trollbusters? - have you ever heard of this?

boyohboyohboy wrote: I was on another site recently, where it was reported that a person had lied about there identity, and all about there personal info...this site was mentioned as a way of telling who repeat offenders are..
I am in total shock. I guess maybe I am a forum rookie, because it never occured to me that people would make up lies and post in places like this..
why waste your time?
I feel totally deceived by the person who did this, I considered her a friend.

C&K*s Mommie replied: I had just learned of the site yesterday.

sparkys2boys replied: Well, I am sure that it does happen more then we think. I hope that all of us are being honest as this group seems like a very down to earth bunch and I would hate to think that I was being decieved when it comes to people that are talking about or giving advice ect on my family and life. It's sad to think that people could do that, how do they live with themselves.

coasterqueen replied: Yep, trolls are very common. All boards seem to have their fair share of them. It's very sad when people have to make up a life because they are not happy with their own.

BAC'sMom replied: Your not the ONLY one that was shocked Stacy. I was speechless when I found out and I am never speechless.

Celestrina replied: I've been on a lot of message boards and there are always trolls. Some people feel the need to go around and p***ing people off. I was on one site about pets and someone was talking about flushing thier hamster down the toilet.

Crystalina replied: Some people just like to shock members by doing stupid things. I've come in contact with a few trolls and was actually followed by one from site to site. I finally narrowed one board this member went to by their email addy (had a site name in it) and found this "mother" on there participating in a teen message board pretending to be a teen (or maybe this person was a teen? who know?). "She" was asking members to post nude pics of themselves! Another member and I emailed her telling her the gig was up. Never heard from that one again. Well, maybe I have and just don't know it.

Just don't give out too much info about yourself. That's the best thing to do. Don't post anything that you don't want just anyone to know because you never know who's on the other end of the keyboard typing back to you. It's a sad truth.

grapfruit replied: how horrible. I agree, why waste your time? How stupid.

TheOaf66 replied: well I was glad to find out what the site was, I was scared at first that someone was going to report me for having orange hair that sticks straight up, and living under a bridge, whew I am very relieved

Hillbilly Housewife replied:
I guess you two both knew this "troll"?

Our Lil' Family replied: Most regulars here know "her" too but she doesn't come around much at all anymore.

TheOaf66 replied: well now I just feel out of the loop since I don't know who we're talking about

Our Lil' Family replied: I don't mind saying but I'm not sure if I'm not supposed to. Anyone know?? Her acct here has been deleted I believe, I can't find it anymore.

Crystalina replied:




Really? Did I? OMG, now I'm trying to figure out if I know that person.

Our Lil' Family replied:
trollbusters.org

Crystalina replied: Oh my! I can only think of one person who does not come on alot anymore. I can't tell if she has been deleted though and I don't want to throw her name out there if isn't her. She has disappeared from a few places actually....

It can't be the person I'm thinking of.

can it?

CantWait replied: Sounds juicy, but in all honesty it's too bad. Sorry you guys got had, it's too bad to think you make a special online connection with somebody only to find out it's a lie.

I don't understand why people have to feel the need to lie and make things up.

boyohboyohboy replied: I feel just so terrible about this happening, and yes this is the site where I met her, and this is the only site I now go to....
I had only briefly attended her site, and found this place more secure and friendly for me.
I just happened by there yesterday I wanted to tell her we were expecting, and then found out SHE doesnt even exhist..

I am not sure if we are allowed to say who it was. but yes many of you knew her.

I guess I feel so bad because we used to pm each other with prayer requests and now I find out all the things she had been tugging at my heart strings with were a lie.

and from what i read, trolls are mean people who cause trouble, she never did as far as I know. she never said unkind things.

its just one of those high tech things that I have to get used to I guess. until today I never knew there were people out there that did this stuff.
i dotn know how to ask a mod. if we are allowed to share who it is.

BAC'sMom replied: I am glad some of you are getting a chuckle out of this. In the mean time my name is being drug through the mud and I have people thinking I had something to do with all this. Which I did not.

boyohboyohboy replied: Jimmie, please know that I by no means think this is funny. I am not sure how you feel like you had an responsibility in it. this was totally her fault.
honestly it can be more then her fault, it was her stories and her lies.

