Comment Privacy and fools

Written By: - Date published: 12:04 pm, December 19th, 2011 - 94 comments
Categories: blogs - Tags: ,

Readers of this site are probably aware that I think Cameron Slater is a technological idiot. Well he has just proved it again.  There was a comment on our site referring to some of the IP/e-mail matching going on at another site recently which I’m quite irate about. Slater immediately jumped to the wrong conclusion, probably because he is known to datamatch private information himself and assumes everyone else has his low ethical standards.

A week or so ago, one of our commentators was having gossip spread around the Labour camp that they were one of our authors. Like all possible security breaches on this site I investigated because if it came from this site it would violate our privacy provisions (and I’d have someones guts for garters).

I contacted the two people concerned and established the following:-

  • The only network link between the two individuals was that they often had the same access point to the net, including the same IP number.
  • One used a valid e-mail address with their name,  and the other used an anonymous g-mail account.
  • All of our editors (who are the only people who can see IP numbers on this site) also either knew the real identity of our author, or definitely knew that it was not the commentator.
  • The only way that these two people could have been matched was by matching an IP to an e-mail at a site, and then jumping to erroneous conclusions.
  • There are only two sites where that could happen where both the e-mail address and common IP would have been in use.

If it had been The Standard that the leak had happened at, then the correct person would have been outed –  not the commentator that got defamed. I am sure of where the breach of privacy happened, and it was not at this site. I am also sure of which site that the security breach happened at.

I immediately contacted two of the operators of the other blog site and informed them of the security breach at their site. I also told them that I was furious about it  and that they’d better clean up their act pronto. Subsequently I’ve also become aware of other possible instances of privacy breaches at that site fitting a similar pattern.

As a sysop, I’m acutely aware of the dangers to the site of having any breaches in privacy. Consequently so are all of the editors on the site. Commenting on political sites involves a great deal of trust on the part of commentators about the use of their information like e-mail addresses and IP numbers. That is why we have an explicit  privacy policy that says what information may be used for.

Privacy

We do not disclose any information to third parties. This includes what you add to your profile that is not public on the blog. In particular your real name and e-mail. Similarly if you are not logged in and enter a comment, we do not disclose the e-mail you enter on your message.

E-mail addresses are only used by the sysop or moderators if they need to contact you. This will usually be because of your behavior or other peoples behavior to you on the blog. Sometimes it will be used if we’re really interested in something you wrote.

IP’s are only used when looking at moderation and banning. We will often look to see other pseudonyms have been used by the same person on this site. Very useful when dealing with repeat offenders.

What you write in comments, your name/pseudonym and website is public and will be visible to anyone who reads the site. That is far more than the number of people who comment. Don’t write something that you’d be ashamed of in 20 years because it will probably still be visible. Better yet, don’t use your real name – use a pseudonym.

In a large part this statement is because of fools like Cameron Slater who show no respect for the privacy of people. He regularly attempts to ‘out’ our authors and even commentators (and invariably fails) and doesn’t even have a policy statement about privacy on his site. Neither does a similar fool on the site that leaked the the incorrect information.

I’d advise people to never put comments on sites that lacks a privacy policy that is explicit about what information may be used for.

94 comments on “Comment Privacy and fools ”

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  1. Uturn 1
    19 December 2011 at 12:28 pm

    “…Don’t write something that you’d be ashamed of in 20 years because it will probably still be visible…”

    Or alternately, write something that’ll make you laugh in 20 years because it will probably still be visible. I plan to laugh myself to death. But not in 20 years.

    By 2015 we’ll have the technology to thaw-out cryogenically frozen subjects, so I’ll be back to read The Standard from 2211.

    (The world didn’t end in 2012, we beat global warming by … nah that would be giving it away… and Cameron Slater, well he ended up … oh happy times. )

    And the funny thing about that is I had to jot a rough sum on paper to add 200 years to 2011.

  2. ghostwhowalksnz 2
    19 December 2011 at 12:28 pm

    Slater was once a low grade computer operator – Databank- 20 years ago so dont give him any more IT credibility than that.

    • lprent 2.1
      19 December 2011 at 12:33 pm

      Figures. He has just enough information to be really really stupid because he is unaware of his own limitations.

      That explains the pattern I see from him of low skills and high ineptness.

