Enough, Part 1, The Trolling (Updated)

I've had enough of Mr. Tokarski.  It's time that the whole sorry and sad tale be wrote.

I started this blog 7 years ago.  As such, it is the oldest active blog running in consistent form in the state (with possible exception of Jeff's, if he would post more than twice a year.)   I don't write that as a statement of arrogant importance; but it is germane to what follows.  My 'blog-fathers' were my friend Jon, who started blogging 1998 in order to keep in touch with his people in distant locations, and my friends Craig and David.  Craig has gone silent, save for his humanitarian efforts, and David is now a corporate shill  (~wink~).

I've learned a great deal from each of them.  From Jon I learned more than I can express here, save that what happens online can have very real and wonderful consequence in your existence.  Hi Batgrl.  From David, I've learned to love where you're at and love what you say about where you're at.  Honesty is fun, online.  From Craig, I've learned one of the most important lessons.  Support your peeps, whether you agree with them or not.  The online community was onto something new and righteous, and they needed every ounce of support they could get.  In truth, I think I've done a pretty damned outstanding job of the latter.  I hosted the first and second Montana Weblog awards, sadly now defunct.  I hosted the first Montana blogger get-together in my back yard.   I've spoken about community at a gathering of one of Montana's best online communities hosted by one of Montana's best bloggers.  I tried to get a viable "drinking Liberally" community going here in Bozeman.  I've attended and supported meetings for online activism and it's expansion (Hi Jeff).  I've promoted Montana blogs at such sites as Metafilter and I've frequently linked Montana websites to nationally renowned websites like Daily Kos.  I think I've done my bit.

When it came to the Montana Weblog Awards 2007, I sent out an email to one who had claimed that I was fixing the results.  I had hoped that we might have something in common.  The response was less human than anticipated, and the weblog awards died.  I'm not blaming anyone else.  It was my decision.  I was tired of taking abuse from halfwits, and decided that enough is enough.  Should any get the wrong idea, no, it wasn't Mark Tokarski.  But still, a few things can be gleaned from this anecdote.  I do what I do because it's fun in the same manner that collecting stamps is fun, or collecting friends on Facebook is fun,  or just hanging discussing with others is fun.  When it becomes not fun, and personally abusive, it just isn't fun anymore.

Enter Mark Tokarski.  Mark waded into the Montana blog-o-tubes with a unique attitude, and was actually well received because of it.  Many, if not most of us, attempted to promote and display his offerings.  But, because the whole deal didn't become about him, and all about him, things went wrong.  It started slow, no doubts, but accelerated quickly.

Someone tried to get me fired.    I'm oh so certain that it was only coincidence that that very morning my website had an unbelievable number of hits relating to John Sinrud.   I was pissed off.  Very Pissed off, so I wrote a post about it.   To that post, I got this comment:

Your wit is as sharp as a butter knife.

Funny.  That comment came from the same IP address as Mark Tokarski used at the time.   I tried to be somewhat polite about it, considering that someone had just tried to get my ass fired.

"Monty", my response to you is posted within your comment in the thread above. If you have a question, state it. Quit with the shit.

Mark's response was this:

Touchy aren't we. Everyone else was drooling over your writing skills that I thought I would add my admiration as well.

And people actually question why I have a problem with Mark Totardski?  So I called him on his bullshit:

Mark T. (for Tokarski) is posting under the nom de plume of "Monty" from IP address 216.166.168.55.  I can only assume that he is doing so to get me to expose why I wrote a previous post without explanation for those who have no need to know.  He'd have been better off just emailing me to ask, but no.  He sought to stir shit up, by being contrary and rather rude.  I would expect that from Eric, or one of his pets, but not from a "friendly", as it were.

Mark's response, and this where it gets really funny, is that someone stole his IP address. 

Well, I've had an email exchange with Mr. Kailey, and from what he has shown me there, there was indeed a nasty email exchange between him and a person calling himself Monty and using a bogus email address, and using my IP address.

