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Friday 18 November 2011

Gold Queen - Are We Being Played? (Update 5)

Critical has been thinking about this for a while since the Gold Queen's first RL post, and after that the daily bombardments of gold posts which always include a funky income earning link.

Dont get Critical wrong. On the AH yes he is a jerk, but in Real Life he always donates to charity gold coin collectors and co-sponsors 2 World Vision children because its the right thing to do. This was one of those on-the-fence posts and I hope I dont lose readers because of it.

The question Critical is asking himself is as per the title: Are we being played by Markco and Co, professional social internet manipulators?

I dont know Markco or Alyzande, the owner/author of the Gold Queen. I dont know if she has been raped. Critical only knows what is published by someone, on her public blog. There are just some funny vibes, and I think Critical is not the only that is picking up on these strange vibes. Why do you say that you ask? Because Critical can see 2 distinct blogger groups:
- gold bloggers who are vocally sympathetic
- gold bloggers who have not been vocal (and i believe smell something fishy)

Hmmmmmm.

Or maybe its the GOLD SPEED RUN link in all the new posts?

Or maybe its the weird feeling that, if Critical was involved with a traumatic incident (for example a car accident), my wow blog would be the last thing on my mind behind Personal wellbeing, Kids, Family etc

Or maybe because if someone was raped, they generally do not want to tell the whole world? Especially in gorey details such as:
"Some part of me died between 2nd and 3rd rape."

Or maybe its the way the Setup was (in Critical's opinion) very cleverly set up:
- putting Markco and Warcraft Econ as temporary regents (authors) so that if it all goes to poos Alyzande can claim, oh this was all Markco posting not me
- a real world charity link, so that it looks like its not all about generating own income stream
- after the intro post comes a few neutral posts with no sell links and then BAM! daily lame posts with clever links asking you the Reader to: speed run speed run speed run clicky here!!!!
- if anyone questioned the reality of Alyzande's condition all it would take is one non-anon reader to post a vouch and that is sufficient to shut down any doubts eg Nathan posts "i have talked to Alyzande in Real Life and yes she is in hospital and is in a serious condition".
- a few weeks before an Awareness day, she has that ailment

Again I hope you dont misunderstand Critical. Increasing awareness of domestic violence and child abuse is highly needed in Critical's own country and I personally feel a piece of me die when I read in the newspaper of yet another child in our country being mistreated and callously killed.

/shrug, I happen to know from personal experience preparing and loading up a blog post via a smartphone with links and pics such as the recent Gold Queen posts is nowhere near easily done. Even though each post is signed POSTED BY Alyzande, Critical would guess they are definitely created and posted by a caretaker.

I dont know. My gut tells me, I think we are all being lead on to some extent by a very clever puppeteer. Maybe Alyzande did get raped, but Critical believes the mastermind behind these posts should not be taking advantage of her reader's pity and push internet sales, thats just poor form.

Hmmmmmmm. Hopefully Critical does not lose Readers because he voiced his opinion that something smells very fishy. I dont know .... I just cant shake that feeling.

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Update 1: Thank you all for taking the time to read and comment on this topic. If I do not respond to your comment it is not for lack of respect but for time. I will also refrain from referring to myself in the 3rd person that many Critical Readers are used to, so that you know you are talking directly to this blog's author not a blogspot character.

Firstly I would like to address Apple Cider Mage because her post and commenters highlight genuine concerns with my published post, rather than bandwagon everyone-all-aboard. I wish to clarify to Apple that I support White Ribbon, and that I agree rape, domestic violence and along with child abuse (I know thats not relevant but to me it is important) are serious issues that do require promotion and increased awareness to be raised. My post calls into question the appropriateness of capitalizing commercially for self gain, on the back of a serious incident.

Secondly @Sinshroud thank you for taking the time to share with everyone exactly what is going on. I have immense respect for you personally and the sacrifices you have made to give back to the wow community. I sincerely apologize for being the "jerk" who did not hide behind a corner and spoiled a surprise birthday party (to put it mildly). I am sorry you feel this way and completely understand if you remove my blog's link from your forums blog roll (if you have not yet). I do wish it to be clear though this post was not intended to be personal attack questioning whether the incident occurred, but (again to re-iterate), to question the commercial income stream attachment to a serious incident.

Thirdly @Zse Thank you for sharing a very personal part of your life. I apologize because my statement was poorly structured. Yes everyone has the right to deal with a traumatic incident in whatever way helps you help yourself. What I meant to call into question was, to what depth of detail do victims go to when describing their ordeal. It just flickered a "hang-on" switch when the post casually mentioned "oh by the way I was raped at least 3 times".

Lastly @Markco Thank you for showing me a perfect example of how to drum up interest which converts into sales figures. I have a lot of respect for you, your skills and your abilities. If I was camp Gevlon prior, I am now camp Markco. If I had the tiniest inkling of commercializing for income, you would be the first one I would call.

To address the wider audience I would also like to clarify 2 further points:

Did I release the post for publicity knowing it is an aggravating topic? No. Loyal Critical Readers who have stuck with me through thick and thin will know I am only interested in true Critical Readers aka glyphers wanting to improve themselves and their glyphing skillsets, and are willing to return the favor by helping other glyphers improve. Sports Illustrated has no use for a house wife who is not interested in sports. In the same way temporary short term visitors interested in conflict but not glyphing, are of no use to a glyph specific blog.

Why publish this post then? Along with many other gold blog authors I read a lot of gold blogs. Also like many blogs, this blog is built on the author's opinion. I had an opinion, I tried to keep it honest and unbiased based on the information I had at the time of the post. I also tried to avoid applying nasty labels to people or situations, which often happens on many other blogs. This post simply highlighted the commercialization tactics on the Gold Queen's blog and the chain of events unfolding. I did not (and have not) made a personal judgement call whether what is happening is good or bad, except to say: this is what I see happening.

I will honestly and openly admit I am a very new blogger new at blogging and whilst I have learnt a lot in the short 2 months of this blog's life, I still have a lot more to learn. With a higher readership count and therefore power, comes responsibility. Much more so than a blog with a smaller viewership base.

To the real person behind Alyzande/The Gold Queen: You have my sincere sympathies and I wish you the best and a speedy recovery.