      • One Anonymous Bloke 2.1.1
        19 December 2011 at 12:41 pm

        Paging Dr. Dunning-Kruger 🙂

      • Hulun Shearer 2.1.2
        19 December 2011 at 7:30 pm

        That’s pretty rich coming from the bloke who cannot distinguish between the Linux Operating System, the BASH shell and the Fortune application.

        Pull your head in, Helpdesk.

        • NickS 2.1.2.1
          19 December 2011 at 8:23 pm

          Stupid troll is stupid.

        • lprent 2.1.2.2
          19 December 2011 at 11:13 pm

          I use linux and bash all of the time. I have no idea what fortune is. Providentially I have never needed to use it.

          Ok, lets have a talk about some of the stuff at the levels that I actually use within the last few months….. simpliest to hardest

          What would the simplest way on linux be to change the priority off a from a shell?
          What is the main problem with changing the priority of thread from pthread (on a 2.6 kernel)?
          What switches would you use in a QMake and gcc to quieten down the output to a few lines.
          If you were playing around with a fastcgi running php on apache 2.2, what are reasonable config values for the fastcgi for a site of this number of page views (~530k last month) with a quad processor and why?
          If you were playing around in a windows window and you required paint messages to be deferred, what is the easiest way to do it even if you have multiple messages in the queue.
          How would you handle the severe limits on the numbers of event that can be passed to a MsgWaitForMultipleEvents in a single thread.
          If you had to set up a c or c++ plugin for php5, how would you convert a string from the PHP to a std::string?

          Basically you sound like some kind of idiot because you’re talking about word definitions rather than actual problems. That isn’t even noob level.

          • Hulun Shearer 2.1.2.2.1
            20 December 2011 at 2:04 am

            “Fortune” is an old time UNIX toy that shell login scripts would call to echo a quote or aphorism to the terminal when a user first logged in.

            For those that don’t recall, Lynn “Have You Tried Turning It Off and On Again?” Prentice encountered Fortune several years ago, around about the time that his world expanded beyond Visual Basic on MS Platforms. He liked one of the quotes from the Fortune application so much that he used it for several days as a blogpost signature:

            Which he erroneously attributed, also in his blogpost signature, to “The Linux Command Line” causing much jocularity amongst those with actual technical proficiency.

            • Colonial Viper 2.1.2.2.1.1
              20 December 2011 at 2:32 am

              Stupid troll is stupid.

            • Draco T Bastard 2.1.2.2.1.2
              20 December 2011 at 2:36 am

              Sounds like you’re talking out your arse.

            • ropata 2.1.2.2.1.3
              20 December 2011 at 3:28 am

              o goody, a nerd flamewar!

              before vi or emacs (ptooie!) there was … ed

              before fortran, before any “operating system”, there was … Mel

              now get off my lawn

            • lprent 2.1.2.2.1.4
              20 December 2011 at 7:58 am

              WTF? Never programmed anything in visual basic. I have mostly done c++ since 1991. But I have programmed in just about anything. After the first 30 languages they mostly wind up as variants.

              Over the years, I have done one program in DEC basic in 1980, one in Basica in 1986, one in quick basic in 1989 (?), and one in VBScript in 2005. None were commercial, they were just exercises done for other people.

              Basic is a irritating language, but it was adequete for glue and teaching others entry programming. The 2005 exercise was to show rocky how to program on a project for a friend and the primary focus was MySQL, HTML, JavaScript and CSS 2.1. Afterwards we both shifted web app development to PHP because VBScript was awful. Mostly if I need glue code I use either shell scripts or python depending on the level.

              You are talking out of your arse.

              • lux …
                20 December 2011 at 3:11 pm

                Nobody at all is interested in a nerd pissing contest. Besides, everyone knows that LISP is the only True Language of Enlightenment.

                • lprent …
                  20 December 2011 at 3:27 pm

                  Only if you wish to go past the prolog into a maze of wasted effort. Actually neither language has been particularly useful for anything I’ve ever done – imagine trying to detect trolls with them. Anyway, back to moderating.

          • Dave 2.1.2.2.2
            25 December 2011 at 6:13 pm

            Haha I am so there with you, was going to do all that stuff you said, but a wheel fell off my computer and i had to kick it to get the thing to reboot.

  3. nadis 3
    19 December 2011 at 12:45 pm

    What was the other site where IP/email matching was going on? I think they deserve to be outed.

