h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

YMCA?

I see what you mean but wasn't that just a song rather than a movie? I'm also not sure if those would be the right icons for them since I don't know the group well enough.

Sorry people I posted without realising there was a backlog since I last saw this conversation. OK so they did say they suspected Symphony's account of being operated by LeKZ. Well I know Symphony, a bit, and they're *not* LeKZ. And later more about multiple-phobia, for now we just want to read the rest of the backlog.

>>they're *not* LeKZ

Look at their friends list Do they know LeKZ?

You'll have to ask *them* about that.

LeKZ was banned because of her behaviour on site. Simple as that.

It has been a long time since I read the threads in which she was involved, but I still remember my physical reaction to some of the posts she made, and I am almost as robust as they come.

The *way* in which she was banned was badly botched, as I argued at the time. It is also arguable that other people should also have been banned at the same time though it is possible that more would have been banned if they had ignored the warnings they were given in the way that LeKZ ignored the warnings given to her.

But LeKZ's ban
(a) had nothing to do with multiplicity,
(b) was within the BBC's rights and
(c) was the correct thing to do for the good of the site as a whole.

The long and the short of it was that LeKZ repeatedly broke the site terms and conditions, and in addition she caused a lot of damage to a lot of people with outpourings of anger and vitriol which I truly cannot remember being matched by anyone else, either here or elsewhere. An ur-troll, and impressively so. She repeatedly said that whe was under a lot of stress and pressure and in a lot of pain at the time. But trolling is trolling, and flaming is flaming, and both are against the rules.

However - being the complex person that she is, LeKZ is also intelligent, charming, disarming and full of insight. These things mean she is intellectually and emotionally seductive.

But the fact - though apparently not the record - remains, that LeKZ was less trolled against than trolling.

Ben
*testifying to the past, since the record no longer speaks for itself*

As I said earlier, Jodan, the friends list *looks* suspicious but could easily be explained in terms of multiples sticking together. [resists joke this time round]

It really had better not be a "crime" to put a multiple or a banned user on one's friends list. I'm going to assume the bigotry element does not exist because that would make the staff much nastier than I believe they are. But if it *is* going to be an h2g2 "crime" to put a banned user on one's friends list (or a link anywhere on one's pages) then that ought to go in the <./>HouseRules</.> along with the stuff about not posting for them - just so that we all know where we stand.

Hell, I'd put Arpeggio on my Friends list right now, if I thought it would not anger her. Most of the people on my friends list have left, one way or another. Having someone who is banned would not be inappropriate.

David - can you tell me whether it would be a good idea, or a bad idea for me to do that?

B

Thanks Ben. I'm not (and never was) disagreeing that LeKZ should have been banned. What struck me was just how abominably many other people behaved who were *not* banned (as you now mention - along with a possible reason). I also note that much of the same bad attitude persists in the same areas as it did back then. So while LeKZ may have done many things wrong, she was also blamed (and jumped on by the local bullies) for doing things wrong where she hadn't in fact been wrong at all. That ought to disgust anyone.

None of which helps in the slightest with the Symphony situation. Unless a remarkable amount of cleaning up has gone on, that account did nothing wrong in itself. If it were another LeKZ owned or operated account then fair enough as far as the existing rules on banning go (though some people disagreed with the lifetime bit and presumably still do). However, this account is allegedly not connected at all, apart from by (off-line?) friendship.

Arpeggio has been on my friends list for about two months now. Then again, *nobody* would buy an argument that I am LeKZ, just as nobody would buy an argument that you are LeKZ.

My first instinct, Ben, is that it would be an idea, neither good nor bad, and that it would stretch the definition of the word "friend" past all previously known bounderies, although some folks around here do seem to use it as much as an enemies list as anything else.

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I have few people on my 'friends' list so far, but I've many people listed as referenced researchers, and Arpeggio has been there now for I guess more than two years and I've also had links to LeKZ's website on my Uspace for a correspondingly long time, and I've been calling myself a friend of theirs (which I hope I still am) for about the same period of time, on my Uspace. I've actually been suspected of being LeKZ at least once!

"an enemies list" - I had noticed.

You and Symphony were the only people I could see as having the Arpeggio account on their friends list. I didn't go looking for all possible page links back there as anyone on an anti-LeKZ witch hunt might do before leaking the information to the italics.

"I've been calling myself a friend of theirs (which I hope I still am)"

I can't think of a single reason why you wouldn't be, Willem. Not one.

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I will take the comment "it would stretch the definition of the word "friend" past all previously known bounderies" as a recommendation not to do it.

That said, my friends list is not a list of my friends, but neither is it a list of my enemies. It is - mainly - a list of people who are no longer here, but whose presence here I wish to remember, and LeKZ's presence here is (as demonstrated) unforgettable. It was no more than an idea that flittered through what today is passing for my brain.

That said, the reason I asked your for your advice, David, was that I wanted to follow it.

B

"I've actually been suspected of being LeKZ at least once!"

Oops - I missed pointing out the significance of that remark before. What, if anything, did you do to prove that you weren't LeKZ? That might have some bearing on Symphony's situation.

I'll get back to you after checking my sources, Ben. The aforementioned sources are sleeping peacefuly right now - a thing that's rare enough to make me disinclined to interrupt for anything short of a life and death situation. Especially after having spent the night before last in a hospital Emergency Room. They're back on home oxygen...

Ouch.

As I said, it was no more than an idle thought, signifying nothing.

B

I didn't need to do anything. The person who suspected me was really paranoid at the time, but it was also a person who was very vocal influential in the entire sordid situation that led to the banning of LeKZ. No real proof was needed since I am generally very open with my identities here on h2g2 ... 'alter egos' being clearly identified as such, links to my main Uspace, which in the past had links to my own websites with photos of myself and other things, stuff that proves that I live in South Africa. The suspicion of that person, who went to absolutely no trouble to do any research, was quite ridiculous to people who knew me better and pointed it out in that forum.

So basically I am very open about my identity and therefore any suspicion of being LeKZ could not stick. But things could have been otherwise; I could have wished to remain low-profile for various reasons. I have some low-profile accounts here that I opened for various reasons; some of these accounts were, at least for a while, operated by some of my 'alters'. It could have happened that one of my alters might have been 'banned' on suspicion of being LeKZ in which case I might not have wanted to reveal my identity as being connected to that of the 'alter' that operated the other account. Such could get my 'more mainstream' persona banned here on h2g2 as well!!

Just to clarify in case of confusion: my 'most mainstream' persona, the person that is this body, is 'Willem' and this person has had at times in the past several different accounts but all of them run by 'me'. These accounts I've been totally open about, and the case of suspicion happened with one of these accounts. The accounts of the alters, however, are now defunct, and they've been very low-key while they've been operated, and over these I've not been open so far. But now, I just have this one present account that's still active, and about that I'm open.

For the record. I know Symphony from outside h2g2. That's pretty obvious, given http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/alabaster/F71728?thread=284226 According to my long distance telephone bill, they really do live in the UK. 0