Yesterday I wrote in the post Time to Address Comments Section on Frank Report – as We Ready for Larger, More Diverse Audience that I was going to moderate the trolls a little, and redact or delete, even from valuable contributors, mean and nasty comments about other commenters [unless it is done with good-natured humor].
The result was a spate of anonymous comments, some of them obviously from trolls coming out of their collective madness woodwork, replete with nasty objections.
In the interest of clarity, and for the fun of allowing the trolls to be seen in limited doses, I have replied to some of their comments.
These can be found on the original post, but for convenience, here are some of their comments and my replies.
I hope this will further help clarify Frank Report’s new comments’ policy.
One troll used the following six monikers.
The Devil You Know,
Hands off My Idea
The New Family Friendly Frank Report
[Redacted] = [Censored].
Reputable Tax Attorney
Chocolate Cake For Karen Carpenter
I’ll start with her/him.
The use of the bracketed word [redacted] is my editing of the troll. It is redacted not because it attacks me but because it attacks another commenter.
Because it may be easier to read, I will use faces to go along with the various monikers:
Since I don’t know the gender of this commenter, I included one male and one female. Take your pick.
Hands Off My Ideas
“as We Ready for Larger, More Diverse Audience”
Ha! Ha! Ha! What a crock of shit. Is this some mafioso Parlato scam? Do you really think we’re buying that? A more diverse audience? LOL.
When [redacted] stops drinking his prune juice. and your Amway contingent starts selling brownie mix to themselves. Nice try. But you couldn’t even censor everyone’s comments if you tried
You’ve disgraced yourself with this, Frank. But if you rescind the censorship threat, you can win back the respect of your online readers. Nothing else will do. Hands off other people’s ideas. Period.
Frank Parlato
This is the kind of incivility I am talking about.
The Devil You Know
“If the whole world stands against you sword in hand, would you still dare to do what you think is right?”
Apparently not Frank, who has just lost the respect of all 1st Amendment advocates.
Frank is willing to publish graphic accounts of prison rape to satisfy his prurient interests but his delicate sensibilities can’t handle the back-and-forth of middle-class, middle-aged blatherskites. Parlato, this is infamy. We demand a free and open internet, a free and open comments section. Anything less is total cowardice. Take your lumps, Parlato. Free speech means tolerating people who remind you that you’re not so great.
Frank Parlato
My main interest is in calming down the nastiness of commenters towards each other. If it is humorous or has a point, then it will be published. If it is simply mean-spirited and inhibits dialogue, or has nothing to do with the topic at hand, it will likely be deleted or edited. This is the new policy. No one is forcing you to read either the posts or the comments.
The New Family Friendly Frank Report
Who are you to define what constitutes nastiness? Jesus Christ, you’ve retrograded. You’re the Ginny Mark Zuckerberg now? Got a handle on what constitutes civility? Everything has got to be all polite like lawn tennis on your blog? A few recent comments here (we know which ones) cracked you. And now this. LOL
Frank Parlato
You’re missing the point. Everything does not have to be perfectly polite, [but what’s wrong with being polite anyway?] but it should be mature. It should be sensible. And you should use the same moniker instead of different ones each time you post, that would be desirable to me as a publisher.
The reason some of the big social media sites have to moderate posts [and even censor] is that cowardly trolls can hijack a site and cause chaos.
Now I’ll answer your first question: “Who are you to define what constitutes nastiness?”
Because I am merely the owner/publisher of this website.
[Redacted] = [Censored].
And what is with the red lettering of people’s posts? Shit got creepy real quick here. Frank Report RIP
Frank Parlato
You have posted under several different monikers. Why do you bother to keep on commenting? It makes you appear to be a troll. If you don’t like it here, why not go away?
Reputable Tax Attorney
“hiding behind a coward’s mask of anonymity.”
1. Voltaire
2. Mark Twain
3. George Orwell
Frank Parlato
Using pen names, such as Voltaire [François Marie Arouet], Mark Twain [Samuel Clemens] and Orwell [Eric Blair] does not make these men anonymous cowards. They were known to their publishers and to some degree known to anyone who had an interest in finding out who they were. Clemens was widely known to be Mark Twain.
But anonymous trolls are known only to themselves. Their agenda is not to improve the life of humankind as Voltaire, Twain, and Orwell did, but to hurt others. That’s what makes them trolls and cowards.
Reputable Tax Attorney
“Using pen names, such as Voltaire [François Marie Arouet], Mark Twain [Samuel Clemens] and Orwell [Eric Blair] does not make these men anonymous cowards.”
Excuse me? Why did they use pen names in the first place?
The real question is why do you want to know the identities of people critical of your policies? Why is that important to you? Why do you hold that to be a moral imperative? The answer is obvious: it deflects against real analysis and lays bare the insufficiency of your behavior towards others who have different opinions.
