Transterrestrial Musings

Comments

He dug his own hole, quite deeply too. It ain't like we did not try and warn him.

Posted by Mike Puckett at June 25, 2007 12:23 PM

Halfway saddened. Half the time, he had input that was debatable, then he would go into rant status again. Now I have to find someone else to tag as Squidward.....sigh

Posted by Mac at June 25, 2007 12:31 PM

Half the time, he had input that was debatable

I think you're being overgenerous.

Posted by Rand Simberg at June 25, 2007 12:37 PM

He was good on this space stuff but his blind hatred of the Administration and his unthinking, all-consming desire to demonoize his opponents divorced him from all reason on just about everything else.

Posted by Mike Puckett at June 25, 2007 12:41 PM

And in hindsight, what was that all about? I don't understand the point of being a jerk on a blog to the point that the owner has to kick you out. Ironically, I can understand Oler the best. An internet nomad obsessed with his ideas that no one else quite grasps (or tries to). The flame out at the end is the ritual closing act.

Brian and Anon? They never try that hard to convince anyone. They're to some degree (especially Anon) a parody of what they supposedly stand for. Given the diligence over the months, I guess they were serious. But why post, if you don't really care?

Posted by Karl Hallowell at June 25, 2007 12:43 PM

I won't miss him.

Posted by Habitat Hermit at June 25, 2007 01:02 PM

Good riddance.

Posted by Wince and Nod at June 25, 2007 01:30 PM

This is no loss to the site. I can read and heed his idiot rantings, I can bypass his stupid circular arguments, but things like "shitizen" are the sort of thing that used to drive me to physicallity.

It's a good thing for him I've A: mellowed, and B: have no idea where his idiot ass lives.

Adios BS.

Posted by Steve at June 25, 2007 01:48 PM

If I find myself fundamentally disagreeing with a blog-owner's comments, and getting into a liquid elimination match with him on his own blog, I just stop visiting that blog.

Posted by Paul Dietz at June 25, 2007 02:05 PM

Well, Paul, that's because, unlike Brian, you're sane and not anti-social. Not to damn you with faint praise or anything... ;-)

Posted by Rand Simberg at June 25, 2007 02:18 PM

He afforded an interesting look into insane hatred, but (or perhaps that's an and) I won't miss him.

Goodness knows I have no love for the current Administration, but there's a huge difference between over-the-edge enraged hatred and an interesting debate.

Posted by MJ at June 25, 2007 03:36 PM

A short eulogy for Mr. Swiderski:

He could craft entertaining and insightful comments. He demonstrated a great capacity for finding and sustaining historical details.

'Tis a pity he devoted such talent to repel others.

PS: His posts are consistent with someone who needed (or was off) his meds. Or possible a sociology researcher (on a federal grant) doing VERY narrowly focused research.

Posted by MG at June 25, 2007 04:29 PM

Shit can be used as fertilizer, but when there's too much people get sick and you gotta get rid of it.

Posted by Jim C. at June 25, 2007 05:44 PM

BS's final words as quoted by Rand are I believe the very definition of "troll". Unless one is trying to be banned it is a bit foolish to be waving an "I am a troll" banner.

Posted by Cecil Trotter at June 25, 2007 07:32 PM

I think you are doing the right thing banning people who disagree with you and keeping people who agree with you. This is the third one, right?

I too hate it when people challenge me.

Posted by Tim Lewis at June 25, 2007 08:04 PM

Well, Mr. Lewis, you just got yourself a challenge.

Did you read Mr. Swiderski's final comment? He isn't trying to offer argument, only insult -- by his own admission.

What justification do you offer for keeping Mr. Swiderski?

Just wondering, because I would hate to think that you are another one of those, you know, trolls.

Posted by MG at June 25, 2007 08:17 PM

I think you are doing the right thing banning people who disagree with you and keeping people who agree with you. This is the third one, right?

You obviously don't read this site much, or the comments from the three people (grand total, after five years of running it) who I've banned.

I too hate it when people challenge me.

Again, if you think I banned them simply because they "challenged" me, or "disagreed" with me, you are completely clueless.

Not surprising, since this is the first time I've seen a comment from you. But my regular commenters will get a laugh.

Posted by Rand Simberg at June 25, 2007 08:18 PM

He was good on this space stuff but... divorced... from all reason on just about everything else.

Mike, are you suggesting his proposal to cut $360 billion a year from DoD and give it to NASA was reasonable, by any definition???

