Call to action: Twitter needs to use its power to stop graphically abusive accounts

 

  Warning: Some of the images in this post are not safe for work. 

Twitter is an open forum for anyone who wants to tweet their mind. That's great. I partake in a big way. But when I get tweets-- daily, hourly, sometimes piling on one after the other-- that are abusive, insulting, viciously demeaning, hostile, and sometimes violent, then it's time to take action.

Twitter sure doesn't. I know that for a fact, because I've tried over and over again to convince them that in some cases, it stops being free speech and starts feeling like assault.

 [NOTE: This post is not about cyber bullies, although they, too, are abusive; I've been harassed and smeared for years by one "progressive" who many of you became aware of and have since avoided. This is about extremist trolls, who also happen to bully.]

I regularly hear from right wing extremists, tea partiers, and total nutcases (that's not hyperbole, there are some very sick people out there). When they're civil, I simply ignore or block them, and even debate them once in awhile. And yes, I admit to succumbing to occasional lapses of playing Whack a Troll just to share their ignorance with my followers, using as much snarky mockitude as I can muster up.

But then there are those who pop in repeatedly to suggest various activities that they want me to engage in-- with my own body or theirs-- and apply colorful words like c**t and suck my c**k, simply because they've read my tweets and don't agree with me. I don't know these people nor am I familiar with their accounts, but they get some kind of perverse pleasure out of following my threads and entering my stream with slurs, attacks, and irrational tirades.

Almost without exception, these trolls oppose me politically, and that's fine. But the intense hatred spewed by many of them is disruptive, highly offensive, and completely out of line.

There is a particularly rabid one who should be in jail or in a padded cell-- again, no hyperbole. If I were to post screen grabs of his avatars, messages, and profile photos, you'd literally want to gag. My own husband couldn't get through them. Unfortunately, catching sight of them is unavoidable when they're in my stream or when I go to block and report.

Imagine the most frantically vile, graphic images depicting blatant racism, anti-Semitism, misogyny, bigotry, and self-loathing. They include explicit close-up photos of defecation and the most hard-core XXX porn you can imagine, abominable references, every kind of debasement of women and young men, degrading photos of celebrities and our president and first lady, you name it.

And the crude, twisted tweets he sends me match the vulgar visuals. He has also opened accounts using my likeness (taken from my Twitter account), as well as those of other high-profile liberals like Rachel Maddow, Lizz Winstead, John Fugelsang, Bill Maher, and Rosie O'Donnell, among others.

In short, he is an obsessed, deranged, seething, hostile, psychologically impotent (and likely, physically) conservative coward who consistently targets progressives, mostly women. Here are semi-cleaned up, edited grabs of two of his tamer suspended accounts. Trust me when I say, they get much worse than these:

Here is one of his defunct profile pages

A tweet he sent out under my name and avi

This is one reason I stay anonymous. It started when a stalker came to close, sending me a Google map of my neighborhood, so that was that.

This person has been suspended well over 500 times. I've reported him to Twitter well over 100 times, and finally contacted my local authorities as well as the FBI more than once. But because he didn't threaten my life, they did nothing. As I type this, he's added at least three more Twitter accounts that I'm aware of.

I've endured this for years, literally. Because of this, I felt it was time to put out a call to action. Perhaps if enough of us demand more oversight from Twitter, especially those of us who are sick to death of being barraged with disgustingly offensive messages and photos, then maybe Twitter will take notice and do something.

It's unimaginable that they can't devise a better system to rid Twitter of such filth.

By the way, when I tried to fill out one of their complaint forms, I didn't have a link to the offending tweet, so the form wouldn't go through. I didn't have a link because I blocked him, and the account was immediately suspended so the tweet was no longer accessible. So I'm snail mailing them, and I'm including about two dozen graphic screen shots of 93 of the suspended profiles I've captured.

Here is the tweet:

"I'd like to take a 12 in figurine of a smiling G W. Bush and ram it up your stinking communist ass."

Please share this post and contact Twitter. It's worth a shot to at least try to turn things around for once. I'm fed up with having to so much as glance at the malignancies that come my way.

Thank you.

Twitter contact information:

Twitter, Inc. 1355 Market St, Suite 900 San Francisco, CA 94103

And to Twitter users, some general contact info, not that it will do much good:

@Support

@Twitter

@Spam

To file a ticket, go here.

To report an abusive or offensive user, go here.