Thank you again all for contributing to a very healthy (albeit heated) discussion. If I have let my loyal Critical Readers down with an apparent lack of ethics or thereof, I apologize in advance. I have made my own bed and rather than hide, delete this post or delete this blog I am choosing instead to front up and face the media storm ahead. This is because I feel a personal obligation to explain myself to my Critical Readers who without, my 2 month old blog would not be what it is today. I know you are there in the background not commenting/questioning and calling for my blood with the rest of the mob, but you deserve an explanation.

To everyone else calling for my blood: I fully understand if you vote with your feet, stop reading this blog and go and click the income stream links to "show your support" against me. This is an unfortunate side effect that often accompanies strong opinion Posts, that there will now be an even bigger divide between Critical Readers and Non-Critical Readers.

yours sincerely,
the real person behind Critical

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Update 2:

@Brent I will be honest yes it was a short post, from opening, draft and complete time being <1hr. If I could do it again do I wish I had held onto the Draft longer or wish I had not published this Post? No. I have already learnt very early on that publishing a public post on a public blog is irreversible and you cannot "regret" publishing articles. I expected a few Critical Readers to share their opinions (for and/or against) but not the awesome public backlash with heavy hitters of the wow blogsphere (Sinshroud, Markco etc) also wading in. Unfortunately this is now something my blog and my pseudonym writing character must live with.

@Midas the news articles are easy to find now because readers are linking my post and the article together to spread the news and cause more outrage.

@Alto why would I want to try and forget I posted this? It was I that published it. It was myself that wrote 100% of the post, no one else helped.

To those thinking this was a publicity stunt: this post's view count is only 1,315 views. The blog's total pageview for around 2 and a half months is 22.7k which loyal Critical Readers know, was earned through hard work publishing (imho) semi-decent posts, every day. This topic is hardly interesting enough to garner 22,000 hits in 1 day. Only JTMC articles can hit those sort of numbers because of the high quality of their articles.

Reading through the comments posted through all day, the 3 that have stood out have been Markco's. I completely and absolutely admire his exceptional EQ. If not for the seriousness of this topic, I would be all over his comments and fully dissecting his "dont bash her, bash me" hero act and his "tsk tsk tsk so wrong" /shaking his head act. Markco we have to work together sometime, I am sure we could make some big bucks with your experience and my critical attitude. Hit me up when you are ready buddy.

@Dave /bow thank you, thank you for the golfclap. Wasnt it super clever of me to ruin my reputation that I have worked so hard to cleanup and build up over the last 10 weeks, for 1,300 measly page views? Ask any blogger, any real blogger would they intentionally destroy their reputation for 1,300 page views? I would not, as highlighted in Update 1.

There are obviously some very very angry readers that feel I have touched a raw nerve. As I have already mentioned, I will not try to hide or trivialize this post as a normal daily post to be pushed downwards and forgotten. I will try to explain myself as best as I can but as this is a public blog, you the public are free to flame me, burn me or hang me as you wish. I only ask you read through my clarifications and apologies before skewering me further.

This blog is now belongs to you Public Joe for 3 days, after which, hopefully I have not lost all my Critical Readers and can continue with my daily post routine.

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Update 3:

@Alto, I have always been very outspoken about from the very beginning of this writing character. Along the way I have offended people and have made many "enemies" so to speak. Because of the above post, my blog has become a platform for wholesale attack, with comments coming from all sorts of commenters:
- genuine concerned individuals (Sinshroud, Applecider, Zse)
- defensive parties (Markco)
- Critical "enemies" (Kath, Bree etc)
- Neutral, open minded (Vendoh)
- long term Critical Readers (Brent, anon, Midas)
- let's jump on board, everyone's doing it so its ok aka mob mentality

To the genuinely concerned individual's I have tried to address their concerns as honestly as I can and apologizing where I felt appropriate.

I can also understand a defensive party wanting the opportunity to defend themselves. The interesting thing is Markco proves again he is king of social manipulation. He not only blocks a thrust, he counter punches in the same breathe. He has learnt a very long time ago that all publicity is good even negative publicity, it is all in how you handle your public relations. I do not joke when I say he is my idol.

My enemies are here to get their shots in. Go for it, we all know if you wait long enough, a strong opponent will still make a mistake once a while and that will be your rare opportunity which you should capitalize on before its gone.

I appreciate Vendoh's comments because he defends my post as an objective, open minded individual who is not taking the easy route of jumping aboard the wagon and wholesale flogging some guy because everyone else is doing it. Thank you for being a voice of reason, I hope your association with this post has not tainted your name.

My Critical Readers are who I hold the most respect for and to be completely honest Alto, they are the only readers I give a rats ass about. In the same way I do not give a rats ass about random strangers jumping in because of mob mentality and wholesale beating someone up because that person must be bad or else why are they getting beaten up. It may be counter productive in repairing my public relation to say this but it is who I am.

I do not hide from my responsibilities and for those that are here to jump on board the wagon go ahead, unrestricted commenting is still open. What I do not want is new readers thinking this is a publicity stunt with the hopes of increasing my Readership. If you are here for the conflict by all means enjoy the numerous scathing comments and feel free to jump in and get your jabs in as well. But if you're new and only here for conflict, I want you in, get your punches in, and then out. I dont want you to have any other reason to stay, hence the removal of all everything except this single post. In out, go find the next "evil" I dont want you clicking other posts that I and Critical Readers have worked hard together to build.

Yes you heard correctly Critical Readers. This blog is only what it is today because you helped build it with all your contributing selfless comments. I believe this blog is one of the few "small" blogs that have a great community of commenters which you know is true by the screenshots of comment counts that I regularly post. Dumb questions are never shutdown and are helped to be answered not just by me, but by other selfless Critical Readers. Anon posting has always been open right from the start and no non-spam post has ever been deleted because I believe 100% in the articles that I publish.

Because of this I owe it to my Critical Readers to try to shut this uproar down as quick as possible. I have a highly professional group of glyph mad Critical Readers and I stand by my articles 100% including this one. But I do not want this monkey hanging on my back, with strangers commenting on future posts.

I too may not be wordsmith or a great blogger and yes I have maybe only 100 posts and yes I have not yet hit the 3 month or 300 post mark. Yes your blog is probably better than mine. I too am not famous. Markco bam instant recognition, same for Sinshroud. Yes my blog may die off tomorrow or next year, and if that happens yes you may or not miss me. I also have no idea how I will be remembered.

But it boils down to, why do I blog and why we purists believe in not loading adverts on our blogs? We blog for "fun". Being advert-free I believe it keeps us honest, not just to our readers because we are not pushing out rubbish posts just to look active, but also to ourselves so that we continue to blog and share our opinions because we want to and it is what we enjoy. If there is no more enjoyment it is very easy to stop because we are not reliant on a $1000 per month advertising income stream.

