Tyee Commenter Posed as Editor

A Tyee comment poster who was blocked from making further comments re-registered and posted comments pretending to be me.

The person, who went under the original name of ghostmachine when adding comments after Tyee stories, posted a message that was crude and possibly defamatory. At my request, the site manager blocked ghostmachine’s internet provider address from adding any further comments. The person apparently logged on from another machine with a different ip address and registered under the name of ‘beers’. Using that name, and posing as me in the role of editor, the person launched a diatribe about Tyee posting policies and posted it after numerous stories on the site beginning last weekend.

When ‘beers’ was blocked, the person re-registered as ‘redparty’ and posted the same screed, pretending to be the editor of The Tyee. The posts created some confusion among Tyee readers, a few of whom posted their own comments wondering whether I was in fact the author of the posts.

As I say, the posts were a hoax.

The Tyee’s policies are very simple and are presented on screen whenever a person registers to post comments. They are:

• Although The Tyee will attempt to keep all objectionable messages out of the comments, it is impossible for us to review all messages. All messages express the views of the author, and The Tyee will not be held responsible for the content of any message.
• By agreeing to these rules, you warrant that you will not post any messages that are obscene, vulgar, hateful, threatening, or otherwise violative of any laws.
• The Tyee reserves the right to remove, edit, move or close the comments on a story for any reason.

Those who don’t abide by these requests will blocked from posting further comments on The Tyee.

This policy is meant to safeguard the lively conversation that Tyee readers add to the site, for which I am grateful.

David Beers is founding editor of The Tyee.