This diary is a little different.
I receieved an e-mail death threat today from a dkos user. No big deal right? No big deal, probably. I am posting here because it came from a fellow dkos reader, and maybe that person would like to own up to the action.
The e-mail, shown below the fold with headers, is an attempt at anonymous intimidation. The sender used a bogus AOL address as a return path in order to remain hidden.
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Date: Thu, 29 Dec 2005 09:10:52 -0500
--As for my anonymity, I don't care to invite idiots like yourself to low-rate ALL of my comments as you have
others'. Not that it really matters, anyway...but I don't respect you enough to identify myself to you.--
You were low-rated because you were trolling the board, as everyone else on there agreed you were doing.
Plenty of other respected people low-rated you, too, for the same reasons.
You'll never back up your words with evidence, nor will you back them up with face-to-face actions. Because
you're a typical gutless, spineless, yellow-bellied, lily-livered, craven little chickenshit coward. Try again when
you've grown a bicep. Get it? Got it? Good. I am not afraid to hurt you. Actually I am not afraid to kill you. You deserve it. Always remember I am watching you and I will take you down.
Now, since the mailer didn't care to reference exactly what he complaining about, it's a bit of a mystery. Not a huge mystery, but a mystery none the less.
Some points about the e-mail, first, to defend myself:
Whoever sent the message must be confused. The person writes:
I don't care to invite idiots like yourself to low-rate ALL of my comments as you have
others'
Anyone is free to take a look at my rating history. I've only rated, what, 8 times, and of those, I don't believe any were zeros. Certainly I didn't engage in a systematic attempt to downrate one person, as the sender claims. The evidence is just not there. So the reason to claim anonymity is just bizarre and not centered in reality. I suspect the real reason is that the sender is making physical threats against me, and is afraid I might go and take them to some authority.
So what else is interesting here?
You were low-rated because you were trolling the board, as everyone else on there agreed you were doing. Plenty of other respected people low-rated you, too, for the same reasons.
Since we have no link, I have no idea exactly what thread this is related to. I do, on occasion, challenge people who downrate me to explain their rating.
I did a diary a few weeks ago about a person who systematically downrated dozens of posts that were pretty clearly not trolls because I had the audacity to challenge his argument and ask for more research. Not only did he downrate in his diary but in other threads unrelated as well. He proceeded to try to paint me as a liberal bashing troll but blantly misrepresenting previous posts (here is the whole episode in one simple little thread recap, here is the diary entry only).
I also did a diary on Tookie Williams that got many people angry. I wanted to examine the issue of guilt/innocence. No big ratings disputes there.
I just did a diary on Christmas, and why I think it should be killed; removed from the public eye entirely. That got a lot of people pissed. There were a few posts that were downrated, one person in particular went a bit nuts on the downrating. Here is the ratings bleargh gave me in my own diary. My guesstimate counts 12 to 14 comments he downrated me for (several are now hidden, so I guess we can't know). My position in the diary was the government recognition of Christmas is un-American and un-Patriotic.
Whoever the sender is justifies his actions by saying that I was wrong, and that I was trolling and that everyone agrees. The poll attached, however, recorded 60 "Yes" (agree with me), 78 "No", and 21 "Don't Care votes". It's hardly a landslide, especially for a hot button topic as such. Several people accused me of a being a GOP troll, but refused to delve into the issue. Fair enough. I can't prove that I'm not Ken Melhman, so that's out there.
Finally, comes the threat.
You'll never back up your words with evidence, nor will you back them up with face-to-face actions. Because you're a typical gutless, spineless, yellow-bellied, lily-livered, craven little chickenshit coward. Try again when you've grown a bicep. Get it? Got it? Good. I am not afraid to hurt you. Actually I am not afraid to kill you. You deserve it.
It's hard not to note the irony in the sender claiming I won't backup my words with evidence, that I'm gutless, etc while at the same refusing to identify him/herself. I have many contreverisal positions. I know very few people who agree with me politically. Killing off Christmas is controversial. Calling out ratings abusers by names in a diary is bound to stir up trouble. This diary, maybe even. But at no point do I hide my contact information, or refuse to enter a discussion. And I never have to resort to threats of violence.
So, what do we know about sender, a recap:
- A dkos user
- Someone who down rated me numerous times.
- Someone who didn't bother to check my rating history to verify the lie he constructed to justify his identity hiding.
- Someone who isn't afraid to threaten to kill me or hurt me via e-mail.
- Someone who obviously disagrees with me more than a normal amount.
- Someone who is on the BellSouth network (I did notify their abuse department in e-mail and by registered mail today).
So.
Will the threatening sender come forward? Will that person who threatens to kill me apologize, or better yet, face up to his baseless statements provide at least a contextual link, some rationale basis for the e-mail?
I really expect more than anonymous death threats from the users of dkos!
UPDATE: An astute commenter points out that I can't be sure the sender is a dkos user, and that's 100% true. I missed that before. The content of the email mentions downrating me, but doesn't explicitly lay claim to it (passive voice is used, subtely, maybe on purpose)?
I take back any assertion that this was definately a dkos user. It could have been just a casual reader!