Author Topic: What becomes of old 'friends'..  (Read 478980 times)

Offline smartcooky

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Re: What becomes of old 'friends'..
« Reply #285 on: September 23, 2012, 04:21:12 AM »
This Patrick 1000 name character sounds like a real Fruit Loop. I think there is enough material there for a whole psychiatry seminar, on his own.

I'll bet he pops up on lots of other conspiracy forums such as 9/11, JFK, Roswell and Area 51
If you're not a scientist but you think you've destroyed the foundation of a vast scientific edifice with 10 minutes of Googling, you might want to consider the possibility that you're wrong.

Offline Nowhere Man

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Re: What becomes of old 'friends'..
« Reply #286 on: September 23, 2012, 10:37:04 AM »
Quote
"There's enough material there for an entire conference."
Dr. Abbot, the title character of "The Psychiatrist" episode of Fawlty Towers, speaking of Basil Fawlty.

Fred
Hey, you!  "It's" with an apostrophe means "it is" or "it has."  "Its" without an apostrophe means "belongs to it."

"For shame, gentlemen, pack your evidence a little better against another time."
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Offline ApolloGnomon

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Re: What becomes of old 'friends'..
« Reply #287 on: September 26, 2012, 02:34:28 AM »
But not doing a bad imitation of an angry English truck driver.

Oh, yeah, speaking of old friends!



Wonder what he's up to these days?

{edit to add}

Right click to get image information. He left big enough footprints on the internet several years ago, I don't feel any need to put to use his username in googlebot-searchable space.

For newer users: This guy was a member of the old forum about 6 or 8 years ago (THAT long? cripes!) with a pattern of increasing irritability until banned. Then he came back several times in various "character actor" roles, such as the English ex-pat scuba instructor living somewhere in the South Pacific. He demonstrated very typical addictive/obsessive behavior characteristics. He would wander in after an absence, seem to be having fun, and then gradually become more and more obnoxious until banned. (attraction/revulsion cycle)

I burned a username here and left to pursue him about cyberspace for about 6 months. I found pictures of his car keys, his car, his work truck, his 3rd and 4th grade school class pictures, the view of his cul-de-sac from his upstairs bedroom, usernames on several other fora and his ebay and photobucket pages. I made a spreadsheet to track the posting times on the various fora (correcting for time zones) and was able to track when he was on the road and when he came home from a long run. Sometimes he would come here when he was home, and would spend unbelievable amounts of continuous time posting, becoming increasingly belligerent until banned.

We refer to him as "the Angry English Truck Driver" because it's accurate. His posts here and elsewhere displayed racism, sexism, and generally obnoxious behavior. He was banned from "419 Eater," a forum for people who bait and hassle Nigerian scammers. He was also a moderator at a trucking forum but got banned, as a mod.

We use the term "Angry English Truck Driver" to refer his suspected puppets, and more broadly to posters who resemble him -- exceptionally belligerent, increasingly rude and obviously "character actor" sock puppets of previously banned members.

I went through the old forum's username list once and came up with a very long list of his probable puppets -- usernames registered within a window of time with zero or 1 posts, many partially matching previously used names here or elsewhere. Some of them came into play later and were banned.

Unlike P1K the AETD limited himself to a narrow palette of name styles.

I got him to post me this "419 style" pic:



The sign says "I am not Bart Sibrel."
« Last Edit: September 26, 2012, 04:18:47 AM by ApolloGnomon »

Offline Abaddon

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Re: What becomes of old 'friends'..
« Reply #288 on: September 28, 2012, 06:25:01 AM »
Meanwhile over at the Economist, DrSocks has added the following:

DJW002
ChrLsZ
ka9p
Echnatonnn
twek

http://www.economist.com/blogs/babbage/2012/08/obituary

Offline Echnaton

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Re: What becomes of old 'friends'..
« Reply #289 on: September 28, 2012, 07:50:50 AM »
I feel so...."honored"....to have been parodied by the good Dr.
The sun shone, having no alternative, on the nothing new. —Samuel Beckett

Offline smartcooky

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Re: What becomes of old 'friends'..
« Reply #290 on: September 28, 2012, 09:15:29 AM »
Spends a lot of time creating multiple personalities for the purpose of talking to himself doesn't he?

