UBob must be prevented from harassing members and moderators
"Robert Lazar" whom we have dubbed "UBob" has a long history on these forums of:
Because of UBob's vandalism and sabotage of these forums, as well as his slander and harassment of PIA customers, PIA banned porn and amended their forum rules, and subsequently the forum TOS, much to UBob's chagrin. The only reason these rules had to be imposed is because of UBob's daily abuses, harassment and sabotage of these forums.
Though UBob can no longer get away with posting porn and other obscene and offensive images, he continues to cross the line, testing the limits of the TOS with obnoxious, offensive and juvenile posts such as "Who passes more gas, men or women?", "Can we have a discussion about rectums?", etc. When challenged he spins it as "legitimate medical discussion."
No one wants it here, or hardly anything at all the UBob contributes, which is the very reason why UBob continues posting such things. It is meant to be offensive because UBob clearly derives pleasure from offending people. He also derives pleasure from getting to play the victim, which is what he does when his posts get closed or deleted and his sock puppet accounts get banned. He'll come right back under another sock puppet account and demand, "Hey mods, how come you deleted my ______ post? It didn't violate the TOS." UBob is like the petulant child we've so often seen at the grocery store with his mom,
"Mom, I want these cookies."
"No, UBob, we have plenty of those cookies at home already."
"But I want these cookies."
"No, UBob, those are the same brand of cookies we already have. I'm not buying more right now."
"But I want these cookies."
"No, UBob."
"But why not mommie?"
"I just explained it to you."
"But why, mommie? Why can't I have them?"
And then he proceeds to lay down in the middle of the store isle, screaming at the top of his lungs, "WHY WON'T YOU GIVE ME THE COOKIES! I KNOW YOU HATE ME!", embarrassing and humiliating his mother who finally caves in. UBob's pattern of behavior in these forums is precisely the same as that spoiled brat child.
His conduct has been one of harassment of the forum members, and when the moderators take action against him, at the behest of forum members, UBob turns on the mods to demand that he get his way and harass them too. In short, UBob is the resident child-vandal of these forums and more needs to be done by the moderators to put a stop to it.
Because of UBob's capacity for creating hundreds of sock puppets, the moderators are left in a less than certain position, at least under the current TOS. The TOS is deficient and needs to be further amended to prohibit the use of sock puppets, at least unless the forum member has the prior authorization of a moderator.
There is no legitimate purpose for a forum member to create dozens of sock puppets. Anyone who creates dozens of sock puppets is, on the face of it, up to no good. Sock puppets are most commonly created for astroturfing, spamming, social engineering, harassment, sabotage, or to circumvent being banned. None of those things should be acceptable or tolerated on this forum. Nor is such conduct ever tolerated on any other forums anywhere on the internet, with the possible exception of a handful of places like 4chan.
I and other members here have urged UBob to join 4chan and depart from us. He refuses to go, and it would seem that PIA's moderators have been so cowed and intimidated by man-child UBob that they lack the courage now to do more than they already have done. This isn't to say there is no evidence of things heading in the right direction. As of late it appears the mods have taken a more proactive stance in banning UBob sock puppets, closing threads that harass the mods or are redundant, and even deleting some threads outright. While I and others are grateful to the mods for doing what they have done so far, it's clear that more needs to be done. The issue of UBob creating new sock puppets at will to taunt forum members and the mods, and to circumvent being banned, needs to be dealt with aggressively.
Some recommendations, going forward, to the moderators:
The forum TOS should be promptly amended to include the following language:
The creation of multiple forum accounts by any individual is prohibited unless prior authorization has been obtained by a moderator. Any suspect accounts are subject to immediate banning without prior warning at the sole discretion of the moderators.
The creation of a forum account which uses a name that is similarly deceptive to the name of any business, or another person's real name, or the username of another forum member, is prohibited unless prior authorization is obtained by a moderator.
