More annoying than the "fake apology" is the call for "fair treatment" from someone who conspicuously and consistently throws the first punch then stands back to watch the chaos. Individuals who start threads here demanding justice after those threads are closed or posts deleted, who carefully worded their missives with hot-button phrases or chose topics calculated to bring out the haters and to gang up on easy marks. The old Classic Troll Sam/Richie/Blues/Your-guest-name-here (who returns every August), and our newer Toxic Troll Songwronger have nothing better to do than start threads to get up people's noses.

The activity is simple: start a socially or politically noxious thread, then watch for the responses protesting the toxicity of the first post. If it begins to slow down, they come back to give it a nudge. A time someone they really dislike responds, they feel entitled to jump all over that party, a self-appointed carte blanche unique to trolls. Some of them will stalk people from thread to thread doing this, but manage to stay under the radar unless they decide to stalk a moderator.

Here is one real mea culpa in this thread: I owe Bobert a huge apology for not catching on sooner to the stalker who tormented him when he was most active here for the last few years. Bobert has decided to take the moral high ground and exit most of the conversations here at Mudcat, and I miss his witty presence. The man trolling Bobert isn't under the radar any more.

People who get their pleasure from fighting with others need professional help. Sociopaths are a minor part of the traffic here at Mudcat, but they cause a major headache for those who have the misfortune to tangle with them and they drive away our legitimate music audience. BS threads are meant for general non-music discussion, not for the tabloid exploits calculated ONLY to stir up trouble. Trolls, we are sorry your feelings are so easily hurt when your mischief is moderated off the page. You need to find someplace else to play. Instead of dragging the offal of the world into a blues and folk site, go post your remarks under the articles on your home town yellow rags. You'll find like-minded haters there.

I have got a little list . . . - a very short list - some of you who behave badly regularly may wonder if this is about you. It isn't, though we wish you would stop the fighting. Some of you smell blood in the water when one of our self-appointed victims takes to the boards - ignore those posts. See if you can play nicely from now on. The real trolls know who they are.