It was not me, but I have to say, the evidence is pretty damning. the IP address is mine. I look guilty as hell.

But I'm not.

Please, read all the comments to that thread.  You will see that Mark is arguing that his IP address was stolen and that he's arguing against 3 IT professionals who know better.  He even blamed Craig, an honorable man, of having done this nefarious deed.  No.  All 3 of us told Marktard that it didn't happen, and couldn't.  Of course, the ironically amusing part is this:

God this sucks. I can see why people are getting out of blogging. It's been taken over by trolls. I am not one of them.

Yes, he really is one of them.   Notice, Mark didn't get out of blogging.  He just decided to character assassinate anyone who knew the truth of his poor decisions, just as he attempted in that thread.  It would be nice, and kind, if these were the wost of Mark Tokardski's foibles.  But they aren't.  Kindly pay attention when part 2 comes.

Update:  I confess, after 4 years of dealing with Mark's condescending critiques of my blog and my person, I'm having a great time watching the liar dig himself in deeper.  His latest shovel full is that I fabricated the "monty" comments to "punk" him.  Why I would do such a thing to him will remain an eternal mystery.  Whoops ...

That right there is a screenshot of the typepad comment edit function.  Clicken to biggin.  Notice that I can alter comments, including email or poster.  But what I can't do is to change the IP address, or time and date in which a comment is left.  Now, it would be posible to morph one of Mark's other comments into this, given that the IP was definately his.  But you'd think Mark would have noticed that I done that.  No, his claim now and then isn't that I altered a comment he had left, but that he never left a comment at all.  And now he claims that I just made it up.  Sorry, Charlie.  But do try again, Mark.  Because I'm enjoying myself now.

Comments

[Eric Coobs]

My IP address is 174.45.229.100 - if you ever find a post from this IP address that doesn't have my name on it I'll buy you the biggest Prime Rib in Bozeman - or even in Manhattan at the Oasis -

I remember your 'Troll under the bridge post' - it's what motivated me to learn how to compare IP addresses off the Stat Counters visitors log, and compare the times to posts to figure out who was who. Very interesting.

I don't need tracking tools for 'old time' bloggers like yourself - I can recognize the writing of most of them.

[Wulfgar]

That's a good thing, Eric. And I expect you to buy me a big steak, regardless. You kinda owe me, bud.

[Moorcat]

Having witnessed the progression of Mark T into the madness that he promotes online now, I can't wait to see the second installment.

[Banned in Beantown]

Kailey, you can attack me here without allowing a response, and that's fine, as you are a total dick. I get that.

I went back and read the exchange back in 2006 when this event happened. Even now I am in wonderment, as I do not know how it happened. And for the record, even my son thinks I am guilty as you charge me, so I'm pretty much screwed. I get that.

But I didn't even know in 2006 what a total dick you were. I had no reason to say mean to you, as you were just some dude. The worst thing that came out of that was that I tried to figure out who would have the savvy to pull off such a stunt, and two perfectly innocent people were maligned, Craig and Shane. That was awful, and each was owed an apology and got it. But not you. I didn't do anything to you.

I know you now. You're a dick, arrogant, stupid, bloated, mouth-breathing, and presumptuous. It is the presumption that gets me worst, this idea that you've got things on the ball that others don't. All it allows you to do is miss things on a grand scale, and the worst part is that people like you never self-examine or reflect, as you badly need to do.

But I didn't know all of this about you in 2006. I thought you were a guy with some writing skills. My son thought you were top-shelf.

I don't understand what happened. When I do bad stuff, I get depressed, and the only way out of the depression is to fess up and make it better. I do bad stuff. I have done bad stuff. But I did not do that.

Dick.

[Banned in Beantown]

When all other possibilities are eliminated, the one that remains, no matter how unlikely, stands the best chance of being true.

I was not "Monty", and did not post those things.

