Paranoia on this Forum

[joizy]

There is one member of this forum who seems to be suffering from some form of paranoia. It could be related to his past drug use (which he admitted in one of his posts). It seems he believes there are people who make fake profiles, join the forum, provide helpful information about a place, and then try to gather information about hustlers. It is one of the strangest conspiracy theories I have ever heard, and unfortunately, he's targeting me and several other members. He even went so far as to accuse people of not really being in the places they say they are and one unfortunate member after posting photos of his passport to prove it, was still called a liar.

The sad thing is to see others jump on this bandwagon and then harass newer members on the forum. It seems like the forum is not moderated, but is instead controlled by a group of guys who seem to live here. They are literal trolls, like the fictional trolls who live under the bridge and force you to pay them before crossing. Apparently, you have to kiss these guys' asses in order to be able to be a member of this forum.

In another case, I tried to open a discussion about Mexico in the Latin America forum where there are way too many discussions about Brazil and garotos - this is where most of these trolls seem to reside. I was then publicly shamed and told I was lazy and stupid. Mexico is a beautiful and diverse country and yet there are no posts about it? It's strange. The member who shamed me seems to be Argentine, so maybe he has some sort of prejudice about Mexico. I hope someone will fill this void and post something about places to visit. I won't be doing that. It's not worth it for me to be called names. Ironically, this person who shamed me for asking a question then went on to post about his trip to Buenos Aires - it's the type of thing I put on Facebook - not something I'd share with a bunch of strangers. He told us about his lunch with his mother and even posted photos of her! Ok, maybe I don't understand the rules of the forum, but is that what this is for, so that some people can share every detail of their lives and the rest of us swoon over them?

It's really sad that gay men are not more supportive of one another. Rather than encouraging discussion and welcoming new members, the older trolls seem to want to keep this forum for themselves so that they can tell us about a boring lunch with their mother.

I got a lot of good information here, but it's not a place where I feel welcomed. I've been called a liar, a fraud and lazy because I asked a question. I feel sorry for these guys. Also feel bad about the other victims of one particular members paranoia. It has unfortunately made this forum a toxic place.

I hope the moderators will take a look at some of the behavior here that discourages discussion and results in people not wanting to share or ask questions.

[Latbear4blk]

13 minutes ago, joizy said:

Mexico is a beautiful and diverse country and yet there are no posts about it? It's strange.

[vinapu]

13 minutes ago, joizy said:

........ so that they can tell us about a boring lunch with their mother.

 

posters can share whatever they see fit as long as it's not offensive or against the rules.

Readers have option of reading posted material or skipping it at will.

Boring for one may be interesting for another

[Guest]

2 hours ago, joizy said:

I got a lot of good information here, but it's not a place where I feel welcomed

now you’re the victim.  that’s an interesting pivot.  

wtf does @Latbear4blkbeing Argentine have to do w anything ?  
insulting other members is exactly what @richard265 did before he deleted his account - you know, the one  filled w all the “valuable” information about Medellin, love motels that weren’t love motels and poor Spanish translations that made no sense.

2 hours ago, joizy said:

after posting photos of his passport to prove it,

correction - passports plural, one American & one Canadian.  

For being a member for about 72 hours, you seem to have spent an inordinate amount of time taking up the cause of a few previous suspect posters ??  I wonder why - perhaps they are all connected.  Not saying they are - just that you protest a bit too much  
as someone said here recently - hit dogs holla 

the giveaway in this whole thing is that you had a thread removed where you were the OP - because it made you look like the troll you are.

[Guest]

yup, absolutely nothing about Mexico here 

 

[Latbear4blk]

17 minutes ago, Slvkguy said:

now you’re the victim.  that’s an interesting pivot.  

wtf does @Latbear4blkbeing Argentine have to do w anything ?  
insulting other members is exactly what @richard265 did before he deleted his account - you know, the one  filled w all the “valuable” information about Medellin, love motels that weren’t love motels and poor Spanish translations that made no sense.

correction - passports plural, one American & one Canadian.  

For being a member for about 72 hours, you seem to have spent an inordinate amount of time taking up the cause of a few previous suspect posters ??  I wonder why - perhaps they are all connected.  Not saying they are - just that you protest a bit too much  
as someone said here recently - hit dogs holla 

the giveaway in this whole thing is that you had a thread removed where you were the OP - because it made you look like the troll you are.

Isn't it hilarious that he found all this information, but nothing about Mexico?

[Guest]

1 minute ago, Latbear4blk said:

Isn't it hilarious that he found all this information, but nothing about Mexico?

I told you guys - these trolls are devious & determined.  They fight like hell when they’re caught.  

[Guest]

2 hours ago, joizy said:

He told us about his lunch with his mother and even posted photos of her

only a monster says things like this - seriously, you’re shaming someone for posting about lunch w family and dragging someone’s mother into this ??  
You’ve proven my point exactly 

[joizy]

41 minutes ago, Slvkguy said:

hit dogs holla 

 

You've been doing a whole lot of hollering - accusing people of being trolls when you're the troll.