Frank Parlato
I think they used pen names for a degree of privacy. But their publishers knew who they were and they were certainly not attacking their publishers.
I do not know who you are, so please don’t be surprised if I don’t publish your criticisms if you don’t have the courage to reveal who you are. If you have moral superiority, come forward and identify yourself. Frank Report does not exist so that trolls can hijack the comments section.
Again, this next anonymous commenter might be male or female. I selected this random photo to represent him or her.
Parlato takes the coward’s way out with new censorship policies
“No editor ever lost an argument on his own website”
Frank is reacting to the recent troll beat down he got when people exposed him for lack of erudition. His monster ego could not handle dissent and now he vows to censor, like any editor from Pravda, any and all comments critical of him.
The human element of heterogeneous opinion will suffer until total Facebook sterility will result, or the site goes off.
No one in the real world actually cares about the tempest in a teapot this comment section can be. More Parlato delusions of grandeur.
Notice how Frank has never intervened before when the obvious [redacted] Hinkly/Foster dynamic was in play with evident psychopathology.
This “new comments policy” is all about the bruised ego of a post-sexual hack. Happy comments snipping, Frank!
Frank Parlato
I allow too many trolls on here, demented people who are not sincerely interested in the topics at hand. Their goal – perhaps it is yours too – is to cause discord and not advance the truth.
You write, “Frank is reacting to the recent troll beat down he got when people exposed him for lack of erudition. His monster ego could not handle dissent and now he vows to censor, like any editor from Pravda, any and all comments critical of him.”
But if I really had such a monster ego, I would not have published the comments from the trolls who supposedly beat me down for my so-called lack of erudition [a mistake of a word].
I allow a lot of criticism of myself, like this comment, but I am not interested in making this a forum for trolls. And criticisms should be founded in fact, not just an ill-intent to attack others anonymously – as the coward does.
Imagine how weak you appear – with your self-righteous tone – hiding behind a coward’s mask of anonymity. If you think I am bound to publish whatever lying cowards say about others or myself – you are entirely wrong.
Now if you had a sense of humor, I might think otherwise of you.
***
Nice Guy is definitely not a troll. He is an engaged reader. Bangkok, on the other hand, lies somewhere in that twilight world between troll and comedian. When he’s funny, he is riotous. But when he is off his game, he gets sore awfully fast.
Here is his view on my new policy – which to reiterate – is mainly to bring a little more civility between commenters.
Bangkok
But I’m addicted to making vitriolic comments, much like an alcoholic is addicted to booze. I can’t help myself. Nor will I stop. Nor will I respect you. Nor will I get down on my knees for you. You cocksucking leftist.
I will stand up to you, Frank. I will stand up for freedom, honor, liberty and the American way. You filthy Sicilian.
Have a nice day. 🙂
Nice Guy
Bangkok, Frank is not going leftist, far from it, he is going corporate.
Bangkok I am going to miss your insults. You were just starting to hone your craft. Your rifts on [redacted] Johnson were sublime. [redacted] on his radio show was [redacted] hilarious!!! Johnson is such a [redacted].
Bangkok, your true talent lies in your uncanny ability to twist people’s words so they sound like imbeciles. I can’t match you in that arena. Bangkok, don’t let my compliments go to you head you little [redacted]. You are still a [redacted] with your head up [redacted].
Have a good day, you little [redacted] ;).
Frank Parlato
Nice Guy –Bangkok used to be a lot more funny and I enjoyed hearing from him. He has lost his touch, but I hope he can get it back. He has the makings of a comic genius.
Bangkok
You’re a pussy, Frank.
Truth is…
Frank Parlato has just shifted his perspective 180 degrees from what it was last month.
Truth is…
Frank is not merely calling for a bit more civility.
He’s literally turning this place into a “heavy-handed” censorship blog that would make Huffington Post blush with admiration.
Also, Frank is not doing this because he suddenly wants more ‘civility’, as he falsely claims.
Why is Frank doing this?
Frank is doing this because he’s likely been threatened by WordPress (or fears that he’ll soon be threatened) that if he doesn’t “toe the line” and start respecting liberal mob mentality, he’ll have his blog shut down.
Trust me, Frank fears this.
That’s precisely why he’s made this change.
Don’t believe me? Let’s examine the facts…
Half of Frank’s own articles published over the last 3 years, typed by his own hand, have said the most VILE and HATEFUL things about Keith, Clare, Allison, Sara Bronfman, Nancy Salzman, Lovely Lauren Salzman and every other NXIVM member.
Even his article about ‘horny’ Casper Van Dien was mean-spirited and totally unnecessary —- from a ‘civility’ point of view.
Frank has said such hateful things that even a drunken sailor would blush.