I suppose it is possible to steal an IP address,but first you have to know that address. It's very geeky for another blogger, such as Harris, who had my IP to somehow insert it here as Monty.

But here's what's weird - who had the most control over this situation? Who could have known my IP, broadcast it, claim that I was a troll named "Monty", and four years later still be harping on it.

The Butler. Kailey, you are Monty. Aren't you. You son of a bitch.

[Wulfgar]

Just keep digging that hole there, buddy. Longer response coming later.

[JC]

Mark, I'm another IT professional. IP addresses cannot be stolen. They are unique. It is impossible to "spoof" an IP address. It is possible to mask the originating IP address, though (see TOR, i.e.).

That said, I'm not ruling on the veracity of either of you guys' claims. But I do know that if you are using a NAT router (like a wireless router hooked up to your cabe/dsl modem), that all computers that connect to it will share the same IP (which is assigned to the router).

SO for instance, if you have a wireless access point in your home that doesn't have a password (or your neighbor hacks the password) he can use your wireless as an internet access point, and by doing so he will share the IP of your router.

Not saying that's what happened. But an IP address cannot be stolen. When you interact with a server (like this blog's) your connection's IP address is recorded. There is no way to spoof a connecting IP address, or the whole system quits working. Literally.

[Wulfgar]

JC, Mark knows this now. He didn't know it at the time, and it's doubtful that he learned it from our explanations at the time. That's why he often resets his router anymore. That's why, for a while, he attempted to cast doubt, while leaving comments at my website under the name "Craig", with the link being MT Politics. Or his comments as Gregg S.

However, Mark now knows that others are not as ignorant as he was then. That's why, after his initial outrage of his first comment in this thread, he had to comment again, and recognize that there are people like you who know his 'theft' claim is full of feces. So he ran home to mommy and accused me of faking the whole thing. Funny, I verified his IP not from a comment, but from an email trace, and confirmed my suspicions with two other Montana bloggers (one of whom is your blog-father.) The rest i will deal with in my response to Mark.

Tokarski has been successful this much though. He's got folks wondering how an IP address could be stolen. Yet next to no one is willing to ask the questions: why was that guy trolling a 'friendly', and what kind of person would do that?

[Steve]

Egocentric sociopath comes quickly to mind.

[Craig Moore]

I believe Mark will keep digging until he is pooped out of the other side of the earth.

[Wulfgar]

Mark, I hear tell that cockroaches don't like the light very much either. What you call "attacking", I call "exposing". You called for the tune, and I'm so happy that you're willing to dance. This started because I'm not willing to pay the piper for you.

I'm so thrilled that you finally got yourself one of those Logic 101 pamphlets you keep saying that I use. It might do you better service to read past the introduction. Still

When all other possibilities are eliminated, the one that remains, no matter how unlikely, stands the best chance of being true.

Actually, if all other possibilities are eliminated, whatever remains, given a single possibility, must be true. So, lets work with that, shall we?

Possibility one is your claim that someone stole/spoofed your IP address. As we attempted to explain before, and JC ably did again, two computers cannot use the same IP address at the same time in Internet communication. It breaks things. I won't belabor it any more. Even you seem to have accepted this, given your wild accusation above. This possibility is truly put to rest.

So, the comments came from your computer, which leads to the second possibility. I thought this at the time, and said nothing, and I'm certain that I'm not the only one. I didn't bring it up, nor did anyone else, because we weren't just trying to be polite to you at the time. Though you missed it completely, we were also trying to be nice to you. My mistake, of course, one I don't intend to repeat. The second possibility is that someone other than you posted those comments from your computer. Given your living arrangements at the time, that's a rather unsavory possibility. However, if your spouse is poncing over the InterWebs on your machine making comments that reflect poorly on you, then I suggest to you, once again, Mark, that you have a much bigger problem than a web spat with me.

