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John Byrne
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Grumpy Old Guy

Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 132129
Posted: 09 June 2019 at 11:58am | IP Logged | 1  

I’ve pointed out from time to time that the reason I sometimes get “in trouble” is that I always use my real name when posting opinions.
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Tim O Neill
Byrne Robotics Security


Joined: 16 April 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 10918
Posted: 09 June 2019 at 2:49pm | IP Logged | 2  


That Twitter feed is helmed by someone who is filled with a lot of anger and resentment.  The cover image is a horrible caricature mocking JB and the comments are a stream of cruel abuse.  I think there is something really off about someone who attacks an artist on such a personal level to begin with, but that's part of art and certainly a part of social media.  But to do so ON A DAILY BASIS is clearly a psychologically damaged person.  He treats JB as if he is a corporation or a political official, holding him to an imaginary standard he created as a child and is unwilling to let go.  

He's holding JB accountable for.. what?  Why?  He seems to want to hurt JB the way JB has hurt him, but what on earth does he imagine has been done to him?  What deserves daily abuse?

Not only are JB's comments taken out of context, but he even speculates how JB will react in situations.  He takes offhand comments from JB's personal life and drags them through the mud.  It's cruel harassment that is well beyond what someone would do if they were using their real name.  He's weirdly proud of getting followers - claiming some kind of credit for the way he exploits JB's work through his twisted perspective.

Celebrity is an odd beast, and it brings out some weird behavior. This evokes the darkest part of the internet - he gets intensely personal and cruel.  When I read his feed, I am reminded of the troll from this piece from "This American Life," an extraordinary segment from writer Lindy West.  It's a segment called "Ask Not for Whom the Bell Trolls, It Trolls for Thee" - subject and language are a bit harsh, so not for all ears:




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Brennan Voboril
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Joined: 15 January 2011
Posts: 1731
Posted: 09 June 2019 at 3:09pm | IP Logged | 3  

You hit the nail on the head Tim re: the anger, resentment and psychological damage.  Reading that feed is like reading a cry for help.  It also is a bit scary, given that this person is so obsessed that they've spent nearly a decade of their life trolling Byrne daily.  
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John Byrne
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Grumpy Old Guy

Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 132129
Posted: 09 June 2019 at 3:57pm | IP Logged | 4  

Sadly, it’s really Tim!
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Rebecca Jansen
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Joined: 12 February 2018
Location: Canada
Posts: 4407
Posted: 09 June 2019 at 4:25pm | IP Logged | 5  

Attention like you see on twitter from masked commentators is probably something that would keep a lot of people away from wanting to work in or on comics.

I always blow the gaff on my IDs for some reason which are usually extremely easy to suss out... rebejan or beccabear usually. I did get rather annoyed when an online music review I wrote under my real name Rebecca Jansen turned up on a site that was sharing downloads of entire albums and CDs without bothering to ask permission, and one of the artists saw my name and I'm afraid they think now I had something to do with that! :^(

So guess who doesn't review music anymore? I'm sure the person behind that site is a true music fan/fanatic though, thanks so much 'anonymous' for a '60s group selling that many fewer copies of their fairly priced one and only CD collection of rare music, which music fans used to complain about how hard it was to find at any price!

By their fruits you shall know them, and a lot of supposed super fans have had very negative effects I'm sorry to say. That kind of scrutiny for such a mostly modest artform and craft went from Gary Groth and friends to a lot of others who seem not to create something positive as much as they are mere appendages to the names of those who have.


Edited by Rebecca Jansen on 09 June 2019 at 4:26pm
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Tim O Neill
Byrne Robotics Security


Joined: 16 April 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 10918
Posted: 09 June 2019 at 6:01pm | IP Logged | 6  



JB:  "Sadly, it’s really Tim!"

****

Ha!  My cover is blown!!


