Public Service Announcement: Octopuppet Uncovered

Keeping a newspaper afloat today is a job that would give anyone Excedrin Headache #1. I Hate Canton is sure, then, that Editor Gauger, like newspaper editors everywhere, is sick to death of opening his mailbox only to find it jammed with daily kvetches from loyal readers regarding the obnoxious, offensive, and odilicious public comments of others.

The majority of these complaints, we are sure, are about our resident Repository multiple personality posting disorderly, Octopuppet, who has never heard that less is best.

Octopuppet unlike most Internet cranks, seems to thrive on the actual act of posting, not the attention it gets. Consequently, it never goes away, no matter how many people using common wisdom, ignore it. If it is ignored, it posts under different personalities and even argues with itself. Attacks are hardly ever based on issues, but instead on long-standing personal grievances, such as Octopuppet being disinvited from a social gathering by another poster. When Octopuppet's victims attempt to defend their good names, THEIR posts are often removed while the lies and smears--some of them actionable--remain. The attacks are frequently racist. It's no wonder, then, that some accuse Rep officials of granting special treatment to Octopuppet.

I Hate Canton finds it hard to believe that someone at the Repository would be a party to this nonsense, but there are too many examples to dismiss the idea completely. Some of Octopuppet's personalities brag about its connections to City Hall, the local Democratic Party, and Team Healy. Octopuppet's sudden interest in I Hate Canton coinciding with Rep officials, reporters, and the mayor's office learning about this blog and logging on to it repeatedly is indeed suspicious.

Octopuppet over the last few months has posted under at least 40 names.

As a public service to Editor Gauger, Rep staff, and Rep and IHC readers, we present a preliminary list the of names we believe Octopuppet uses. This list is open to corrections additions, and subtractions. We have a second list of online personalities we suspect are Octopuppet entities but are still under debate.

We hope Editor Gauger will use this list cheat sheet to cut off Octopuppet's tentacles and get the Rep back on track.

femdem
Sam Dawson
goldenone
Big Al Carter
Vincent Sholmi
cantonvoter
LeVar Burton
Steve-O
localperson
Painter
flowerchild
Bob Matthews
Caracticus Potts
The real BAC
Fawn Liebowitz
Carter
Carter 1
swordfisheez
concernedfather
alleson
Neptune37
demsndoes
FYMP
Mr Thompson1216
Theodore Donald Kerabatsos
princessofthehomerats
Shirley Jean
Poison Pen
Cal
jdurgen
Quckikzx9r
Nathan Jessep
john durgen
SupraPretty
Mary*
mary u parker*
Tina S
Fed-up
snoozie
Tom Dewey
pt king
Lady Shirl
Italian by Injection
denniso *

* attempts to hijack other posters names

An updated list will appear the first of each month.