Regardless, this possibility is very unlikely. Given your arrogant and condescending displays over the last several years, I defy anyone to read those 'Monty' comments and not recognize immediately the prose and snobbery of Mark Tokarski. Here's a bit of pseudo-logic for you: If it walks like a duck, squawks like duck and acts like a duck, it prolly is a duck.

Possibility number 3 is this:

Kailey, you are Monty. Aren't you. You son of a bitch.

Now that makes no damned sense, does it? Why, under those circumstances, would I troll my own website? Why would I do so by insulting my own writing ability? Why would I then accuse you of having done what "I" just did? Wouldn't I have attacked Eric, or someone I didn't call a friendly? That's just gobbledygook. That's one of the weirdest applications of the Chewbacca defense I've ever witnessed in my life.

So, P1 goes down hard, P2 goes down soft, P3 goes down hard, drawn as it is only from your paranoid idiocy. That leaves possibility number 4. That it really was you, and you're just flailing your ass off to deflect criticism and disdain. There was this guy by the name of Occam, and he had hisself a razor ...

Now you can call me every name in the book for all I care. We'll get to your little problem with psychological projection a bit later. But here's an appetizer for you; you have smugly accused me of attack against your august personage because you know who I *really* am and what I'm *really* like; and I simply can't abide you having that knowledge, quaint peasant as I am. No, Tokarski. I know you because you've given me ample evidence of your 'fog of ego' (damn how I wish I'd have grabbed a screenshot of that before you cowardly pulled it, but even I still underestimate how craven you truly are.) That's why I started this series, Mark. Most everyone is beyond tired of your bullshit. But none have had to put up with as much personal crap as you've hurled at me. You claim I do the same to you, and that's really what you want all others to believe. The evidence is on my side Mark. I hold the light, and you're the skittering filth eater. I intend to present that, using your words, in all it's ugly glory.

And don't forget, Mark, I warned you. This post was written months ago. I just wanted to see if you'd lose the arrogance. Sadly I knew better. Still, you were warned.

[Wulfgar]

Holy crap. I did it again. I was nicer to Mark than I intended to be, because I didn't once use the appropriate word. It's like some kind of socialist disease I suffer from. Crap. Well here it is:

Mark, you are lying. You are a liar. That is what you are all about, lying as in, you are a liar.

I hate it when I fail to double tap ...

[Steve]

I had said it before that Mark is a liar. Don't expect him to show up for awhile.

A nice side bonus.

[Banned in Beantown]

Here's what I know, Kailey. I did not write those posts. If JC is right, and I assume he is, then no one else could have stolen my IP. That leaves one possibility. You.

But it's weird. I didn't know what a total dick you were then. I was kind of new to the game. Like and dislike I understand, but to go after me as you did ... you hit hard and furious. You must have sensed something.

Anyway, you did it. If you hadn't, you would have long forgotten. But you keep bringing it up. You are some serious mental shit going on. Most of us on the blogs have strong personalities, and quite a few are off-kilter. That impression that I had of you that day when we met as a group in the coffee shop - self-important, overbearing, even a bit grandiose ... I should know to trust my instincts.

Dick. You and I know what happened. I judge you.

[Wulfgar]

And I'll certainly afford your judgment it's due weight, liar.

[david]

OK...now ASIDE from all of the mud being thrown above, I just want to say: Thank You, Wulfgar. You were truly one of the Founding Fathers of the Montana Blogosphere, and your hospitality and linkiness are remembered fondly.

Like you, I sorta miss the early, simpler days. When we were a smaller, tighter bunch.

But it's still good. We've moved on and "integrated" our blogging into our lives, even as the online line world has slowly morphed closer to the real world.

Tip o' the hat to you, Rob. Thanks for everything you've done to get us where we are today.

[david]

And hey: Corporate Shill & Proud Of It, Baby! Finally, I figured out how to make blogging pay!

[Banned in Beantown]

Kind of interesting that you have, so far as I know, never put up anything introspective. That is telling - you have opinions on everything, but don't self-examine.