Also… Frank is being disingenuous by claiming that he’s had a moral ‘change of heart’ about such hateful language, since he’s 60 years old and people that old don’t have a change of heart.
Plus, he’s Sicilian and people hailing from that shithole country are natural-born mobsters who swear like drunken sailors from the time they are born.
In other words… Do as I say, not as I do.
As for the ‘larger’ audience that’s supposedly gonna be visiting FrankReport, I wouldn’t hold my breath cuz FrankReport’s 6 million pageviews (from last year) were a result of highly indexed pages about NXIVM during the height of the media coverage.
But now, with NXIVM media coverage at an all time low (and with Frank’s number of daily articles dwindling) I’m guessing that he’s lost nearly 85% of his traffic, if not more.
Frank won’t dare publish his CURRENT traffic figures cuz he knows I’m telling the truth.
Again, if Frank could refute this allegation then he’d do it using FACTS about his current traffic.
Instead, he’ll either ignore this post or possibly delete it —— using his new ‘civility rules’ as an excuse to silence my speech simply because it angers him to his core.
I don’t respect Frank Parlato anymore.
He once told us that it was acceptable for us to call him a pussy.
But now, he’s telling us that he’s a choir boy and such language is not acceptable in his world, LOL.
As for his new ‘racial’ guidelines, I don’t believe for one minute that Frank actually cares about this topic.
He’s merely terrified of having his blog shut down if he doesn’t toe the line and aggressively censor out all speech that leftists might view as against their party line.
Case in point…
I’d bet my life that Frank will allow ANY hateful or insulting posts made against the police officers in the George Floyd case.
Why?
Cuz leftists accept hateful words against people they hate.
…But when you say those same words against anybody else, well, suddenly they scream “that’s hate language” and demand that it be taken down. Has Frank drifted too far to the left?
He’s gaslighting us by claiming that it’s all in our imagination.
We’re just imagining that Frank is drifting into leftist censorship territory, according to Frank.
According to Frank, he’s just tweaking his rules a ‘tad’ and making a few minor changes, LOL.
Yeah, like changing from UP to DOWN is a minor change. LOL.
As for me, I hope that Frank gets CANCER OF THE BUTT before his 61st birthday and winds up departing this earth and going straight to hell, where Satan will surely be there to greet him with a pitchfork up his butt for eternity.
Have a nice day. 🙂
Frank Parlato
Bangkok, I am 65 years old.
{I will also add this which I did not in the comments section]
I was not threatened by WordPress (or fear I will be threatened if I do not toe the leftist line. Word Press has no authority to shut down my blog over content. They are merely a content management system. I control the content. They offer me hacker protection and interface with my posting, where it is easy to post.
If ever they threatened me with censorship, I would merely go to another content management system.
It is true that my articles over the last four and half years have been extremely critical and oftentimes uncivil towards the now-convicted criminals Keith Raniere, Clare Bronfman, Allison Mack, Nancy Salzman, the lovely Lauren Salzman and many other Nxivm criminals who were not convicted. It proved effective in helping to stop the criminal activities – including the branding, blackmailing, sex trafficking and enslavement of women. I would do it again.
And if I find other vicious criminals, I will be prepared to be very uncivil. And by the way, I think Derek Chauvin very much appears to be a vicious criminal.However, I do not think the other commenters who run afoul of Bangkok or other commenter-trolls – need to be treated the same way as Keith Raniere.
By the way, as for my article about Casper Van Dien, [which I may take down, so check it out while you can], it was not unnecessary. At the time Casper was working hard to enable India to remain in the Nxivm cult. He told me that what her mother, Catherine Oxenberg was doing – exposing that India was branded and in a sex cult- was far worse than her actually being in it.
I wanted to hit back at him a little for doing that and hopefully get India to realize her mother was right.
After all, India only avoided being one of the defendants thanks to her mother finally getting her out – in the nick of time.
But now that the battle is over, and India is out of Nxivm – and, as I understand it, is writing a book about her harrowing journey – it may be time to take down the post. I have nothing against Casper, but I do think he was dead wrong about Catherine and if he had prevailed, India would have remained in Nxivm and her mother would have been the villain.
Keep in mind that Casper is not India’s father but her stepfather and this went on – my dispute with Casper – when the FBI was investigating and India was in jeopardy.
Casper Van Dien with India when she was a teen.
Posting Less
It is true I have been posting far less of my own work, because I am working on my book, working as a consultant for several clients, am in pre-production for a new two-hour film, and preparing for my upcoming trial. It is a lot to do at once and I cannot post at the same pace I did when the battle with Nxivm was ongoing.
I am always looking for writers at Frank Report and if any readers want to try their hand at it, please feel free to contact me. [frankparlato@gmail.com or 716-990-5740].
