Due to sustained dickishness (Markos' word) from some dedicated pro-nuclear apologists here at DKos, and my several attempts to impose Markos' new 'rules' for community interaction in my diaries to this group intended to be issue-informative rather than insulting free-for-alls, I have been repeatedly accused of being a "sockpuppet" due entirely to the fact that I had an original [2005] DKos account under my real name (maiden) that was locked in 2009, and came back with a new account nearly a year later. Meteor Blades [UID 4] was aware of that account change as part of the 'rules' on that here at DKos. There have recently appeared not just one but two separate non-group diaries formally accusing me of sockpuppetry. Just this afternoon when I once again told one of them to stay out of my diaries according to Markos' new rules against dickishness, he insisted I cannot keep him out of my diaries and suggested I could be banned for trying.
I broke down this morning and fired off a PM to Markos. Something I hated to do, since I like to think I can handle ugly trolls and assorted... um, whatevers... on my own. He's of course still at it in my last diary, not slowing down a bit. Then I remembered Markos said he'd be on the road this week, so I've got no reason to hope he'll intervene. So...
...Enough is enough. It's way out of hand.
Follow me below the Great Orange Squiggle of Power for the full confession if you dare...
Confession #1: I am NOT a "sockpuppet."
Confession #2: I am a professional puppetmaker and puppeteer.
Or, was for many years, we don't do big shows much anymore. But our daughter does have a 3-operator size puppet [Smaug the dragon] permanently on display in the Museum of Puppetry in Atlanta. The bulk of the puppets I made (often with her help) are just hanging from rafters in the shed, along with the "one man band" skatecycle and Dr. Despicable's big black guillotine. Getting moldy.
Really. Now that's done, here's the "rest of the story"...
I'm a person with six action-packed decades of life and a wide variety of interests and experiences under my belt. I've written diaries to subjects such as education, gardening, agriculture, health and nutrition, herbal medicine/wildcrafting, homesteading, solar and wind energy development, and nuclear power. When the March 11 Japanese earthquake and tsunami occurred and the disaster at Fukushima Daiichi began, MB seconded a request for me to provide some informative coverage of the situation because he knew about my ancient past as an hp and technical investigator during the initial recovery operation at Three Mile Island in 1979.
I agreed to do so, and have participated in the Nuclear Free DKos group since the beginning. Trying to parse nuke-speak for people unfamiliar with the lingo, assessing situations and events as they become public, and offering updates on various unusual events at nuclear plants here in the United States since Fukushima.
I have never tried to hide or disguise my real life identity in regards to my role at TMI-2 more than 30 years ago, or any of the several times in later years when we were called upon to submit documentation and/or provide testimony about what happened there. It's just that nobody ever cared - it's not like 30+ years isn't a lifetime ago, after all. Then an article for the journal Institute for Southern Studies featuring my husband and I (along with others) was published in April of 2009 for the 30th anniversary of TMI-2, republished by the author here at DKos - where it occupied the recommended list for several days. The ISS article went 'viral' over a period of months, so a lot more people know the basic story now than ever before, even though to me it's still ancient history. It's one big shrug on my part that people know who I am in regards to that, as we undertook that job on purpose and did our very best to complete it in the face of serious roadblocks, violence, and rather amazing skullduggery on the part of the nuclear industry against us during those years. All water under a long-ago rotted bridge.
Since the 30th anniversary of the accident at TMI-2 we have been a bit more 'involved' in various anti-nuclear efforts than we were for more than a quarter century previously, due to that coverage. We have been filmed for a brief walk-on part in a major documentary on the 'Nuclear Renaissance' scheduled for release next year, have a motion picture in the works (maybe), and since Fukushima have provided interviews and statements to various news sources internationally. We have been involved in efforts in Japan organized by citizens, groups and international 'expert' consortiums to provide ongoing monitoring of contamination levels, obtain necessary medical remediation and long-term follow-up for the affected population of northern Japan, and establish means for Japanese citizens to obtain proper monitoring of their crops and food supplies. We have re-vamped and re-published our original booklet Home Health Physics (linked in sig) so people can have the necessary information on how they can best protect themselves and their families from radioactive contamination for as long as it lasts. Translation to Japanese has been done and proofed, is now in the process of publishing.
I do not expect that there are very many people who have been following the Fukushima disaster or other things nuclear through this group or my diaries who do not already know who I am. It's no secret, even though it's essentially irrelevant to what is happening right now in Japan and elsewhere in the world to aging nuclear facilities. There are quite a lot of users here at DKos whose real life identities are well known, so I'm in good (or maybe just notorious) company. The only people seemingly obsessed with my real life identity are the members of the DKos pro-nuclear lobby. Who apparently seem to believe that because I served in the initial recovery operation at TMI-2, I must be prevented from expressing any opinions on nuclear events in 2011. Presumably, to be allowed to express anti-nuclear opinions here, you must have no knowledge of the nuclear power industry (or meltdowns).
Which is of course ridiculous. Thus the charges of "sockpuppet" because I had a previous account here. Deal is, those making the charge do not know what the word means. It is generally allied with 'astroturf' efforts to influence public opinions on certain subjects and/or products, and can be interchangeable with the term "shill" (according to Wikipedia). In journalistic and otherwise mundane applications the term "sockpuppet" usually refers to a false persona fielded to post concurrently with the puppeteer, usually to support whatever the shill is selling.
There have been some legal issues for people discovered to be using sockpuppets for nefarious purposes, so I see this charge leveled against me by the pro-nuclear lobby here at DKos to be particularly libelous. My previous account has been locked since 2009 - NO ONE has posted in that name here since then. As some of you may be able to tell, my current moniker of "Joieau" is the French word for "Joy" or "Joyous." Thus hardly a great disguise if disguise were what I'd been seeking upon my return to DKos. Thus my current account cannot be considered sockpuppetry in any applicable sense of that word.
So yes, Bryguy and NNadir and all you other pro-nukes in the lobby, I have indeed built and operated a number of puppets - sockpuppets, string puppets, rod puppets, humanettes and multi-operator puppets - as part of my several roles in our family theatrical/clown troupe which has existed professionally since 1983. For the past 19 years as Mountain Circus Arts. I also design and produce the costumes, write the skits, construct the staging and puppets, manage and keep the props, produce the promo material, and occasionally perform as any of a number of different characters.
I was a publisher when we took the TMI job 32 years ago, and have worked day jobs in publishing here and there ever since. Nowadays the best publishing is via electrons rather than dead trees, I have made that transition. I also write articles on various subjects for other publishers.
So there you have it. My nuclear and non-nuclear identity, a run-down of the many hats I wear/have worn in my life, and my full objection to being libelously targeted by some people here at DKos whose purpose seems to be to prevent discussion of anything that makes the nuclear industry look bad.
If who I am in real life - and what I did 32 years ago at Three Mile Island - diminishes any 'credibility' any of you may have assigned to my coverage of Fukushima (and Browns Ferry, and Ft. Calhoun, and San Louis Obispo, and North Anna) over the past six months, I can accept that. I have always expected people here to be bright enough to make up their own minds about people and events, do not think myself 'too special' to be above all that. If it is the judgment of the group that I no longer republish my diaries on nuclear events to Nuclear Free DKos, I will certainly abide by your wishes. And hereby thank you all for your support during the time the group has existed.
You have been so Kind and Generous…