THE TRUTH BEHIND THE FICTION - OR HOW TO SPOT A NUTTER...

"The truth is out there!" someone once said.  And here it is - social-inadequates are everywhere!  Case in point: The self-styled 'CAPTAIN', from various sites on the internet, has finally snapped his cap.  A petulant man-child who obviously suffers from a massive inferiority complex (or perhaps it's not a complex - maybe he's just inferior) has blogged yet another of the distorted, exaggerated, and far-from-the truth fantasies at which he is so adept.  Let me tell you about this sad and sorry little man who refers to himself as 'The Captain'.

A few years back, in a spirit of helpfulness, I pointed out that he'd got something wrong on a post on one of his blogs.  He corrected it without admitting the fact, and then denied the error had ever existed.  Such disingenuity seems to be a habit of his, as we shall see.

Recently, he posted BEANO and DANDY scans on his blog.  He mis-attributed the source of The Dandy ones, at first denying it when I pointed it out, then admitting it, but claiming he was only going by what the person who supplied the scans had told him.  Besides  these things aren't important, he claimed.

He disputed my point that The Beano scans were four pages short, saying that several experts had confirmed they were complete - until I kindly emailed them to him so that he could add them to his blog.  He also mis-attributed their source, which I correctly identified.  He resorted to his old standby - he was only going by what the supplier of the scans had told him, and besides, these things weren't important anyway.

(He has since characterized my attempts to supply him with accurate information and missing pages as "taking issue" with him.  In fact, the reverse is true: he took issue with me for trying to be helpful, saying I was wrong and that he loved a good debate.  Until I emailed him the missing pages, that is.  Then it was nothing but sulks, huffs, insults and lies all round on his part.)

Are you seeing a pattern yet?  Whenever he gets something wrong, it's always someone else's fault - never his.  The buck certainly doesn't stop with him in his little world.

Then an old detractor of mine, who had miraculously (and no doubt 'coincidentally' - yeah, right) turned up on (and only on) the two posts to which I had responded and took a mild dig at me, while erroneously claiming that 'The Captain' was correct in his assertions.  The fact that this detractor misrepresented what those assertions were in order to take a pop at me is typical of the sort of thing he does.  This person has been accused of bullying on another forum, so I responded by saying that he should reserve such tactics for there.  A fairly mild (and appropriate) riposte I would have thought.

However, both of them are fellow-members of said other forum and have had quite a few discussions in the past.  'The Captain', in an exaggerated and theatrical display of 'solidarity' with his forum 'chum', banned me from his site and sycophantically apologized to said detractor for the "worst kind of abuse" he had ever seen in over fifteen years on the internet.  Perhaps he should expand his horizons.  I repeat - all I said was that the person should stick to his bullying tactics on the other site.  Nice move though - gets his own back on me for correcting his errors - and gets a kick in for his 'colleague' as well.  Two birds with one stone.

'The Captain' also used the opportunity to level inflammatory insults at me, which I demanded he remove from his blog or there would be repercussions.  Typically, he distorted the facts to misquote me as having said "dire consequences", implying some sinister intent on my part.  He even claims to have reported me to the police.  Am I alone in regarding this person as being somewhat hysterical in his responses?  I doubt it.

We now descend even further into absurdity.  He then claimed that his wife and child were terribly upset by all of this (a claim he has since repeated, saying I have caused "worry and consternation" to his family).  My response was that, going from his immature behaviour, I very much doubted he was old enough to actually be married and that his 'wife' could surely only be of the 'inflatable' variety.  I always try to keep a sense of humour about me, even when dealing with obvious nutters.  This - and this alone - is what he constitutes as "vile attacks" on him and his family.  Same goes for "disgusting comments".

Are you beginning to see how he distorts things completely out-of-proportion, the better to portray himself as some kind of 'under-siege' victim?  Is this the behaviour of a sane and rational man, never mind a mature one?  Again, I doubt it.  It really is rather pathetic to use one's family (who are probably completely unaware of this individual's online shenanigans) to try and elicit sympathy for oneself or to assume the moral high-ground.  And all because he was caught in a succession of errors and can't handle the fact.

He accuses me of having "libelled" him - although, as far as I'm aware, it's impossible to libel a fictitious identity.  That's right - he doesn't use his own name, preferring to operate under an alias.  Also seems to use a proxy server by the look of it - perhaps he has something to hide?  He also accuses me of having libelled my detractor.  Someone correct me if I'm wrong here, but libel is when one states an untruth, isn't it?  (Rhetorical question - of course it is.)  Nothing I've said about either of them is untrue - and my detractor certainly doesn't seem to be making any kind of a fuss about it as far as I'm aware.  Isn't it big of 'The Captain' to insist on taking offence on someone else's behalf?

He also accuses me of having posted an anonymous comment about him on another blog, thereby adding some form of supernatural divination to his 'impressive' list of non-accomplishments.  (Incidentally, I've since looked at the blog in question and his remarks on this subject seem to be at odds with what the blog owner himself says.) 

What should I do?  Claim despair over my friends and family being subjected to all this "worry and consternation"?  Tell the police in an impotent act of hysterical rage and frustration at someone ripping the p*ss?  Make a complete and utter t*t of myself by according more gravitas to a trivial and absurd situation than it warrants?  Well, no - that's mainly his department.

I'll content myself with pointing out what a self-absorbed, immature, disingenuous and deceitful little nutter he seems to be, and having a good, hearty laugh at him and his foibles.  Feel free to join me.

******

UPDATE:  The oaf has since deleted his provocative remarks from his blog, no doubt in order to minimize his outrageous behaviour and enable him to claim (in his own words) a "calm and dignified" reaction.  (Must be nice to have such a flexible perception of reality.)  Divorced from the context in which they were made, some of my comments may seem unduly forthright, but it should be remembered that I am only responding to smears, insults and outright lies.  I have no interest in whitewashing the facts and therefore will not be removing my posts.