Well well well! What a very fun few days we've had, eh? Accusations of multiple memberships flying left right an centre, new members, old members, members quitting... It's like an InterWeb version of Midsomer Murders. Has anyone seen John Nettles?
See, this is the situation at the moment. Back in the days of the BBC Three Last Laugh competition, a jolly fellow going, I believe, by the moniker Roodeye started being a bit of a naughty boy! It does appear that Roodeye, quite possibly after years of having his work rejected over and over, had become a little bitter and somewhat 'twisted', enjoying nothing better than giving people well-thought, helpful and all round rather decent critique to their work one minute, and stiring up more shit than a Thames Water sewage plant the next. Seemingly, Roodeye thought it necessary to register a number of accounts for himself, with the simple aim of causing friction and suspicion (plus giving his own work positive feedback, of course).
Eventually the BBC closed their Last Laugh forums and the members migrated elsewhere, keen to retain the close friendships which they had established. Roodeye, although somewhat a mental with his many personalities, was still pretty well-respected through his professional and helpful critiquing, and so when he set up his own message board, Comedy Central, many members naturally followed.
After a while, it sounds like about a dozen people tired of Roodeye's behaviour to such an extent that they went and set up their own forums; consensus being that whilst talented in terms of writing and feedback, he is personally a complete knob. It has been suggested to me that he only gets so confrontational when he feels that people are attacking him though. If this is the case, then it seems quite possible that he suffers from some kind of paranoid disorder.
Anyway. It seems that our good BSG friend Chimes of Freedom is indeed yet another personality of Roodeye. Whilst his conduct did raise a few suspicions with those who had prior experience of him, it was the fact that Chimes of Freedom posted the exact same Last Laugh entry as Roodeye did all that time ago which finally exposed him.
When FoxyBox joined us recently, numerous members immediately suspected him to be Chimes of Freedom, aka Roodeye. Quite significantly, FoxyBox posted his Song for Madeliene, which was in a much similar vein to an earlier Roodeye ditty about the July 7th 2005 London bombings. He then, characteristically of Roodeye, deleted this original 'song' once the controversy had kicked off.
One member informed me that he believed FoxyBox to be Chimes of Freedom, but not knowing his track record I might not have taken much notice had his IP address traced to an ISP rather than a server. One server in particular being a well known free-to-access proxy (to allow anonymous web browsing by routing one's own internet connection through another machine). The fact that some of these IPs switched from being in the US to Belgium in less than 12 hours didn't exactly go in his favour. (However, FoxyBox was very polite and cordial in his PMs with myself and for that I thank him.)
Following his outing as FoxyBox and also as Chimes of Freedom, Roodeye has now sadly shut his own forums down, presumably so that he cannot be checked quite as easily when re-posting old work.
A number of you will have noticed in that Song for Madeleine thread, and in the Introductions forum, that a new member, Prentis y Dewin, was driven away by all of this behaviour. Quite pathetically, it now seems that Prentis is yet another Roodeye persona. You see, Roodeye was always quite proud of his ability to speak Welsh, and just like Prentis, open about his apparent many years of experience in the industry. "Prentis y Dewin", I am told, translates as "Apprentice of the Magi". Quite telling, as Roodeye evidently has an ego which would shock Elton John.
So to summarise, Roodeye = Chimes of Freedom = FoxyBox = Prentis y Dewin.
Having said all of that, I can't help but feel that a lot of this could have been avoided if people would inform the staff, particularly myself, when trouble arises or they suspect someone of having multiple accounts. A few of you did notify me of your suspicions (thank you), but if more people had been forthcoming, and with the right information, then something could have been done. Instead, an isolated community attitude seems to have developed in the writers' forums, with people hurling insults, sly digs and accusations back and forth in a self-important vigilante fashion.
My trouble in deciding a course of action is that apart from registering multiple accounts, Roodeye really hasn't done anything wrong himself. In fact, from what I've seen, all of the commotion has been caused by the reactions to him, and that aformentioned self-governing subculture.
So let me be quite clear that from here on in, such behaviour will NOT be tolerated under any circumstances, and will lead to immediate one-week account suspension - with bannings to follow on a three-strikes basis. If there are any problems, please feel free to contact me by PM or by e-mail at aaron @ this domain. Alternatively, there is a 'Report' button at the bottom of every post. It's there for a reason, so please use it.
Back on the subject of Roodeye, FoxyBox, Chimes of Freedom, Prentis y Dewin, and whoever else he may be, all of the accounts will shortly be banned. Roodeye, you are more than welcome to remain an active user of the BSG should you wish to, but not with such a troublemaking attitude. If you are interested, then please contact me through the previously mentioned e-mail address to discuss the matter, but make no mistake about it; membership is on MY terms, not yours.
