I want to try an experiment.
For one week – starting today – I am going to ask that all commenters adopt a name. That’s right, everyone who wants to comment needs to have a handle, a name, a moniker and stick with it for all your comments. I don’t want to see different names from the same IP address.
Of course, it does not have to be a true name, but don’t use someone else’s name – unless they’re dead.
Let us get to know you. Your views and opinions, which is hard to do when you don’t fill in a name and use “anonymous.”
How do we know which Anonymous you are?
In order to have a name appear, you must fill in a name in the space where they ask for a name on the comments. If you don’t type in a name – “anonymous” – is automatically placed there. So please put in a name.
If I had my preference, I would love for people to use their own true names. It is not likely to happen. NXIVM is a terrorist organization. So I understand why people are reticent to use their names. To date, with more than 30,000 comments, only a handful have ever done so.
If memory serves me correctly, Toni Natalie was the first to use her real name. That makes sense – since she was the first to stand up to NIXVM. Joe O’Hara, I think was second. There was Susan Dones, Angela Ucci, and Barbara Bouchey – of the NXIVM Nine. There was Christine Marie – who had several encounters with Keith Raniere. And of course that spectacular writer and one of the greatest of Raniere’s victims, Heidi Hutchinson has weighed in recently. Attorney Omar Rosales has also been a big part of the conversation – he posts as “Former Nxian”.
Then, of course, there is our good friend, Scott Johnson who, while posting in his own name, at times got a little carried away, creating a clamor for his ouster. He caused a fair amount of outrage by insulting other commenters who, in turn, were rude to him – creating a series of shit-storms that made the comments careen wildly off topic.
I tried to solve the problem by creating Scotty’s Corner where everyone could be as rude as they wanted. It worked for a short time. Now Scott seems to have stopped commenting, but I think others are pretending to be him by writing about Amway.
Then there are a fine group of commenters who regularly post using monikers: Shadow State 1958, Sultan of Six, Heather, One Woman’s Army, Flowers, All Of Them Witches, Orange County Dreams, Albany Attorney with Big Ears, Pea Onyu and many others.
Don’t you feel like you kind of know them? They are our friends. When we see their names on a comment, we are excited to see what they have to say – because we do feel that we know them. You don’t get that feeling with “Anonymous.”
So, if you have not created a moniker, please do so – and be creative in your monikers. Be distinct. Look like something.
While you are thinking about which moniker is right for you – let me advise that names that mock other commenters – like Shadow State Sucks Balls, Shadow Crap, Ban the Spanker, Potty Scotty – will be rejected.
That’s only good manners.
By the way, I wish to thank everyone who has ever posted for taking the time to do so. A lot of people think I am insane to let the comments flow so freely, acrimoniously and anonymously, like this was a wild west barroom. But I have gotten many good leads and broken stories from information that arose from comments on this website, and many times I got a different point of view that deepened my understanding. It is important not to suppress comments.
But I am learning that, if you permit complete anonymity, trolls can take over. My compromise is that anyone can comment anonymously – only give yourself a name – and stick with it.
Which brings me to a final point – also – for one week – I am going to try to tone down the rudeness. I think if you come to someone’s house or blog, you ought to be civil. I don’t mean we can’t debate, we can do so vigorously, but we shouldn’t be bullies. For one week, I am either going to delete bullying comments – or if I find the time – delete portions of the comments that are just pure meanness and keep the salient portion of the comments intact.
That rudeness and bullying provision, however, does not apply to Keith Raniere or for myself. I have always been greatly amused by anonymous comments that heckle me and accuse me of being a pussy and not having the balls to do this or that. Keep them coming. But for other commenters, I am asking for civility. I realize there may be NXIVM trolls sent to disrupt the comments section and other trolls who just love mischief. This new plan is meant to try to get them off the site – or at least require them to be less disruptive.
Thanks for your help.
Heather: Frank, do you believe this? I know you say you verified a legit person, but do you believe what she is saying? This is very strange and as FBI knows names of slaves and has their collateral isn’t all of them going to be interviewed?
FR: I don’t believe or disbelieve. I think she had a right to be heard. She identified herself at some risk. If I had to guess I would say this woman was connected to Girls By Design. I don’t know how much contact she had with Allison Mack or Kristin Kreuk or how much of her story is true and verifiable.
