64 replies to this topic

[Hedda]

I have to confess that when Bahtstop and I disagreed on whether to treat Ear Wig's recent post as an apology, I decided to say or post nothing further on the matter. This is, after all, Bahtstop's board and I am as much a guest as any reader or poster in that regard.

Since then, however, Ear Wig has demonstrated in his posts on other boards that his "apology" was a meaningless ruse, a farce designed simply to escape responsibility for his major blunder. It's clear now that he has no remorse or regret for his blatant plagiarism, dishonesty and deceit; he doesn't even care that he embarassed some board people who came to his defense. He's simply sorry that he got caught in the act "flagrante derelicto."

One thing is clear: Ear Wig lives by his own set of perverse posting standards, principal among which is his notion that ignorance of basic skills in composition, grammar or punctuation does not prevent one from being a posting star. He prides himself on being ignorant of talents that most people spend careers to perfect.

In the interent world of posting boards, where the written word is the only way to communicate, The Wig sees magic in verbal smoke signals which ignore rules that any sixth grader would know. He actually boasts that he never bothers to double-check what he has typed before posting it, as if accuracy and attention to detail were posting vices.

His priority is to be the center of attention, the clown with the biggest balls and bells, and to hell with any rules that get in the way. He finds the concept of plagiarism incomprehensible. He asks why would anyone spend the time and labor to "rehash" an idea, if you can simply steal it verbatim from someone else and take the credit.

He finds it fun to insult people but claims always to act only in self defense. He threatens law suits when the tables are turned, and invariably claims to have intimate information on the personal lives of folks who dare to challenge him, none of which he ever corroborates with facts. He highjacks threads with the ease of the most artful dodger.

He is Walter Mitty, P.T. Barnum and Harpo Marx, rolled into one swollen buffoon, posting in as many names as it takes to create a crowd. First and foremost, he thrives on the theory that most people are simply unable to ignore a troll, especially when his posts are dropped like the carnage of highway accidents, banking that no one will be able to resist staring at them.

Worst of all, even though he appears to no longer even live in Thailand, he has come to view himself as so indispensible to the gay Thailand posting scene that he can do as he pleases in posting. Indeed, the article that he cleverly stole and plagiarized was designed to create the impression that he had "sources" reporting to him from Thailand.

He simply assumes that he can intimidate board owners who seek posting traffic, so that they will not dare to tangle with him and the audience he claims to create. Some have recently suggested that he may even add to that perception by repeatedly clicking on his own posts to help the illusion. In short, The Wig thinks he's "too big to ban."

Some owners may be prepared to accept that attitude and the mischief it breeds; I am delighted to see that Bahtstop is not one of them. I'm glad that he rejected my advice to accept that tin "apology," which turned out to be as fake as most everything else this internet charlatan posts.

If The Wig had any sense, he'd issue a clear and unqualified apology to the entire gay Thailand posting world, for abusing its trust. He might still be able to salvage the wreck of his posting career by returning to basics. Based on past performance, I doubt he has that capacity. Ear Wigs are, after all, just big bugs, no matter how many things they crawl into.
.

[Village Idiot]

One has to wonder why a poster would go thru the bother of making a phony apology and then
behave so poorly.. I thought the apology was sufficient but obviously it was phony and just another
lie from the wigworm..
One has to wonder why other forums let him run amok but that is a question for another day..
Baht-Stop made the right decision and one has to hope will be on alert for new incarnations..

[Gaybutton]

If The Wig had any sense . . .

That pinpoints the root of the problem.

For someone who attempts so blatant a deception, it comes as no surprise that the insincere "apology" was just as blatant an attempt to continue to be able to post, at least under the Ear Wig handle. Perhaps one of these days he'll come to understand that stupidity is not a virtue.

I can't help but be reminded of the following quote from an old James Bond film:

"Like your friend Mr. Bond, you have been a little too clever and now you are caught." - Largo, 'Thunderball'

[UncleSam]

In short, The Wig thinks he's "too big to ban."

I seem to recall a saying that the bigger they are, the harder they fall.

Hehehe.....

[DollyLamma]

If The Wig had any sense, he'd issue a clear and unqualified apology to the entire gay Thailand posting world, for abusing its trust.

I totally agree. The few people who see "no big deal" are wrong. Ear Wig stole an article. That was bad enough. But then he let the guys at GayThailand defend him, claiming there was no evidence of plagarism,
when he knew all along he has lifted the article word for word from a newspaper.