UPDATE: Here is a sample letter sent by one of my favorite commenters:

Twitter, Inc 1355 Market St., Suite 900 San Francisco CA 94103

Attn: Dick Costolo, CEO

Dear Sir:

I’ve become more and more alarmed by the threatening, harassing tweets bombarding people like GottaLaff and urge you to take them seriously. One man who sends one tweet after another threatening her, even sending her a map of her neighborhood, forced her to resort to using a pseudonym on Twitter and he still doesn’t stop.

Spam is bad enough but when one is verbally bashed and/or threatened it is not to Twitter’s benefit and such tweets should not be ignored. Just reporting or blocking them isn’t sufficient to stop their abuse; they simply open a new account under a different name - as you know.

Surely Twitter can trace an account back to an IP address and demand that they cease such dangerous behavior. I understand that tweets can be sent from IP addresses that are used by many people (at cafes, for instance) but there is such a thing as product liability. I’m urging you to hold the owners of such IP addresses responsible for the damage their users do. Even bar owners who serve people after they are drunk are held responsible for the damage their customers do.

I’ve enjoyed Twitter for a few years and want to continue to do so but such threatening behavior makes a pleasant experience completely abhorrent and there’s a limit to the amount of such behavior I, and others, will accept.

Please develop a policy to identify & ban such people from the Twitter feed.

I see racist people...

By GottaLaff

Look who's running for governor of Florida:

CPR chief Rick Scott was ousted as a hospital exec amid a 1990s fraud probe, and the memo will alarm pro-reform forces, because it shows that the anti-reform camp is beginning to sense that victory is within reach on their top goal: Killing the public option.

Oh, you already knew that? Did you know all this?

R Lynn's Wiki:

Richard Lynn "Rick" Scott (born 1953 in Bloomington, Illinois) announced his candidacy for Florida governor on April 13, 2010.^[1]

Scott is a healthcare industry executive and founder of Conservatives for Patients' Rights (CPR) which advertises against expanding the U.S. government's role in regulating the healthcare system but failed in its efforts to block healthcare reform.

Scott founded the Columbia Hospital Corporation in 1987. With Columbia HCA Chairman Thomas J. Frist, the brother of Senator Bill Frist, the company merged Columbia with Hospital Corporation of America in 1989 to form Columbia/HCA. Ten years later, Scott was ousted by the company's board of directors in the midst of the nation's biggest health care fraud scandal in which the company ultimately plead guilty to the nation's then largest Medicaid and Medicare fraud and paid a record fine of $1.7 billion dollars.^[2][3][4] In 2001, Scott co-founded the Solantic Corporation, which operates walk-in medical care centers. He also owns Continental Structural Plastics, North America's largest industrial composites molder. [...]

CPR opposes the broad outlines of President Obama's health-care plans, and has hired Creative Response Concepts, a public relations firm which previously worked with the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.

Isn't he the bee's knees? The cat's pajamas?

The liver worst?

Now he can add "racial profiler" to his resume. Congratulations, Ricky Lynn, you've topped yourself:


H/t: LynCKos for the title and for alerting me to Scott's tweet.

Sarah Palin Quote- "Domestic Drilling: Why We Can Still Believe"

By GottaLaff

Polluta McOil$lick has finally admitted she prays to the Oil Gods. She's a believer:

Her ghost writer's Facebook post includes the following:

...Todd, an Alaska Native and trained oil spill responder...

I'm not sure why that sentence struck me as odd, but it did.

Now for the nauseating parts:

We still believe in responsible development, which includes drilling to extract energy sources, because we know that there is an inherent link between energy and security, energy and prosperity, and energy and freedom.

I wonder how secure, energetic, and prosperous Louisiana, Mississippi, and other Gulf states feel now that they have decades of clean-up and regrowth after all that oily, deadly destruction.

We need oil, and if we don’t drill for it here, we have to purchase it from countries that not only do not like America and can use energy purchases as a weapon against us, but also do not have the oversight that America has.

We need clean energy, not finite, dwindling, minimal, insufficient amounts of filthy fossil fuels. And Polluta, you might want to rethink that part about "oversight". Had there been proper oversight, this catastrophe might have been avoided.

Actions will be taken to increase oversight to prevent future accidents.

Too late.

Government can and must play an appropriate role here.

Would that be the same Commie Marxist fascist government you think is too big and too intrusive? So you need them now, do you, Polluta?

It is inexcusable for any oil company to not invest in preventative measures. They must be held accountable or the public will forever distrust the industry.

Too late.