Posted by Edward Wright at June 25, 2007 11:02 PM

From the beginning I suspected Brian was a student somewhere, and of course, Rand proved that he was. I had started ignoring his comments until Rand pointed out this perspective. Then, I wondered why a student would go out of his way to annoy and alienate people who could potentially help him live a life he seemed interested in enjoying.

As Mac pointed out, the kid had some interesting ideas on space. Not necessarily sound, but they were interesting and thoughtful, from the perspective of his other comments. I credit Mac for trying hard to rationalize with Brian. It's a shame he took an opportunity presented to him, by way of this blog, and decided it was a great chance to show his rear end.

Posted by Leland at June 25, 2007 11:04 PM

I will say this for him: at least he signed his name to what he said, unlike so many who are too cowardly to claim responsibility for their own words.

I too hate it when people challenge me.

Tim, I don't know how long you've been reading this blog but Rand has gotten into some figurative battle royals with Mark Whittington and others. Mark et. al. are not likely to get the same treatment as Swiderski, as they are at the very least backing up their arguments and using logic, not behaving as self-admitted trolls.

Posted by Ed Minchau at June 26, 2007 12:18 AM

Thank you Rand.

Posted by Laughing Wolf at June 26, 2007 04:07 AM

From the beginning I suspected Brian was a student somewhere, and of course, Rand proved that he was.

Actually, that was a link found by Ed Wright, and he claimed that it wasn't him, FWIW. I certainly didn't "prove" it was.

Posted by Rand Simberg at June 26, 2007 05:03 AM

I begin to suspect there were two people posting under one name. Sometimes the posts were thoughtful (if out of left field) but without the vitriol and hatred. Then, in the next post, the hatred would return. I will miss the thoughtful debating with the quote by quote response, but the seething hatred from bi-polar man I will not miss at all.

Posted by Mac at June 26, 2007 05:24 AM

An "ignore this commenter" or "display only the first x lines of each comment [or: of each comment from this user]" feature would be very helpful for dealing with people like BS. I don't understand why more blogging software doesn't have such functionality. With trolls, it's often the length as much as the content of comments that disrupts threads.

Posted by Jonathan at June 26, 2007 06:16 AM

"Mike, are you suggesting his proposal to cut $360 billion a year from DoD and give it to NASA was reasonable, by any definition??? "

Ed, do I really have to answer that or would you like to to take advantage of this rare and generous opportunity to retract the queston? I think you are overanalyzing things. A tendancy it seems more and more people suffer from.

Do you read anything I post all all? A child could devine my position on DOD funding levels.

Posted by Mike Puckett at June 26, 2007 06:47 AM

Brian's the sort who does anger me -- especially when I find him agreeing with me, which he occasionally does. I respect and like Rand -- even when I disagree with him. Rand is thoughtful and uses real arguments based upon a reality I tend to share with him. Brian, on the other hand, seemed not to listen to others -- even before the post Rand cites. Of course my politics are a bit hard to characterize. Let's just here that they are very multidimensional. When I say, based upon articles of late in the Wash

Posted by Chuck Divine at June 26, 2007 06:58 AM

Tim,
If Brian could have toned down his Bush Bashing to just every other comment, I think Rand would have let him live. But he had no capacity to avoid doing it. Plenty of intelligent give and take happens here at TtM between our host and we commentors. It took a long road of abuse of the system here to get him axed. And he was warned I do believe.

Brian is the kind of guy who shouts, "George Bush Sucks!", in a crowded theater no matter what the movies is. While it may be appropriate, and fun, during "Fahrenheit 9/11" showing to the typical leftists at Berkeley or NYU, it's hardly appropriate during "Shrek 3" showing to families at the Multiplex at the mall.

Brian yelled it at every movie, and it became his downfall. Stick around Tim, you'll see that Rand is indeed a fair site host and is always open to cogent comments.

Posted by Steve at June 26, 2007 07:23 AM

Chuck, where did you go with that last comment?

Posted by Offside at June 26, 2007 08:33 AM

I hope Chuck's all right. I have this vision of him slumped over his keyboard.

Posted by Rand Simberg at June 26, 2007 10:17 AM

Rand,
I said you could ask me to leave any time you wished and I would go, but you were apparently too much of a vindictive coward to be even that direct. Please have the modest self-respect not to pretend that the meaningless sentence you quote had anything to do with your breakdown--you just couldn't handle the rest of the post, and got tired of looking ignorant. Since your emotions depend entirely on this blog, you're welcome to it, and I won't bother you anymore. Afternoon to you, ma'am. To everyone else, it's good you don't let Rand's politics poison your optimism.

Ad Astra,
Brian S.