It may seem I have turned my "glass house" into a brick house. To be honest I am not quite sure I fully understand your analogy. But I hope the above has explained the reason for the massive changes.

Thank you Alto for your words of advice. It has helped and forced me to formalize, understand and reaffirm with myself the actions I am taking are the best in mine and my Critical Reader's interests.

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Update 4:

@Zoxy
- Of course everything I write about here is about me me me. This whole blog is about my opinion as is the case with your ex-blog or anyone else's blog.
- Everyone has the right to run their blog the way they want, with or without ads. I tried to simply explain to Alto why its not a big deal if I "die off" as he so kindly puts it, because I dont have or need an income from a blog.
- Lastly I am not Charlie Brown from Accounting preparing a financial report. I am Critical from Tichondrius geeking up a glyph blog, hence the pen name.

@Alto
1. There is a slight difference between a Critical Reader and a reader of Critical's blog. [reference to Breevok deleted].

2. My updates are not revisions. While I may correct a spelling error here and there, I do not modify my previous writings. The majority of visitors to a blog are to read the author's views. I choose (which is my right as you rightly noted) to consolidate my comments together. Whether you like this style of author commenting or not, that's obviously your choice.

@Flux
/hugs, sorry buddy I know you wish everyone on your blogroll could get along but I know what I posted when I posted it and I chose to post it because I am who I am.

@Everyone else asking I continue my regular posts, please be patient. If you re-read through the early comments you will notice the bloodrage effect where all they see is blood and all they want is blood. When the drama dies down hopefully the mob will shuffle away back to their own circles.

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Update 5:

Only just read Breevok's latest update and new blog, my reference above deleted. We may not see eye to eye on many things, but I feel your pain and hope you are doing ok.

78 comments:

  1. Sorry but to be honest you just lost a LOT of respect from me, and from the rest of the gold making community to follow.

    The Gold Queen is in my guild and on my RealID (she hasn't been online for like 15 days now), I even have her on my personal real life facebook. I've known her for ages and have also been in touch almost every single day since her incident.

    The recent White Ribbon - Heart of Gold Stunt was organized privately by her friends and those in the gold community who actually care. She didn't know ANYTHING about it until it went live.

    You clearly don't understand how people deal with different emotions. Everyone is different. I don't see anything wrong with letting the world know what happens. If people don't then it won't ever end.

    The Gold Speed run is something that TGQ has been part of before and has every right to link to it on her blog.

    Critical you make me sick with your insensitivity and lack of empathy. It's one thing to be an asshole in World of Warcraft when dealing with making gold. That's goblineering. But it's different when you do that about something sickening and serious that actually happened in real life.

    Did you ever bother to ask people involved, do some research, and find out the truth instead of just posting blatant negative speculation for the world to see?

    You should be ashamed of yourself.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Critical, I don't know her personally, but I have talk a few times whit her on twitter, since I started Blogging, in the email chain for the white ribbon post, this doubt was raised, but there where some people that say they know her and they presented that this actually happened.

    This "extreme violence incident " actually happened or at least I saw a news on the web about it.

    Personalty I believe it happened, but I make a distinction about her and her blog.

    Yes Marcko, is a professional money maker on the web, is goal is clear to make money, and it seams he is running or at least helping her on the blog.
    But I sincerely hope this is not a shameless scheme so low and vile to just get more attention and profit, I still believe in her until proved other wise.

    From the few I do know about her, the blog is a important part of her life, and the support she is getting I hope at least it helps her to get better.

    I still have a little faith in good Human nature, and I hope I am not been deceived.

    But this is the web anything can happen, who know the truth?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ok Sinshroud put it better them me and it is explained.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Also Critical I hope that by now, after all you seem so informed about everything, that you realized the Markco who The Gold Queen is talking about is NOT the one running JMTC and WoWCrusher at the moment.

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  5. Critical - did you actually engage you single braincell before posting today? From where I am sat I sincerely doubt it.

    Is this is some sham attempt for Markco and the GQ to make money - then this would be the most inanely stupid thing to do. They would get found out - thus killing any credibility they they have - the result being an end to all future money making ventures.

    Markco ( and not the one you believe it to be)is a douche - he always will be, he cant help it - I fear its genetic - but even he would not attempt to falsely take ownership of a viscious attack (which has been reported widely across many news media outlets including several UK news agencies including the BBC). If that were the case the 'real' victim would eventually be found and the house of cards would collapse.

    You really have hit rock bottom today Critical. Time for you to take a step back, and try and find whether you have a single ounce of humanity left inside you. You are, in short, pathetic.

    ReplyDelete
  6. You always came off as a cocky but somewhat amusing scrub with the whole glyphs deal. But this is just a new low. Screw you buddy.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I have the same view as you critical. To me it is all just too susupicious. Don't believe everything you read with anon posters. All these blogs use pseudonyms so why should they expect anything else bus suspicion.

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  8. If you believe it is a scam, then don't donate money.

    But casting aspersions on whether a woman has actually been raped or not based on the idea that you, a man, would not publicize it (or shouldn't) or that's not how rape victims "act" is exceptionally gross and shows a critical lack of awareness of the situation.

    Most of all, it's unneeded commentary.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Dude... really?

    I get it, I really do. I don't think less of you for having suspicions, there are people in the world who will use terrible tragedies for their own gain, and I honestly think you have some legitimate concerns. But this whole thing is a really delicate matter, and you've handled this in a decidedly un-delicate way.

    I really think you need to reconsider this post.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I hate to see you being so insensitive to such a dire topic.

    What are you getting out of this glob post Critical? Are you really willing to take such a risk of offending her and reducing her hope just so you can get some satisfaction from speculation about the unfortunate situations of others? That's twisted man. Real twisted.

    The Gold Queen has a REAL facebook account with REAL people on it and her REAL family. She shares this profile with a select few of her close wow friends and you know what? IT'S REAL! It took her courage to announce to her friends what happened. It took her courage to stand up and be heard. It took her courage to live just from one day to another.

    I'm so dissapointed to see someone like you who I enjoyed reading blog posts from sink to such low life inhumane speculation.

    Good bye from this reader and I'm never coming back.

    ReplyDelete
  11. This is Chris, the old markco. I was asked by TGC to monitor comments when she was in the hospital (she still is). I do not know if jmtc's new owner is working with her.