I repeat the slogan “drill here, drill now” not out of naiveté or disregard for the tragic consequences of oil spills [...] I continue to believe in it because increased domestic oil production will make us a more secure, prosperous, and peaceful nation.

It's hard to imagine the affected states feeling very secure, prosperous, or at peace right about now. But now we're just repeating ourselves, aren't we Polluta?

May spill responders be safe.

...and obsolete in the near future, when we start depending on wind and solar energy, not polluting, dirty, wasteful, expensive, intrusive energy sources.

Sorry, Polluta, but I'm not a believer.


UPDATE: I forgot to share these comments from the Facebook page (click to enlarge):

Tea Bagger mom readies her children for "Obamas tomorrow"... with guns

By GottaLaff

What a great mom:


There's nothing more patriotic than teaching your kids how to shoot a president. Or does "Obamas" mean his whole family? Maybe she was referring to future Obamas, meaning, what? Future black presidents?

Add her to the list of violent Tea Bagger gun crazies who hide behind the flag.

Child abuse isn't part of that "Family Values" thing, Mom. And IMHO, training your kids to use firearms specifically to ready them for "Obamas tomorrow" is child abuse. Be proud.

Mommy Dearest's profile (click on image to enlarge):


H/t: Dynamo_Diva

Tuh-weet! Palin lectures media on credibility

By GottaLaff

Who better than BaldFace McSpewLies to lecture the media on credibility:


The media expert has spoken. In fact, Half-Gov McHypocrite never stopped speaking, ever. Oh, except when the media asked her to, repeatedly, during Election 2008.

Hey LameScream McEthicless: Want 2 earn some credibility? U hammered the "lame stream" media 4 doing their job in '08, but ignored them when they revealed you to be a complete nitwit. Change that.

H/t: EmeraldKnight76

Fox tweets about President Obama's "accent" during eulogy for miners

By GottaLaff

ClusterFox just keeps topping itself in its efforts to remain the most tasteless, repulsive organization in the world:

"Lovely speech, but what's going on with President Obama's accent in this video?"

1. He's giving a eulogy. Way to honor the dead, ClusterFox.

2. Accent?

3. "Lovely" tweet, but what's going on with ClusterFox... period?

Click on image to enlarge:


H/t: ZenShadow

Coal Industry Front Group to Miner's Widow: "Everyone Wants Free Money!"

By GottaLaff

Marlene Griffith lost her husband, William Griffith, in the now infamous coal mine explosion in West Virginia. She is suing Massey Energy. The Griffiths were married nearly 33 years.

But before they could celebrate their anniversary, Massey's negligence created an unspeakably horrific nightmare that could have been prevented, one that Marlene will have to live and relive with forever.

Here is how Nathan Coffey responded. His Twitter page has since been deleted:


This would be the same Nathan Coffey who is the Public Affairs Coordinator of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). What's ALEC? Glad you asked, but you won't be:

ALEC, founded in 1973 by conservative activist Paul Weyrich, is a DC-based front group which helps state lawmakers craft corporate-friendly legislation. State-based schemes aimed at deregulation are often conceived and coordinated out of ALEC. It is funded by some of the biggest corporations in America, including Koch Industries, Wal-Mart, and AT&T, as well as by the coal industry.

Coffey was right about one thing. "Everyone" wants free money.

VIDEO: Robert Gibbs on tweeting

By GottaLaff

Robert Gibbs has certainly gotten the hang of tweeting. We in the Twitterverse retweet him a lot:

On CNN's Reliable Sources, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs discussed how he came to join the Twitter mania. Gibbs said its a "fascinating" medium, but he hasn't quite mastered it yet; “it takes an amazing amount of discipline to write out all of what you want to say in 140 characters or less.”

As for his "fast moving medium" comment, that doesn't even begin to say it. It's like IMing with 2000 people simultaneously. No wonder I'm so tired at the end of the day.

And now all those zippy messages are being archived.

Another Twitter threat to Obama, Secret Service takes note

By GottaLaff

My Twitter pal IanDavidB called the Secret Service on this guy and they listened. The Boston office forwarded it to "The Internet Threat Desk", taking a particular interest in this tweet:


I took a screen grab of his page, just in case (click on image to enlarge, but first take a swig of something strong):


As you know, I continue to air this horrific stuff out, because I feel that ignoring it is allowing the miscreants way too much wiggle room. By exposing them, it allows the Secret Service to nail a few of them, and it calls them out for what they are: Racists, bigots, terrorists.