There a name for this... paranoid schizophrenia? 

He's obviously stopped taking is anti-psychotic meds again!!
If you're not a scientist but you think you've destroyed the foundation of a vast scientific edifice with 10 minutes of Googling, you might want to consider the possibility that you're wrong.

Offline gillianren

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Re: What becomes of old 'friends'..
« Reply #291 on: September 28, 2012, 01:26:19 PM »
I feel kind of left out . . . .

And, no, this doesn't look to me like paranoid schizophrenia.  For one, I've yet to see evidence of paranoia.  He doesn't think we're all out to get him, even though all we've really been doing around here for days is talking about him.  He does not, so far as I can tell, think NASA's out to get him.  Or aliens.  Or anyone else.  And with no paranoia, no paranoid schizophrenia.

This doesn't even look like not-paranoid schizophrenia.  Contrary to popular belief, schizophrenia and split personalities are not the same thing.  While I'll concede the delusions of grandeur, nothing else I've seen really seems like schizophrenic behaviour to me.  The delusions of grandeur seem to be about the only delusions--well, maybe other than the delusion that he's fooling anyone with this.  Schizophrenia is not as uncommon a diagnosis among conspiracy theorists as it is among the general population, I think, but that's not what's going on here.  If he has an illness, it's one of the more obscure ones.
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Offline Echnaton

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Re: What becomes of old 'friends'..
« Reply #292 on: September 28, 2012, 02:13:17 PM »
It would be fascinating to have coffee with him and see the obsession with the moon hoax in person.  Assuming I could control myself.  My laughter, I mean.
The sun shone, having no alternative, on the nothing new. —Samuel Beckett

Offline smartcooky

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Re: What becomes of old 'friends'..
« Reply #293 on: September 28, 2012, 04:08:01 PM »
I feel kind of left out . . . .

And, no, this doesn't look to me like paranoid schizophrenia.  For one, I've yet to see evidence of paranoia.  He doesn't think we're all out to get him, even though all we've really been doing around here for days is talking about him.  He does not, so far as I can tell, think NASA's out to get him.  Or aliens.  Or anyone else.  And with no paranoia, no paranoid schizophrenia.

This doesn't even look like not-paranoid schizophrenia.  Contrary to popular belief, schizophrenia and split personalities are not the same thing.  While I'll concede the delusions of grandeur, nothing else I've seen really seems like schizophrenic behaviour to me.  The delusions of grandeur seem to be about the only delusions--well, maybe other than the delusion that he's fooling anyone with this.  Schizophrenia is not as uncommon a diagnosis among conspiracy theorists as it is among the general population, I think, but that's not what's going on here.  If he has an illness, it's one of the more obscure ones.

He sits at a computer (for long periods of time?) and creates multiple user names in the same forums (in the wider sense of the word), said user names sometimes being parodies of the user names of other posters who post in similar forums but with opinions that are the polar opposite of his.

Now that might not technically be MPD or schizophrenia, but it sure isn't something that normal, sane, mentally healthy people do.

Perhaps he's OCD?

It would be fascinating to have coffee with him and see the obsession with the moon hoax in person.  Assuming I could control myself.  My laughter, I mean.


I have actually met one of these people in person. I have one who comes into my shop from time to time, to transfer VHS tapes to DVD. Its all conspiracy theory stuff - Apollo Hoax, 9/11, Illuminati, Freemasonry, JFK, Roswell UFO, Reptoids, Skull & Bones etc, etc. He seems perfectly normal... until, that is, you start talking to him at length. While he doesn't appear to think the whole world is out to get him personally, he does think there are powerful people out to subjugate ordinary people (who he calls "sheeple").

IMO, he is a harmless nut-job, but there are other versions of him out there, the ones that get together in militia groups and arm themselves to the teeth... they are anything but harmless.
If you're not a scientist but you think you've destroyed the foundation of a vast scientific edifice with 10 minutes of Googling, you might want to consider the possibility that you're wrong.

Offline twik

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Re: What becomes of old 'friends'..
« Reply #294 on: September 28, 2012, 04:15:37 PM »
I feel so...."honored"....to have been parodied by the good Dr.

