My Apologies to All Members of This Board

[assclown]

To All Members of The Bevnet Community:

My name is Duncan and I was once a member of a fraternity on the campus of the University of San Francisco (USF).

Several years ago, when I was Senior at USF, I wrote my senior thesis on internet communities and how they correlate with ones in the real world. I joined several dozen varied message boards and in various ways, I tried to influence how people reacted to each other and to the information presented on these boards by creating disturbances both subtle and extreme.

A significant portion of my research was done here at Bevnet, which was an ideal subject, because of the interesting nature of the topic discussed.

I also enlisted my frat brothers to help me out with the research at the time. They signed up with different screen names and together we tested out different community disruption theories like churning (digging up old threads to confuse the present users of a message board), embedding false information, and indulging in multiple characterizations in order to see how different personalities affect an internet message board.

When I turned in my thesis and graduated from USF, I assumed that my message board adventures would grind to a halt and the frat brothers who had not yet graduated would move on to other things.

Needless to say, I was surprised yesterday when I was told by an old friend that what I started several years ago has been continued to this day in my old frat house. Not only are they screwing around on Bevnet with some of the old screen names (and a few new ones to boot), but they are doing this on a lot of other boards to.

Something I did for school has been morphed and perverted into something I never intended. I had no idea that the people from my old frat would register dozens of screen names for boards like this and insinutate themselves so deeply into your message board communities.

I have asked the overseer of my old frat to make sure the current members stop screwing around on message boards like this, as well as stop passing on this irritating tradition.

I only found out about this last night and didn't revisit this board until a little while ago.

I offer my sincerest apologies for the hassles my old frat has caused you and I promise to do whatever I need to do to make sure this never happens again.

While I know it is frustrating for you kind folk here to be inundated with churlish fools as well as being unsure if even long-held screen names here are actually real, I can assure you of something I learned when I was writing my senior thesis only a few years ago.

Internet communities, like ones in life, change and evolve and are sometimes damaged, but they are almost never completely torn asunder.

Best of luck to you all,

Duncan

[Mr Zabe]

Have you fully informed Bevnet about this situation? I have to have some real blind faith in what you say,as on the surface it sounds rather unbelievable. Basically you were studying the dynamics of spamming internet groups?

Your story just does not seem believable. Prove me wrong and please clear up the mess your mistake has caused this message board.

Zabe

[ 07-07-2005, 12:11 AM: Message edited by: Mr Zabe ]

[ramonazo]

That explains all those weird posts that appeared this last days!

[DJ HawaiianShirt]

I'm not sure I buy it.

The explanation is too easy.

I'll believe it when the nonsense stops.

EDIT:

If this story is indeed true, to disrupt vibrant and prospering on.line communities(which don't wholly differ from real communities) is a horrible way to do research.

[ 07-07-2005, 11:50 AM: Message edited by: SnappleElementsVenom ]

[BottleBoss]

Yea, sure.

[RunWithDaLilGuy]

this is great. thanks franz, for all you've disrupted. christ

[mjb1124]

Originally posted by SnappleElementsVenom:
If this story is indeed true, to disrupt vibrant and prospering on.line communities(which don't wholly differ from real communities) is a horrible way to do research.

Well, what else would you expect from frat boys?

[boodoo]

Obviously these boys need jobs.

[riot]

sounds like a lot of bullsh*t to me.

[DJ HawaiianShirt]

No wonder all the spam posts were short, meaningless, poorly-worded, and often mispelled.