    Personally I've tried my best to be a voice of reason for her when she's overwhelmed by this tragedy. I was hoping she wouldn't post about it but in the end she did, probably as an outlet.

    But none of that matters. You have posted this assuming you must be correct. TGC is responding like a classic rape case and the last thing she needs to read is this garbage.

    This is so messed up. Bash me, bash my new replacement, but keep your crazy conspiracy theories in your head. This girl needs support and people need to be considerate of the fact that she may not be 100% herself right now.

    ReplyDelete
  12. It's funny that the only supportive comment is Anonymous. Were they too cowardly to stand by their own views?

    I think your suspicion says more about YOU than it does about this incident. I'm not sure what kind of service you felt you were providing by posting this. Are you trying to open our poor, innocent eyes?

    "Or maybe its the weird feeling that, if Critical was involved with a traumatic incident (for example a car accident), my wow blog would be the last thing on my mind behind Personal wellbeing, Kids, Family etc"
    This wasn't a car accident though. This was something worse. You're implying that your priorities should be shared by another person (which is very arrogant) during a crisis that you haven't experienced. This is very distasteful and I'm not sure why you haven't realised that.

    "Or maybe because if someone was raped, they generally do not want to tell the whole world? Especially in gorey details such as:
    "Some part of me died between 2nd and 3rd rape.""
    So. If people are raped, they don't wish to tell the whole world? It's great that you have such an insight into the minds of all victims of rape, based on your first-hand experience and contact with them. Even if you do know someone who's been the victim of an assault like that, their choices wouldn't dictate the choices of every other victim. Each person in this world has their own priorities and ways of dealing with events.

    If you had some compassion, it might have occurred to you that trying to keep things running as normal may be very, very important to her right now. This would extend to her blog if it's something she puts a lot of effort into on a very regular basis. Sadly, it seems that because she hasn't retreated into a corner to rock gently and silently in the way that you perceive she should, that the event can't be genuine.

    Your opinion is your own, as is everyone else's. I can only hope that you give some serious thought to what you've said above and how inappropriate your speculation is, then take this post down.

    ReplyDelete
  13. I am seriously disappointed by this post.

    If it's someone "real" to stand up and vouch for her that you need, then I'll do that. I know Alyzande and I'll back up her story. The incident made the national news, actually happened and continues to have an impact on her life.

    We all deal with events like these in our own way - we have our own coping mechanisms. There's the people who plunge themselves into their work when a loved one dies, or who turn to others for help to keep things running. Not everyone becomes quiet and withdrawn, which is what you seem to be expecting.

    It's often easy to forget that we're dealing with real people on the other side of the internet. While it's easy to be cynical, expeciting a hidden plot or conspiracy, it's rarely the case. The truth is often a lot simpler.

    Either way, I hope you've learned from the experience.

    Gareth "Gazimoff" Harmer
    Writer at Mana Obscura and Real Person On the Internet

    ReplyDelete
  14. You're going to get some really negative comments good sir, based on the ones already starting to roll in. This isn't one of them though.

    While some people may not appreciate it, you have every right to speculate. It may not be a popular or even factual opinion but at the end of the day you took the time to voice your opinion and provide a rationale for it. Now, people may not like it, but it's not like you posted a paragraph that could be summarized as "I don't think she was raped, gtfo with your internet schemes". You took the time to be articulate, even if it wasn't a popular opinion.

    Internet citizens love drama. Blasting someone with a keyboard and no fear of repurcussion is the norm when someone can't (or doesn't) think critically. A lot of people don't like to examine both sides of an issue, so you're going to get bombarded. Your thoughts probably would have been better received in guild chat or with some other gold friends privately, but I'll still stand up for you.

    Violence against women is a problem world wide and it's terrible. That said, you have every right to question the legitimacy of the claim given the connection to a known internet con. Overly sensitive people who don't always use their rational mind to process things are going to make ludicrous comments about your humanity, or how you should be ashamed, but all you did was ask a question and you even took the time to preface it by stating that you didn't claim to know all the facts. If people can't deal with that, well, let them QQ. We don't live in a sugar coated happy land of a world where everything is happy and shiney all the time. Sometimes horrible things happen, and sometimes people talk about them and have dissenting opinions. Deal with it. Spend more time IRL and less time on the internet if you've lost touch with that basic reality of the world. Expressing an opinion that is contrary to the norm doesn't make you a monster or less of a person.

    Keep up the good work.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Critical Goblin, people like you are why rape culture is such a huge, terrible thing. People like YOU are why rape victims are afraid to speak out.

    I am beyond disgusted. Situations like this make me really wish it actually was possible to punch people through the internet.

    ReplyDelete
  16. @Vendoh this is one of my biggest complaints about bloggers and blogging.

    People believe that since they have an opinion they must immediately express it through their blog and that they have the right to do so.

    I've mistakenly done it myself and looked like a fool many times.

    But with real world experience comes maturity, along with an understanding that a simple email could provide all the information critical needed to actually prove or disprove his theory.

    What critical did was take advantage of the same situation he claims others are taking advantage of. It's irony, but it isn't funny at all.

    ReplyDelete
  17. When it happened to me, I told EVERYONE I knew. To protect them from the person that did it and to work it out in my head by talking to others. When it happened to a friend, she withdrew from all social situations and avoided talking to ANYONE. And yeah, both responses were COMPLETELY ACCEPTABLE.


    Because you think one way does not make you right. This amounts to nothing more than victim shaming and is why victims are terrified in some cases to talk to authorities. Alyzande is being VERY strong in this case, speaking out against her abusers and seeking justice. I wish that the same could be said for all victims.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Matojo it's rather ironic isn't it?

    Critical Goblin: "Or maybe because if someone was raped, they generally do not want to tell the whole world?"

    Yeah well now you know why Critical. People like you who have no respect or empathy. You post and talk without thinking about this kind of stuff. You don't realize how much impact a post like this can have.

    I've just seen her latest facebook status. You know what it is? "I can't." and now she isn't replying to anyone.

    ReplyDelete
  19. End this Critical please, this accomplished noting.

    ReplyDelete
  20. @alberthus at this point the damage is done.

    So wrong, so many levels. So much for critical thinking.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Yes, now what can we do to fix this? Anyone ?

    ReplyDelete
  22. I have nothing to do with World of Warcraft and have no idea how it works, nor do I ever have the desire to. I'm someone from the real world who knows what has happened and reading this has really pissed me off. This post has gone beyond the Internet as I heard about this offline.

