A couple of months ago, I deleted a comment from this blog. It was posted anonymously and accused Tim Ireland of being a paedophile - Ireland has made this detail public himself, or I wouldn't repeat it. It was plain that someone had been googling Ireland's name and posting these comments everywhere he or she could.
I've been the subject of a similar campaign and have a clear policy, though I don't try to tell others how to run their blogs. If some sockpuppet or anonymous commenter tries to pursue a vendetta through a comment here I'll delete it. If someone posts under their own name and has a serious point to make, I'll leave the comment in place. So I deleted the comment and mailed Ireland to let him know.
The most likely reason for this campaign against Ireland is that he had uncovered a couple of "security experts" who were posting as radical Moslems on various websites, then tipping off Conservative MP Patrick Mercer about these sockpuppet postings. Some of these made it into the press. There's no suggestion, so far as I can see, that Mercer knew this information was planted.
Whatever you think of Ireland, he has done good work with this and has been threatened and vilified as a result. The planting of fake "radical Islamist" material can only hinder the struggle against the genuine problem of Islamic extremism. His work has been used by some in the "Old Media" without credit.
This post is to give credit where it's due and to express support for Ireland in this matter. His account of the affair can be read here. The only support I've seen for him so far has come from left of centre blogs, and that's wrong. In my view, we should all be concerned if a senior MP is misled, if the press runs stories based on faked evidence, and if a blogger is subjected to a campaign of vilification.
Unfortunately, Ireland conducts his own somewhat obsessive campaigns, including one against the numbingly anodyne Iain Dale. Obviously, I don't think that means he's disqualified from support when he's in the right.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Tim Ireland and the sockpuppets
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4 comments:
Thank you, but I feel I should point out that Iain Dale contributed to this difficulty, and is one of only TWO bloggers that I'm aware of either lazy or hateful enough to allow the latest smears (by Dominic Wightman) to be referenced on their weblog.
Not wanting to be difficult, I would also beg to differ on what one can/should say about conduct on another blogs, for much the same reason that I feel it is my right (and is indeed my right under law) to report a landowner who allows certain noxious weeds to grow unhindered. (Said not to reject your stance, obviously, but just to make an effort to have you better appreciate mine.)
Cheers.
"Unfortunately, Ireland conducts his own somewhat obsessive campaigns, including one against the numbingly anodyne Iain Dale. Obviously, I don't think that means he's disqualified from support when he's in the right."
You realise that mentioning Iain Dale and Tim Ireland in the same post was the blogging equivalent of standing in front of a mirror and saying 'Candyman' three times, don't you..?
I've read that headline a couple of times now and can't help feeling it should read ' the sockpuppets of doom' ... or is it just me? ...
kes
Whilst Glen Jenvey's calling Tim Ireland a paedophile was plainly wrong and Jenvey rightly confessed to his error, it is blatantly obvious to any sane human being that Ireland is a nutter and a bully and deserves all he gets in the way of fair criticism. This is the "man" who openly calls politicians c**** in videos accessed by children and for years has abused and stalked his victims. The best thing he can do is pull the plug on his computer.
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