I Was Duped by a Commenter
Sadly, a first time commenter on The Deets yesterday commented under a fake name that was a close impersonation of another local community member. I was duped.
Another commenter brought the issue to my attention. Thank you.
This sort of thing bums me out. Why would someone think it’s okay to impersonate someone else in the comments of this site? Do they behave like that in the real world? I’m picturing someone wearing a mask to a party to pretend to be someone they’re not. Kind of silly, isn’t it?
I’ve chosen to address this by removing the two comments from the blog post’s comment thread, but linking to screenshots of the comments.
Looking back on this, it’s clear that this is an impersonator.
1. The person writing the comments posted from an IP address in Ottawa (they’re not necessarily in Ottawa, but are likely pretending to be).
2. The domain name used for their email address is for a parked doman.
3. That domain is registered to a company in London.
4. The person the commenter is impersonating has Minneapolis connections but is currently in Georgia.
5. The commenter didn’t spell his/her name consistently from one comment to the next.
Yadda yadda.
Clearly, I could have picked up on this if I had vetted this first time commenter a bit harder. The person being impersonated shouldn’t have to deal with that type of behavior. I certainly don’t want to accommodate it. Sorry about that.
February 8th, 2011 at 2:43 pm
This is, unfortunately, a practice employed by recent commenters on the Mpls Mirror site. They used the names John, Jeff, Ed, and even Norris. The last one in reference to a neighbor who has been mentioned in passing on some northside blogs.
I had the same questions regarding the comments that were removed. It’s a shame people stoop to this level, but thanks for picking this up.
February 8th, 2011 at 2:59 pm
Wow, that is strange. They’re astroturfing themselves?
February 8th, 2011 at 5:04 pm
Typical.
February 8th, 2011 at 5:18 pm
Ed, for future reference, do not post comments by somebody claiming to be Norris from the north side. Norris is my next door neighbor, and he doesn’t own a computer. He still lives on planet Earth; he hasn’t been sucked into this Lawnmower Man universe. Norris is a great guy, I’d like to see his name remain untarnished by what goes on her on the “internets”.