Thursday, June 14, 2007

Waldo Forging signatures on comments to his blog?

Kilo says so. In his post Waldo Is a Liar, he notes that while he hasn't commented to Waldo's blog in some time, Waldo has changed someone else's comment signature to Kilo's,

I just became aware that Waldo has forged ( To fashion or reproduce for fraudulent purposes) my name and linked my website to a comment made on his blog. Waldo admits changing the real authors name to mine. I did not make this comment and in fact have not commented on Waldo's blog in some time.

Here's where Waldo confesses to changing the name:

Carl, I’ve taken the liberty of changing the name that you entered (”Teddy’s Turds”) to your real name. How embarrassing for you to have mistyped your name so severely. But, hey, mistakes happen, so I’ve got you covered.

It's clear Waldo is trying to embarrass Kilo. The only question is whether Waldo really and truly believed Kilo was posting under another name (in which case he's just sloppy and ignorant), or if he simply asserted so without any reason.

But what is NOT in question is that Waldo changed the signature on a blog entry, forging Kilo's name. There is no good reason to do that without permission from the commenter. Blog ettiquite -- if you think someone's posting under a different name, you can accuse them, you can delete their comments, but you shouldn't EDIT other people's comments, much less their signatures. That's just bad form.

I recommend NOBODY post to Waldo's comment section until he proves he can be trusted not to be changing people's comments to make them look bad, or worse. Bloggers who edit comments like this, or worse who make wholesale deletions simply because they don't like losing an argument, should be punished by the blogosphere, or else all of us will get a bad name.

5 comments:

F.T. Rea said...

Yes, by all means, do boycott.

Why have a nose, when you can spite your face by cutting it off?

Charles said...

I haven't read Waldo since he posted that stupid story about Allen's ex-wife hitting on some guy in an airplane.

Spank That Donkey said...

Waldo is just begging for attention.

Listen to Rea.. He banned me for calling him out on proving that we 'attacked' Waldo.. and then further debunking his many weak arguments...

He loves talking about people dismembering themselves though, especially when he compared me to some guy that cut his limb in Richmond...

What's with these guys? Well OK, I know the answer, they attack people personally, versus arguing the issues.

We just came off this in the Sayre campaign. Hanger's minions came after each and everyone of us, and even Scott's family. Then they turn around and accuse us of doing what they are actually doing.

Anonymous said...

One of the problems with comments is that we cannot authenticate. So it is difficult to tell who the commenter is. About the only things one has to go by is commenter's the email address, IP address and writing style. None of these things are conclusive

That is why, if something seems out of character for a blogger we know, we probably ought put such a comment in moderation until we verify that is what that person actually did want to say.

Anyway, while Waldo could post a comment with your name on it, I don't know that it would be in his character. Even though I am sure my comments get under Waldo's skin, he has not gone ballistic yet.

The Kilo thing was stupid, but Waldo did do it out in the open. Unless you can prove it, I do not think you should make an immediate accusation.

Charles said...

Tom, my opinion was very specific, and dealt with the forging of the signature, not any of the underlying issues.

It seems clear, since Waldo confessed, that he change the signature on a comment to another person's signature. That person denies the comment was his, but further we KNOW that person didn't SIGN his name, Waldo did.

Signing another person's name to something IS forging, even if it is done because you think the name is the name that SHOULD have been there.

The rest was a reporting of another person's assertions.

When I get a comment that seems out of character, I send a private e-mail to the PERSON and ask them if they made the comment. If they say no, I delete the comment.