John Moulden - identity misappropriated

Subject: John Moulden - identity misappropriated
From: GUEST,John Moulden
Date: 23 Jun 11 - 07:35 AM

I have been informed that some misbegotten creature has joined mudcat as "Mr John Moulden" and is sending personal messages under that name. That person has no authority to do so. I do not send personal messages on Mudcat, unless very rarely to people who really known me, and that such messages invariably contain information taht could only come from me. I have a reputation for measured, accurate information and opinion, politely delivered and I would ask anyone who receives a message purporting to come from me to judge it in that light.

I would much appreciate if those in charge of this site could erase any inappropriate messages and remove 'Mr John Moulden' from your list of members. I will continue as a guest and behave myself as I always have; don't please blame me for someone else's twisted sense of importance.

Subject: RE: John Moulden - identity misappropriated
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 23 Jun 11 - 09:37 AM

A quick check on 192 people shows 4 John Mouldens in UK.

Is this person passing themselves off as you? or just using the name? (which may be theirs)

Subject: RE: John Moulden - identity misappropriated
From: stallion
Date: 23 Jun 11 - 09:48 AM

No such hiding place for me, there is only one in the whole wide web!

Subject: RE: John Moulden - identity misappropriated
From: GUEST,John Moulden
Date: 23 Jun 11 - 12:55 PM

The PMs direct their recipients to a flickr page owned by one Keith Acheson but which says it contains John Moulden's photostream. Also the Mudcat name is there associated with a right wing political party which has sought to appropriate English folk music in the past. I don't think that any of the other John Mouldens are implicated.

Subject: RE: John Moulden - identity misappropriated
From: Fred McCormick
Date: 23 Jun 11 - 03:36 PM

The plot thickens. I recently received a threatening PM from a member of this far right political party, IE, The BNP, who had logged in as Tom Munnelly. Tom Munnelly of course was an Irish folksong collector and associate of John Moulden, who has been dead for several years.

This particular crud, if it be he, has been ripping off the identities of various members of the English folk scene and posting Facebook pages which purport to show them as members of the BNP. Some, like me, are active anti-fascist left wingers, some are inactive leftists, and some are completely non-political. In my case, a long history of anti-fascist involvement has taught me to expect and ignore such things. But attacking people who have never said so much as boo to the BNP is something on an altogether different plane.

Also, in my case, emails purporting to come from me have been sent to EG., local radio stations, community organisations etc. These claim to attack or defend the "Muslim cause", depending on who is being emailed. But in one case I even received an email from a firm specialising in bras for large ladies, and addressed to Mrs Freda McCormick. (It would take too long to explain how I know it was from him. I will say though that this low life also has an interest in well endowed women, and many of his female victims have found photographs of themselves on the Internet with their mammarial regions digitally enhanced to ludicrous proportions.)

For some strange reason, as Vic Smith has explained elsewhere on Mudcat, he seems to favour victims who have in some way been associated with the Lewes Folk Club. This is a considerable embarressment to Vic, and one can only assume that the louse has some grudge or other against the club.

Beyond that, I've no idea how or why he chooses his other victims, but my identity was first stolen after a particularly trenchant Mudcat discussion about the BNP's appropriation of folk music.

I should add that there is nobody called Moulden or Acheson on either of the leaked BNP registers, 2007 or 2009. Moreover, beyond the fact that I publicly crossed swords with both Moulden and Munnelly in the distant past, I have no idea why he should have decided to harrass John Moulden. But anyone staring into the mental recesses of this fruitcake must be prepared for some startling scenes indeed.

Subject: RE: John Moulden - identity misappropriated
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 23 Jun 11 - 03:54 PM

Hi John - I got one of these Keith Acheson thingies which left me wondering - was intending to talk to you about it next month.
"I recently received a threatening PM....."
Yeah - nasty that - John, Tom Munnelly and I were once the target of a string of somewhat infantile poison pen letters headed "West Clare Taliban" and other mindless vacuity - Tom was quite ill at the time.
I put it down to local infant school being given a computer to practice on and left unsupervised for too long.
Jim Carroll

Subject: RE: John Moulden - identity misappropriated
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 23 Jun 11 - 04:26 PM

I am reminded of a Dutch proverb: The tall tree catches the wind.

It means that those who rise above the mediocre are likely to suffer verbal attack. It seems to apply here.

I sympathize with all of you.

Subject: RE: John Moulden - identity misappropriated
From: katlaughing
Date: 23 Jun 11 - 04:35 PM

John, I've notified Joe Offer and Max to be sure to check this thread. I am sure they will help sort it out.

Even though I am across the pond, I also had my FB identity co-opted by some BNP slime during the big discussion on it here. Took my mudcat photo and all. Took a lot fo effort, but FB finally deleted it.

Subject: RE: John Moulden - identity misappropriated
From: GUEST,Jim McLean
Date: 23 Jun 11 - 05:36 PM

Hi John,
I thought there was something wrong when I read that a John Moulden was praising the British honours system.

