[Talk Host]

Dear members,

From time to time there are individuals who join this forum for the sole purpose of causing problems and being disruptive. We shone a light on one of them earlier this year. He was unable to operate in the sunshine and he has gone away.

We now seem to have another. We want you to be aware of the screen names this individual has used so far. All these names have been banned, but he'll likely be back with other disorder.

So far, he has used these names

• BorisJ
• Coconut
• Villager69
• Villager71
• Bestbowler
• Bestbowlerbrother
• Brotherboy

and others

To date, his activity has been to post disruptive material in an attempt to tarnish the image of TOTV and its administrators. In his first post as Villager71, he likened Talk of The Villages to a "porn" site. Please be alert to this troublemaker and act accordingly.

The original name he used, BorisJ, seems to be associated with his real email address. I'm wondering if I should reactivate the BorisJ account so we can all contact him.

[graciegirl]

When I saw his screen name Coconut, I thought it was our old friend Coconuts (who hasn't posted for awhile) but when I read the post I knew it wasn't her.

Why do some people just love to start something?

[Talk Host]

You know what's funny. Many people think they are not traceable on the internet.

Here is a quote from an IP address search company:

"Whenever you get online, your computer is assigned an IP address. If you connect through the router, all of the computers on that network will share a similar Internet Protocol address; though each computer on the network will have a unique INTRAnet address. An IP address is the Internet Protocol (IP) address given to every computer connected to the Internet. An IP address is needed to send information, much like a street address or P.O. box is needed to receive regular mail. Tracing an IP address is actually pretty straightforward."

On at least two of his screen names, he tried to trick us by using an IP address in Argentina.

[pooh]

I haven't seen any posts from Boris, but to think that one remains "hidden" on the internet is way off. I'm a moderator on another board and we have posters from all over the world and had one particularly troublesome poster from Finland. She would post using her IP provider's connection, then started using anonymizer sites to post. Alas, tracing an IP address is easier than one thinks and no matter what name this troll used, we found her and banned each address she used.

I'm sorry someone finds that they need to cause disruption to a board that runs smoothly with informative discussion.

Good work.

[Midge538]

Maybe you should put this thread 'to sleep;' it is not in the spirit of this site and serves no purpose. It just probably provides encouragement and the wanted and needed attention to whomever is causing u the angst. Deal with it administratively as best you can. I would assume that none of us want to encourage any 'postal' issues.

[Talk Host]

Originally Posted by Midge538

Maybe you should put this thread 'to sleep;' it is not in the spirit of this site and serves no purpose. It just probably provides encouragement and the wanted and needed attention to whomever is causing u the angst. Deal with it administratively as best you can. I would assume that none of us want to encourage any 'postal' issues.

On the contrary, it servers a valuable purpose. When you bring these people to the light of day, they can't operate. Thanks for your comments, and we want to be sure all of our members know that from time to time there are real villains that attempt to infiltrate their playground. We do our best to keep them out, and this is one way that works very well.

This thread is like our own miniature version of "America's Most Wanted."