    I'm someone who has known Alyzande for a very long time, way before Warcraft even existed.

    I have a lot of respect for Alyzande and the way she is dealing with what happened. 'Critical Goblin', whoever you are, reading your post you come across as an ignorant little twat who needs to turn off his computer and spend some time in the real world.

    Maybe you'll learn that not everything is fantasy 'cos I'm sure Alyzande wishes that what happened really was.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Wow

    I don't blog at the moment but I was one of the people that called the police to get her taken into hospital .

    It's heartbreaking watching her Facebook status updates and the things she has written that I have seen

    It's real and shame on you

    Sam
    Aka Zoxy

    ReplyDelete
  24. Well, Critical, it sure seems like you managed to piss a lot of people off. You could've searched the net a bit and found one of the many news articles that talked about this - and the political aftermath of it all. You could've stayed out of it.

    It's probably time to make a retraction and step away for a bit. WoW has a way of compounding our cynicism to unhealthy levels if it's not kept in check.

    ReplyDelete
  25. @ Marcko: "People believe that since they have an opinion they must immediately express it through their blog and that they have the right to do so."

    Well...they do have every right to do so. As you pointed out, however, being hasty in said expression isn't always a good idea... but that doesn't invalidate an opinion or concern even if it is unpopular.

    Crit mentioned specifically what his concerns were, why he had them, what he made of them, and then concluded by conceding he didn't know all the facts. He didn't make any derogatory remarks about TGQ or violence against women. If anything the larger suspicion was cast against the current owner of JMTC who is a known associate of the TGQ blog and is starting to become known as a scammer in the gold community...the community Crit is a part of.

    I don't think Crit was trying to be antagonistic or mean spirited and he likely regrets broaching the subject at all. However, his actions are now being painted as both antagonistic and mean spirited by people who obviously have a personal affection for TGQ (a very understandable reaction).

    I promise I'm not saying this to be a troll or get a rise out of anyone, but when you care about something on a personal level you tend to view it more with passion than reason. Again, very understandable. At the end of the day though if you're going to judge someone for behaviour you don't like: make sure it is reasonable. Calling Crit names or saying he lacks humanity or empathy for simply raising a question is as unreasonable as some people are making Crit out to be. Unpopular opinion? Yes.

    I read TGQ regularly. I also wondered if she was actually assaulted when she first posted about it the other week. I wish her well in her recovery which will surely take time and love. That said, I don't feel bad for thinking "Did it actually happen?" when I first read it. Should I? Should I feel even worse if I had asked the question aloud? I don't believe so.

    ReplyDelete
  26. A lot of us have no personal affection for Alyzande (I barely knew she existed), but when your gut reaction to someone expressing such a sensitive information (and so well publicised) is 'Did it actually happen' then you're perpetuating rape culture AND being incredibly insensitive at the same time. Concern about the community being scammed for page views should not outweigh basic compassion for someone who has gone through an extraordinary amount of trauma. And if you have doubt - do more research, don't speculate or use words like 'ailment' in situations like this.

    ReplyDelete
  27. I have to say that while you are obviously allowed to post your thoughts and opinions on anything you want, this is not really very well thought out.

    Articulate and well written yes, but not well considered. While some people who have been victims of something like this want to keep it quiet, others do not. They have no wish to let it hang over them as some sort of embarassment, hiding it may even make it seem like it is their fault and they should cover it up. It takes a lot of nerve to make something like that so public and do it over the internet.

    You ask for proof from non anon posters and you have it here in your comments.

    It is very sad that your reaction to this wasn't only "I think it didn't happen and it's a stunt" but that you actually felt so strongly that it was a hoax that you went to the effort of writing this post, and despite however many re-reads and edits you did before posting it, still thought it was worthy of posting.

    As many have already said, this immediate suspicion and disbelief is what causes a perpetuation of many people thinking the women in question are liars, making it up etc.

    Shame on you for feeling the need to accuse someone of lying about something like this, did you ever considered that you may be wrong and what she would feel like reading this?

    Looking at this post with your mindset though, it is quite likely that this post is itself a stunt and you knew fine well it would do the rounds and increase your traffic briefly, I suspect though in the long run you have done yourself more harm than good as you will surely lose followers or people will now avoid this blog. I know I will.

    Kat

    ReplyDelete
  28. This is beyond inappropriate. It's one thing to have doubts and suspicions privately, but you certainly had no business posting them in public. Until you've been through anything half as horrible as this, you have no right to speak about it.

    My family knew someone growing up, who we later determined had "faked" a longtime battle with cancer, instead likely suffering from munchausen syndrome - but even then, we've never felt it appropriate to speak to them or their family directly about it publicly. And we had tangible proof. You're so far off base here, it's not even funny.

    "This was one of those on-the-fence posts and I hope I dont lose readers because of it."

    I think you've got more to worry about than readers, to be honest. I've never been a fan of your site because I think your approach to glyphs is horrible, but this is well beyond a new low.

    You call yourself "Critical Goblin", but after this, I'd contest that "Cowardly Goblin" is more appropriate.

    (won't be back to read a reply, btw - so don't bother)

    /ignore

    ReplyDelete
  29. Critical questioned the coincidences. He did not question the circumstance, but rather how it was handled. He clearly stated that he did not know either way. Also, he clearly stated that he was against violence towards women and children. It is an emotional issue, and the responses are understandable, but to demonize him for his opinion is not warranted. If I was a blogger, and thankfully I'm not, I would have avoided this entire conspiracy theory.

    ReplyDelete
  30. @Vendoh - When one doesn't know the facts, the best course of action is to STFU or go about acquiring said facts. Critical did neither.

    As someone who only knows Alyzande as a fellow gold blogger, I can say that most folks with an ounce of either empathy or prudence wouldn't make such a post.

    Allow me to share MY thoughts - off the cuff. There is little rationalization for talking out of your ass, when you cba to even think. The criticisms of CG are well-deserved. As for thinking aloud - there's an evolutionary reasaon why humans are quite capable of thinking before speaking. Neglecting that capability doesn't exculpacate you from being discrete and / or respecting the gravity of the situation.

    This goes well beyond asking for proof and ventures far into unsubstantiated conjecture that paints Alyzande, the victim, as a fraud. Further, criticizing how Alyzande is coping is disingenuous at best - How the heck would any of us have a goddamned clue how a rape victim is supposed to cope?

