Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing. (Macbeth)
Against all propriety, and rule no.10, CanadianBill started a thread accusing me (and members of another forum) of attempting to take over susan-boyle.com. It was outrageous. It was false. It was defamatory.
Where did he get such an idea?
He got it because he was in communication with a cyber-stalker bully-troll who had made it his mission to divide the Susan Boyle fan community and to do Susan Boyle's reputation harm.
Why did the cyber-troll target me? Because I had recently banned him from a forum where I am an administrator.
He told CanadianBill many things that were not true and distorted others.
That was abominable in itself. It hit even harder when another member shared with me a PM she had received from CanadianBill in which he gave her assurances that he had the full support of administrators to post such a thread, because they had approved it. I still have that PM.
CanadianBill put a very sinister slant on ordinary activities. He noted the fact that members of a forum, accused by moderators of being involved in the 'takeover plot', posted in defence of Dyebat and lchris. He insinuated that 'proved' they were involved in some kind of conspiracy. The fact is those individuals knew there was no plot and were simply stating the truth.
CanadianBill claimed falsely that there was a 'hit list' and that he was on it.
I have described in an earlier post how the cyber-troll was 'all things to all people'. Maybe what he said appealed to Bill's vanity. That is the only explanation I can come up with, because in all honesty I rarely give CanadianBill more than a passing thought. I have no reason whatsoever to be in the least interested in his whereabouts, or his activities. I do remember the cyber-troll trying to initiate conversations about personal details of some staff members of susan-boyle.com, but CanadianBill never figured then either.
CanadianBill was somehow convinced that I 'had it in for him' because he opposed me in the great Shipper debate over a year ago. In reality, CanadianBill had less to do with that debate than Dyebat. Dyebat started the thread and led the motion opposing me, yet CanadianBill accused me of being in collusion with her. This tends to undermine the idea that I still held a grudge against the pro-shippers.
I initiated a chain of correspondence with CanadianBill in which I asked him to have the thread taken down from the forum as it was libellous. He refused. He refused even when he was made aware that he had received his information from the cyber-stalker troll.
CanadianBill wrote to me that even should he feel there was reason to apologise, he had to consider the 'knock on effects' for the Forum and the bigger picture. He told me he had consulted with the admin and they had said that he should do whatever he believed was right for him. He told me that he knew the staff was concerned about resurrecting the issue, and whilst 'he and I' might be civilised, experience had told him that not every one would be. In the interest of avoiding 'discord' he was willing to let the lies stand.
After the series of emails, in which clearly no real progress was being made, I came to the conclusion that pride was a very great factor in what had happened, and that it prevented 'closure.' Nothing has happened since to make me change my mind.
CanadianBill's refusal to retract his accusations has allowed the cyber-stalker bully to win. Shame on that criminal for doing what he did. Shame on CanadianBill for aiding him.
Addendum: CanadianBill's thread was only taken down after speaking at length with Pickled Tink when it was pointed out that the thread was libelous. It had stood, on the forum, for well over a week.