That's just deception and dishonesty - plain and simple. Posters who think that deception and dishonesty are "no big deal" are not my kind of people.

If it was me, I'd disappear forever or make sure I gave a sincere apology to everyone. How he can continue to post as if it's business as usual is beyond me.

[tdperhs]

Somebody get a rope!
Twelve hours ago I was going to comment on the earwig controversy as I did on another forum. But I noticed that the moderator closed that thread. I thought of opening another then re-considered. "Let the dead bury the dead," I decided. Then I noticed that the wound has been re-opened so I have decided to respond. My first encounter with this controversey occurred on Gaythailand Forum, and, since the stone casting on this forum seems to be in the same trajectory, I'll start with my response to that one.
1. I do not know who ear wig is. I attended the second annual gathering at Memories but I knew only two people there by name, neither of whom is ear wig. In any case, I do not know too much about ear wig or what he has written because, with some few exceptions, I confine my reading to those threads which inform about events in Thailand. I depend on these to help guide me away from problems during my biannual visits to Pattaya. Usually that means overlooking the contributions of many of the, to use a phrase Hedda used on this thread, "posting stars." My only personal encounter with him was a disgusting remark he made in response to something I had posted. My posting, therefore, is not to defend ear wig, but to put some perspective into what has deteriorated into a literary lynch mob.
2. The facts (and they are few): On the Gaythailand Forum, ear wig posted an article from Pattaya People which he prefaced with the words, "My sources tell me." The article and the message was discussed in the following five posts. Then the following post appeared from khaolakguy:

WARNING!

It has come to our attention that certain unscrupulous web masters are stealing news and photos for display on their websites. Pattaya Mail Publishing Co.Ltd. own the copy rights to materials published in the Pattaya Mail newspaper and on our website. We will prosecute any offenders to the fullest extent of Thai and International Law.

This is the entire post. There is no source credit so one must assume that these are the words of khaolakguy. My first impression was that khaolakguy was at least a staff member of Pattaya Mail. However, at the bottom of the Pattaya Mail home page is the following addendum:

WARNING!
It has come to our attention that certain unscrupulous web masters are stealing news and photos for display on their websites. Pattaya Mail Publishing Co.Ltd. own the copy rights to materials published in the Pattaya Mail newspaper and on our website. We will prosecute any offenders to the fullest extent of Thai and International Law.

Gaybutton, the moderator, then asked for clarification. khaolakguy responded with a litany of unsubstantiated accusations in the form of questions that began with "You don't really believe..." followed by unflattering opinions of ear wig's literacy skills. Again the moderator appropriately called for actual evidence. Then Snowkat jumped in with a list of damning but unsupported accusations against ear wig and concluded that they were valid because, "So many attackers can't be all wrong." Gaybutton then amended the article to include source credit, although, by law in the U.S., any reproduction of copyrighted material must include the expression, "Reproduced with permission of..." (I have to use that in my Academy newsletter.)This may not be the case in Thailand.
One more fact: By definition plagiarism is the unauthorized use of the language and thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one's own (Webster's College Dictionary). By prefacing his article with, "My sources tell me," ear wig sidesteps the definition of plagiarism by avoiding the mandate, "as one's own," while his primary accuser, khaolakguy, does not. On the other hand, neither escapes guilt for copyright infringement. However, anyone who has purchased one DVD on the beach, one software disk at Tuc.com, or one CD at any Pattaya store is guilty of copyright infringement. Does anybody want to ask Bill Gates if he feels 150 Baht adequately compensates him for a copy of Windows XP? I don't.

The apology: On this forum, the moderator demanded from ear wig an apology "in acceptable terms." Since I could find no posting of the offending document on this forum, I am not certain what the apology is for. Furthermore, the caveat, "in acceptable terms,"which reeks of the Brown v. Topeka Board of Education phrase "with all deliberate speed," is so vague as to require a lot of guessing on the part of the apologer. Predictably, when the apology was offered, the mob did not find it acceptable and the hanging proceeded. And, if this was not enough, Hedda has decided to resurrect the corpus delecti in this thread and continue his vitriolic vilification by denouncing ear wig's literacy skills, quite ignoring the fact that if nobody ever posted who did not have a black belt in syntax and grammar, there would be only two posters on this forum, he and I.
I believe there is more to this than a charge of plagiarism, which technically did not happen. There is a personal agenda. I know that Hedda has been the subject of vicious bashing in the past and perhaps ear wig had something to do with it. I don't recall the particulars because I wanted no part of that. The moderators of this site have acted. I believe it is a regrettable action because whenever authority gives into the hysteria of the mob, all of us become potential victims of that same mob (See Shirley Jackson's The Lottery). But, it is his site. He pays the bills. Nobody forces me to be here.

