Trying to Make Sense of a Possible Trend - Crazy Entitlement Much?

The Lonely One said:

A positive comment:

AW has been one of the most tolerant, understanding places I've ever frequented on the net. You can use whatever language seems appropriate to you, within reason and with taste, and if you say something silly you'll get checked by various authors with industry knowledge.

.

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Before joining AW I was a member of the Amazon Reviewer boards. Back then, theere were several of them on its own site, not like now, and there was a fixed "community" of reviewers. You see all those "too ten" and "top 100" revieweres? Those were the member. But there were also lots of crazies, and as it was not moderated all hell would break loose every now and then. Where were people with multiple IDs who would actually fight with each other.

There was one woman, a prolific reviewer who used the photo of a famous photo model as her avatar; she wrote great reviews a,d we actually had a provate email friendship going for about ayear -- she used to write me these really sweet, warm caring mails. She claimed to be a relative of Renoir, and French. (Renoir "was" her last name). And then she came to the boards; and then she was outed as having not only stolen the model's photo, but that all her reviews were plagiarised. And then she turned really nasty, creating multiple personalities stalking people.

The flame wars I witnessed with her were terrible indeed. Once, a few years ago, I mentioned her name on Aw and next thing I knew, she was posting here! I got the fright of my life. I deleted my post and she disappeared again. But there are still traes of her various ID's all over the internet. One of the members of that board, infact, is writing a book about her -- she mailed me for information recently.
Then I came to Aw andit was like walking into the garden of Eden.

Out of curiosity I googled that woman's name. The internet is still full of her.
Here are some of the posts about her:

http://www.topix.com/forum/news/jonbenet-ramsey/TJIAQ4SA064TKHPCC

This is her profile, again using a fake photo (she was 32 in the 90's when we first corresponded; she is still 32!)

http://www.care2.com/c2c/people/profile.html?pid=708517521

http://boardreader.com/thread/The_Infamous_Gabrielle_Renoir_Resurfaces_5kxq5X24qhylhvb3nv6.html

She has written a book, which is on goodreads:

http://www.goodreads.com/story/show/48147-the-real-thing-a-story-of-sex-sapphires-and-second-chances

And this is her post in the NEPAT thread:

http://absolutewrite.com/forums/showpost.php?p=378872&postcount=1068

A total nutcase!

aruna said:

Out of curiosity I googled that woman's name. The internet is still full of her.
Here are some of the posts about her:

http://www.topix.com/forum/news/jonbenet-ramsey/TJIAQ4SA064TKHPCC

This is her profile, again using a fake photo (she was 32 in the 90's when we first corresponded; she is still 32!)

http://www.care2.com/c2c/people/profile.html?pid=708517521

http://boardreader.com/thread/The_Infamous_Gabrielle_Renoir_Resurfaces_5kxq5X24qhylhvb3nv6.html

She has written a book, which is on goodreads:

http://www.goodreads.com/story/show/48147-the-real-thing-a-story-of-sex-sapphires-and-second-chances

And this is her post in the NEPAT thread:

http://absolutewrite.com/forums/showpost.php?p=378872&postcount=1068

A total nutcase!

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...wow

The Matrix: Why oh why didn't I take the BLUE pill

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There was a time, before the internet, where people were encouraged to write out their feelings in letters, then burn/shred/destroy them. It allowed said feelings to be expressed but never subject anyone to them.

With the advent of the internet, such restraint died.

I remember my early years online - okay, so that was like the late 80s early 90s - where I followed the above advice. I wrote the email... then I deleted it. I wrote a usenet post, then deleted it. If something got heated, I walked away from the computer for 24 hours to cool down. Others did the same.


I missed that restraint. Until I came here and found many people who understand it.

Gilroy Cullen said:

There was a time, before the internet, where people were encouraged to write out their feelings in letters, then burn/shred/destroy them. It allowed said feelings to be expressed but never subject anyone to them.

With the advent of the internet, such restraint died.

I remember my early years online - okay, so that was like the late 80s early 90s - where I followed the above advice. I wrote the email... then I deleted it. I wrote a usenet post, then deleted it. If something got heated, I walked away from the computer for 24 hours to cool down. Others did the same.


I missed that restraint. Until I came here and found many people who understand it.

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I do that. There have been many times I have typed out a long and venemous screed with lots of swearing. I then hit the 'back' button and never post it.

The Lonely One said:

A positive comment:

AW has been one of the most tolerant, understanding places I've ever frequented on the net.

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Amen to that. I mean I've had my *cough* moments, but Mac and Medi are very forgiving. Very, very forgiving

And I am truly grateful for that, because this is the place where I learn the most about all aspects of writing. Without it I'd still be floundering in a sea of adverbs and head hopping and, ugh, all sorts.

I can't say precisely where that's taken me (Iz Sekrit), but I wouldn't have got there without this place.