    So I have to say that you're way off base. Critical comes across as a little boy who's upset that someone on the blogosphere got more attention yesterday. It takes a very small person to post this type of drivel, with so much factual evidence freely available, and then refer to himself as 'Critical'.

    So, to everybody: It's been quite well proven what happened. Now would be a perfect time to STFU and either move on with your own petty lives, or be a bigger person and show some empathy.

    Critical - not you're finest hour, man - you fucked this up big time.

    ReplyDelete
  31. From the first day I stumbled on your page and every now and then when something would link back to it, this whole time I was thinking you were just a shitty gold blogger with shitty gold strategies.

    I didn't know you were actually retarded. Not retarded for having suspicions, but definitely at least a little challenged for thinking it was a good idea to make it public and create this post.

    If your traffic was shit before you might was well just hang it on up now.

    ReplyDelete
  32. My daily prayers have been with this young woman since I read of the attack in her blog, of which I am a long term reader.

    Critical has made public a series of comments which are totally lacking in morality and utterly fail to take the condition of this young woman into account but are not itself illegal.  His blog may not recover from this and it is likely that his blogging name may be consigned to the dustbin of history.  There would be no harm though on a final post with a full heartfelt unconditional apology.  Historically such a mistake would be confined to a few people who would perhaps be in a better position to judge if this is out of character - the internet puts this mistake in front of the global population and therefore allows no such second chance.  But we as intelligent reasonable people know that.  Of course, Critical has the right to stick to his views in which case the law demands that he bring them to the attention of the police, doing otherwise would be breaking the law.

    Others have strongly voiced their views on the matter as is their right.

    ReplyDelete
  33. @Stede - Your argument is valid and reasonable.

    I mean, you're still trying to pile it on with everyone else and make Critical out to be the biggest asshole this side of Syria but there isn't anything wrong with what you have to say.

    I don't agree with you...but I'm not going to to call you names or question your moral centre. That wouldn't be reasonable.

    If someone wants to read the entire OP and draw the conclusion "Crit is saying she was't raped!!!!!" they are welcome to (incorrectly) believe that. That isn't what he said AT ALL but if they want to believe that is what he said and flame him accordingly they will.

    That is my only defense of Critical. He clearly stated he wasn't trying to make light of the issue or attack TGQ, but that he:
    (a) didn't trust the character of the people left in charge of her blog and that
    (b) if someone WAS trying to use her situation to generate traffic or revenue it would be reprehensible, or in his own words from the post, poor form.

    No accusations. No attacks. Just a question posed. Not even a question of whether it happened but a question of whether someone was benefitting from such a horrible event. The fact that there isn't likely anything fishy going on doesn't invalidate the asking of the question itself, nor does peoples emotional response to it.

    Insensitive and poorly timed? Sure.
    Morally bankrupt, shameful, and perpetuating rape culture? No.

    ReplyDelete
  34. /sarcasm on
    God forbid anyone question a case of abuse/rape/terminal illness/death.
    Oh yes it's always true no one would ever try to deceive people by claiming it happened especially not when money is involved.
    / sarcasm off

    Few years back on another MMO two separate individuals one claimed to have cancer and asked donations the other claimed a spouse died and asked for donations(both cases ended up eventually being found out to be false claims)

    Anyone remember all the day care accusations of abuse later to be found out as false?

    This is the internet anyone can be and claim anything they want.

    Calling Crit names and saying he is a bad person because he questioned this situation is just wrong.

    ReplyDelete
  35. I's thinkin' the bard said it best:

    "Scorn and defiance, slight regard, contempt,
    And any thing that may not misbecome
    The mighty sender; doth he prize you at."

    ReplyDelete
  36. You know...there's a term for when people use their imaginations and put together intricate conspiracy theories full of swerves and tricks and lies. It's called putting on the Tinfoil Hat. It's a lot of fun to do with the WoW storylines, movie plots, maybe even your favorite book series.

    Only a monster would try to do it with someone's rape experience.

    ReplyDelete
  37. Really? Accusing someone who is claiming rape of lying didn't seem like a colossally bad idea to you?

    I'm sorry but this was an ignorant move and I'm sad that this is my introduction to this blog. You didn't lose me but you'll certainly never have me either. I hope you do lose readers as you deserve it.

    I am all for critical thinking but knowing when to NOT voice your unfounded, and mostly unresearched opinion about a personal matter is an aquired skill you missed evidently.

    - Dreyja, avid tweeter and blog-reader

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  38. Hey, Crit....I'll continue reading.

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  39. See my updated comments inside and at the bottom of the post itself. Nil alterations/modifications to original post.

    ReplyDelete
  40. Looking forward to tomorrow's post.

    ReplyDelete
  41. With age hopefully comes wisdom. I understand your thinking Critical and I will still continue to read what you write but sometimes it is best to wait and think a bit longer before posting. Trying to find a way to confirm what you are writing would of been a better approach here.

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  42. @Anon, there are alot of angry readers. Out of respect for the topic at hand and to also let readers have their say I will be not be publishing new posts for a few days so that this discussion is not trivialized and smothered downwards on Critical's blog.

    Sorry Critical Fans. As fun as it sounds, I do have to face the media for this public whipping. That much I owe to you and myself.

    ReplyDelete
  43. Sorry to hear, Critical. I understand your reasoning, but disagree. Just move on as quickly as possible.

    ReplyDelete
  44. In hindsight, clearly a poor choice to print.

    That said, for all the folks sharpening their pitchforks, I say you're also misguided.

    Look, two things are at the heart of the issue here

    a) the lack of readily accessible information

    I first heard about Alyzande's rape here. I read through the comments, at which point I was satisfied that there are folks who know her in RL who corroborate the story. Then I went over to TGQ to read the mentioned post (which I had not even heard about), and read through the comments there. I did not note any convincing corroboration of anything in the notes. Sincere sympathy, yes. But no hard corroboration.

    Now, I personally like Alyzande's "voice," and had I read her post first, I wouldn't have doubted it, but Critical's "dot connecting" was not simply tin-foil talking.

    Why? Because of factor

    b) Guilt by association. Markco has clearly engaged others in the past to deceive website visitors. I think it's fair to say that there are many people who do not trust him in the least. Add to that, the follow-up post today was pushing some other goldmaking snake oil (and I know, my snake oil is someone else's valuable tips). The post also didn't have her typical signature.