Any UBob comments posted from this point forward should be immediately deleted the moment they
appear, and the sock puppet that posted it should banned. Such action is already supported in the forum TOS where it states:
We reserve the right to remove any content for any reason whatsoever or no reason at all. We reserve the right to terminate any membership at these forums for any reason whatsoever or no reason at all.
UBob sock puppet accounts are so obvious that they require no hesitation in being banned. However, should the mods require or desire confirmation, they are free to contact me, OmniNegro, and perhaps a couple others who may wish to volunteer for UBob sock puppet confirmation duty. We have consistently, and with 100% accuracy, spotted each and every instance of a UBob sock puppet, so our word on the matter is trustworthy.
Deleting UBob comments and deletion of his sock puppets should be especially prompt of those posts that include any playing the victim verbage or taunting the mods e.g.: "Why did the mods delete my last post? It didn't violate the TOS." "Why was my last post deleted since all I did was ask a medical question?" "If the mods delete this post we'll all know they don't support free speech", etc. Such posts are self-evidently UBob posts made only so he can play the victim, so no confirmation of any kind is necessary.
Could there be exceptions to the deletion of a future UBob post? Yes, and one example might be where he posts another link to a Reddit thread, etc., as those can be instructive and informative. However the mods should edit the titles and content of such posts to remove any slanderous allegations that he makes against competitors.
Comments and suggestions from other forum members are welcome here, especially those which may benefit the moderators. Comments from UBob are not welcome.
This thread is not intended as a place for UBob to engage in further argument, self-justification, or playing the victim. He's already done that hundreds of times before, so he's already had his say and everyone already knows his opinions in these matters. His input is, therefore, not only unnecessary but unwanted. Therefore I would request that the mods immediately delete any and all comments posted here by UBob so as to prevent him from derailing this thread as he has derailed hundreds of prior threads. That includes a prior thread I created on this very issue. UBob immediately jumped on that thread and derailed it, which obligated a mod to close it. I would ask that not be permitted yet once again. Please give other members of these forums an opportunity of providing their input without it being sabotaged by UBob.
- Vandalism, harassment and sabotage
- Posting gay porn
- Graphic and perverse descriptions of gay sex acts
- Posting of sexually obscene and indecent images
- Posting of offensive images, such as used tampons
- Posting racially offensive comments and images
- Creating dozens of sock puppet accounts
- Mocking and taunting the mods
- Boasting that the mods could never stop him, regardless of how often he gets banned
- Boasting that he would never cease creating sock puppets
- Boasting that he has 550 fake email accounts already set up through which he could create an endless string of sock puppets
- Creating deceptively similar names to other forum members to taunt and mock them and cause confusion and potential legal liabilities for PIA
- Creating sock puppet accounts in the names of competitor companies and their owners, e.g. LiquidVPN, David_Cox, VikingVPN, DerekZimmer, etc.
- Stalking competitors of PIA
- Outing the names and posting photos of the wives, girl friends, and parents of competitors while making hateful and libelous comments about them
- Encouraging DDOS attacks against competitors
- Fabricating lies and slander against forum members
- PIA customers who have posted legitimate complaints about PIA's service have been routinely harassed and slandered by UBob and told, "You're a liar and you were sent here by a competitor to PIA."
- Claiming that he knew their real IPs and that he could hack their computers, thereby undermining the confidence of PIA customers that they were protected
- Fabricating lies and slander against competitor companies to PIA
- Refusing to conform and comply with the TOS
- Demanding explanations from the mods every time they enforce the TOS
Because of UBob's vandalism and sabotage of these forums, as well as his slander and harassment of PIA customers, PIA banned porn and amended their forum rules, and subsequently the forum TOS, much to UBob's chagrin. The only reason these rules had to be imposed is because of UBob's daily abuses, harassment and sabotage of these forums.