  4. lprent 4
    19 December 2011 at 12:48 pm

    Man Cameron is illiterate. You can see that he has never figured out what Occam’s razor is (probably thinks it is a weapon knowing him).

    So what I reckon is happening is they are getting the ip addresses of negative commenters against Shearer at The Standard and then comparing those ip addresses with comments at Red Alert in order to match email addresses from commenters. Then intimidating them to fall into line behind Team Shearer.

    Now why would anyone jump between two sites like that for. He uses wordpress stand-alone himself, so would he assume that IP numbers and e-mail addresses are stored on different sites. I guess that he can’t get a good conspiracy theory going without it.

    And wasn’t it just last week that he was saying that this site was run by Cunliffe supporters? The reality is that there were supporters of both camps amongst authors, editors, and commentators. Plus a number who like me, think that both choices had problems…

    I expect a long and vitriolic post now from Lynn Prentice decrying this post as muck-raking, but all I am doing is commenting on comments made and confirmed on his site.

    Typical Whale. Has nothing to do with the fact that he routinely lies?

    • Lanthanide 4.1
      19 December 2011 at 2:44 pm

      Your constant use of the term “IP number” is making my eye twitch.

      • lprent 4.1.1
        19 December 2011 at 6:52 pm

        *grin* Sorry, it is an old habit from writing code at the socket level on struct sockaddr_in. String representations are just strings for most work. The s_addr field which is the address is a 32bit number.

        • Lanthanide 4.1.1.1
          19 December 2011 at 8:43 pm

          Just wait till you start dealing with IPv6! So much fun!

          • lprent 4.1.1.1.1
            19 December 2011 at 10:53 pm

            Yep. Last time I played with that was 5 years ago (damn – so long!) and basically the stacks and hardware weren’t up to much except for local networks. So I dropped it and carried on with socks and various other tunneling techniques.

            This project goes through to completion by March (then we can start on the next generation). Currently the device I’m working on only has IPv4 at the driver level installed for the wifi hardware. I want to have a look at doing IPv6 at the webserver I wrote so I can do some better routing. But I’m also expanding my home office space in March (yay!) so I can start doing more code at home. So have time to play more. My current office space is too small to work in. Not enough elbow room or room for more screens.

            • Lanthanide 4.1.1.1.1.1
              19 December 2011 at 11:42 pm

              IPv6 support has come a long way in the last couple of years. The exhaustion of the last class A blocks made a lot of people finally wake up.

              Still going to take a good 5 years before all this equipment that claims to support IPv6 is really properly bedded in and stable, though.

              Also the new DHCPv6 standard is mindboggling.

              • lprent …
                20 December 2011 at 12:05 am

                Also the new DHCPv6 standard is mindboggling.

                Fortunately I haven’t needed DHCP that much except for the most primitive on the external router. I work in small companies or at home. But I’ll have a peek at the spec.

                I’ve set aside some time to setup my external DNS systems to IPv6 over xmas. Maybe try a secondary on bind9.

                But definitely finally retire the old windows server 2003 box which runs a mail program (MDaemon shifting to postfix + other bits), one vbscript webapp (mostly converted to PHP), and the old DNS. Less noise in the office after its old noisy fans shut down

                Finally have a DSL router that is meant to be fully IPv6 (last one was a wannabe). If that works and I can get to one of the standard’s servers as IPv6, then I’ll configure them both and work out what doesn’t work with v6 in the distro.

                That should give me the required remote test platform to test the boost::asio on IPv6. No more direct sockets for me – I keep fouling up flipping back and forth from berkeley to winsock. Holiday – what holiday?

                What is the bet that there is something missing somewhere that I can’t fix remotely?

  5. fender 5
    19 December 2011 at 12:51 pm

    Oh please take that photo away, its making me feel nauseous, great editorial though.
    Surely the right are ashamed of their whale-snot dribbler.

    • lprent 5.1
      19 December 2011 at 1:34 pm

      Slater wanted abuse. His photo fitted as self-abuse.

      But seriously, I was appalled when I started looking around at the sites last week that did not have any privacy policies, or where the privacy policy was ambiguous or suspect. For instance how many people knew of this gem in the privacy policy at kiwiblog.

      However those who know me will testify that I only try to screw someone over, if they have done something particularly nasty aimed at me. I’ve only twice needed to retalitate in the last ten years, so it is very hard to get onto my revenge list. The bad news is that there is no known method to get off the list, once on it

      So the bottom line in terms of privacy in browsing or commenting on this site, is that in 99.99% of all cases I will keep your personal information strictly confidential to me. However if you break the law, defame someone, or really piss me off, then you have been warned!