The level of hatred is unacceptable. The boldness with which some of these animals bear their fangs is downright scary. Whether they do it solely for attention, or because they are committed to their brand of toxic prejudicial sludge, it's out there and needs to stop.

And I repeat my demand for those in positions of leadership to stand up to them and condemn them publicly, on a daily basis, until we see this violently ugly trend ebb.

As President Clinton acknowledges:

“[L]egitimate” comparisons can be drawn between today's grassroots anger and resentment toward the government and the right-wing extremism that bubbled up prior to the bombing of a federal building in Oklahoma City 15 years ago.

Tea Baggers, take note. You wouldn't want another Oklahoma City on your resumes.

Guess the Quote: "I follow Twitter for the Tea Party and just show up to f*** with them."

By GottaLaff

If you guessed Anthony Weiner, you would be right.

And he !Gasp! said a bad word... "Tea Party"*:

"I follow Twitter for the Tea Party and just show up to fuck with them."

-- Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY), quoted by the New York Observer. He then added, "No, I don't do that. I just sit at my desk and they send me talcum powder every couple of weeks."

See? He doesn't have to lift a finger to receive death threats. Not so much as a chirp.

*Yes, I know it's two words. Comedic license.

Library of Congress will acquire all Twitter messages

By GottaLaff

"The Library of Congress will acquire all public tweets", the Library of Congress publicly tweeted :

A Library spokesman later expounded on the new archive in a blog post, writing that its primary function will be to assist researchers and educators.

Well, if it's going to assist researchers...

This is a learning opportunity, said the Library spokesman, who failed to tweet his thoughts:

"I'm no Ph.D., but it boggles my mind to think what we might be able to learn about ourselves and the world around us from this wealth of data," wrote the spokesman, Matt Raymond. "And I'm certain we'll learn things that none of us now can possibly conceive."

Like teenagers filling us in on what they're about to eat? Like Jim Carrey splitting up with Jenny McCarthy?

Like Keith Olbermann yummily zapping Glenn Beck?




I guess there are some tweets that are educational.

Here comes the Big H. However:

The acquisition could pose concerns for privacy advocates, who could argue that too much private information will soon become part of the public domain.

If privacy becomes as optional as choosing to publicly tweet or Direct Message (a private, e-mailed tweet), Library, we have a problem.

Best E-mail in the Wo-o-orld!

By GottaLaff

Please indulge me. I'm having one final, brief adolescent fangirl moment. I promise this will be it:


Keith, if you see this... I swear I'm older than 12 and will resume maturity (relative term in my case) in 5...4...3...2...

VINTAGE VIDEO: Keith Olbermann March 14, 1989 ... with Tea Baggers?

By GottaLaff

When I did Nicole Sandler's radio show a couple of times, we were both so happy with how well we hit it off. But little did I know that she's even more evil than I am. Look what she ran across while searching for an old radio story...

Yes, it's a video of Keith Olbermann as a sportscaster on KCBS-TV in Los Angeles on March 14, 1989, and she fully intends to blackmail Keith with it.

Why? Hey, we all want him to follow us on Twitter. This is her diabolical plot to achieve that, bwahahahaa. The least I could do is help her out:



When Nicole produced the Mark and Brian radio show, she would hear Keith doing broadcasts like this one on KNX-AM at 4am. She liked his work then, she likes it even more now.

And hey kids! Look! An extra crispy bonus! Check out the segment on the video at about 3:08. Yes! Tea Baggers, way back then! And fully armed with guns and funny hats, just like today! The more things change...

Oh, but I kid the Boston... team.. whoever they were....

UPDATE:

Tea Party Leader: "So many spics makes me feel like a speck. Grrr. Wheres my gun!?”

By GottaLaff

Earlier I posted about the unspeakable racist, XXX rated contents of e-mails sent by a gubernatorial candidate in New York. Oops, I forgot one tiny detail. He's also a Tea Bagger.

That audible sputtering you hear comes courtesy of indignant Tea Tantrumers whose self-righteous denials have fallen flat. My new nickname for any and all of these fools: Elmer Thudd.

I posted the above story mere minutes ago. It only took that long for another one to come to my attention.

Amid all that protesty spittle flying around all those denials of having spat on Congress members and screaming slurs, carrying racist signs, and sneaking in nasty little coded words and phrases, we get yet another example of why they are laughably-- and cryably-- wrong.

Via a tweet posted on the Twitter page of the Springboro Tea Party:

“Illegals everywhere today! So many spics makes me feel like a speck. Grrr. Wheres my gun!?” said the March 21 posting on the site managed by the group’s founder, Sonny Thomas.

