Yikes. That guy is going to be ice-picked in the eye. Hope you didn't need that eye, troll.

My God. I wonder if the married guy who works for Microsoft is still married and employed.

This has prompted much Serious Discussion in various places, people don't seem to quite grasp the concept of trolling for fun.

I am not into the kink, but there are so many people with different desires, both men and women. These guys are responding to an advert which advocates safe play, e.g. "my safe word is code blue". Whether married or not, the premise of the supposed encounter was a NSA consensual one. These chaps, whilst they may be idiots, do not deserve this.

I know if it was me and I lived in the Seattle area, my first thought would be to talk to the OP and ask him to remove the content. Second would be to contafct the ISP etc.. If that didn't work I wouldn't have any hesitation to track down the bastard who LIED to obtain to obtain information about me for the sole purpose of publishing it to get a slice of internet fame. I wouldn't even blink before kicking the living hell out of him. That sounds ruff, but no one has the right to use others for their own gain.

After reading it again RF Jason comes across purely as he is - an attention seeking whore. I don't hope he gets a beating or a lawsuit, but wouldn't be surprised. He might even deserve a karma adjustment.

Very pithy response from "Dances with Woolfs" on the Waxy thread:

What this shows is that we don't need to worry about the Orwellian Big Brother any more -- the internet has created a situation in which we need to worry about all of the Little Brothers out there instead. Who needs an all-powerful dictator to make your life a living hell when one idiot behind a screen can do so. We have collectively become Big Brother.

In the immortal words of Walt Kelly's Pogo : "We have met the enemy and he is us."

Very true.

This has prompted much Serious Discussion in various places, people don't seem to quite grasp the concept of trolling for fun.

Are you really saying you don't get why folks are Discussing this Seriously? That's weird.

Wedge,
How dare you post this and take it so lightly? Peoples lives were ruined, it's people like you that...



... Oh ha ha aha haha just kiddin' feller. Have a great day on the internet.

mathowie posted this to mefi, I think yesterday. I saw it in the sidebar here on metachat.

I confess that years ago I trolled the CL personals as well. I posted an ad which seemed to be the amalgam of all perfect masculine characteristics the women were asking for in their ads. Late 30s. In shape. Independently wealthy after dotcom cashout. Into sailing and biking. Vulnerable. Honest. Extremely phobic of cheating and cheaters. Genuine. Looking for that one true love to make his life's mission. Blah blah.

I felt really bad when people started writing to me to tell me how the ad made them cry.

There's nothing "funny" about posting people's responses. What an ass.

I also confess that I once helped a friend put together a 'honeytrap' advert.

She suspected her husband of cheating and was ready to kick his ass out, but wanted some evidence, so we put an ad together that we knew would appeal to him and put it online, on some really sleazy 'find a sex partner' site. He was one of the first to respond.

This Jason person really makes me ill. Pimply attention whore, loving every minute of this. He seems either sociopathic enough or just plain self-centered enough not to give a shit one way or the other about all the issues folks are discussing with relation to this prank. All he cares about is who is paying attention to him now.

Oh look I'm on MetaFilter!

Oh look I'm on Google News!

Wheeeee!

And all he had to do was totally burn a couple dozen people in the process. "Experiment" my ass.

Incidentally, my "perfect man" ad did receive responses from married women, some of whom were just so moved by it that they couldn't help but respond, even though they didn't intend to meet. I thought that the ad was an outlandishly ridiculous set of improbabilities, playing straight to unrealistic demands and all-too-high expectations.

So does that mean it'd be funny for me to post all the responses? Is it fair to roast people for reaching out to realize their most ludicrous and selfish emotional fantasies? Or is it only okay to roast people for pursuit of their sexual fantasies? (Casue, you know, sex is, like BAD).

Funniest troll? I don't know... I thought it was kinda "meh".

I think it's
stupid, (Sure it's funny, if you think someone slipping on a banana peel is funny. It's the lowest common denominator type of funny - laughing at someone else's misfortunes. It takes no effort, no intelligence, there's no subtlety, and someone suffers.)
spiteful, (so not only have you "taken" them with your little ruse, but you "out" them on the internet, names and all. Why? Just to point and say [child's_voice]"look at the stupids! HA HA! look at the stupids, see? HAHA!" see? see?[/child's_voice]. Hurting people does not equal fun, or funny. See the pictures from Abu Ghraib for the end result of this type of humour.)
and pointless.(Ok. Yes there are stupid people out there in the world. Everyone knows this. Did you have to collectively kick them in the nuts? Again, people getting hurt...)

Oh, and I think I posted it recently, but it bears repeating...

If you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh, otherwise they'll kill you.
Oscar Wilde

...and the wrong people are laughing.

Metachat: the wrong people are laughing.

The only thing "funny" about this is the lawsuits and wage garnishments this will create.