    Now add to this her other recent post stirring up the pot by talking about Markco's selling his blog, which if chased, would lead a websurfer to his new product on how to sell your website (more snake oil).

    Frankly, for my money, anything remotely associated with Markco has the possibility to be a fraud. There's a fine line between being an aggressive marketer and a liar, and where he stands is burned forever on the record (http://greedygoblin.blogspot.com/2009/11/no-means-no.html).

    Now, and here's the unfortunate thing: her plug/link of Markco's sale takes one to one of those sleazy "but wait, there's more, here's my free guide" sites: http://whypeoplecourse.com/sellasite.html

    The irony is I didn't bother chasing the Markco thing *all the way to the end* until *now* (half way through this comment). If you actually download the hyped document (I wasn't quite worried about getting a virus, though I was expecting to be hit with a pitch for money), surprise!! It does appear to be a free guide and not a gimmick.

    The sad thing is that this is what happens when people cry wolf too many times. No, *not* the rape, but the incessant, and at times dishonest, self-marketing.

    Critical, I don't criticize you for a second for being skeptical. And I'm guessing it was curiosity that drove you to stick your neck out. And you got your answer.

    I wouldn't worry about losing your readership. You have a very high signal to noise ratio, unlike some other blogs, and a single, sincere fuckup in judgment won't cost you any open-minded readers.

    TLDR:

    Anyone who chooses to associate with a someone who is sleazy runs the risk of sleaze by association.

    If people want to direct anger, go shout at the rapists.

    ReplyDelete
  45. Addendum: to be thorough and get more informed, I went hunting for the published links some people have mentioned. It took 15 minutes of scouring posts, following links, and looking through comments.

    Terrible story, but the links are definitely buried.

    ReplyDelete
  46. Crit,

    My best advise is to kill off commenting and forget you ever posted it. You said your piece, you updated your thoughts on it, let the post gather dust. The more the comments are left open, the more problems will ensue (like there isn't enough already). The damage is done. Leaving it open will just destroy the wound already made.

    That is, unless you are glamming up the drama for more website hits (probably more on this post than your whole two months in blogging).

    Just my advice for you. Take it or leave it.

    Alto.

    ReplyDelete
  47. way to spike up ur blog hit..

    bravo..

    /golfclap

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  48. I for one don't believe this happened to the Gold Queen. She is as much full of crap as Markco her mentor is, who by the way is NOT two seperate entities.

    Once and for all: Gold Queen did not get assaulted, and there is only one Markco.

    ReplyDelete
  49. What happen to that poor girl is reprehensible and disgusting. You lot however are providing me with no need to turn on the TV to see both reality TV and soap operas, just read "gold blogs"

    ReplyDelete
  50. It did happen. Plenty of proof around.

    Tgq is my business. My sole income.
    I spent October neglecting the blog to help Jon K on a non snake oil product, gold speed run. Nothing to do with Markco1 or Markco2. I proudly and plainly state the text link is an advert.

    I'm really disgusted that you chose my pain to increase your traffic. This isn't a "single sincere fuck up it" was cruelty for fun. It's peeing on an open wound.

    How am I coping? Normally I'd strike back, in my current state I can just manage to breathe in, breathe out, repeat. I already know there are men in the world who delight in causing pain, so I'm not bothered to note you are just another one.
    Tgq

    ReplyDelete
  51. Plenty of proof around.

    I went looking and it took me some time and focus. Spent like 15-20 minutes reading and clicking before I found the info you posted in response to a comment. Horrible. I'm sorry that happened to you. But the links were NOT front and center. As I see above, Critical tells me they are now widely available. But they weren't before.

    I'm really disgusted that you chose my pain to increase your traffic

    I can see how that works.

    I already know there are men in the world who delight in causing pain, so I'm not bothered to note you are just another one.

    If you're going to equate Critical with rapists, just come out and do it.

    No one gets a free pass. I think both of you have overstepped. But I have a hunch I'll only see remorse out of one of you.

    Probably as it should be: Critical's ordeal was peanuts.

    ReplyDelete
  52. Two thoughts .

    1. If TGQ views her blog as a business then to be honest she should try to run it as one and keep the real life drama out of it. I don't want a used car salesmen telling me his kid has leukamia. That is just my opinion though and I am sure most people would react to it without thinking it through. Place yourself in a scenario where someone trying to sell you a product is also giving you an emotional back story and actually think about how comfortable or uncomfortable that would make you feel and do you view it as professional. That being said its her business and she can run it in whatever way she deems helps her company. Also its her life and she can work out her pain anyway she chooses. However when you throw stuff out in the public sphere this is what happens. The world is cynical especially when you open up with emotions and follow it up pitching me a product. Sorry just my view.


    2.Now if you really want to go tinfoil hat how do we know critical wasn't put up to this to drive the sympathy and page views even higher.

    Critical this post makes no sense though because you question someone about shady practises but then try and latch on to Markco, So what the hell was the original point of this post?

    ReplyDelete
  53. Considering the replies this story got in major news circles by commenters I am kind of surprised she would think this would be a good idea to publicize on the internet.

    http://www.austriantimes.at/news/Around_the_World/2011-11-03/37324/Brit_Womans_Refugee_Gang_Rape

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  54. Crit, I suggest you heed Alto's advice.

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  55. I feel horrible for Alyzande, her and I are NOT on speaking terms by any means. I understand why. In regards to her being raped, im certain it happened. Ive read the article that was linked to me and drew a logical concluson that yes, she as in all likelyhood raped by a handful of people who deserve to be killed.


    For this post I guess people can think what they want, but kicking someone while their down is in my eyes almost as bad as a crime that was committed against her.

    The horrible, aweful, bottom feeding, low-life nature of people comes out in a time like this. This scenario isnt any different. When its al said and done if she wasnt raped, and she WAS using this for atention, which I DO NOT BLIEVE, then little you say can do anything. If she was so horrible of person (shes not) that she can utilize one of the most repulsive crimes on earth for her gain and she can still look at herself in the mirror and see a person that she can bare looking back at. Then this post and all its comments are an absolute waste of time.

    Get well soon Alyzande! NO ONE, EVER--I emphasize EVER, deserves to be raped.

    ReplyDelete
  56. I think Critical is being facetious with his suggestion to team-up with Marcko.

    ReplyDelete
  57. Crit,

    I love how shortly after my comment about your blog hits "aired", your whole blog page changed. No previous posts, no "page-counter", the blogroll moved, all suspiciously different...Hmmm.

