Reader Mailbag Volume 127

Every once in a while, I share with you, kind readers, the endearing emails received from other kind readers. You are all kind, of course.  And in this edition, a challenge is presented!

email1x

A donation? How nice! But there’s a catch, which raises some questions.

email2

An unreasonable question? So it would seem.

email3

Discretion and “confidently”? Well, who doesn’t like that, right? But since this kind reader has reached out to me, in light of the emotional distress I’ve caused him, he’s really not in a position to negotiate.

email 4

Bear in mind, four days had already elapsed between the first email and this one.  The thrill of chatting with this emotionally distressed individual was fading.

email 5

This is where I just don’t get kidz. Not that I don’t enjoy being called “dude” as much as the next old guy, but it makes no sense at all.

In any event, now the challenge. What post could this spelling-challenged reader be referring to?  There is but one post at SJ that mentions a “Jason Smith,” but it seems highly unlikely that the Jason Smith would be out of prison yet, and even so, cleansing SJ hardly seems to be the biggest priority this ex-cop would have, being convicted of killing a 92-year-old woman and all.

Whoever this is, and whatever post this refers to, certainly seems to deserve more sensitivity than I’ve shown thus far. And does he not deserve the attention he craves, good and hard?

But please, exercise discretion and confidently. After all, that’s what he’s looking for, and I would never want to disappoint a kind reader. But you already know that.

 

24 thoughts on “Reader Mailbag Volume 127

  1. Solomon L. Wisenberg

    I’m going to take a wild guess. It sounds like that young lawyer from North Texas who you and Mark Bennett went after about a year ago. He threatened to beat one or both of you up.

      1. Solomon L. Wisenberg

        Yeah. That guy. I guess he only threatened you, though. Bring your first aid kit.

      2. KronWeld

        I had forgotten how painful that was to read the first time. As Bugs would say, “What an ignoramus!”

        By the by, when Googling “Carl David Ceder,” your two posts about him are 2nd and 3rd in the listings. Two other blogs posting about that mess are there on the first page too, making 4 of the 9 first page results calling attention to his ignorance of copyright law. I do believe he met Barbra.

        I wanted to use a different Bugs Bunny quote, but some now interpret it as racist, though the background story seems to not support that believe. Ah well, can’t hurt anyone’s feelz.

  2. EH

    I bet it’s a reputation management service. Or maybe that dude–forget his name–who got called out for the world’s worst reputation management skillz.

    Still: This one is smarter than usual. He recognized you wouldn’t breach a confidentiality promise and started out with that. And it looks like it was pegged as an “ask” and not a demand. AND he offered to pay for it.

    Frankly that’s pretty commendable intelligence, at least in comparison to the normal sort of folks who email you. Pity he ended on a bad note.

    1. SHG Post author

      You know what the irony is? Had he offered an honest and reasonable explanation, there was a possibility I would have accommodated him. Without a “donation.” I’m a sucker for honesty.

  3. Jim Tyre

    It will be back in fashion any day now. Any. Day. Now…

    Only fair to warn you, SHG. If you ever do anything fashionable here, your regular readers will have an excellent case for Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress.

    (The checkbox for getting email notices of new comments is missing. Odd.)

    1. SHG Post author

      Jetpack, which provides that box, is on the fritz. It says it will have it fixed any day now. Any day now…

      Now if only your comment had been a reply to the one it replies to, rather than starting a new thread, I would be deeply moved.

  4. Mark L.

    I tend to only make blog posts on days when you don’t, which is to say really, really infrequently. One of those posts, though, was frustration at a spammer who scraped the NY Bar directory to try and encourage attorneys to sign up for his shady-looking legal referral system.

    Not too long ago, he reached out with a really nice email explaining the business failed long ago and that he was now getting involved in the financial industry. My post calling him a spammer was popping up at the top of Google when searching for him, no matter what he did.

    Sending a polite email explaining his earlier error, apologizing and asking nicely to have the post removed was very effective. I read his message and my immediate thought was, “Sure, I’ll be happy to take that down.” Offering lucre is distasteful. Admitting your earlier error and asking forgiveness is likely far more effective.

  5. michael woodward

    I’d be willing to cough up the $17.50 donation he’s thinking of, just to see where this goes. Could you let him know? Discretely of course.

    And that STFU – Sure thankful for ?? everything? Was it a typo?

    Michael Woodward
    Polite Canadian

  6. phroggie

    If i were ever in such a situation, I would pull up the headers from the original email, look for any X-Originating-IP and/or X-Forwarded-For metadata, and grep over the web server logs for such an IP address. I’ll give 2:1 odds that there’s at least some record of page load(s) from that IP at or around the time that the email was sent, and that such logs will readily identify URL(s) that are disparaging of a snowflake. Of course, that won’t work if jsmithbreeder (a breeder of JSmiths?) used the GMail web interface, but c’est la vie.

    Please evenly split my usual (and totally solicited) consulting fee between the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the How The Heck Is AOL Still A Thing Coalition. I just hope that it’s not too late for HTHIASATC to complete their mission.

    1. SHG Post author

      If only there was someone knowledgeable about computer-stuff who could guide an AOL-dinosaur through the maze of X-Originating-IP and/or X-Forwarded-For metadata…

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