because I saw in some post to demcon that apparently I was the reason for all the threats to shutter BOF.

This was a surprise to me. So I actually checked my email records, and sent off a query to Geoff to see if this was so...all before I realized it could not have been.

1. I didn't contact Slate.

2. This all went down BEFORE Geoff left, AND he was already aware of that issue before he left.

I regret that I have now bothered him with this. I hope he just deletes the damned thing. I wish I'd checked out everything before I asked him, but reading it...it sounded plausible to me. I'd forgotten how long ago DD made that threat. And stupidly (par for the course with me), I forgot that my contact with the Secret Service had NOT been via email.)

There is no good reason for you ever to post to me in such a manner. Please stop doing so. If you want to post to me, that's fine. I only ask you to be a grown up about it. Civil conversations and all that.

I know what transpired here on BOTF. That I find it creepy for someone to take another's post and Top Post it on another board is just one of my little quirks about an environment such as this. And, as I said in my post to catnapping, I would not have disclosed here having contacted the authorities regarding a threat. For obvious reasons.

I don't know how the Secret Service found out about predicto/Dd's assassination threats against Pres. Obama nor do I care. I can tell you that Geoff knew about them before the SS did and did nothing. Whether the threat was credible or serious or not is not Geoff's call to make. He is not qualified to make that call. That's the SS's job.

Go on a plane or in an airport and make a joke about a bomb and there are consequences. Make a death threat against the President in an open online forum such as the Fray,even as a joke,and there are consequences. As it should be.

Betcha predicto/Dd is on the SS/FBI watch list every time he travels by plane/train/ship/bus or when Pres. Obama travels to Washington state.

Kausfiles Special Fray kicked both of your stalking butts right out of there again.

How exactly do they go about kicking someone's butt out of there? I posted there this morning so I guess they will have to kick my butt out.....again.

And we didn't go stalking Denny and calling him a plagiarist. We provided evidence that a poem he posted, with his name signed at the bottom, was actually written by someone else.

Jack

Because Geoff and everyone else knows doggydevil/prrdicto he's posted bullcrap for years here,BD.

I know you were all upset about his posts as well.

But really the little squirrely dude even laughed at you fools and mocked you when he said he was mayor or Boirple Falls Militia or some crap and laughed that you took him seriously.

He's been aacting whacky for years and spoofing and admits he's spoofing.

and jo and Db are old timers who did absolutely NOTHING..and she gave their private names to the SS.

Good lord!

Get some perspective on the entirety of the matter and how this caused an uproar at Slate with the powers that be..when they found it to be a false charge.jo and DB were accused too by her.

sigh.

den's a friend. KSF fray adores him.

den's received over 20 Editor's Pick checkmarks last year for his good work on Poems Fray.

that's why you and cat went after him.

Jealousy and meaness..

...is for good men to do nothing."

You are not at fault here. Doggy was at fault. If I'd have seen the post, I'd have done the same thing.

I'm sure this was a giant pain in the ass for Geoff and the folks at Slate, but I don't think this is what the problem is. The problem is unwarranted complaints and spamming of the Slate staffers. I don't blame anyone for taking a racist's threat against the president seriously.

den's received over 20 Editor's Pick checkmarks last year for his good work on Poems Fray.

How many did he receive after they found out he didn't write the stuff for which they had checkmarked him? *

Jack

* Ans: None

he said he was kidding numerous times.

and what about her giving them dreambird and justoffals names?
What did they do?

I'm replying to you because I want to stay out of some of the other stuff going on here. But these comments aren't necessarily directed to you.

Predicto's posts in the thread we're talking about crossed the line in my mind.

Now, we don't have all the facts, but we have enough to draw some pretty solid conclusions.

First, what was turned over to the Secret Service were predicto's own postings. They could see for themselves what was written and decide for themselves whether they thought it merited further inquiry or more jelly doughnuts and coffee.

Second, we know quite surely that they put down the doughnuts and coffee. Having been through similar investigations before, I'm quite sure that what Geoff is referring to was a request for predicto's posting history and registration information, possibly even access logs (they have to make sure "predicto" is just one person, not several).

Third, predicto himself said, although somewhat obliquely, that he got "a visit." And he abruptly changed his tune about calling for violence. Sure, he's still posting, and sure, he's still posting vile stuff, but he has not merely stopped posting the violent stuff, he has posted that he renounces any call for violence. That must have been some "visit."

Now, on at least two occasions over the past many years, I recall seeing news stories about school kids making crazy-assed "threats" against a sitting President. One was in the Internet age, the other, I seem to recall, was prior. In any event, in both cases the Secret Service investigated and concluded that the kid was just spouting off and not a real threat. They arranged a little meeting with the nutjob and his or her parents, and gave them a stern talking to, and said "go and sin no more."

I'm quite sure that's very much like what happened to predicto. They probably told him to cut it out, renounce it, or be prosecuted. They probably showed him the text of the law he violated. They probably put him on some kind of low-level watch list.

So, it's not entirely accurate to say "the Secret Service decided that the tip was just some crank." In fact, the Secret Service decided that the tip revealed postings that could not go unaddressed.

What the Secret Service decided, in the end, was that predicto was just some crank.

And the entire exercise was not pointless. We do not need that kind of posting going on anywhere. As we saw with some of the McCain-Palin rallies late in the campaign last year, this kind of thing does feed on itself. Best to nip it in its ugly bud, and I know I'll sleep just one mite better knowing that predicto is on the Secret Service's map.

It was enough not-pointless that, if this episode is the straw that breaks the back of the Fray, then tough.

There are some things you just don't do and there should be consequences if the line is crossed.

Nothing was ever taken seriously in BF btw.

He's liked and cared for on KSF Fray and they all in no uncertain terms told both you and cat to knock off your attacks on him.

He's a nice decent man. Unlike you.

....read Ron's post just above. He's saying the same thing I said, only better. Apparently the Secret Service thought it serious enough that they took action. You can't make threats against people then say "ha, only kidding!" Which part are you supposed to believe?

There is no defense for what Doggy did. None. If Cat didn't handle it the way that you might like, well, at least she handled it. I know you have issues with Cat, but they should have nothing to do with this. She did the right thing.

He's a nice decent man. Unlike you.

I may not be perfect....but I do write my own poetry.

Jack

Look to both Ron and BD I do defend her right to make crank calls if she wants to.

I saw through predicto just as the secret service did even beyond the fact that I know he's been here acting goofy for years. I read his nasty racist crap..but I could tell it was bluster.

That's all it was.

And jo and DB did NOTHING Why is no one addressing that fact.? That they too had their PRIVATE Info and real names sent to the SS?
Is that right to do???

Further more I suggest the reason he isn't banned is because any prfessional knows you want people to have an outlet for their anger in a place like this. You don't want this stuff bottled up.

When it gets repressed is when it is actually really a simmering pot about to boil over.

He's been told to cool it but he was found to be non threatening. I could see he was blustering. So why are you justifying the telling of jo and DB's info to the SS as well as his?