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Wednesday 1 August 2007

The price one pays.

I run a news server for the local news group using population. I run it because I was asked to and because our local incumbent ISP stifled the one they ran before eventually closing those they ran. As the ISP run news groups where in the process of being strangled (no such thing as free speech for a twitchy ISP) it was decided to create our our own. First, a bulletin board (forum) was discussed and quickly disgarded then the idea was struck to start up a proper news Usenet news service. It was also decided at around the same time that I should create and run it. So, that is what I did. We made it username and password protected and created 4 news groups. Invited a few people in to it and that as they say was that.

I have always somehow managed to attract Usenet kooks. On the fully fledged Usenet server I have been followed around for years so it came as no surprise to me that within our private Usenet server I attained such a Usenet kook. Eventually, he was driven out, not by me but by other posters, much to my dismay. Dismay not because I missed him but because his removal went against the whole ethos of the private server. Still, driven out he was and that, I thought, would be the end of that.

Then out of the blue I asked 2 questions of a local lad on ICQ and instead of answering my questions he set off on a tirade any 6 year old would be proud of. What prompted this tirade? I am not sure but taking a guess I would think it was because I attacked his beloved Billion router as being crap (they are not but until this time it has always been fun to 'play' him over them). Added to this was the fact he had apparently done some 'research' on me by asking 'a few people not connected to the internet side' (of our incumbent ISP) about me. Apparently I have 'lied about a lot of things since we started talking'. Considering we rarely talk, he bores me, and considering I spend our time talking winding him up about various things his claim that I have lied about something came as no surprise at all. Plus, whoever he has talked to 'not on the Internet side' cannot be verified as he will not tell me names. All in all, he is, as usual, full of himself and also full of the warm brown stuff that falls from peoples arses.

Now, considering our incumbent telephone cum ISP has been trying to discredit me for years. I have made it something of a passtime to email someone there about many things, some things of which have rankled a few feathers over the years from front line teleworkers to boardroom level. I can only assume that whoever these 'few people not on the Internet side' are they where simply carrying on the 'let us discredit the guy' stance and sadly for this local lad, who is 17 years of age but that is no excuse, he has obviously fallen for it.

These 'few people not connected to the Internet side' remain a mystery to me as the local lad refuses to name names which in all honesty does not prove whoever said what was telling the truth. Further, his complete lack of skills in anything made him look an utter fool. Now, given the local lad is 17 or 18 years old and as far as I know has skills in not a lot and is known to spout utter crap at times and is even laughed at in some quarters I am not going to lose any sleep over his second hand claims.

Could his actions signify jealousy? I am not sure, however, I am much more well liked within our small community than he is and we all know how teenagers react in such circumstances. I have done many more things in my life time than he could ever hope to achieve. I have much better work skills in just about every area than he is ever likely to gain. I have work certificates, notably IT related, running out of my ears none of which he is ever likely to gain. Hmm, jealousy does seem to fit.

After talking with many other people within the private Usenet server group it seems this local lad is on a hiding to nothing. Still, it is things like this that make life interesting does it not? I think so. It is also the price one pays for providing a service such as the private news server.

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