Most newspapers like to post guidelines for the Internet. At The Union, for example, some of the guidelines are: “Don’t pretend to be someone else, and don’t give out the information or identity of others.” Or “We hope that you will base your opinions on facts and logic. But we can’t certify that anyone does; the only comments we endorse are those we write.” Or “Being part of a community means tolerating differing views, as well as helping keep order. Report comments that are inappropriate, not just those with which you don’t agree.”
But some people struggle with such concepts, so they cyber-stalk you anonymously. Some of it is an attempt at humor, but some is not. Personal details about my family are discussed — like where my wife works or where my son goes to school.
Politics is at the heart of it: “I like that Greg Diaz knows that soldiers abroad wouldn’t want to hold up elections just for their votes to count. Good old common sense” or “Russ Steele calls me the FUE. I call him the Genuinely Eager Nut In Unfortunate Situations. Crap, that spells GENIUS” or “Having a nice, relaxing weekend. Gloria Zane will be here for brunch soon! It feels like she’s already here.” Barry Pruett, Aaron Klein, George Rebane, the Tea Party and Jeff Ackerman also get mentioned a lot.
The culprits went to the trouble of snatching a photo of me that ran in The Union and “photoshopped” a wig on it, so I’d be Gloria Zane.
The campaign gets more serious, though: As it turns out, some people went to the trouble of writing to the management at Swift, contending I am Gloria Zane and making derogatory remarks about people who post comments here. No, I’m not Gloria, and my politics are “middle of the road,” as I’ve said many times before — I always sign my real name on the internet. The “insider” knowledge points to the culprits (plural). Wink, wink.
The internet is providing new territory for communicating, including to “the No. 1 liberal blog in Nevada County.”
Filed under: Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