      I can’t imagine ever needing to be that nasty in releasing information that is private.

      If it is required then I simply ban people – permanently.

      If I disliked their actions enough then they merely get on my personal shit-list (nothing to do with the site). The only people on that are Cameron Slater and David Farrar, both for lying about my involvement with the site from 2008 onwards and for trying to attack authors on the site and managing to target civilians instead.

      Updated: For people on the shit list I just make my opinions known and why. I’m always aware that people in the net keep turning over and some don’t know why particular animosities persist.

      • Jackal 5.1.1
        19 December 2011 at 1:47 pm

        I think we can conclude that Slater et al are a bunch of nasty vindictive a holes.

      • fmacskasy 5.1.2
        19 December 2011 at 2:00 pm

        Hmmmm, some interesting points to consider…

        • lprent 5.1.2.1
          19 December 2011 at 2:15 pm

          Yeah. This post was written a week ago and has been travelling with me since in case of need. I figured at some stage this would surface and I’d need to give a statement to protect this site from the usual bullshit artists (and Slater was top of the list).

          When I got sent the link to Slater’s post this morning, I readjusted the first paragraph and updated the second to last paragraph and put it up.

          I realise that blogs are the purview of amateurs. But surely people must be aware that having people leaving comments at all is a trust relationship that privacy is central to. I’m not exactly the nicest sysop in the world. In fact I’m a bastard sysop by intention. But there is a hell of a difference between calling someone a self-stimulating blowhard or banning them from commenting on our site as I’m known to do, and doing actions that discourage people from leaving comments at any blogsite.

          I’d suggest that other bloggers and media sites check that they have clear and viable privacy statements and thinking about what is permissible or not. Because I intend to start reviewing them critically and in public. Fits nicely into the Law Commissions review as well.

          • fmacskasy 5.1.2.1.1
            19 December 2011 at 4:59 pm

            I must admit I hadn’t considered any of this. So hope you don’t mind, Lynn, and I’ve borrowed from your Privacy policy. (Bit of an irony there; pinching your privacy policy… )

            As for Slater – from what I know of the chap, I wouldn’t trust him a nanometre.

            As for his blog – it reminds me of British tabloids. I don’t get the media fascination with him.

            • lprent 5.1.2.1.1.1
              19 December 2011 at 5:17 pm

              Borrow away. The first part was mine. The second part I borrowed from Anita at Kiwipolitico.

              Of course a warrant can be served to compel the information from the hosting companies. It could be difficult to extract information without cooperation though.

              • fmacskasy …
                19 December 2011 at 5:25 pm

                “Of course a warrant can be served to compel the information from the hosting companies. It could be difficult to extract information without cooperation though.”

                True that.

                At least that would take it out of my hands and make it someone elses’ responsibility. (It’s nice to know I’m still too small to be taken much note of, though.

              • Akldnut …
                19 December 2011 at 8:46 pm

                Got to love that second part.

          • CnrJoe 5.1.2.1.2
            20 December 2011 at 5:14 pm

            yr so not a bastard. u the best and we’re lucky to have you mate.

    • Pundit X 5.2
      19 December 2011 at 1:39 pm

      I agree with fender get rid of the photo…

  6. tc 6
    19 December 2011 at 1:15 pm

    The right are ashamed of little…..look at what’s unfolding in aya-tolley’s old portfolio and the stacking of the human rights commission as a couple of examples.

    nice to see your pic caught cammy on a good day.

    • fender 6.1
      19 December 2011 at 1:29 pm

      Yes it’s one of his better days but you can tell by the angle his empty fat head is on that the giant chip on his shoulder makes it hard to ballance.
      Judging by his eyes there is most likely some serious substance abuse taking place.

      • Jilly Bee 6.1.1
        19 December 2011 at 8:30 pm

        Taken from an old song:

        ‘With one eye on the pot and the other up the chimney’

        Can’t remember the name of the song, but I think it was sung by Harry Belafonte many years ago.

