Don't worry about it, you are NOT responsible for the way they act, OK?

When I started college, I had an American roommate who'd always been a straight 'A' student, and got genuinely worried when he only got a C+ for his first term paper.

I had to explain to him that the Irish system was very different from what he was used to. 'C' meant 'very good', 'B' meant exceptionally good, and 'A' ... well, they didn't really hand out A's very often. Much later, I got one for a Master's thesis, which was the first time in ten years anyone had achieved this feat.

So I'll just assume you deserve a B or C under the Irish system, OK?

This was why I created my system ...

four principles in each phase of the game, plus a seven-point checklist. [It helps me a lot, when I use it religiously, I rarely ever blunder. The only times I get into trouble are usually:

A.) I go into a "deep think" and get into desperate time trouble. In quick games, this is the equivalent of suicide.

Seriously, a system would be good. I dream of a 1-in-30 blunder rate. It's more like 1 or 2 per 6-round tournament at the moment.

Wait, I take that back. Horses are noble creatures.

<KKderek> Thanks. It's not quite 7pm in his timezone (and mine), so if he's back from the pub now ...

I thought CG had his usual IP address nailed. He must be logging on from internet cafes, or whatever. Just to attack me.

suffer them now, and they'll o'ergrow the garden."

I wonder who he'd support in the all-southern side of the Rugby World Cup quarterfinals ... New Zealand, South Africa, Argentina, or Australia?

I logged in to find the Finan vermin was back under yet another identity (a sockpuppet or Arschloch) and had made several offensive posts here.

I deleted one. Then I deleted a couple more by some Filipino nut-job who followed me home from the *other* combat zone. Then I put the lemming's sock on Ignore, before remembering that I needed his posts visible to erase 'em -- hey, I'm new at this erase'n'ignore game, okay? -- so, uh, I went back and de-ignored him.

But when I returned to continue deleting, his other 4 or 5 posts were gone. I *had* just lodged a complaint with CG, but nobody is that fast. Maybe one of those who'd seen his bile before me, like AJ or KKderek, had complained him. Thanks, whoever it was.

So I thanked CG on their forum for dealing with the problem - though by this point the latest Tagalog puppet war was breaking out there as well. And here I made my mistake: I named the new Finan identity out loud.

Five minutes later, I realized this might draw gapers and gawkers to his 'bio', which was a tide of invective about me - and others, including Annie.

So I deleted the post with his new name in it. Sorry about those five mins, folks. I'm really not very efficient at this mortal-enemy stuff.

I can see some logic in AJ's 'delete and ban' method. Trouble is, if people go on attacking you, the invisibility can make for strange reading to others. Worse, you eventually hear about it from 3rd parties, human curiosity makes you log out and check whether the stuff is mild fun-poking or vicious toxicity or plain criminally vile (like Finan, attacking me or AJ or anyone else). And *then* somebody calls you a hypocrite.

Just no way to win, is there?

I don't know why CG have let the stuff on the chessgames forum remain for over six hours. They're clearly present and active in other areas. Maybe it's an evidence-gathering give-'em-enough-rope thing ...

One amusing footnote: I've referred a few times to Finan as being from Wakefield rather than Leeds, as he claims. Maybe he is, maybe he isn't - both are in South Yorkshire, not far apart. I think he's a smalltown boy who follows a big city football team and goes there to score his drugs, but whatever.

Thing is, this 'mistake' makes him annoyed. He never fails to mention it. And it never crosses his tiny little mind that erroneously calling somebody a sex criminal might be a mistake of a very different order.

I read your long post carefully. (Many others too.) I complained about <fp> ... I am quite sure I could not have been the only one!!!

I apologize (and I am deeply sorry) that "you-know-who" decided to villify you, I really am! (Your only "crime" ... as far as I can see ... was to be nice to me.) However, my grandmother used to say that if you looked hard enough, you find a silver lining to every black cloud.

My new friendship with you has been worth the trouble (for me) ... but possibly you don't feel that way. (I do!)

Thanks for your time and your patience. I sympathize with your plight, I really do. I have YEARS of taking this kind of abuse, although (to be 100% honest); I have never really gotten used to it. On the other hand, you are brand new to this stuff, and I remember just how much I was hurt by some of these viscious and unwarranted attacks. "You-know-who" may never apologize to you, but I can (in his place).

But yeah, my instinct is to quietly slip away if things get nasty. You're more combative, maybe, but even so I don't know how you put up with the sheer non-stop barrage aimed at you. Lesser men would wilt.

But I have good friends here, as do you. In my case, one demented little troll can't spoil it.

A word I just found in the dictionary (yep, I admit to reading 'em -- sad, huh?):

<sumph>: a stupid, surly, sullen person.

Mine defines "sumph" as being a possibly an ignoramus, the unabridged dictionary gives your def. as #2.