I am sorry if I did something to offend you. I only posted this topic because I honestly didnt know what a troll was and I also knew that so many people here knew her.

BAC'sMom replied: I know Stacy

But I have people sending me nasty comments on myspace thinking that I am part of this circus.

We were ALL fooled

Crystalina replied: I'm kind of glad this thread was started because I think that we have a right to know. kwim? I don't know what happend anywhere else but if she was deleted from here for being a troll then there should be some kind of annoucenment only because alot of relationships that start here carry on outside this site. If there is proof enough to ban for that reason then more then likely there was just cause and we should be able to make up our own minds from there.

and this statement

kind of upsets me only because my fears are hightend now. If it's the person I think then we have had personal conversations and if I would never have found this thread then I may still be carrying on a relationship with her. I would want to know for that reason. It's not about being nosey but I would not want to carry on with a person who may or may not be troll.

I'm sorry about whatever happend Calebsmom. Hopefully you aren't too jaded because of it. We are not all liers. I promise.

MommyToAshley replied:
Jimmie, I am sorry that you are going through this. This is the very reason that we do not ban someone based solely on accusations. We do not ban someone just because someone accuses them and others jump on the bandwagon. People are falsely accused all the time based on "hunches"... and innocent people get hurt in the process.

We do however take violations of the terms of service seriously. Posting pictures that belong to someone else is just one example. We ban people once we have proof. That is why we ask that you bring any concerns to a moderator or admin so that we can look into it further.

It's not meant to be a big secret as to who was banned... it was Amanda (astonsmama). We were not keeping it a "secret", we just don't want the board consumed with accusations of people being false. I have seen boards where this is all that is posted ... along with the arguing. We don't want this board to become about that. Unfortunately there are always going to be a few bad apples, so lets not let them ruin the bunch. For every troll there are many many more honest and true people out there.. many that I have become friends with because of this board.

Calimama replied: How scary. Do these people steal pictures of other kids and call them their own? is that why I sometimes see a username on pictures people post? I wonder if I should do that on Bella's pics?

skinkybaby replied: I'm so confused
But from what I can understand it sounds like some people are real whack jobs!

boyohboyohboy replied: I think after thinking about this today, the reason I was so upset was because I do feel that I have made good honest friendships here, and I do talk about personal issues some upsetting to me, here and feel that I can trust the people I talk to. I do not feel that the answers I get are fake, or the people dont really care.

I do have a question though, is there a process that the mods go thru to weed out people like this? or is it only after someone complains?

kimberley replied: sometimes members are "investigated" because of complaints, other times it is because the mods/admin have come across something questionable, so they look into it. as MommyToAshley said, we never outright accuse someone or ban an account without substantial proof that they are a fraud.

BAC'sMom replied:

Thank you DeeDee. I hope you got all the information that I sent this morning about her other aliases.

~Roo'sMama~ replied:
That's not a bad idea. I might start doing that from now on... if I can figure out how that is. It would take a long time to go back and put it on all the pics I've posted in the past though.

One thing that makes me feel a lot more secure about people on this board is the thread we had a few months back with everyone's pictures with signs saying their user names. I actually went and looked through it yesterday because I could have sworn that Amanda had posted one herself, but even though she'd replied to it a bunch of times she never actually posted a pic.

boyohboyohboy replied: so is it not safe to keep personal photos on web sites like photo bucket or the others? people are able to get in there and steal your pics?

skinkybaby replied: Most of those sites have settings where you can set your account to private so no one can see then without a password or something along those lines. I don't know how easy they are to hack, but its something

Hillbilly Housewife replied: If it makes you all feel any better, you can all be sure that at the very least all the mods are "real". We've all done the picture with the kids thing... and lots of members have, as well.

I guess you just never know with some people. We've had some doozies that left my head spin for sure, people I was personal with (online of course) and knew a lot about me. It is a pretty scary thing... and I feel sorry for the people who are so lonely that they have to make up a life just to have some conversation outsie their little bubble world.