        • logie97 6.1.1.1
          20 December 2011 at 1:03 am

          ” The Drummer and the Cook” used to feature in the 50’s on the “Broadcast for Schools” on the national programme – remember those days – ahhh
          – barefoot to school.
          – warm bottles of milk
          – bull rush
          – bike sheds
          – National Library spooled films.
          – Cinerama – “White Wilderness”
          – Danny Kaye and the Court Jester…
          – heavily chlorinated swimming pool (and foot bath).
          – blackboards
          – duster monitors

          and Slater would be too young to understand any of that.

    • David H 6.2
      19 December 2011 at 10:44 pm

      Yeah no drool and snot running down his chin.

  7. drongo 7
    19 December 2011 at 1:26 pm

    I reckon Slater and Odgers probably swap information, too. They’re both engaged in war so for them anything goes.

  8. randal 8
    19 December 2011 at 1:38 pm

    looks like he is eyeing up one of fatboy farrars sausage rolls.
    http://www.sausageroll.com

  9. Cactus Kate 9
    19 December 2011 at 2:09 pm

    Drongo
    I am happy to report my knowledge about IT extends about as far as switching the computer on. Definitely not to understanding what the fuss is about in this post and you’ll never see me posting about IT.

    • Wild Colonial Boy 9.1
      19 December 2011 at 2:27 pm

      Is that Farrar speaking, or Slater ?

      I’m confused by all these aliases.

      WCB.

      [lprent: It is CK as far as I can tell from the details. CK is not particularly consistent on what e-mail address she uses, so the gravator appears frequently different. But it is from one of her known haunts where she has been leaving comments from under at least 4 e-mail addresses over the last year. ]

    • drongo 9.2
      19 December 2011 at 2:37 pm

      Wasn’t referring to your knowledge of IT or you posting about it: if you wanted to look up IP addresses you could – a lack of IT knowledge is no barrier. It’s just that Cameron Slater’s open threat on his blog “Don’t mess with Whale or Cactus Kate” made me wonder what that means.

      • felix 9.2.1
        19 December 2011 at 3:03 pm

        It means they’ve started a gang and there’s no adults allowed.

      • mik e 9.2.2
        19 December 2011 at 9:51 pm

        a proposal of marriage possibly now that dirty old don is done its time for slippery slater to be the next alpha philanderer

    • Draco T Bastard 9.3
      19 December 2011 at 2:39 pm

      Definitely not to understanding what the fuss is about in this post…

      Really? Interesting. Aren’t you a lawyer?

      • Lanthanide 9.3.1
        19 December 2011 at 2:49 pm

        A lawyer of the type that arranges peoples financial affairs to avoid tax.

        • Cactus Kate 9.3.1.1
          19 December 2011 at 2:59 pm

          Yawn. So what? Minimizing tax is entirely consistent with my political beliefs. It’s not like I’m doing that then campaigning for Labour.

          • felix 9.3.1.1.1
            19 December 2011 at 5:33 pm

            I believe Lanth was actually providing you with a plausible reason for you apparent ignorance of what the legal implications might be.

            He wasn’t to know that you’re a nasty old lady who’d spit it back in his face like so much venom.

          • David H 9.3.1.1.2
            19 December 2011 at 10:48 pm

            And about as many scruples as the center of a Polo Mint.

          • Rob 9.3.1.1.3
            20 December 2011 at 9:33 am

            Yep , only the Unite Union does that.

      • Cactus Kate 9.3.2
        19 December 2011 at 2:52 pm

        Whats law got to do with it?
        It’s the Internet there is no such thing as privacy when you leave a comment on a blog FFS. What are you going to do? Run off to a lawyer like a diddums when you think your blog comments have had privacy breached? Please…
        Sysop and IP numbers? No idea what he is talking about.

    • Bored 9.4
      19 December 2011 at 2:52 pm

      Madam Odgers, for you it is a little late, but that’s your choice. Your name is out there, anyone wanting to know who you are does. Your choice, and good luck.

      Long since I quizzed The Standard about the security of the email addresses they held. As an owner / shareholder / manager in a few IT concerns I was very aware that pseudonyms etc needed protection not from mendacious fools like Whale but from those who with the power to oppose viewpoints with force. In their wisdom The Standard have a very reasonable privacy stance that will make in nigh impossible for anybody to easily be able to match names with pseudonyms.

      Instead of merely reading fairy tales like Ayns nonsense homilies of individual triumph, you might consider the nature of malign regimes whose collective oppressions motivated her to write. They exist left and right as recent history demonstrates in spade loads. That The Standard will make it extremely difficult for any agency / individual to assist in the dirty work of a malign state or corporate entity is to me reassuring.

