
ReplyDelete