So am I.

On another tangent, as regards medical diagnoses, there are a lot of odd behaviours that don't really have a clinical name. They're just odd. Patrick's may just be "trying to prove a point no matter what"ism.
« Last Edit: September 28, 2012, 04:17:36 PM by twik »

Offline gillianren

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Re: What becomes of old 'friends'..
« Reply #295 on: September 28, 2012, 04:27:21 PM »
He sits at a computer (for long periods of time?) and creates multiple user names in the same forums (in the wider sense of the word), said user names sometimes being parodies of the user names of other posters who post in similar forums but with opinions that are the polar opposite of his.

Now that might not technically be MPD or schizophrenia, but it sure isn't something that normal, sane, mentally healthy people do.

Dissociative identity disorder is what we're calling it now--assuming it exists, which we shouldn't.  However, the important aspect is "makes up."  He doesn't dissociate.  ("Normal," "sane," and "mentally healthy" are three different things, you know!)  He is aware of his own behaviour, so far as I can tell.  He denies it, but the game doesn't work if he doesn't.

Quote
Perhaps he's OCD?

Almost certainly not.  Maybe--maybe--histrionic personality disorder.  However, I don't know enough about him to be sure of a diagnosis, even if I were qualified to diagnose.
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Offline JayUtah

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Re: What becomes of old 'friends'..
« Reply #296 on: September 28, 2012, 05:31:33 PM »
Dissociative identity disorder is what we're calling it now--assuming it exists, which we shouldn't.  However, the important aspect is "makes up."  He doesn't dissociate.

Agreed, and the difference is important.  Making up sock puppets is simply performance art:  no different than the characters I play in my theater avatar photos.  I arrive at the theater, adopt the character, play the part, then set the character aside and take a bow.  The character is a conscious alteration of my manifest behavior.  How many times on stage have I performed the rehearsed behavior convincingly, while my mind is saying consciously "I wish I were home watching Mythbusters right now."  The real me is still there.  The real Patrick is still there, while putting his antic disposition on.  Similarly I also believe Patrick is aware of his own behavior.

Dissociative disorders involve a more substantial detachment from emotional or perceptual reality, and a more immersive entrance into the alternate perception or identity.  Hence conscious banter among the the episodes or contexts is unusual.  In the mildest case, we may suddenly realize, for example, that we have been daydreaming, but we also realize in retrospect that our normal thoughts were naturally suspended during the daydream.  That's mild (i.e., insignificant) dissociation.  Clinically significant dissociation involves that detachment on a deeper level.

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However, I don't know enough about him to be sure of a diagnosis, even if I were qualified to diagnose.

Indeed, nor is a diagnosis useful if one has elected simply to ignore him from now on.  I venture his problem is more social than psychological.
"Facts are stubborn things." --John Adams

Offline gillianren

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Re: What becomes of old 'friends'..
« Reply #297 on: September 28, 2012, 05:46:52 PM »
Absolutely.  He's been banned from both of the boards I frequent, and he isn't interesting enough for me to chase him around the internet.  Ergo, assuming he plays by the rules (though why should he start now?), he simply does not matter to me.  Assuming, that is, I am never in need of medical care in San Francisco, which seems unlikely anyway.
"This sounds like a job for Bipolar Bear . . . but I just can't seem to get out of bed!"

"Conspiracy theories are an irresistible labour-saving device in the face of complexity."  --Henry Louis Gates

Offline frenat

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Re: What becomes of old 'friends'..
« Reply #298 on: September 28, 2012, 08:04:36 PM »
I think he's just a run of the mill general idiot.  Assigning possible personality disorders to him just gives him an excuse.
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Offline Andromeda

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Re: What becomes of old 'friends'..
« Reply #299 on: September 29, 2012, 04:49:29 AM »
AFAIK none of us are doctors specialising in mental health - and even if anyone is I still think it is inappropriate to attempt to diagnose someone over the internet, especially as they aren't here.

He is very difficult and his behaviour is worrying, but let's not go down that road, please.
"The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not 'Eureka!' but 'That's funny...'" - Isaac Asimov.