The ascension

Originally posted by @fmf
Well, I apologized immediately to those I had played the practical joke on and I apologized to the website for breaking the TOS. So there are differences between you and me in terms of character, I think, and in terms of what we did and how we conducted ourselves after being exposed.

How were you exposed? Was this before the time of VPNs?

Originally posted by @dj2becker
How were you exposed? Was this before the time of VPNs?

I was asked in private by a mod if I was the same person who'd used the screen name "FMF" and I said yes. I think one of the targets of the practical joke had told the mod about his suspicions. I was asked to choose one of the two accounts to go ahead with. I apologized. And I decided to apologize on the Debates Forum too.

Originally posted by @fmf
I was asked in private by a mod if I was the same person who'd used the screen name "FMF" and I said yes. I think one of the targets of the practical joke had told the mod about his suspicions. I was asked to choose one of the two accounts to go ahead with. I apologized. And I decided to apologize on the Debates Forum too.

So if the mod hadn't messaged you you would have carried on with the deception?

Originally posted by @dj2becker
So if the mod hadn't messaged you you would have carried on with the deception?

No. I don't think so. The practical joke had run its course. I was deliberately laying the parody on really thick with utherpendragon [it was about me being even more right wing than him and so I was satirizing the far right in the U.S.] and it had become blatantly obvious that I was the same person who'd posted for years as FMF ~ people who were in on the gag were also all but openly referring to it in posts ~ the whole thing had come to its denouement and it was Fabian Fnas - who was in on it with whom I had been swapping PMs about bringing it to a head - who finally made a joke where he called me FMF and then corrected himself ...and finally utherpendragon twigged and asked the mod about me.

Originally posted by @fmf
No. I don't think so. The practical joke had run its course. I was deliberately laying the parody on really thick with utherpendragon [it was about me being even more right wing than him and so I was satirizing the far right in the U.S.] and it had become blatantly obvious that I was the same person who'd posted for years as FMF ~ people who were in on the gag ...[text shortened]... MF and then corrected himself ...and finally utherpendragon twigged and asked the mod about me.

Do you believe your practical joke was morally unsound?

Originally posted by @dj2becker
Do you believe your practical joke was morally unsound?

Probably. The two targets did not find it particularly amusing so it was a send-up at their expense and therefore a bit unfair. They felt they were being trolled, I imagine. I wasn't abusive though. Just satirical. They were humourless rightwingers. It was "morally unsound" to about the same degree as an extended April Fool's joke is, I suppose. A lot of people found it entertaining.I ticked a box which said that I would not create multiple accounts but decided that it was OK to do so because I wasn't intending to cheat at chess. Ticking that box was questionable and clearly broke a rule found in the TOS, so that could be considered wrong to do.

Originally posted by @fmf
Probably. The two targets did not find it particularly amusing so it was a send-up at their expense and therefore a bit unfair. They felt they were being trolled, I imagine. I wasn't abusive though. Just satirical. They were humourless rightwingers. It was "morally unsound" to about the same degree as an extended April Fool's joke is, I suppose. A lot of people ...[text shortened]... questionable and clearly broke a rule found in the TOS, so that could be considered wrong to do.

So even after apologizing you are still trying to justify your actions? Does this reflect genuine remorse for your actions?

Originally posted by @dj2becker
So even after apologizing you are still trying to justify your actions? Does this reflect genuine remorse for your actions?

You asked me about what happened. I've told you. I apologized eight years ago. Are you hoping I will now apologize to you and pore over my "remorse" for you personally?

Originally posted by @fmf
You asked me about what happened. I've told you. I apologized eight years ago. Are you hoping I will now apologize to you and pore over my "remorse" for you personally?

No, I'm merely noticing that you are still trying to justify your actions even after having apologized for them.

Originally posted by @dj2becker
No, I'm merely noticing that you are still trying to justify your actions even after having apologized for them.

I am explaining what happened. And I have addressed the moral issues.

Originally posted by @dj2becker
So even after apologizing you are still trying to justify your actions? Does this reflect genuine remorse for your actions?

Isn't that precisely what you have done?!

You apologised for deliberately misleading people and yet have repeatedly tried to justify your actions by saying you 'told people' which somehow magically negates your deception.

Does this reflect on the genuine nature of your apology?

Originally posted by @dj2becker
So even after apologizing you are still trying to justify your actions? Does this reflect genuine remorse for your actions?

You'll just have to settle for being unimpressed by my moral character, then, and my behaviour/personality, I suppose. Do you think you have been teaching me any lessons in morality as we compared our experiences of using "Fetchmyjunk" and "John W Booth" and how we have reacted to being exposed - you a year or so ago, and me in about 2010?

Originally posted by @divegeester
You are an unemployed loner.

Believe whatever you want, tiger.

Originally posted by @ghost-of-a-duke
Isn't that precisely what you have done?!

You apologised for deliberately misleading people and yet have repeatedly tried to justify your actions by saying you 'told people' which somehow magically negates your deception.

Does this reflect on the genuine nature of your apology?

At least Becker apologized. You still haven’t apologized for falsely - and repeatedly - claiming that I’m him. Says a lot about your morality (or, more accurately, lack of it.)

Originally posted by @romans1009
At least Becker apologized. You still haven’t apologized for falsely - and repeatedly - claiming that I’m him. Says a lot about your morality (or, more accurately, lack of it.)

Indeed, and I give him credit for doing so. (Despite his strange idea that admitting his deception, once confronted, somehow bestows honesty upon him).

But let's clasp that other nettle. Do you at least accept that I (and many others) genuinely believed (past tense for now) you and Becker were the same person, based on:

1 Your sudden appearance in a thread picking up from where Becker had left off.
2. Trolling FMF throughout the night, just like Becker had done
3. Your immediate behavior not being credible from someone new to the site
4. Your expressed religious beliefs identical to Beckers
5. Your style of forum posting identical to Beckers
6. Beckers previous deception fresh in everyone's mind
7. Your shared fixation of FMF.

I stated in an earlier post that 'time would tell' and that if you were the same person you would struggle to maintain the deception (You would eventually trip yourself up). In truth I thought, by now, Becker would have 'quietly disappeared,' and the fact his is still around (although not so prolific as he once was) does sow a seed of doubt. - That said, I have not changed my genuine belief that this is not your first account. So I do not accept I have made any false accusations, and if your previous account was someone other than Becker, then the confusion is entirely of your own manufacture.