Though UBob can no longer get away with posting porn and other obscene and offensive images, he continues to cross the line, testing the limits of the TOS with obnoxious, offensive and juvenile posts such as "Who passes more gas, men or women?", "Can we have a discussion about rectums?", etc. When challenged he spins it as "legitimate medical discussion."
No one wants it here, or hardly anything at all the UBob contributes, which is the very reason why UBob continues posting such things. It is meant to be offensive because UBob clearly derives pleasure from offending people. He also derives pleasure from getting to play the victim, which is what he does when his posts get closed or deleted and his sock puppet accounts get banned. He'll come right back under another sock puppet account and demand, "Hey mods, how come you deleted my ______ post? It didn't violate the TOS." UBob is like the petulant child we've so often seen at the grocery store with his mom,
"Mom, I want these cookies."
"No, UBob, we have plenty of those cookies at home already."
"But I want these cookies."
"No, UBob, those are the same brand of cookies we already have. I'm not buying more right now."
"But I want these cookies."
"No, UBob."
"But why not mommie?"
"I just explained it to you."
"But why, mommie? Why can't I have them?"
And then he proceeds to lay down in the middle of the store isle, screaming at the top of his lungs, "WHY WON'T YOU GIVE ME THE COOKIES! I KNOW YOU HATE ME!", embarrassing and humiliating his mother who finally caves in. UBob's pattern of behavior in these forums is precisely the same as that spoiled brat child.
His conduct has been one of harassment of the forum members, and when the moderators take action against him, at the behest of forum members, UBob turns on the mods to demand that he get his way and harass them too. In short, UBob is the resident child-vandal of these forums and more needs to be done by the moderators to put a stop to it.
Because of UBob's capacity for creating hundreds of sock puppets, the moderators are left in a less than certain position, at least under the current TOS. The TOS is deficient and needs to be further amended to prohibit the use of sock puppets, at least unless the forum member has the prior authorization of a moderator.
There is no legitimate purpose for a forum member to create dozens of sock puppets. Anyone who creates dozens of sock puppets is, on the face of it, up to no good. Sock puppets are most commonly created for astroturfing, spamming, social engineering, harassment, sabotage, or to circumvent being banned. None of those things should be acceptable or tolerated on this forum. Nor is such conduct ever tolerated on any other forums anywhere on the internet, with the possible exception of a handful of places like 4chan.
I and other members here have urged UBob to join 4chan and depart from us. He refuses to go, and it would seem that PIA's moderators have been so cowed and intimidated by man-child UBob that they lack the courage now to do more than they already have done. This isn't to say there is no evidence of things heading in the right direction. As of late it appears the mods have taken a more proactive stance in banning UBob sock puppets, closing threads that harass the mods or are redundant, and even deleting some threads outright. While I and others are grateful to the mods for doing what they have done so far, it's clear that more needs to be done. The issue of UBob creating new sock puppets at will to taunt forum members and the mods, and to circumvent being banned, needs to be dealt with aggressively.
Some recommendations, going forward, to the moderators:
The forum TOS should be promptly amended to include the following language:
The creation of multiple forum accounts by any individual is prohibited unless prior authorization has been obtained by a moderator. Any suspect accounts are subject to immediate banning without prior warning at the sole discretion of the moderators.
The creation of a forum account which uses a name that is similarly deceptive to the name of any business, or another person's real name, or the username of another forum member, is prohibited unless prior authorization is obtained by a moderator.
We reserve the right to remove any content for any reason whatsoever or no reason at all. We reserve the right to terminate any membership at these forums for any reason whatsoever or no reason at all.
UBob sock puppet accounts are so obvious that they require no hesitation in being banned. However, should the mods require or desire confirmation, they are free to contact me, OmniNegro, and perhaps a couple others who may wish to volunteer for UBob sock puppet confirmation duty. We have consistently, and with 100% accuracy, spotted each and every instance of a UBob sock puppet, so our word on the matter is trustworthy.
