If you happen to see any offensive anti-English remarks in the comments section of this blog (or any other pro-independence blog) over the coming days, the chances are that they come from our new resident troll MartyP. He's an Englishman who indulged in some "reverse astroturfing" yesterday on both of the previous threads, in an attempt to "prove" his claim that the SNP is blighted by Anglophobia. When challenged, he indignantly denied leaving the bogus comments, but I've since checked my stats and I'm 99.99% certain that he was responsible for them - a user at his IP address clicked the comments link at exactly the right moments on each and every occasion.
You can read the exchange HERE.
so block him
ReplyDeleteTo the best of my knowledge there isn't any way of doing that. But if he posts again, it will be without any credibility.
ReplyDeleteI'd never come across any cybernat posting anything even approaching this level of bile. For the most part we're all pretty gentile and friendly towards our English cousins.
ReplyDeleteIt was so shocking and out of character for one of us, that alarm bells rang immediately.
As I posted, 'eejit'.
Dearie me, these people are becoming more and more desperate.
ReplyDeleteI'm of dual Scottish/English nationality but, owing to the (northern) English accent I carry around with me, I get identified as being English.
ReplyDeleteOf course a certain amount of hostility exists amongst some people in Scotland towards English people, but then I've heard my mate from Fife suffer worse. :) And, in comparison to the bile I see in the comments sections of English newspapers, for example, Anglophobia in Scotland is not as much a problem as Scotophobia in England.
Above all, the independence movement in Scotland, whether that is the SNP, Yes Scotland, or one of the many unofficial websites or facebook pages, is to be commended on its intolerance of Anglophobia and racism of any sort.
Independence is for all who call Scotland home, regardless of their origin.
I'm of dual Scottish/English nationality but, owing to the (northern) English accent I carry around with me, I get identified as being English.
ReplyDeleteOf course a certain amount of hostility exists amongst some people in Scotland towards English people, but then I've heard my mate from Fife suffer worse. :) And, in comparison to the bile I see in the comments sections of English newspapers, for example, Anglophobia in Scotland is not as much a problem as Scotophobia in England.
Above all, the independence movement in Scotland, whether that is the SNP, Yes Scotland, or one of the many unofficial websites or facebook pages, is to be commended on its intolerance of Anglophobia and racism of any sort.
Independence is for all who call Scotland home, regardless of their origin.
So good I said it twice!
ReplyDelete"Fictitious IP address"? Are you now denying that you've got an IP address?!
ReplyDeleteSo far I've only checked on the anonymous comments that were so obviously bogus. If you want, later tonight I'll check to see if you were also responsible for the other ones. As I said, I wasn't quite as suspicious of those, but we'll see.
Want to have a say on Scots' independence? Don't pick the Partick Thistle fan
ReplyDeleteThe truth is that there is a hugely sophisticated debate going on, an energising debate about the future shape of a nation – whether independent or not – which is enviable. Town and school halls ringing with argument and political engagement. Anti-Englishness might turn up on social media occasionally – what vileness doesn't - and ramped up in the pages of the Telegraph but its not anywhere near even the fringes of the actual discussion.
Does he support Partick Thistle? we must be told.
This is getting farcical. Time will tell about the McGarv comments, but the only way you didn't post the anonymous ones is if someone else did it from exactly the same computer that you use. That doesn't strike me as being terribly likely.
ReplyDeleteThere's no mystery about how you switched from posting anonymously to accidentally posting under your wife's name. There is a menu of options when you comment - one of them is anonymity, and one is the Google account that you are currently logged into.
"Secondly you are tying me to a poster "Mak" you admit you have not ascertained the IP address, and so have no evidence."
ReplyDeleteThat is a load of drivel and you damn well know it. I never said anything at all about those other posts until you provocatively asked me : "I suppose Mak Mcgarv is me as well is he?" I replied that I was less suspicious of those posts, but that I wouldn't completely rule out the possibility. Based on what I've discovered so far, that still seems like a reasonable way of putting it.
If you didn't want the answer, you shouldn't have asked the question.