Pageviews are a product of how many posts there are to view, and how popular certain posts are. I am posting less than half as much as less year. I will soon be posting the stats, but back in April, I posted Frank Report Surpasses One Million Views in 2020.
We may surpass 6 million page views this year. Although it seems we are more in line with about 3.5-4 million page views [unless I find more time to post].
Going back to the comments, Nice Guy asked about my preference for certain commenters.
NiceGuy
Isn’t Natask a runner-up?
Peaches gets first place.
Frank Parlato
There are commenters I like to hear from. You are one of them, Nice Guy, so is Natashka. There are many others who advance the conversation, many of them without using monikers.
What I am looking to avoid is giving too much space to trolls whose intention is not to support this website, but to drive others away.
Some of them have a dark agenda, some are merely demented, and some just like playing around to cause mischief and they get a sociopath’s thrill in creating hurt feelings and provoking anger – all from the coward’s perch of anonymity.
Numerous, intelligent people have advised me in the past that for the website to grow to the next level, the trolls must not be fed. Feeding them is allowing them a voice, which they use to disrupt.
Trolls have ill-intentions. They are not supportive of the websites they post anonymously on. They are not even neutral. They are looking to cause harm. So I am going to weed out the trolls…
Nice Guy, I do not think you are a troll, of course. You have a sincere interest in the topics being discussed. But do not be surprised if you do not see comments from trolls … that have no substantive point relating to the topic of the post…
I expect to attract more intelligent commenters this way, [just scrolling back the last few days] like you and Peaches, Mexican Lady, Natashka, Fool Me Not, Paul, Anonymaker, Alex, Scott Johnson, Gin an Juice, Shadow State, Nut Job, Heidi Hutchinson, Anna Lee, Ice-Nine, Mitch Garrity, Flowers [most of the time] Samir Sardana, Fred, Shivani, Just Sayin’, Ken Gibson, Python Swoope, L, smtolle, Erma Gerrd, Diane Lipson, Captain Moonbeam, Kim, Bill, LaLaLad, Retired Inspector, and hundreds of others who use no moniker and appear as anonymous.
Keep in mind also that the website is not for commenters only, but for all readers, most of whom do not comment.
[I have approved 110,447 comments to date – June 14, 2020, on Frank Report].
Mexican Lady
What do you feel you gain by adding this moderation? I feel it might be too time-consuming for you? I think having the comments as they are is entertaining. Perhaps you can have a policy that if someone feels insulted they can email you and you can remove the comment attacks?
I personally find the comment section entertaining. I would leave them as is. You probably have better things to do than moderate the comments, and at the end of the day, it says something that you have high participation.
Frank Parlato
This is a good argument. I will consider it. If it is humorous, I will approve it. But the nasty, mean spirited stuff is really getting old.
On top of that, some people say they feel intimidated by commenting knowing that snarky creatures will attack them for making their points.
So all I am saying is – stop attacking one another with viciousness.
Mexican Lady
I think if people feel intimidated they could post anonymously. It is also helpful to know how to deal with trolls so there might even be a learning experience in Frank Report. Thanks for responding. Nice work, Frank
Paul
There is a lot of valuable commentary on here, but it became very tedious to sift through the comments of some posters which consists of little more than insults and profanity. Maybe they’ll start posting something more interesting, or just wander off and find new pastures.
Either way, it’s good.
At a certain point, the signal gets lost in the noise. In my opinion, this has become gradually more problematic here since March and has become a real problem lately. It has become obvious that any discussion of anything even vaguely political, immediately turns into a sea of insults.
I find people’s different political opinions interesting, but insults and profanity are not opinions, and add nothing of value. The words ‘Civilization’ and ‘Civility’ have the same root.
Shivani
Frank, this is a pragmatic and a measured decision to cut the dross. It’s been a long time coming.
A friend of mine who has a website gets lots of comments for two distinct occasions each year. He very rarely intercedes to remove anyone’s expressed thoughts. However, it is his website, as the Frank Report is yours. There are those instances when it can be most expedient to bring down your hammer, whether softly or vigorously.
I think that you have described your reasoning well. Also, the stuck piggies will squeal the loudest about this change and the most likely to ignore your reasoning, turn it into an inquisition and HURL. So keep trusting yourself.
Ken Gibson
I think that this is a good move. Off-topic and profane rants are a waste of time. There are important issues discussed here with new
information on many topics that the mainstream press does not cover.
Frank is not preventing anyone from exercising 1st amendment rights. You can find the nearest bathroom wall and scribble away.
Or a website that welcomes inane comments and profanity. They exist, in great measure, so take your pick.
***
In the end, I am hoping for more civility, and quality traffic. Quality trumps quantity. And I think most of the readers here are premier quality — subtle, intelligent, thoughtful, concerned people. I don’t want to let a few trolls spoil that.