Deleting UBob comments and deletion of his sock puppets should be especially prompt of those posts that include any playing the victim verbage or taunting the mods e.g.: "Why did the mods delete my last post? It didn't violate the TOS." "Why was my last post deleted since all I did was ask a medical question?" "If the mods delete this post we'll all know they don't support free speech", etc. Such posts are self-evidently UBob posts made only so he can play the victim, so no confirmation of any kind is necessary.
Could there be exceptions to the deletion of a future UBob post? Yes, and one example might be where he posts another link to a Reddit thread, etc., as those can be instructive and informative. However the mods should edit the titles and content of such posts to remove any slanderous allegations that he makes against competitors.
Comments and suggestions from other forum members are welcome here, especially those which may benefit the moderators. Comments from UBob are not welcome.
This thread is not intended as a place for UBob to engage in further argument, self-justification, or playing the victim. He's already done that hundreds of times before, so he's already had his say and everyone already knows his opinions in these matters. His input is, therefore, not only unnecessary but unwanted. Therefore I would request that the mods immediately delete any and all comments posted here by UBob so as to prevent him from derailing this thread as he has derailed hundreds of prior threads. That includes a prior thread I created on this very issue. UBob immediately jumped on that thread and derailed it, which obligated a mod to close it. I would ask that not be permitted yet once again. Please give other members of these forums an opportunity of providing their input without it being sabotaged by UBob.
Comments
Those of you unfortunates who have had direct contact here with the parasite we call UBob are to be pitied.
UBob, we are united against you. You will not destroy these forums. Every post you make is a troll at best, and everyone knows it. Move on to somewhere like 4chan and leave us alone here.
Why hello new UBob account. Nice to see you reveal yourself so you can be banned.
No-one is "caving to any ones demands, certainly not yours.
I looked up what a sock puppet is. Basically a multi account there to support/replace an existing account, often but not always created by the same owner of that account.
So, how can sock accounts be stopped and how feasible is it relative to the effort it takes?
1) Blacklisting known bad based on personal data. E.g. date of birth, email address, name.
The problem is these can easily be faked.
2) Blacklisting known bad IP addresses.
Also easily faked but only takes one slipup from the account for it to be recognised.
3) Writing style software.
Apparently we all have a unique writing style that identifies us. I'm not sure how this could be inserted into the forum software but I bet you could find the code open source.
4) Credit card identification.
Problem is people are nervous giving this information unless they are buying something. Has the advantage of ensuring a minimum 18 year old person (within reason).
5) Finger print recognition.
Already used on laptops. Known, even old solution in software evolution terms. Problem is how many people have a finger print scanner? Some devices have them built in, e.g. the Samsung S6, but we're still some way off it being on almost every device.
But worth thinking about for the near future. Even if the person has a desktop PC you can still confirm identity via a mobile. Banks do it. So does eBay, Paypal, Amazon, even my local council etc.
Imagine ubob wants to create a new sock account but to do this needs to get a new simcard. That would be a hassle and put people like that off.
Maybe it's a mixture off all of the above so it increases the chance someone will make a mistake.
Relying on mods is laborious and often counterproductive. A mod is a human being with a life with much better things to do than just police a few people that want to spoil it for others. If a software solution could be introduced then they would be under less stress and could maybe ease up on the TOS a little.
My 2 cents, and hello again
Low tech, no fingerprint scanner needed. Relatively simple by comparison. Worth the effort? I think so. Might take months to get it working but doesn't effect running of current forum. Once it's up and running would save hours of hassle. Time is money and life is precious.
I don't doubt it would be cumbersome for PIA in the short term but as a programmer I believe the user's needs define what is a reasonable software solution.
I guess what I'm saying is moot if the mods are on top of it, but as a user I'd rather waste a few seconds typing in a code from a registration text than spend days reading unpleasant infighting.
I feel for the mods either way. They have a hard job and kudos to their efforts.
