On the banning of commenters.

I’ve recently been forced to implement the first ever ban of a commenter on this blog. Now, I’ve been forced to remove spam and the like for years. I’ve also been forced to remove or redact a vulgarity or two from a comment, as well as removing one comment that contained a rumor with false and defaming information. I have also removed a comment or two at the request of the commenter. But none of those incidents were outright bans and the persons involved retained their commenting abilities.

The recipient of this first ever ban is “Jason Soiman”. Why the quotes, you might be asking? Well, that’s a long story. It all started back on June 6, 2009, when “Jason Soiman” posted a comment saying that Catherine Crabill had just received a $1,000,000 inheritance from her mother’s estate which would fund her election campaign. Now, “Soiman” was mum on details even after I asked “him” how this was possible when Crabill currently has her $875,000 home on the market. She also has five or six siblings, so if Crabill managed to get a $1,000,000 inheritance, that must have been on big frakin’ pot to begin with. After I asked those questions to “Soiman”, “he” stated: “I really don’t know that much about Catherine Crabill’s finances”. Yeah, obviously.

And since then, “Soiman” has been a somewhat regular commenter on this space, with comments ranging from regularly taking up for Representative Rob Wittman (R-1st) to attacking Delegate Chris Peace (R-97th) for posting a comment on this blog.

“Soiman”‘s commenting reached its end yesterday, however, when “he” posted two comments claiming that Sheriff Tony Lippa had a been a big  supporter of now-Supervisor Jeff Sili’s election campaign in 2007. “He” claimed, inter alia, that Lippa was at Sili’s campaign kickoff event in July 2007, yet Lippa’s presence isn’t noted in a press release from Sili’s own campaign (which also appeared in The Caroline Progress), despite naming every local politician that had attended the event. Mix in some more lies from “Soiman” which totally clash with the personality types of the people involved and you have a couple of comments from “him”.

I eventually decided to ban “Soiman” from posting anymore comments on this blog. I despise liars to begin with but when someone lies and the person’s claims can be easily refuted by a simple Google Search it annoys me even more. And, for crying out loud, if you’re going to lie about someone, at least make sure that the actions that you claim someone did are consistent with the person’s personality.

After I implemented the ban, I decided to do a little research. First, I Googled “Soiman”‘s name and found several comments on other blogs attacking John Brownlee and even a profile on RPV Network.

Then I Googled “his” e-mail address: nothing.

But then I Googled “his” IP address. Guess what came up? Fredtalk. And not just Fredtalk, but posts on FredTalk from one “oharascarlett”. Who is “oharascarlett”, you might be asking? Why, that would be Susan Sili’s username on Fredtalk of course. Susan Sili is, of course, the wife of Caroline County Republican Committee Chairman and Caroline County Board of Supervisors member Jeff Sili. And who did Jeff Sili endorse for the Republican nomination for Attorney General? Why, Ken Cuccinelli. And who was one of Cuccinelli’s opponents? John Brownlee. It all comes together doesn’t it?

That obviously pathological liar has been posting on this blog for over a month and I just figured it out. Grr…

After this whole experience, I feel that I need to lay out some ground rules for commenting in the future:

1.) Don’t lie.

2.) If you’re going to lie (see Rule #1), at least make sure your lies can’t be refuted by a simple Google Search.

3.) If you’re going to lie (see Rule #1), make sure that the nonexistent actions that you attribute to someone don’t completely clash with the person’s personality.

If you’re found to be in violation of these rules, with me being the sole arbitrator of that, you will be banned.

Besides that, comment away.

But before we go, I want to share a couple of lines from Atlas Shrugged:

“But don’t I have any freedom of speech?”

“In your own house. Not in mine.”

“Don’t I have a right to my own ideas?

“At your own expense. Not at mine.”

“Don’t you tolerate any differences of opinion?”

“Not when I’m paying the bills.”