TINPOTS, TYRANTS, AND TITS!

Once again, I find myself placed in the position of having to address a controversial topic which some of you may not be interested in.  If so, please feel free to ignore this post and wait for another, hopefully more compelling one.

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You may recall me telling you a while back about a certain DEREK G. MARSDEN who frequents the comics forum of which I was once briefly a member.  An arrogant, opinionated, impertinent and self-important little man who exploits any opportunity for self-aggrandizement, he's been at his disingenuous best once more on that very forum - one which he seems to regard as some kind of 'school playground' in which he's the head prefect.

The term 'self-aggrandizement' is extremely apropos in his case, but it's not one whose application I can take credit for; no, the honour for that astute observation belongs more properly to a new forum member who goes by the name of HARD TRUTHS.  As I once explained, I resigned from the forum because I couldn't comment or express an opinion without certain parties seeing it as an opportunity to attack me.  Chief amongst them was Mr. Marsden, who has a history of patronising pomposity and overbearing odiousness in his dealings with other members.

Indeed, not long after joining the forum and encountering Mr. Marsden's snooty swaggering for the first time, I received a private email from another member advising me to ignore the pompous buffoon (my words, nor theirs) as other forum members were equally sick of him.  No doubt infuriated at having taken second prize in a few of our encounters (and never a first prize in any of them), he seemed determined to target me at the slightest excuse, in order to provoke me into saying something that might bring disapproval upon my head from the moderators.

As said moderators allowed him to get away with making the most outrageous, provocative and libellous accusations with impunity, it seemed obvious where their bias lay, so rather than waste my time and energies on a forum where it was clear that some people didn't want me (and who had objected to my membership from the start, on account of my frank and forthright views - on this blog - on the state of various aspects of British comics and some of their contributors), I resigned.  I explained my reasons for leaving in a way that allowed no possible misinterpretation.

However, that hasn't stopped the bold Mr. Marsden from doing his utmost to reinterpret them in order to rewrite history on the forum, in a pathetic attempt to claw back his imagined status as 'top dog' on the site.  Read what he said in response to the following comment from Hard Truths, who I can honestly state is not an alias of mine, nor, so far as I'm aware, anyone known to me.  (So his or her remarks are not the result of any prompting or urging by me.)  If it should prove to be someone I know, they haven't seen fit to inform me of such.

'I've noticed that there's been a huge slump in activity since Kid Robson left.  Sure, he was the forum's most controversial member ever, and arguments always started with him around, but at least something was actually happening.  Now?  Nothing.  This really gives a new meaning to "Be careful what you always wish for." '

Mr. Marsden, who goes by the appellation of PHOENIX, felt obliged to respond, seemingly outraged by the suggestion that anyone could conceivably consider my presence on the forum as having any positive value.

'We have got what we wished for.  Furthermore, we don't want any members reminding us of the unpleasant experiences we had to undergo during Robson's few months with us.  Yes, he was controversial, and obnoxious with it, but that was mainly due to his refusal to accept that his view or opinion could ever be wrong, and that other members could actually be right.  He eventually realised that we were not going to allow him to ride roughshod over us so he resigned, and popped off back to his blog where he can indulge his aggression, his egocentricity, his paranoia and his dismissive approach to others, and share them with his adoring acolytes over there to his heart's content.

Incidentally, I notice that you have started your membership in a similar manner to him, introducing a couple of anodyne threads, criticising the Forum before you have even got your feet under the table, and posting a sarcastic comment on the end of the Are Weekly Comics Doomed? thread, which was started by Robson, and in which there is evidence of all the character traits I mentioned earlier.  He was a troll.  Your choice of username is interesting.  I am looking forward to your next post.'

In response to this earlier remark by Hard Truths - 'Ah, wanting to start a flamewar, eh?  So, exactly what you criticized Kid Robson for doing.  I love the smell of hypocrisy.' - the self-styled Phoenix had this to say:

'How amazingly recognisable your modus operandi is.  It's almost as if Robson has taught you what to say, and then sent you over here to say it.  When you get back to Crivvens (sic), or wherever else you came from, could you please pass on the message that trolls are not welcome on comicsuk, and that we do now find them easy to spot.'

So, let's take his fantasies one at a time, shall we? 

1)  'Yes, he was controversial, and obnoxious with it, but that was mainly due to his refusal to accept that his view or opinion could ever be wrong, and that other members could actually be right.'

What seems to annoy this particular individual is that whenever I was defending a carefully considered opinion in the face of opposing (and hostile) reaction, I didn't allow myself to be browbeaten into submission by those who thought that if they kept aggressively chipping away at me, my defence would crumble.  It's called having an opinion and sticking to it - but only when the facts verify my conclusions.  From my perspective, it is the tediously pedantic Mr. Marsden who is not prepared to allow that anyone other than himself is correct on any given matter.

2)  'He eventually realised that we were not going to allow him to ride roughshod over us so he resigned, and popped off back to his blog where he can indulge his aggression, his egocentricity, his paranoia and his dismissive approach to others, and share them with his adoring acolytes over there to his heart's content.'

With complete disregard for the facts, this self-styled 'guru' invents a totally different reason for my stated 'resignation' from the forum - apparently thinking that he has greater insight into my motives than I do.  I think that any disinterested reader (and yes, I am aware of the difference between 'disinterested' and 'uninterested', Mr. M - I do mean 'disinterested') can see for themselves who the real egocentric is.  (Borne out by the fact that when I used the phrase 'Solus inter plurimos' - 'I am alone among many' - Mr. M proposed an alternative version which he applied to himself ) - 'Primus inter multos' - 'I am FIRST among many'.

3)  'How amazingly recognisable your modus operandi is.  It's almost as if Robson has taught you what to say, and then sent you over here to say it.  When you get back to Crivvens (sic), or wherever else you came from, could you please pass on the message that trolls are not welcome on comicsuk, and that we do now find them easy to spot.'

Note with what ease Mr. Marsden presumes to speak for the entire forum, as if he's a democratically elected spokesman on its behalf.  What's more amazing is that he is in clear violation of the forum's code of conduct in his increasingly bizarre rants, where he is openly insulting and indulges in the most ridiculous speculations and thinly-veiled insinuations (that Hard Truths is either an emissary of mine, or me myself)) without even a shred of evidence.  (What was that he was saying about paranoia?  Which begs the question - why on earth is he is he permitted to get away with it?  If anyone is a troll, it is surely him!

It's clear from his comments that his definition of the word 'troll' is anyone who refuses to be bullied into accepting his opinion as the final authority on any subject pertaining to just about everything.  (Which seems to be a common trait amongst those with similar delusions of omnipotence.)  Apparently, he used to be a teacher, and is no doubt so used to imposing his view on those too young to oppose him that he expects everyone to kowtow to him in the same subservient manner as the pupils he once looked down his nose at from the lofty heights (in his own mind at least) of his 'exalted position'.

Anyway, this thoroughly obnoxious little man with an overdeveloped sense of pedantry, who is so fond of correcting other people's use of the English language (especially in the girl's comics section of said forum, curiously), will surely not mind me pointing out to him that the name of this blog, 'Crivens', only has one 'v' in it.  Now, having punctured his pomposity and presumptuousness, we can only hope that this petty and pathetic individual slinks off back to the obscurity which so rightfully belongs to him.

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And to which, I'm glad to say, his provocative and misleading comments on the forum have now been consigned.