It is cumbersome for both the users and the mods. The privacy policy of PIA would certainly get in the way of any of these solutions. They can amend the policy, but downgrading their privacy policy for one troll would cost them more than the troll could manage.
And just to be clear, you mention sending a code to a device, probably a mobile phone. (Since you said it would be identified by a number.) What about those of us like myself who have never had a mobile phone, and are unwilling to buy one?
I really do have good reasons for not getting a mobile phone, and can explain them if you want to hear it.
I live on Social Security Disability. They pay very little. (I make around 10K every year.) And where I live in Texas, the cheapest mobile phone costs $50-75 USD every month even if I were never to use it. So instead of that I opted for a VoIP device that cost me $60 and VoIP service that costs me an average of $3 USD per month. And no, that is not a typo. I pay three whole dollars on the average month for having a phone number and the ability to call anywhere in the USA for 1 cent per minute.
Secondly, a mobile phone usually comes with a proprietary OS that does not allow you to even know how much eavesdropping it does. Do you actually know that your microphone is not recording everything you do all the time? I would not. And I know enough about keystroke logging by sound to know that having a microphone that might be on all the time means every password I type could be deciphered by measuring the time between the clicks of key-presses.
For instance, on a QWERTY keyboard, typing "Potato" means the Capital p followed by the o that is right next to it and on most keyboards. And the Shift key makes a barely audible sound when depressed. So from the very first letter the program would know that it was a capital letter or a symbol. From there it gets easier to figure out what word it could be because the more letters you type, the less words fit the pattern.
I hope I am just paranoid. But by definition it is only paranoia if it can actually be proven that no-one is out to get you. I recall you mentioned your PC is not connected via any networking device. I would not call that paranoid. I would instead say you had the right idea for yourself.
Rule: 1)
If I'm not happy for the world to see it I don't put it on a computer (or even write it on paper). It stays in my head and I hope I don't talk in my sleep lol.
Rule: 2)
Every time I use a password it is based on a set of unconventional made-up words that only I know. Every site I use a different password and they are never spoken or written down, simply memorised.
Rule: 3)
I never break the law unless I am prepared to go to jail. Cause I am not prepared to do that it keeps me in check.
Rule: 4)
I don't consider anything to be truely mine. No materialism allowed. Because attatchment to objects leads to pain when they are lost, which they are absolutely guaranteed to be. Even my own life which I cherish very dearly does not truely belong to me. So I try to enjoy it while I got it but know one day I gotta give it back.
That's it I think as far as security goes. Might seem a little deep but I apply these principles to everything I have from my children to the games and books I write. If you're going to believe in stuff you might as well live it, right? Otherwise how can you know if it works for you or not?
But my memory is far from perfect, so I have to keep my passwords on my PC. I do so in a hand made encryption method that I will not share since once I do, it would be countered in no-time at all. I would in the example take "Potato" and invert the case of it, and then switch out the most common letters and numbers for the least common symbols the program or service the password was for accepts. For instance, I memorized the ALT-Codes for a number of High-ASCII symbols like ∞ and €. Sadly most sites and services do not accept the infinity symbol, but a surprising number do accept the Euro symbol.
Remember that every time you add one single additional possible character in the password, you double the number of possible combinations. So if you had for instance the word "Potato" and changed it to "pOTATO∞€" then by adding just two bytes, you have quadrupled the number of attempts that would have to be made to defeat the passphrase by brute force, not to mention defeating almost all dictionary attacks by merely inverting the case of the word.
E.g. say someone steals my bank details. I check them regularly. They're automatically covered up to £60,000 loss (or some amount I will never own). So if someone wants to rob me, no big deal. I've pretty much got nothing so nothing to lose and easy to start again.
That doesn't mean I'm blasé but if it happens it might be annoying but I'll still be alive.
Personally I think that not worrying about stuff is one of the keys to a longer life. And I'm allergic to hassle