A lover of Bonsai, Champion of the written word

Invited to join by Storm and MartoksSweetheart (Cassandra/Aurora's original username) and therefore here "from the time of the beginning." Became, within days, a cautionary tale: Reveal so much as your RL name, and you become a target.

Also, those lurking and thinking of joining will no doubt note a subculture of "blame the victim" on this board, most recently highlighted in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.

If that's your attitude, you'll feel right at home.

If, on the other hand, you'd like to help the families who, as was pointed out on The Daily Show, are predominantly those of NY's first responders, donations to Staten Island Strong can be made through the Carl V. Bini site, dedicated to a member of NY's Bravest who made the ultimate sacrifice on 9/11/01:

www.binifund.org

Right now there's a discussion in the Red Room about doing away altogether with the current, and often misused, rules about personal privacy on Wordforge. I'm reposting what I posted in that discussion. Those thinking of joining WF need to know what's already occurred with privacy rules in place. Imagine the effect of having none at all.

Repost:

I have a tendency to keep my private information private. Nevertheless, just making some people aware of my RL name has been enough to make me a target.

I've been stalked IRL by someone at TBBS who got a kick out of posting about driving past certain landmarks in my town (population 100,000). Tamar has hinted at knowing my exact address (she happened to have garnered a former address from a less-than-accurate source that also included an address where a relative lived, but where I never had; she does not now, nor will she ever, know my current address - I do learn from these experiences). Photos/screen caps of me have been taken from other sites without my permission and Photoshopped into giggle fits for Face and Tamar and her posse. Flashlight, Jamey, and starkt have brightened their drab little lives by posting photos of my S.O. and making snide comments about his website in an attempt to troll me.

I've done what I can to protect my kids and grandkids from predators whose inability to hold their own in a discussion, or the perception that "this is the Red Room; you have to act a certain way," force them to play out these equivalents of obscene phone calls. It says more about them than about me.

I have no doubt that if I had an employer who might take umbrage at my opinions, Jamey at least would rat me out just for the hell of it. His reasons have nothing to do with WF, but they're an example of the kind of sociopathy that anonymity encourages in some posters.

Take away the basic rule of civility that a personal information rule requires and, while most of these cowards are just that, RL consequences would not be unexpected.

Welcome to Wordforge, where even a conversation about Christmas decorations can be transmogrified into a conversation about guns:

http://www.wordforge.net/showthread.php?t=97001

This thread is not meant to be a place for you to take shots and make passive-aggressive attacks against anything you disapprove of under the guise of "warning new people".

If you want to protest every little thing on the board, do it somewhere else.

I don't know what the fuck you're talking about on multiple levels.

Lock the thread, then.

Ban yourself.

I shouldn't have to lock the thread for you to behave like an adult and refrain from baiting people in your posts in a forum it isn't ok in.

Girls, girls, please, don't.

One poster's "baiting" is another's reportage. Anyone thinking of joining WF should have a good feel for the ambiance. Forewarned is forearmed and all that. And if WF is anything, it's forearmed.

This is my final post in this thread. Faceman will continue to troll it, which will also serve as a cautionary tale.

My only other post was the same as this one. What the fuck are you talking about?

You probably laughed at an edited picture of her at some point and thus are equally responsible for it's existence.

Unless you did make one and I'm forgetting it.

I don't have photo making skills though I have seen a photo of her. If seeing a photo counts as trolling I'm guilty.

I don't even remember seeing a photoshopped Garamet image...let alone reposting one.

Probably because it's been years since anyone has done one, let alone me.

Can someone post one please, so we can refresh my memory?

So far, the Introductions forum is a rousing success!

Nuke this.

No, I'm not joking. No trolling in this forum. If garamet can't follow the rules, move the thread to the invisible forum.