Posted by Brian Swiderski at June 26, 2007 10:41 AM

Ever the class act, Brian.

Posted by Rand Simberg at June 26, 2007 10:44 AM

Was that the "real" Brian Swiderski?

Posted by MG at June 26, 2007 12:37 PM

Probably. It seemed like a good facsimile. He probably just found another computer to post from, with a different IP.

Posted by Rand Simberg at June 26, 2007 12:40 PM

Rand, if you tell someone they are no longer authorized to access your blog, but they continue to do so, they are possibly in violation of the Florida Computer Crimes Act (statute 815), assuming your server is in Florida. This would be a class 3 felony.

(Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer.)

Posted by Paul Dietz at June 26, 2007 01:14 PM

Well, my server is actually in San Diego, but he's not worth the bother. I suspect it was just a parting shot. One of the reasons that I took so long to ban him is that (as I noted in that last exchange) his posts said much more about him than the topics he was discussing. I'm sure that even people who agreed with some of his positions had to be cringing.

Posted by Rand Simberg at June 26, 2007 01:23 PM

Second the comments about BS giving the outward appearance of being two personalities. "Jeckyl" I often found to be interesting and thoughtful about matters space-related.

"Hyde," on the other hand, was a veritable human Lempel-Ziv engine. I've never encountered anyone else who could compress so many left-wing nutbarisms and flagrantly fictive "facts" into a single sentence. Fisking the guy was so labor intensive because of the formidable bullshit/byte ratio that I only occasionally felt up for a go. The posts anchoring our last exchanges resulted in such a sheer volume of nonsense in his responses to my initial ripostes that both were knocked completely off the bottom of Rand's page by newer posts before I could finish and post the requisite second round fisk/response. Like trying to drink nonsense from a firehose.

About his age/status - I just always assumed BS was young, unmarried, childless and probably a student. The affect just seemed to fit too well for anything else to be likely. Hell, I was an arrogant little left-wing shitheel in my badly misspent youth too. The complete absence of any evidence of personal acquaintance with actual history beyond roughly the last decade pretty much sealed that deal for me.

Let us hope age and accumulated tumbling in the streambed of life knocks those sharp corners off of our Brian in the next decade or two. Who knows? By the time he's 40, he might be somebody the rest of us older crocks wouldn't mind having around again.

I won't miss "Hyde," but I will miss Brian just a bit.

Posted by Dick Eagleson at June 26, 2007 02:15 PM

An "ignore this commenter" or "display only the first x lines of each comment [or: of each comment from this user]" feature would be very helpful for dealing with people like BS.

Jonathan, I'm not sure, but I think that there may be killfile-like feature as a plugin for Firefox that would do exactly that.

(Heh, amusingly, "plugin" isn't recognized by Firefox's spell checquer. And having typed that, neither is "heh.")

Posted by Rand Simberg at June 26, 2007 03:12 PM

I've never encountered anyone else who could compress so many left-wing nutbarisms and flagrantly fictive "facts" into a single sentence. Fisking the guy was so labor intensive because of the formidable bullshit/byte ratio that I only occasionally felt up for a go.

Yes, that was my problem as well. He apparently had nothing better to do than spew vast nonsensical leftist treatises on my blog, and I had better things to do than attempt to respond to them, which was futile, because it would simply spur more nonsense. It was like fighting a hydra. I appreciate the commenters that were willing to spar with him, but it's not why I have a blog.

Posted by Rand Simberg at June 26, 2007 03:35 PM

What was sad was all the effort he put into his lengthy bile eruptions. I sincerely hope he was not doing this from the subsidy of a government job as he oftimes hinted. I would like to believe the taxpayers were not paying good lucre for his stains.

It was a strange rock he oftimes chose to die one of his one thousand deaths upon.

RIP Squidward.......

Posted by Mike Puckett at June 26, 2007 06:29 PM

He did some pretty decent parody, especially the one of Rand ;-) Bloody funny too. But then he would rant interminably as well. Steve put it well: Brian is the kind of guy who shouts, "George Bush Sucks!", in a crowded theater no matter what the movies is.

Too bad he's gone as far as I'm concerned.

I think he really wanted Rand to ask him to leave. Adios Brian, see you on the other side of the fence perhaps, or maybe sooner over here if you turn 40 and realize everything isn't always so black and white.

Posted by Toast_n_Tea at June 26, 2007 06:31 PM

I will just say that I have no knowledge that Brian worked for the government.

I'm shutting down further comments to this thread, because I don't think it fair to talk about someone when they can't respond.

Posted by Rand Simberg at June 26, 2007 06:33 PM

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