AW may have it's flamewars, but in general, in the short time I've been here it's seemed a positive and friendly place. Most people seem to handle things well most of the time.

aruna said:

There was one woman, a prolific reviewer who used the photo of a famous photo model as her avatar; she wrote great reviews a,d we actually had a provate email friendship going for about ayear -- she used to write me these really sweet, warm caring mails. She claimed to be a relative of Renoir, and French. (Renoir "was" her last name). And then she came to the boards; and then she was outed as having not only stolen the model's photo, but that all her reviews were plagiarised. And then she turned really nasty, creating multiple personalities stalking people.

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I had to check your links, because this sounds SO much like someone from elsewhere-on-the-web (not the writing community) last year (claiming a model's photograph, acting warm and friendly and wonderful, getting caught in numerous lies, and turning nasty-crazy cyber-stalking on lots of people, with multiple fake identities to do so.)

The name, location, photo, and age all being different means nothing of course. But the obsessions are also different. Then again, the personality seems frighteningly similar.

I don't know which is scarier -- if this is the same nut-job or a different one.

Ugh.

Linda, it's probably the same. She has many aliases. pm me the name, if you like, and I'll tell you if I recognise it.

On a totally different (but slightly related) note:

I wonder how many posters on this thread have other posters on this thread on ignore.

I don't have anyone on ignore, though I think one person has me on ignore. It was a person who was happy to be published by PA. I sent him (her?) an invitation to read the Bewares Section. I prob. shouldn't have done that but I was hoping to avert a tragedy.

Alas, from what I've seen so far, he (she) did go with PA.

Her life, her tragedy. I won't do that again.


(I don't go around offering advice on PA, but this particular person seemed so happy when they announced they were finally published in the Promotions and Announcements thread. Other posters were wishing him (her) much success. My reaction was what?? So I think I sort of burst their happiness balloon.)

I shall not do that again.

aruna said:

Linda, it's probably the same. She has many aliases. pm me the name, if you like, and I'll tell you if I recognise it.

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I can console myself with he thought that I may be nuts, but I ain't THAT nuts

I suspect I'm on a few ignore lists, cos I can be a dick. I think I have one person on mine, purely for the sake of my blood pressure, but we don;t usually hang in the same places anyway.

OtterFactory said:

Is it just me or can you see a blonde in a red dress at the top-left edge when you scroll down really fast?

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What blonde? I don't see any blonde in my avatar! In fact, I've never dated a blonde in my life! Especially in a red dress.

I look much better in blue.

Phaeal said:

What blonde? I don't see any blonde in my avatar! In fact, I've never dated a blonde in my life! Especially in a red dress.

I look much better in blue.

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Don't make me angry, Phael. You won't like me when I'm angry!



(Incidentally, that would be a perfect title for this thread.)

jaksen said:

On a totally different (but slightly related) note:

I wonder how many posters on this thread have other posters on this thread on ignore.

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I'M IGNORING YO- oh, wait.


Nah, I've never used the ignore feature. Anyone who pisses me off that much usually ends up getting booted pretty quickly. Also, I mostly ignore P&CE (actually, I think I got locked out of there once for pissing someone off, and have never asked to be let back in). Since the most aggravating individuals never post anywhere else, I guess that's pretty much the same as an ignore list.

benbradley said:

This thread isn't locked yet??? I'm SHOCKED, I tell you!

Shocked, like, OMG.



Is it locked yet? No? OMG!

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That it isn't locked yet just proves my point that AW is a safe-haven on the net. Sometimes I'd rather not leave. It's dangerous out there!

IdiotsRUs said:

Amen to that. I mean I've had my *cough* moments, but Mac and Medi are very forgiving. Very, very forgiving

And I am truly grateful for that, because this is the place where I learn the most about all aspects of writing. Without it I'd still be floundering in a sea of adverbs and head hopping and, ugh, all sorts.

I can't say precisely where that's taken me (Iz Sekrit), but I wouldn't have got there without this place.

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Yep. Same.

jaksen said:

On a totally different (but slightly related) note:

I wonder how many posters on this thread have other posters on this thread on ignore.

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I'm pretty quiet on the boards, but even if I posted more, I don't tend to put people on ignore. That's always the way I've been.

Whenever I see something going on here that takes away from my experience, I just don't go to that thread and wait until people calm down. That usually works for me.

Overall, I enjoy coming here though. We all need a haven. Writing can be lonely.

Motto. I can deal with annoying, so those people aren't going on ignore. Asshattery? Um, pass.

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I've not come across a total asshat here yet. I can't pretend I'll be so zen about it if I do

I didn't even know there was an ignore function, until I got involved in this thread. I've certainly never had cause to use it. That speaks well of the culture of AW!

jaksen said:

I wonder how many posters on this thread have other posters on this thread on ignore.

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Huh. Supposedly this thread has five pages of responses, but I can't see a single post in it.

Odd.

I don`t notice things.

crunchyblanket said:

I've not come across a total asshat here yet. I can't pretend I'll be so zen about it if I do

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but I thought I was being splendidly asshatingly asshat. Are you telling me I`m failing

There's an ignore function?

Honestly, I think I'm too new to have landed on the ignore list of anyone yet. Of course, I try to remain cordial to everyone where I can.

That doesn't mean I won't ruffle feathers. Everyone does from time to time. I'll just try to do it with as little fanfare as possible.

Sorry KTC, did you say something?