A Request For Josh

[Lee]

Somebody is in need of an attitude-adjustment. Andrew, there is no way you'd get busted if you smacked him around(alot!). He deserves it.

[Mofo Rising]

I'm fully with you on the bandwidth problem.  Keeping a comfortable download speed for all the people who visit your site should be the main focus, as opposed to making it easy for one person just because they have the capacity.  Especially considering all the regulars you have just trying to use the message board.

As for mr. patrick, I don't think it would be very far off to state that this board was almost his only social outlet.  Probably some deeper problems that hopefully he'll work through someday.

Of course you were right to ban him.  Over-zealous posting is no problem, but active trolling and finally verbal abuse is no way to act.  One must be prepared to deal with the consequences of acting like a dumb-ass psycho.

And I don't think you have much cause for concern as far as his threats go.  I would doubt very much that he has any real understanding of the reality of the people he is dealing with.  Maybe he just thinks we're all blips on his computer screen.

I don't know.  Weird kid.  I think everybody agrees you did the right thing.

[Dano]

Definitely call the cops if it gives you peace of mind, but this guy isn't a threat.  I doubt he even has a mental illness.  He's just a bored kid (maybe several) acting out like a tough guy on the internet probably because it gives him all the thrill and none of the risk.  He typed out a lot of threatening crap in that last e-mail (the lewd remark that doesn't bear repeating just screams out "teenager looking for a reaction" -- no offense to Pancho and other teenagers who use their heads) and I guarantee went straight off to some other web site and started all over.  If he doesn't come back through another IP address (I don't know if he's even figured that out yet), he'll have forgotten about Badmovies.org in a week and will be harassing some other group of people.  

If his parents don't want to look after him the least they could do is buy the kid a f***ing playstation or something.  Anyway, count me in the "not too draconian" category.

[Squishy]

Oh, man, not only were you not "draconian" (now meesa gets a picture from "Buck Rogers" in my head), but I would not hesitate to bust the little effer over that barrage of sick threats.

If he doesn't get the help / wake-up call he obviously needs, he will ramp it up (not towards you, I think--I don't imagine he's serious, BUT people have been wrong about that before) with someone else until he does something truly awful...or gets done truly awful. That little bucket of scum has some seriously miswired synapses. (Now meesa gets a picture of the end of "The Paperboy" in my head...)

[Flangepart]

You did the right thing, Andrew.
....This kid needs help, and something has to break him out of his delusions.
....Sometimes i think i must be crazy...then i read those who realy are. Sad, realy sad.

[Redjack]

Don't underestimate him??   lol      I don't think he realizes the truckload of pain an upset marine can deliver..  lol

[nshumate]

Startling that these "people" are out there, isn't it? I've run into a few in my time, including death threats, over on the b-movie list.  (Last one I had, I called out:  I gave him my home address and told him to call ahead so I'd have film in the camera to snap some pictures of his ass being bounced around my front lawn.)

It's people like this that make you wish the internet were a little more difficult, hm?

[nshumate]

Guys like Josh make you call into question the merits of bipedalism and opposable thumbs.

Nathan
(Though I've got no evidence that either characterizes Josh himself...)

[Cullen]

I know my last post in this particular thread (The josh Issue) looked startlingly naïve.  This stuff happens every day.  But it still startles me when it does happen.

Especially when it's vile threats like that.

Ugh
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Cullen

[Cullen]

One moment.  Haven't done this before.

Nathan Shumate wrote:
>
> Guys like Josh make you call into question the merits of
> bipedalism and opposable thumbs.

LOL!

There.  First the emoticons, and now the silly little abbreviations.  The Internet has finally corrupted me.

I hope you're all happy now. >:-<
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Cullen - Who has probably been corrupt for a lot longer than he thinks.

[John]

No problem here with the bandwidth limitation. I also think you should turn him in, even though I'm sure nothing will come of it.

 Several years ago, while I was still calling local BBS's, something similar happened. A guy I knew let a bunch of guys come over (aged 17-20 or so) to copy software and while he was out of the room for a minute, they snooped through his notebook and found his passwords to a few of the local boards. They then used his passwords to get access to the pirate section of at least one BBS and then started sending death threats to the sysop saying that they were going to be waiting for him some night, kill his son etc unless he gave them complete sysop access to the board. I don't know if he ever reported them, but I know nothing ever came out of it. I met the jerks once and they basically took everything as a big joke. They thought it was funny to scare people, hack people's passwords etc. In short, they were losers with no life. :-/