October 8, 2005
"The report of my death has been grossly exaggerated”
Sorry about the hoary old cliché from Mark Twain but I will probably never get another chance to use it.
So I go on an unannounced internet holiday and come back to find I've been killed off in a car crash (see the comments at the bottom of the last post). Nice work Alexander. Just the right mixture of nastiness and school-yard sniggering. I name you troll of the year (and, yes, I am aware of the fact that the Ethiopian new year has only just begun).
"Alexander" is actually an interesting case study for anyone interested in the whole trolling phenomenon. He posts under a string of pseudonyms, unaware of the fact that he can be easily identified through his IP address.
So far he has appeared on Meskel Square as 'salam'. 'zeimpex', 'peace', 'manyiferalmot', 'red currant', 'hi', Gud Fella', 'Funny' and 'Teddy who?'. Here is one of his comments that I thought you would particularly enjoy. At the time, he was very upset about a series of "insulting, offensive posts" that had appeared on Meskel Square.
Andrew, you [should be] adopting a zero tolerance approach to insulting, offensive posts, like that of xxxx's juvenile trash above. The least you can do is remove it.We come to your blog to discuss Ethiopia and related topical issues and have a laugh too, we do have a great sense of humour but we also have a passion for our country. So please...
UPDATE: After reading the comments, I've decided to remove the IP address. It did amount to an invitation to hack. Thanks for the lesson in netiquette.
Posted by aheavens at October 8, 2005 2:34 PM