[Old Slapper]

One more fact: By definition plagiarism is the unauthorized use of the language and thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one's own (Webster's College Dictionary). By prefacing his article with, "My sources tell me," ear wig sidesteps the definition of plagiarism by avoiding the mandate, "as one's own,"

That's just your opinion. I say it does not.

Anyway, plagiarism is an ethical issue, not a legal one. So you can take your narrow legal definitions and shove them where they actually matter a damn.

[Gaybutton]

Gaybutton then amended the article

For the record, I did not amend the article. That was GayThailand, not Gaybutton. If it were me, I would have left Ear Wig's post sitting right there, unchanged, for all to see.

[tdperhs]

That's just your opinion. I say it does not.

So you can take your narrow legal definitions and shove them where they actually matter a damn.

The area you have alluded to is probably of more concern to you than it is to me. However, out of respect for you and your compulsion to bring it up, I will take it under advisement.

By the way, Old Slapper, are you just another name for ear wig? Yiur response seems to be pretty much his style.

[Bob]

Good grief, it's like a gaggle of old women reminiscing over the plot of yesterday's soap opera. How about
a New Year's resolution of agreeing to not mention this saga again. The ink (key strokes) certainly can be used for better things?

[Hedda]

By prefacing his article with, "My sources tell me," ear wig sidesteps the definition of plagiarism by avoiding the mandate, "as one's own,"

Before we sping the trap door on the gallows that newcomer Tdperhs seems to think we have constructed for Ear Wig, it might be nice to get the facts straight. That's because, in some respects, Td seems to have examined this elephant from the trunk only, making it hardly recognizable from the while animal.

Contrary to the above quote from Td, Ear Wig did not preface his entire remarks with the notation "my sources tell me," on which assumption Td rests his entire entire argument, a slender reed indeed.

The original version of the post by Ear Wig, which was erased by the owner, GayThailand, when the plagiarism was apparent, began with no prefatory remarks as suggested by Td. On the contary, the phrase "my sources tell me" was inserted by Ear Wig in places within the article, where he deleted the name of the newpaper's investigative team, in order to create the impression that there were people acting in concert with Ear Wig, not the newpaper, had investigated the matter.

Contary to Td's suggestion that using "my sources" somewhow absolves Ear Wig of plagiarism, it proves, in fact, the opposite: that the publication of the post was intended from the start as pure deception, cleverly contrived, to take credit for someone else's work product, while suggesting that Ear Wig had personal sources in Thailand.

Td also ignores the critical fact that during the entire debate between Gaybutton and posters who claimed the post was plagiarized, Ear Wig never once acknowlwedged to anyone that the article had, in fact, been copied verbatim from another source. Ear Wig was content to allow GB to challenge his critics to produce the original souce or shut up, compounding the state of the deception.

It was not until a poster named KhunPa published the original work that the truth was revealed. But for that discovery, Ear Wig would still be undoubtedly claiming that it was his original work.

Even after the original source was revealed, Ear Wig at first offered the lame excuse that he had not realized until then what "plagiarism" really meant. It was classic Ear Wig, throwing any excuses to see which one might stick.

Finally, in desperation to escape the hole in which he found himsef, Ear Wig claimed that there was really no difference between what he said was Hedda's "rehashed" political discussions on Bahtstop and his unauthorized use of a verbatim article lifted from the internet.

It was that final accusation by Ear Wig of plagiarism against Bahtstop that precipitated the demand for a retraction or apology from Bathtstop, not yours truly, something that Td seems to have missed in his analysis of the entire scenario. The issue is not how the owner of GayThailand chose to cope with Ear Wig's plagiarism on his board. The issue is how Bahtstop chose to respond to Ear Wig's unfounded charges of plagiarism against this website.

Let me assure Td and any other readers here that I have no axe to grind against Ear Wig, a man I have never met, to my knowledge. We do not share mutual friends either, to my knowldge, contrary to one of his past claims that was thrown at me to impugn my personal life and never substantiated. I even think his posts can be entertaining and of informational value when he types facts, not fiction.