Subject: RE: John Moulden - identity misappropriated
From: Joe Offer
Date: 23 Jun 11 - 08:14 PM

I know it's unsettling to be impersonated, John. I've done what I could with it.

There are also a number of Joe Offers on Facebook who claim to be associated with Mudcat AND the BNP. I don't think any of them really have the name of Joe Offer, and Facebook has been very unccoperative about deleting the false Joe Offer memberships, even the ones that bear my photograph. I believe these false memberships are the work of a single person - you'll find them on Flickr, Facebook, other "social networking" sites, and more recently here at Mudcat - the last year or so. Max is aware of what is happening, and he's trying to figure out ways of dealing with the problem - but please be aware that Facebook and Flickr appear to be more vulnerable than we are in this matter, so don't dump on us too heavily.

I know that some people think we need to deal with this sort of thing immediately and strongly, but it isn't all that easy. I've found that strong reaction often tends to provoke trolls into even more troublemaking, so I do my best to handle such problems slowly and quietly. If there's a problem contact me directly and privately so I can deal with the problem without making a stir.

I agree that this is a very disturbing situation, and I wish we could just make it go away. The trouble is, trolling is an inherent part of the the nature of free online communication. To deal with this problem, we need cooperation from all of you. As it has said in the FAQ for years, the best way to deal with trolls is not to respond to them in any way. Let me know about the problem quietly, and I'll do my best to deal with it.

And don't get all in a tizzy about this BNP stuff. The troll knows full well that the BNP is the hottest of our "hot buttons," and uses the BNP stuff to manipulate us. The same troll also poses as an IRA agitator when people get bored of the BNP stuff. Chances are quite good that our troll actually has no affiliation with either the British National Party, or with the Irish Republican Army.

Thanks.

-Joe Offer-

P.S. To ensure the integrity of your identity, it's always best to post as a registered member.

Subject: RE: John Moulden - identity misappropriated
From: Fred McCormick
Date: 24 Jun 11 - 05:09 AM

Joe,

You can take it from me that the troll who has been impersonating John Moulden is the same troll who has been stealing people's identities right left and centre, and he is a paid up BNP member; a party activist from one off the Surrey branches in fact. I know his style too well.

I was't aware that there is a(nother) troll pretending to be an IRA member, but can't imagine this would be the same crackpot. This guy is very English (if that makes any sense) with no connections with Ireland whatsoever. Probably another crackpot. I quite agree. The best thing to do with crackpots and trolls is to ignore them or lock them up.

Subject: RE: John Moulden - identity misappropriated
From: Don(Wyziwyg)T
Date: 24 Jun 11 - 05:57 AM

""Even though I am across the pond, I also had my FB identity co-opted by some BNP slime during the big discussion on it here. Took my mudcat photo and all. Took a lot fo effort, but FB finally deleted it.""

I am pleased that you had a result Kat, but this side of the pond we are being ignored by Facebook, secure in the knowledge that they are beyond the reach of UK law.

Don T.

Subject: RE: John Moulden - identity misappropriated
From: Keith A of Hertford
Date: 24 Jun 11 - 07:03 AM

I happen to know that the flicker page is nothing to do with the named individual.
I have had fake Facebook profiles put up (B*P supporter), and had lies about me and my family pm'd to members, and my home address on the forum (IRA supporter).

Subject: RE: John Moulden - identity misappropriated
From: Leadfingers
Date: 24 Jun 11 - 07:12 AM

Face Book is overloaded with Right Wing Idiots using false names and stolen photos ! I had a 'Friend' request from Dave Bryant , WITH a photo , depite the fact that the D B in the photo died in 2005 !
As others have said, FaceBook takes NO notice of any complaints from anyone outside the USA ! BASTARDS !

Subject: RE: John Moulden - identity misappropriated
From: GUEST,Ralphie
Date: 24 Jun 11 - 08:07 AM

I had a Facebook "Friend" request from someone with my name a couple of weeks ago. The picture of the fetching male torso, was quite obviously not me! It's quite odd to be asked as a friend by oneself!

Subject: RE: John Moulden - identity misappropriated
From: Jack Campin
Date: 24 Jun 11 - 02:34 PM

Maybe Facebook *would* pay attention to a media story?

Shouldn't be hard for a good journo to make something out of this.

Subject: RE: John Moulden - identity misappropriated
From: Joe Offer
Date: 24 Jun 11 - 08:42 PM

Well, you in the British Isles can rest assured that Facebook is very slow in responding to complaints from the U.S., too. We have very few laws that can be used to protect people from online harassment. It took me a month, but they did finally take down the false membership that was using my picture. Another one took three months to take down. There's one fraudulent Joe Offer left (with a very interesting collection of friends), but that one isn't as directly tied to my true identity.

-Joe-