[joizy]

27 minutes ago, Slvkguy said:

yup, absolutely nothing about Mexico here 

 

Oh my God! What a wealth of information! Who knew that such a large and diverse country could be summarized in a post about one bar. Silly me for thinking I could open a new discussion without approval from the trolls.

[vinapu]

don't you guys have some knitting to do ?

[Guest]

3 minutes ago, joizy said:

What a wealth of information

The screenshot shown is just one example of many threads about Mexico.  The one example shown has 98 replies about Mexico City alone.  There’s actually a lot of information posted here about Mexico, if anyone really wants it & does a simple search.

But, this isn’t really about your desire to know anything about Mexico is it ??  Your real desire is to come here & get attention, cause a disruption and insult members along the way.  Because that’s what trolls do. Exactly that.

All the others here can make up their own minds about this.

The family comments are a new low here - even for the trolls. So, at least you’ve achieved something to be remembered by. 

Thanks for stopping by.  See you again soon.

 

 

[joizy]

3 hours ago, vinapu said:

posters can share whatever they see fit as long as it's not offensive or against the rules.

Readers have option of reading posted material or skipping it at will.

Boring for one may be interesting for another

I totally agree with you. Wish you'd defended me when I was called lazy and stupid for asking a question about people's experiences in Mexico. But let me tell you what my mom had for lunch yesterday.

[joizy]

1 hour ago, Latbear4blk said:

Isn't it hilarious that he found all this information, but nothing about Mexico?

what did your mom have for lunch today?

[Guest]

[floridarob]

3 hours ago, joizy said:

I totally agree with you. Wish you'd defended me when I was called lazy and stupid for asking a question about people's experiences in Mexico. But let me tell you what my mom had for lunch yesterday.

Did you seriously not even try to look for threads about Mexico??? You've spent more time crying about people being unfair instead of spending that time to research.

You joined Sunday, yet you know an awful lot of history ....except that of Mexico.....weird.

Let us know if you need any info on Thailand too.....might be hard to find.

 

[joizy]

48 minutes ago, floridarob said:

Did you seriously not even try to look for threads about Mexico??? You've spent more time crying about people being unfair instead of spending that time to research.

You joined Sunday, yet you know an awful lot of history ....except that of Mexico.....weird.

Let us know if you need any info on Thailand too.....might be hard to find.

 

Thanks Rob. There is plenty about Thailand. And the people there actually seem very nice. If you look at the way forums are organized, you'll see the Asian forums name all of the countries and it's very well organized. The Latin American forum names only four - Brazil, Colombia, the DR and I can't remember the other. No mention of Mexico. And no, I didn't do a search for Mexico until today, and you know what I found? Nothing. So yeah, maybe I'm dumb. Maybe I'm doing something wrong. But to join this forum and ask a question and be called names and shamed was not what I was expecting. I really don't know what it is, but it does seem to me that there is one person here, especially in the Latin American forums, who has set the tone with his crazy conspiracy theories. It's Q-Anon pizza parlor pedophile level crazy. I wonder how many people he had driven away after attacking them and calling them liars.

[joizy]

53 minutes ago, floridarob said:

Did you seriously not even try to look for threads about Mexico??? You've spent more time crying about people being unfair instead of spending that time to research.

You joined Sunday, yet you know an awful lot of history ....except that of Mexico.....weird.

Let us know if you need any info on Thailand too.....might be hard to find.

 

This is what I see. Where is Mexico hiding?

[floridarob]

Just a search of Mexico that show up in the titles, there are 3 pages....the word Mexico shows up over 1,000 times.

 

 

[Latbear4blk]

1 hour ago, joizy said:

So yeah, maybe I'm dumb.

[Latbear4blk]

2 hours ago, floridarob said:

Did you seriously not even try to look for threads about Mexico??? You've spent more time crying about people being unfair instead of spending that time to research.

You joined Sunday, yet you know an awful lot of history ....except that of Mexico.....weird.

Let us know if you need any info on Thailand too.....might be hard to find.

 

There is even a long thread full of info I started during my visit to CDMX. He probably did not find it because my mother is not there.

[Guest]

2 hours ago, joizy said:

So yeah, maybe I'm dumb

he’s likely not dumb - he seems to knows exactly what he’s doing. He’s pretty good at it. Troll 101 is claiming to be dumb when caught.

fyi - the reason he’s targeted me is because I advise members not to post in real-time, not to share contacts, not to share information to ID sex workers & not to entertain the trolls that want to discuss barebacking w sex-workers.  That’s all the stuff he really wants here.  So, that makes it more difficult for him.  The advice I’ve offered is how to protect yourself from the trolls online while still sharing useful information to have a good time.

btw - his initial post about Medellin doesn’t contain one thing you can’t find with a quick google search.  For someone who was there for 30 days, you’d think it would be more than generics, such as recommended restaurants, Ferchos, other gay venues or something unique that would be useful.  But  the trolls know that’s where they get caught because members here who know Medellin (and there are several) will see through it.  That’s the game . That’s also why they don’t try the same thing in Thailand forums because they know there are members there long-term and also will get caught in lies. 