I bear him no grudges, but I deepy resent his false and ugly claim that he and I share company as fellow plagiarists. Even so, I was prepared to accept the "apology" Ear Wig offered and move on, and said so publicy in a post here, though I had little faith in Ear Wig's sincerity or intentions. He has since demonstated his perfidy.

To his credit, Bahtstop saw through the ruse and had the guts to publicly say so. If there's a virtual gallows and rope waiting for Ear Wig's posting career now, it's one that he has managed to assemble all by himself. You can save the nails and crown of thorns for Easter.
.

[UncleSam]

I wonder if anyone's compared "tdperhs" IP to the Crawford ghost's, who seems to have suddenly vanished like Caspar.

Hehehe....

[Gaybutton]

I wonder if anyone's compared "tdperhs" IP to the Crawford ghost's, who seems to have suddenly vanished like Caspar.

Hehehe....

Again, for the record, I know Tdperhs personally. I can assure you that he posts under no other name.

[The Colonel]

Again, for the record, I know Tdperhs personally. I can assure you that he posts under no other name.

But how do you know that the person who registered here yesterday to make that post is the same guy who you know as "Tdperhs ?" Have you asked him ?

With the likes of Hedda, Gaybutton, Crawford's Ghost and BigBoy4u roaming around this three-ring circus, one should never assume too much. The monkeys seem to be running this zoo.

[wowpow]

I see that earwig has made his debut on http://www.gaytingtong.com/index.php so his fans can find him on that youthful board.

[BORG]

Ear Wig got it wrong as usual on his first appearance on the Ting Tong website.

He titles his post "Over 2000 children in Pattaya selling themselves" and the actual quote within the post from "one of his sources" says "one child welfare agency estimates 2,000 children wander the streets of Pattaya selling everything from sweets to sex."

What a jerk.

[Gaybutton]

But how do you know that the person who registered here yesterday to make that post is the same guy who you know as "Tdperhs ?" Have you asked him ?

With the likes of Hedda, Gaybutton, Crawford's Ghost and BigBoy4u roaming around this three-ring circus, one should never assume too much. The monkeys seem to be running this zoo.

Have I asked him? As soon as I think that's any of your business I'll answer the question. In the meantime, I'll just hang around in the trees with the other monkeys.

[Geezer]

tdperhs wrote, “I believe there is more to this than a charge of plagiarism…”

Yes, I think you are right. In my case, and I suspect in others, I know you are right.

tdperhs wrote, “I do not know too much about ear wig or what he has written…”

For years, in various guises, ear wig has selfishly and inconsiderately spoiled the boards we all rely upon by flooding them with the most blatant self-aggrandizement, buffoonery and prevarication in a seemingly unending flow. This continued far beyond the point that other members of the board were completely sick of it.

Thus it is that the flood of contumely appears, to the casual observer, to be out of proportion to the incident which released it.

[Gaybutton]

I've known Earwig most of my life and he is a warm hearted man with a generous spirit.

Yes sir, he's absolutely wonderful. I can't even begin to tell you how much I appreciate his kind gesture of allowing me to end up with with enough egg on my face to make omelets for all when I was doing my best to intervene in the accusations against him. That was just heartwarming.

I won't even bother to address the rest of your post. It's all been addressed enough times already.

However, one question remains that you did not address and I'd like to know what you have to say about it. Since the moderators of this board chose to suspend him, then why did he attempt to circumvent that by re-registering under a different handle? What, exactly, was he trying to accomplish by doing that?

[Geezer]

People you mentioned are certainly not “characters like this”. Some are men of unimpeachable honor and grace. It is repugnant to have them listed in the same post, much less in the same category.

[Gaybutton]

Earwig has shown hinself to be "a man" as so many have demanded and apologised to the point that he has been accepted again to this board.

I think you said it partly the way it is. It does take a man to make a sincere apology. What I see is an apology for having accused others and an apology sufficient only to be reinstated on this board. I have yet to see any semblance of an apology for doing what he did to provoke this incident in the first place.

I truly hope I'm wrong about this, but to my mind this apology is nothing more than a ploy to get back in good graces enough to be allowed once again to post on this board since none of his other ploys worked. Now he has a choice. We will see either legitimate posting, without the bragging, name dropping, deception, and everything else people have been complaining about or we will see a continuation of posting in the same old style. I think we'll know how sincere the apology is once we see the character of the posts.

[Sexpat]

that is borderline pomposity at it's best.

You would certainly be an expert on pomposity. I think I can see why you and Ear Wig get along so well. Birds of a feather for sure: two magpies !