MyBabeMaddie replied: Wow I'm really shocked. Her other site is down now right? It won't let me get on.. Thats crazy how do people have so much time on their hands. I wish I could have some free time like that. There are some sick people in this world.

MichaelsMommy replied: Can someone please pm me the ip address so I can ban it on my forum?

Crystalina replied: It wouldn't hurt to add your name to your pics but unless you watermark them clear across it isn't really hard to get rid of the name. They can be cropped or cloned out with psp. It's really sad that people are like this but really the only safe thing to do is not post pictures if you don't want them out there period. It's kind of like sex. If you don't want to catch anything or get pg then don't do it.

It's really upsetting about Amanda and it makes me wonder why I continue to come on any board but then I think of all the other great people and I just have to realize that it can happen and may again and just get over it. If she was that bored then she'll be back I'm sure. Nobody who puts that much effort into acting like someone else is going to disappear that easily.

Oh well, life goes on. It's still disturbing but what can you do besides learn from it?

JadensMama05 replied: Wow.. that's insane! So these people just make up stories and whatnot to get sympathy or attention or something?? I don't get it.. well anyone who does that probably doesn't have much of a life!

So this trollbusters.org... is that another forum page?

Also the "pictures with kids" thing, are you talking about how you guys all took pictures with your kids and a sign? I was thinking about doing that when I looked at the board but I noticed it's kinka old. Maybe I'll do it anyway, just so everyone knows that Jaden and I are real... Kinda screwed up that you have to be worried about that.

redchief replied: Oh for pete's sake, let's get this done! We're talking about Amanda being outed as a fake here and in her own place.

Jimmie, I don't believe you have or had anything to do with that other than an internet relationship, and I'll back you 100%. Know this - I know how you came to be associated with her and you're not the only one... That happened because of here, not there, and so you must be innocent. How I know this I shall not reveal, because I don't feel the need to, but it is so.

As Dee Dee has already said, we're a community that must keep an open mind until there is no doubt that someone has betrayed trust with untruths and lies. It is only natural that there could be some doubt as to the real identity of any member, but in the interest of fairness, and more importantly, in the interest of community, we must take our members on face value, at least until there is real proof of deception. Is this difficult? Sometimes, but the whole of this place is much more than the individual members, so we allow time to work in our favor, knowing full well that that majority of our members are exactly who they say they are.

jcc64 replied: Ed- as usual, the voice of reason. Trolls suck, no doubt about it, but it's the price of doing business online. It is the reason I no longer have pics in my siggy. But I will take everyone at face value unless and until they give me a reason not to. To operate in a perpetual state of suspicion and paranoia would pollute everything that is good about this board.

Boo&BugsMom replied: Wow! Why would someone go to that great of lengths? Too much time on her hands or what? On a side note...who was Amanda? I'm not good at actual names, only screen names.

grapfruit replied:
I've thought about this too, only they're not MY kids, their my neices! Maybe I'll take one w/them AND their mom. That way it's all of us.

holley79 replied: Ed- As always well said.

Jimmie you know I know you are 100% who you say you are and I will back you 100%.

I don't let the trolls get me too far down. I get disappointed but then bounce back because I have plenty of friends here and plenty I will make.

Hope everyone has a wonderful day and I love all my PC friends.

~Roo'sMama~ replied:
Well said Holley! ITA!!

BAC'sMom replied: Thank you everybody!

CantWait replied:
AshtonsMom/Mama

mckayleesmom replied: Wow....this is interesting. Unfortunantly you just have to let it roll off your shoulders and remember that not everyone is fake. I have met great people on this site....online and off. Also...anyone can be a victim of trolls....About a year ago...maybe not even that long...Someone stole my signature pictures with my kids in them and signed up here with them.....They even stole my screename kind of....except it said Mckayleesmum.....with mum instead of mom.

I don't know the whole story.....but I too was duped I guess because I talked to Amanda on Myspace and this is the first I have heard of any of this....