To be clear - I’m not saying he was never there. I am saying he displays all the common characteristics & temperament of a troll. And uses the same writing style & insults as trolls that have been here before.  Maybe the same person, maybe not. 
Or, maybe I wrong - and as he says - he’s just dumb. That’s totally possible too.

[caeron]

 

There is an ignore feature that allows you to block out annoying users. I suggest people make use of it. These public pissing matches are just tedious for the rest of us.

Enjoy, don't take it all too seriously, and don't share personal information here because some people are fucking crazy. The problem is that you often don't know which ones...

[Latbear4blk]

5 hours ago, caeron said:

These public pissing matches are just tedious for the rest of us.

You are right. I apologize, I will (try to) stop trolling the troll.

5 hours ago, caeron said:

don't share personal information here because some people are fucking crazy.

I partially agree. I would not stop sharing information on real time, as @Slvkguy suggests, involving sex workers who advertise. Indeed, I will not share (anymore) information that would make possible to identify non publishing escorts or "sugar babies".

Most sex workers who are out and publishing are used to dealing with harassers and other crazies. I have been sharing my experiences with escorts for many years now, and several times I have been targeted by these nuts.

All those situations have been from my times hiring USA escorts, practice I have discontinued. These trolls would target my favorite regulars, mostly with text messages and emails, but also with calls and voice messages. The most common attack was calling the escort and telling him that I was HIV+ and was intentionally having bareback sex to spread the plague. Funny thing, this accusation was thrown even before I started PrEP, when I was not barebacking. Of course, the escort knew we were using condoms.

The attacks continued after I started PrEP and would have condomless sex. Always, before and after PrEP, we would sit with my regular and read or listen to the messages together and laugh loud. I particularly remember someone who sounded like a very effeminate White guy, accusing me of infecting him (I am HIV -), amongst the several crazies running this kind of campaign.

Only once I was able to identify, close to certainty, who was the harrasser. He was (is?) a Black escort who fell in disgrace in Daddy's site. He was so stupid as to call me to make threatening remarks after I wrote things about him he did not like, while calling my regulars as anonymous from the same numbers and without modifying his voice. I remember he had between 20 and 30 Google Voice numbers.

My point is, interacting in the net involves this kind of risk. Anyone who is at least average smart and is participating in virtual spaces is aware of the risk of dealing with mentally ill people. Be careful with the info you share, but do not stop sharing information about people who is advertising and virtually interacting. If you share anything about a publishing professional and that information is misused, it is not your fault or responsibility. The targeted professional will knows this, if he is not totally stupid.

I have learned to stop sharing info that would allow to identify, for instance, saunas' GPs. I have not had any attacks (or I have not learned about any) targeting the saunas' GPs I praised in the past, however I am now aware of the risk.

But in my opinion, sharing about guys who have a profile up, is legit. 

 

[Guest]

7 hours ago, caeron said:

Enjoy, don't take it all too seriously, and don't share personal information here because some people are fucking crazy. The problem is that you often don't know which ones...

I agree with your comments 

Ironically - my entire issue w the trolls here started because one of them used information I posted from a recent trip to SP to identify a sex-worker and subsequently harass the garoto via WhatsApp.  I didn’t post the name or contact information of the garoto, but did mention the online site where I found him.  The troll was able to figure out his identity from my description and then started texting him about bareback sex, etc  (The same troll was bombarding me w PMs begging for contact information of the other anonymous sex-workers I’d referenced in my travels.)

The troll then told the garoto he was a “friend of the gringo that just left SP” meaning me because I was posting in real time and just left the city. I then got text messages from the garoto w screenshots of the exact conversation showing the harassment with the trolls real name, real phone number and real picture.  The garoto wanted to know why my “friend” wouldn’t leave him alone, kept asking for pictures and inquiring about barebacking.  The troll was insistent because he was “coming to SP within days”.  Of course, that never happened.

so, yes - there are very crazy & sick people that abuse this site in ways you can’t imagine. And, they have a distinct pattern.  When I see the pattern, then it’s likely the same guy doing the same things here to other members. 

Btw - some members that I used to enjoy such as @numazu and @BlkSupermanvery rarely post here anymore because of the trolls. They’ve said so publicly.  Instead you have the trolls posting generic information you can find in any online source about our destinations of interest.  Seems to me that you’d want to keep the members that post real accurate & enjoyable information.  Perhaps Im wrong and the vast majority would prefer to engage e the trolls for whatever reason.