  10. Cactus Kate 10
    19 December 2011 at 2:47 pm

    Lynn
    I think the giveaway honey will be that the comments are coming from a HK address. I am told you can see that.

    Farrar and Slater have been banned from commenting here to my knowledge.
    And I don’t fill in the mail thing correctly if the details haven’t been saved. I have had many different computers, iPad and phones this year. Can’t be bothered.

    Drongo
    I don’t know what it means either, I am friends with Cameron however and of course do speak to him regularly. If you actually had any friends you may understand talking to them is a byproduct of that relationship.

    [lprent: I can down to the nearest exchange unless people use anonymizers (which I can detect). However I don’t look up location information unless it is relevant to the identity confirmation request.

    I will usually check new commentators with strange IP ranges to check if it is from a known spam location. Apart from that IP locations are only of interest if people claim to be from one place when I can see that is quite unlikely – in which case I may challenge them on it.

    Your choice on the gravators – it does lead to queries from others. Also the moderators have to pass at least one comment on every new e-mail address – which involves us in effort. We will start trashing “new person” comments if people appear to be abusing our time.

    Neither Farrar nor Whaleoil are banned from here. I don’t think that Farrar ever has been. Whale almost certainly was for periods from when he was running trolling mobs through the comments section in 2008. ]

    • Lanthanide 10.1
      19 December 2011 at 2:50 pm

      “Farrar and Slater have been banned from commenting here to my knowledge.”

      I don’t believe so. In any event, I’ve seen a few comments from Whale and maybe one from Farrar. Or at least people claiming to be them.

    • fender 10.2
      19 December 2011 at 2:54 pm

      Can tell a great deal about people by the friends they have.
      You seem to imply Drongo has no friends, i doubt that your suggestion is factual but if it were I too would rather have no friends than have friends like Slater.

    • drongo 10.3
      19 December 2011 at 4:04 pm

      What’s with the “If you actually had any friends you may understand talking to them is a byproduct of that relationship” stuff? Is talking like this really necessary? Why so nasty?

      • McFlock 10.3.1
        19 December 2011 at 4:20 pm

        The right’s well-known graciousness runneth over.
         

        • drongo 10.3.1.1
          19 December 2011 at 4:57 pm

          I was astonished to see Odgers’ and Slater’s attack on David Parker based on a deliberate blowing out of all proportion a tiny remark that appeared in the Herald – truly puerile. Says a lot, though.

        • Vicky32 10.3.1.2
          19 December 2011 at 6:31 pm

          The right’s well-known graciousness runneth over.

          Those who claim to be left can be much worse! Yes, I do mean you.

          • drongo 10.3.1.2.1
            19 December 2011 at 7:15 pm

            I could never in a million years write what Odgers and Slater wrote about David Parker the other day.

            • Cactus Kate 10.3.1.2.1.1
              19 December 2011 at 9:19 pm

              Because you don’t have a blog Drongo. No stones behind your whining. Fran O’Sullivan made it pretty clear to even the dumbest reader what she meant.

              • drongo …
                19 December 2011 at 10:18 pm

                Don’t need to have a blog to write things. What do you think I’m doing now? And what’s with the nastiness? “If you actually had any friends you may understand talking to them is a byproduct of that relationship”. This sort of behaviour is simply unnecessary. And you wonder why people say things like what Jackal has just said. Do you think there might be a connection between the two?

                Interesting that you responded to the suggestion that you’ve passed on or received IP addresses to or from other bloggers to simply say you’re friends with Slater so of course you talk. Been looking up the 25 Rules of disinformation again lately, or have you memorised, or more likely, internalised every single one of them? I’ll take it back if you say categorically that you’ve never passed on or received IP addresses or other identifying information belonging to people who’ve posted on your blog or anyone elses to or from anyone, but from the tone of what you’ve been saying my guess is that you have.

          • McFlock 10.3.1.2.2
            20 December 2011 at 1:44 am

            What? Because I have an issue with homophobic misandric antichoice cultists stuck in a 50s worldview? Fair enough, then.

      • Cactus Kate 10.4.1
        19 December 2011 at 9:16 pm

        Could be worse, I could be a plumber from Northland with a penchant for horse racing who thinks he is anonymous. Is that right [Deleted…RL]?