There now, wasn't that Christian of him?

The Twitter posting triggered cancellations by several local and statewide candidates and elected officials scheduled to speak at a Springboro Tea Party rally scheduled for Saturday, April 17, at North Park. However, some officials say this doesn’t tarnish the Tea Party movement as a whole.

Of course it doesn't. It's just one isolated incident. Sure, one of many. Add all those isolated incidents up and what do you get? Why, one might call it a very negative impression of "the Tea Party movement as a whole."

A very deep, dark whole.

H/t: Judi Powell

PhotOh! Keith Olbermann masters Twitter

By GottaLaff

No, this is not intended to be a suck-up-to-Keith Olbermann post, but it is a tribute.

And I admit it: I am Laffy and I am TwitterPated.

::Hi Laffy::

We all know Keith is a quick study, but he has mastered Twitter faster than Quitty McEarBleed can leave a governorship. No surprise there.

He interacts with fellow Tweeters (including yours truly, finally! See below), keeps us up on what he's up to, and is as charming as he can be.

Hence:

Why does any of this matter? I'll tell you why, and thank you for asking. Most well-known Tweeters don't respond to non-notables. Some do, but most don't. The warm reception Keith got was not only because he is a well-liked TV personality, but because he also treats people like people, not like less-thans.

One of the main gripes of the Twitterverse is that celebrities have thousands, even millions, of followers, but they follow back or reply to only a handful. Literally. It drives a lot of people away from them.

So this matters. It matters because he listens, and then he responds often enough that we know he is, in fact, really listening.

Kudos for that, Keith.

And because I feel like a giddy teen right now, I must put this out there to commemorate my moment of fangirlitude. Bygones:

Today's Best Person in the World.

Now then, enough of this adolescent swooning and back to my inane posting already in progress.

Jim Carrey, Jenny McCarthy reveal split on Twitter

By GottaLaff

Why is it that the publicly "We are SO in love" show biz couples that show up everywhere on the Tee Vee Machine together are the ones who end up divorced?

Oh wait. Most of them end up divorced:

"Jenny and I have just ended our (five-year) relationship," Carrey wrote. "I'm grateful (for) the many blessings we've shared and I wish her the very best!"

McCarthy, 37, was equally amicable, writing that she was grateful for their time together, and would "always keep Jim as a leading man in my heart."

"A leading man in my heart"? That statement alone would drive anyone away.

So who's next? Any guesses?

Laffy on the radio: The Nicole Sandler Show VIDEO- March 31, 2010

By GottaLaff



My segment starts at about the 30 minute mark.

Nicole Sandler is a pleasure to talk to. It's like a couple of pals gabbing our heads off, a sort of stream of consciousness.

Thank you, Nicole, for putting me at ease and making a half hour fly by!

Fox v. LL Cool J. Guess who won...

By GottaLaff

Yesterday I posted about ClusterFox's using LL Cool J to promote Barbie McLipSchmutz's new Fox show, including LL Cool J's protest tweet, here.

It said, , "Fox lifted an old interview I gave in 2008 to someone else & are misrepresenting to the public in order to promote Sarah Palin's Show. WOW."

Wow, indeed.

Two Twitter pals, StopBeck and QuitPalin were instrumental in alerting LL to what was going on, and for that we thank them. It's a genuine accomplishment when the Twitterverse can bring the truth out into the open by exposing deception.

Especially when the outcome is this positive. Via MSNBC:

However, Fox News has now removed the LL Cool J segment from the Thursday (April 1) special and issued a derisive statement to Media Bistro's TVNewser blog.

"Real American Stories features uplifting tales about overcoming adversity and we believe Mr. Smith's interview fit that criteria," a spokesperson tells TVNewser. "However, as it appears that Mr. Smith does not want to be associated with a program that could serve as an inspiration to others, we are cutting his interview from the special and wish him the best with his fledgling acting career."

Once again, ClusterFox lives down to their image.

To track LL's "fledgling" career, go to the MSNBC piece.

Tuh-WEET! LL Cool J: Fox "lifted old interview" to promo Palin's show

By GottaLaff

Wow is right!

LL Cool J sets us straight, and yes, he has a verified account on Twitter. Bust. Ed:


ClusterFox of the first order.

My original post about Fox's apparent lie is here.

Note: I corrected the title.

H/t: Imzadi44

Source: All DC police, fire radios down

By GottaLaff

Not sure what this is about, but it's creeping me out: