Posting in my name

imported
#1

OK, here’s the deal. Someone has been posting forum entries under my trail name, Tyger. I wish whoever is doing it would stop.

As far as I can tell, there seems to be no action taken by the site administrators to either stop or to monitor anonymous posts to the forum threads. Whether this lack of oversight is by choice or not is anyone’s guess, but anyone seems to be able to post at any time under any name, which is fine until someone uses MY name and thereby begins speaking for ME, leaving impressions of me in other people’s minds which don’t reflect MY views.

When I first found this site, I thought it was great. A common forum for hikers and lover of the outdoors to get together and form community and share experiences. What I’ve been finding to be the case, however, is something more akin to a high school maturity level except with backpacks and computer mice.

I’m seriously considering pulling my journal from this site and telling my group of contacts exactly why I’m doing it. This journal site is not the reason I’m hiking.

To other journalists, I ask this question: Have you had this problem and what did you do to deal with it?

To the person or persons posting forum in my name: Why do you feel the need to behave in such an infantile way?

To the site administrators: You guys do a great job with the site, but are you able to stop anonymous or counterfeit postings to the forum threads? If you are, then why don’t you? Why do you allow postings without valid or even with NO e-mail addresss? You can ping computers and determine IP addresses, so why not simply set up the forums so that only people with journals can post to them? Kind of makes sense to me.

To my readers, I simply apologize for the interruption in journal entries. If you’d like to find out why someone is being allowed to post to the discussion forums here in my name, I encourage you to send an e-mail to the site adminstrators and ask them why. I’ll have to decide what to do as time goes by, but I’m leaning in the direction of pulling the plug on this site.

I’m tired of reading the forums and finding that someone with nothing better to do, and with a social conscience the size of a split pea, has chimed in using Tyger as his/her name. How unoriginal can you get? And how gutless. I mean, come on. It’s time for this silliness to stop, one way or another.

I’ll be hiking and I’ll be journaling, but whether I continue posting on this site remains to be seen.

Write a note to Leif and Zip, the administrators and ask them why this just keeps happening. (I must not be the only one this happens to.)

Cheers people.

Tyger

#2

Actually the software they use to run his forum is horribly outdated and frankly, sucks. Whiteblaze and php forums are much better. Much easier to follow threads and impossible to imposter others

Shawn P

#3

Shawn P: I suppose the check is in the mail to help support this site/forum?

Keep it up Leif Drive and Zip. Let me know if one of y’all ever needs a kidney. (type A-pos)

Officer Taco

#4

Speaking only for/as myself, I did not come to this website because of this forum.

I came EXCLUSIVELY for the journals.

The rest of the site…

In this forum - this BB, if you will - as with the rest of the site, the primary purpose should be to share information that pertains to hiking and hiking trails (including gear, food, shelters, food, trail towns, food, shuttles, hostels, and FOOD!!!:tongue).

When it begins to resemble a soap opera where everyone airs out personal greivances, I think the whole thing goes to hell. And now that I have participated in it, I’m just as bad as you . . . and the next guy who posts. And somebody will.

My two cents would be, Tyger, to just let your journal speak for you. I can hear you just fine there :slight_smile:

Kineo Kid

#5

Tyger,

For a second this joker had me not liking you very much, after I thought you were a standup guy, luckily, others came to your defense and so I emailed you to clear the air, and we are cool now. I am used to sites where others “can’t” post in someone else’s name (only one name per email address, no email address, no name!) Anyways, this guy is pure chickenS**t!!! If he was a realman and wanted to tear into people, he would do it with his real name, of course, that won’t happen, as he probably has been banned from numerous other forums, and just cruises the net looking for forums where he can still just tear into people. My advice for him, dude, find a nice lady and learn some manners, of course, you would have to tear yourself away from your computer console and put on some pants in order to entice the fairer sex. Oh yeah…leave Tyger alone, he has done nothing but root people on, and doesn’t need to be chased away from this site, it’s a shame when idiots chase “good” people away!

Professor

#6

I tell you what, whom ever is posting in Tyger’s name can now post in my name. I don’t really care! All the people actually coming to this site to read what I say are reading my JOURNAL! Tyger, I could see where this is probably frustrating to you, but really, does it matter? Just post what you have to say and the folks that read the silly, stupid stuff(ie the imposter) and then read the real stuff (ie You) will most definately know the difference. And it might be possible that this person was using Tyger as thier name also, not just to mock you. Either way good luck with it!

Chad

#7

Thanks for the grounding, guys. You’re right–I was just irritated, as you can imagine.

Now, I’ve got a maildrop to get ready…:happy

Tyger

#8

from other large carnivors, Tyger. When a more aggressive carnivor enters the area, don’t confront him or run away. To do either is to invite disaster. Instead, pretend to be feeding on berries and turn your head to the side. This will signal the predator you are not interested in challenging him, and he’ll let you be. Otherwise, you’ll soon end up in a scat pile and cyberhikers will scarcely recognize you.

Bear

#9

Good advice from Bear, Tyger. But let me add to the mix. In brief, it’s a jungle out there. Here’s what happened to me.

I walked away from my job in little-big corporate media for ethical reasons, moved most of my household goods into storage and left the endless rat race of metro Washington, D.C., for the more humane pace of a small city in the Blue Ridge foothills. The work just wasn’t doing it for me. I kept waiting for satisfactions that never materialized while I slumped in front of a computer processing bad news from around the world–the endless violence bothered me the most. The commutes that could stretch to two hours (one way) felt like a terrible waste of my precious moments of life and consciousness. And I didn’t really feel like embracing this particular office culture.