        • felix 10.4.1.1
          19 December 2011 at 11:19 pm

          I hope this serves as a warning to anyone who thinks it might be worth engaging with the nasty piece of work who calls herself Cactus Kate.

          She’s been on a campaign to ingratiate herself here lately and if anyone is under any illusions about her motivation for doing so, then look no further.

          Trust me, no good will ever come of socialising with her or the Slater child. Spurn them like the rabid dogs they are.

          • drongo 10.4.1.1.1
            20 December 2011 at 1:19 am

            Wise words, felix, wise indeed. Just had another look at the 25 rules of disinformation. Odgers engages all of them, all of the time.

      • Cactus Kate 10.4.2
        19 December 2011 at 9:37 pm

        Obviously being attacked by an anonymous blogger and comments here as a prick with my name doesn’t give me a right of reply using the authors real name back. Charming.
        I know precisely who the Jackal is and given the depth of bile written on his blog about others, I’d say all bets were off Lynn. [Fine. Your call…but however you want to run the odds do it on your blog. Any attempt direct or indirect at ‘outing’ anyone at The Standard WILL result in moderation. Please consider this a courteous warning. RL]

        On WO this am a senior Labour mp admitted he looked up the IP address of someone sending nasty comments to Red Alert, I see no issue with this behavior as far as I’m concerned all bets are off if you are to make consistently shitty comments about another person.
        I try to contribute to The Standard knowing that it is a blog in hostile territory, ignore most of the abuse received back and save anything too controversial for my own blog.
        Just saying.

        • Jackal 10.4.2.1
          22 December 2011 at 9:50 pm

          I notice you put a question mark behind the name you wrote (whatever that was)… then followed up by saying you know precisely who the Jackal is… this doesn’t make much sense.

          Perhaps your need to dismiss what I write about, will only be satiated if you can objectify your own hatred Cathy Odgers. Here’s some of your advice back at ya: if you don’t like it… don’t read it.

          The things on the Jackal are not half as obnoxious as what you often write Catcus. My advice to you is that if you can’t handle it… don’t dish it out. The difference between us is that I don’t make shit up all the time to try and defame people… my writing is entirely factually based, whereas yours is a litany of lies that only the mentally deficient would believe.

          All bets are off… is that meant to be some sort of threat? As far as threats go… it’s decidedly pathetic! You’re best left in the sandpit where you belong Odgers.

          • drongo 10.4.2.1.1
            23 December 2011 at 3:44 pm

            Absolutely, Jackal. Notice how Odgers, at first (and true to form) responded to the suggestion that she shared IP and other information with Slater, or other right wing bloggers, with ‘I know nothing about IT so how in the hell can I possibly do that?’ bullshit – just the same old duplicitous attempts at obscuring the truth that there are hundreds of examples of any of us could point to. Then, when backed into a corner, she either tryies to attack with irrelevant, worthless and utter bog spew, or she bolts. Given the filth and bile that come from Odgers’ and Slater’s hearts, I cannot believe that they would not share IP addresses and other identifying information for people who post comments. It would not be in their natures not to, full stop. Like I said earlier, the 25 methods to spread disinformation (or what ever it’s called – Odgers knows), Odgers has adopted as her bible to consult when responding to anything that vaguely questions her viewpoint. You’re a fucking disgrace, Odgers, nothing but a fucking disgrace.

        • fmacskasy 10.4.2.2
          22 December 2011 at 10:03 pm

          “On WO this am a senior Labour mp admitted he looked up the IP address of someone sending nasty comments to Red Alert…”

          Correction;

          “On WO this am someone claiming to be a senior Labour mp admitted he looked up the IP address of someone sending nasty comments to Red Alert…”

          Glad to be of assistance.

  11. Tiger Mountain 11
    19 December 2011 at 3:16 pm

    Whale has a face only a parent or paid companion might warm to. The lugubrious damaged visage is quite unsettling and awkward to look at, take it down-please….

    Whale’s junior stasi dob in club (advising how to track number plates of suspected National hoarding vandals (‘Drill it mine it etc.” ) finally erased any empathy I might of had for some buried aspect of decency in him.

    Whale might think he is an IT genius but has still failed to conclusively reveal who supplied the “Hollowmen” emails.

    • mickysavage 11.1
      19 December 2011 at 4:23 pm

      Don’t forget his great “I have Labour donors credit card details” expose.  Although I have to admit he sucked me in.  He never had the decency to be embarrassed when the truth was shown.