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John Byrne
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Grumpy Old Guy

Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 132129
Posted: 09 June 2019 at 6:47pm | IP Logged | 7  

Humor aside, a former girlfriend who was also a reader of comics opined once upon a time that much of the hostility directed my way comes from fans who took my departure from UNCANNY X-MEN as a personal slight.
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Matt Hawes
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Joined: 16 April 2004
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Posted: 09 June 2019 at 10:46pm | IP Logged | 8  

 John Byrne wrote:
...much of the hostility directed my way comes from fans who took my departure from UNCANNY X-MEN as a personal slight...

It goes further than even that, I think. That may have been a beginning, but of course a good number of these haters first came across your later works, when they started out as fans.

That's the thing, too... Most every one of these people started out as a fan of your work. That is, it's not like the kind of person who hates an artist because he does not derive enjoyment from that artists' work. Rather, they started out as fans and then usually something you said, wrote, or done they perceive as some sort of slight against them. I call what these sort of detractors have the "spurned lover effect." They love someone so much at first, but then something happens that they feel rejected, spurned, and they then take that passion and rechannel it into a hatred to take you down. I've witnessed this sort of thing on the board through the years, in fact.

This kind of person can be your self-proclaimed biggest fan. Many might even think of this kind of person as sycophantic, the way s/he acts at times. But suddenly, one day the person posts some sort of opinion about something, and you respond in disagreement with their view. They seemingly can't handle you thinking differently, and get testy about it. You hold your position and shoot back if they get snarky. In that instance, that person's "love" for you becomes hatred. Only, the kind of person this is, s/he can't simply agree to disagree and move on, no they now focus that passion into attempting to bring you down... to make you sorry, for what you did (in their own mind) to them.

Yep, I've seen this quite a bit in the past. Many of these kind of people join together in something like a Superman Revenge Squad creating secret forums bent on tearing into and tearing down all things Byrne. It's the sort of psychotic fan that Stephen King wrote about in "Misery." Most normal people, if they suddenly decided they no longer cared for an artist or creator based on some difference of opinion would likely just shrug and walk away. The demented "spurned lover" has to bring down the former object of his or her affection. The author or writer must be made to pay!

Scary and pathetic all at once.

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Koroush Ghazi
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Joined: 25 October 2009
Location: Australia
Posts: 1640
Posted: 09 June 2019 at 10:57pm | IP Logged | 9  

So I read the latest whine on that John Byrne Says twitter feed - the one where he asks if he's stupid (Bugs Bunny has the answer) - and I got annoyed enough to create a Twitter account and report the profile. If you have a twitter account, I'd encourage you to also report him for impersonation. Despite his feeble attempts at saying he's not JB, he's not indicating/delineating clearly John Byrne quotes vs. his own text, and often not referencing sources properly. There are also clear violations of DMCA (copyright) that do not fall under fair use (i.e., not parody, and not genuine critiques), but I can't report those, only the copyright owner (JB and/or Marvel/DC) can report them.

The guy has the balls to suggest that he's providing some sort of public service. I started writing professionally on the Internet in 2001, and I wasted many hours in the first few years chasing numpties like this guy for stealing my content and drawing traffic away from my site. Here's an amusing example from 2006 where a content thief creates a thread feigning unwitting innocence until I confront him, then his excuses and apologies reveal his lies.

The logic is simple: if you didn't create the content, you don't get to use it unless you are writing a valid critique, or a legitimate attempt at parody. Just because a creator doesn't provide their content in the form you desire, that doesn't mean you have the moral or legal right to distribute it as you see fit.

Sorry, got triggered again by someone who clearly didn't pass their Internet Content 101 course. The same person who thinks running a misleading celebrity gossip type twitter feed makes him a candidate for the Pulitzer.
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Richard White
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Joined: 28 August 2009
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 1058
Posted: 10 June 2019 at 6:46am | IP Logged | 10  

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Richard Stevens
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Joined: 04 May 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 1925
Posted: 10 June 2019 at 7:09am | IP Logged | 11  

Reporting feels good. Good call, Koroush. I have a very old verified account, perhaps it will weight it a bit.
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John Byrne
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Grumpy Old Guy

Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 132129
Posted: 10 June 2019 at 7:15am | IP Logged | 12  

Watch as I come out the bad guy in this!
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