Imagine the movie “Office Space,” except with editors and reporters, but with four, maybe five times the number of “managers,” :frowning: and you get the idea. My former supervisor made this revealing comment during a very serious staff meeting one day: “Every day, I try to think of ways I can be worthy of working here.” Yep. Uh huh. Loyalty confused with morality confused with careerism.

It was the weekly pictures of dead American service men and women, victims of internet imposters like the ones stalking you, placed next to advertisements for a major phone company that put me over the wall. And they’re still putting the pictures there every week. Incredible ethical myopia for the sake of advertising revenue. Just because something is legal doesn’t make it right.

Anyway, I was unhappy as a rootless cosmopolite. Finally gave up. If you want to catch marlin, don’t fish in a koi pond, right? So that was it. I left my quarter-dilbert work station and its comfortable office chair behind forever and closed out my career in journalism.

Now on with the show. Take bear’s advice and keep your head low. After all, it’s a jungle out there.

:eek:

Lion

#10

OT,

You missed by point. If they updated the software (a lot of BB software is free) to get rid of the imposters and trolls by doing it, you would get far more quality out of this forum. Right now, it’s outdated compared to PHP-bb and other forum software.

Shawn P

#11

whiteblaze.net

Ceaser

#12

The way I read it, OT’s point was:

This forum is free amd totally supported by Leif and Zip Drive. It’s not their “day job” either, ie, they’re not making money by what they do. This is a pure gift they’ve offered to the hiking community.

Money and attention has to come from somewhere. It seems a bit ungrateful to criticize, without offering aid in return; “He who looks gift horse in mouth, better have an apple.”

There’s a “Contact Us” button up at the top. Perhaps you could query them directly if you feel strongly about it, rather than on their forum.

Maybe you just didn’t know the situation.

LiteShoe

#13

These forums are supposed to be for posting helpful ideas about hiking. There is only so much you can post about long distance hiking. I think in the last few years every question about hiking has been answered here. So people tend to wander a bit with there post. I dont read them to find out how to hike, I already know.

If you think the snipping here is bad. wait til you get on the trail, and spend time with all these different personalities

Chef

#14

Great piece above. I really enjoyed it. Looks like you’ve still got the journalist skills. Good to see you’re writing about something you care about. Thanks.

Tyger, I understand how that could be frustrating. It’s happened to me a couple of times. Maybe you just post under a different name. I know you are attached to the one you have now, but aren’t you going to let a trail name come to you on the trail anyway?

Or, I suggest just to ignore it. Don’t worry about your reputation from this website. Because it’s easy for people to spend their precious time impersonating others on this site, the crediblity of information here is generally low anyway. I come onto this site expecting such stuff, but I don’t let it ruffle my feathers (although I have a couple times).

Also, I think you should take it easy on the site. You talk about “pulling the plug on the site”, but what does that mean? Are you going to unplug it, turning it off? Would you not posting here hurt the site so that it couldn’t function?

I don’t know if you’ve met Leif and Zipdrive, but I have and I don’t think they revolve around trailforums like other webforum webmasters. These guys offer an incredible resource with the trailjournals, and in my opinion this forum site is just a smaller complimentary site to give journal readers and journalists a place to interact. Other sites require a membership and take time to learn, and are great for credible discussions, but here, anyone can jump in and throw in their 2 cents without an initial time investment. Sometimes the result is bad, but it’s a good “introductory” discussion site for most.

Leif and Zip drive do not make money on this site network. They pour hours into it. If anyone wants a change, I suggest sending a note along with a 50$ -100$ donation. You can also buy hats and t-shirts. I wear my shirt all over the island.

http://trailjournals.com/donations.cfm

Besides, another Whiteblaze.net is not needed. An ALL TRAILS version of it would be nice, but I’m not about to complain my way there. But mama always did say the squeaky wheel gets the grease.

Remember, Tyger, that no one on the trail will give a rat’s ass about anything that is said here. Especially after they give you a new trail name.
:wink:

Tha Wookie

#15

When the gift horse bites me on the butt, I’ll have something to say about it, but all of your points are well taken. Thanks.

In the light of a new day, it hardly matters.

Forum is as forum does.

Tyger

#16

Exactly, Tyger.

Just a note, the “gift horse” didn’t bit you in the butt, a solitary, mean-spirited A$$hole did.

Sounds like you’re not giving that person any more of your energy. Bravo. Clearly, someone wanted to pull your chain. Some people feed on drama. It makes them mad when they don’t get the desired result (you losing your cool).

Shoester

#17

i’m sure no one else picked up on this (except maybe Tyger), but Lion’s story was completely plagiarized from Tyger’s journal (prep #1). i only know this because Tyger was nice enough to offer up some advice to me because i too plan on leaving the D.C. area for the same reasons and read up on his journal. i understand it’s frustrating but don’t let it get to you, Tyger.

Jeremy R.

#18

OH MY :nerd :x :happy

Yikes

#19

Tyger how can you complain about other people posting using your name when you have posted comments pretending to be someone else? To think that we don’t keep track of what is going on is just plain silly, but as some have pointed out there is more to life than trail forums.

Leif

#20

Ha ha, gotcha :lol

:cheers

Cheers