    • ghostwhowalksnz 11.2
      19 December 2011 at 9:29 pm

      It did it for me , “exposed” me to his baying mob.
      Yes thats right he revealed my email address and the IP address .

      Big deal. I use gmail ( among others) but dont use my real name.

      The IP address had the bloodhounds slobbering , however they were too stupid to realise the ‘whois’ lookup gave the location as Boston Rd wasnt Mt Eden Prison as they thought but the location of a Vodafone server farm ( if that – it may be a spoof by Vodafone)
      Most small businesses and home users are safe as they get a random IP number ( sort of) allocated to Vodafone, Xtra etc. There may be other tricks that can be used to reveal a bit more but there are ways to avoid that ( which I try to use but I cant tell if it works).
      Avoid a anonimised IP address as they can be used by malware to infiltrate your computer

      • RedLogix 11.2.1
        19 December 2011 at 10:18 pm

        Most small businesses and home users are safe as they get a random IP number ( sort of) allocated to Vodafone, Xtra etc.

        Exactly. I use several different entry points onto the net and never get the same IP address each time. And my email is a yahoo thing with no personal identifier. Only Lynn knows who I am in real life and at the end of the day it’s not all that big a deal.

        For me RedLogix has become an indentity in his own right; a sort of alter-ego who is factually based on the real me, but occupies a somewhat different personality space. That’s really the main reason why I keep him going. I tried blogging years ago under my own real name, but it never felt right for some reason.. it was as if my own ego kept getting in the way and not in a constructive fashion.

        Ultimately Lynn’s is right, it is not who you are that is important; it’s the quality of your argument that is… and pseudonyms are one way to help decouple personalities from the debate if you want it to.

        • lprent 11.2.1.1
          20 December 2011 at 12:22 am

          Only Lynn knows who I am in real life and at the end of the day it’s not all that big a deal.

          And I last saw you more than 2.5 years ago…. When I routed e-mail to you the other day I discovered it was over a year since I’d e-mailed you.

          For me RedLogix has become an indentity in his own right; a sort of alter-ego who is factually based on the real me, but occupies a somewhat different personality space.

          Lyn reckons she liked AncientGeek the best. He was nice. lprent is not so nice. And Lynn Prentice doesn’t take out the rubbish….. 😈 They all feel like me – just different bits.

          …it is not who you are that is important; it’s the quality of your argument that is… and pseudonyms are one way to help decouple personalities from the debate if you want it to.

          Funny thing is that the personality is decoupled as ‘you’. But the alter-ego personalities shine through very strongly for people who can argue well. The thing I like about it is that I really don’t have a lot of time to do everything I need to do. This allows discussion in small bits. I have always enjoyed that all the way back to when I was queuing messages on to the BIX boards.

      • lprent 11.2.2
        19 December 2011 at 10:33 pm

        …they were too stupid to realise the ‘whois’ lookup gave the location as Boston Rd wasnt Mt Eden Prison as they thought but the location of a Vodafone server farm ( if that – it may be a spoof by Vodafone)

        I think that it is just a central location for a geographical area. There are a lot of ISP’s that have their geoip’s terminate there if you aren’t careful about geographical lookups and termination points.

        Most small businesses and home users are safe as they get a random IP number ( sort of) allocated to Vodafone, Xtra etc.

        Usually either C or B level gives a good idea of if you are the same person coupled with a geoip. Depends how many other people using the same services also use the same subnet. But it becomes a probability statement rather than definitive. A couple of the ISP’s appear to randomly allocate across their whole range. But most seem to have limited addresses – probably because they’re restricted by the dslam you’re attached to by the copper.

        Avoid a anonimised IP address as they can be used by malware to infiltrate your computer

        TOR is ok, just a pain to set up and get fast connection through. Prepay tethered 3G is pretty damn good for small stuff.

        • David H 11.2.2.1
          19 December 2011 at 10:58 pm

          I find that Hotspot Shield usually gives a good speed continuously, so not too bad for the “you are not a resident in this country” video streaming. and the odd HTTP Doco D/L

  12. Arthur 12
    19 December 2011 at 6:59 pm

    I read the whale regularly, he reinforces my prejudices.

  13. felix 13
    19 December 2011 at 11:43 pm

    Maybe Alfalfa works in the PM’s office?

  14. randal 14
    20 December 2011 at 6:41 pm

    misandric alfalfa?

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