    Some folks blog in a glass house. Everything out in the open, and I thought you were that type (as you claim to be).

    Now, I see just the opposite happen. Hiding in a brick house. It makes me believe that this "open to opinion" Critical is nothing more than another soon to fail blogger.

    Two months is nothing in the blogging world. I think it was something to the tune of 90% never make 90 days or 90 posts. If they are in that small percentile, a similar percentage make it to the next step, six months or 180 posts. Out of them, very few (once again) hit a year.

    I am nothing near a great blogger, I am not a wordsmith, I am not famous by any means. What I am is a blogger that has been around the block a few times (nearing 300 posts), and have seen a handful of bloggers like yourself die off.

    Some, I have missed. Some, I haven't. Some, I really didn't care either way. Some caused their own demise....

    My question to you is , when your blog crashes, how will you be remembered?

    Alto.

    ReplyDelete
  58. Your loyal readers are behind you, Crit.

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  59. *carrying in a petrol can
    So I finally find the single story link for this and reading it I am simply amazed !

    As for the actual incident.
    I am saddened by anyone being abused in such a way.
    My question is what in the world was this individual thinking!
    While rape and violence against anyone is never ok.
    She was alone in a war torn 3rd world country and while alone she decides to trapse off with men she doesn't know.
    On top of that it's with men from Afghanistan and we all know the track record on their treatment of women.
    I spent 2 years in Afghanistan and 2 more years in Kosovo/Serbia.
    My spouse joined me in Kosovo for a few months and one of the main conversations we had was about the locals and being wary.
    That part of the world has a glut of trafficking in humans.

    I guess what I'm trying to say to everyone is the world is not your backyard, people are not all civilized, everyone does not hold your views or values, and you are NOT SAFE!!

    ReplyDelete
  60. Wow your ego is way up there

    I don't read your blog and as I don't play WOW anymore and you probaly have never heard of my blog either

    What you wrote should not have been published it's that simple ,there was stuff I wanted to write idea I had about people and there ethics but you don't do it in the open .

    There were cases that were felt with behind the scenes and stuff in the open and it was much better to stay behind the scenes

    I started blogging with no ads but in the end sold my own guide.I feel your comment was still aimed at TGQ as it is her income it is her job.

    Not everyone is in the same situation and some people blog for a living others do it for fun.

    The more I read as you defend yourself just makes it look worse .

    The glass house Is a comment about transpanacy but your blog on blogger with a pen name ....


    Sam
    Aka Zoxy
    Trading with zoxy

    ReplyDelete
  61. Crit,

    You should know that a good portion of the folks that commented here have visited your site before.

    Hence, they (myself included) are your "loyal" readers. You wouldn't be on my blogroll if I didn't read you, and you wouldn't be on my blogroll if I didn't like your style of writing. Not necessarily this topic, but you get my point.

    I for one, am all about people's opinions on things. You stated yours, revised it, revised it again, and probably will have more revisions to come. It's your blog, do as you please.

    But there is no need to bash your commenters' by "getting their jabs in" or whatever you call it. Once again, jumping to conclusions without seeing the whole picture. Some folks work, and maybe didn't see your new post for a day, even though they were/are "loyal readers".

    Just because you put out a post doesn't mean that peeps read it that instant. Those on RSS might not get it till midnight or later, even if you posted 12 hours before that...

    Will I still read you? Yes. This didn't scare me off, in fact, it just gave me more insight to who Critical is. When Gevlon vs Markco happened, I didn't really care. I still read both of their blogs after the fact. Then Markco vs Cold....and for a minute, Cold vs. JMTC's whole blogroll. Still read Colds posts.

    The internet is full of drama, it happens. And people read it. Most people, in their own way, relate to it.

    The same reason that people watch Reality TV. Watching/reading drama gives folks something to talk about. It gives people a sense of well-being; supporting the good guy vs. supporting the bad guy or vice verse. The oooh's and ahhh's of it all.

    In case you just quickly read through that, and didn't get my point:

    I am a "loyal reader". I have read most if not all of your posts. Most people that originally posted are "loyal readers". Everyone has an opinion, you had yours on this post. You left comments open, people said what they said. Whether people love you or hate you for it, you got a ton of views.

    If you are so worried about your "loyal readers", and you "don't give a rats ass" about everyone else, give us a new post to look at.

    Alto.

    ReplyDelete
  62. Critical,

    I have to agree with Alto when it comes to posting something else. Let the flames die down and move on. I, however, disagree that most that commented on this topic are "loyal" readers. Some if not most seem to be jumping on the bandwagon. They could have easily protested your post civilly without the use of profanity.

    Again, just move on and put up another post.

    ReplyDelete
  63. "Bad Critical!" Now come give me a hug.

    ReplyDelete
  64. Condolences to Alyzande -- I wouldn't wish such an experience on an enemy, let alone a stranger.

    However, on the internet and in real life, it's often wise to approach claims with skepticism. We had a man come into my work office several months ago, and gave a VERY heart-rending story about how his grand-daughter had been murdered recently, and he needed money for a funeral. A terrible occurrence. However, further investigation after he left showed that the details of his story didn't line up with the news and police reports published about it, and basically he was trying to scam us.

    In short, while something terrible did happen, it's hard to verify that it happened to the person claiming that it happened to _them_ unless you know them. There have been enough scams of exactly this nature (X has cancer, Y has 3 years to live, etc) over the past decades that it tarnishes the credibility when someone claims it in truth, and even more so on the internet.

    Gullible people believe claims like this without question, intelligent people question it and do research. Compassionate people question it silently, which seems to be where Critical fell flat. It's quite possible to support the White Ribbon campaign, and be firmly opposed to violence against women, while still noting that in a community full of pseudonyms and anonymization it's hard to verify that a person is who they claim. In the absence of the connection that RealID or other personal acquaintance gives, there was no way to tie the two together. I'm thankful that Alyzande's supporters have pretty soundly done that, though.

    Keep posting about Glyphs, CG. I'll keep reading that, even while I now will follow TGC's blog in the sincere hope that she will find a way to live her life again.

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  65. I think, when you have no proof to the contrary, you should have kept your opinion to yourself. You gain nothing, do nothing positive, and basically help no one. You come off as a massive dick. This isn't some politician trying to leverage a voter base, or garner sympathy.

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  66. Your blog, your rules, but I would ask that you stop talking about this and stick to the gold posts. People are either going to believe Gold Queen's story, or they're not. No one's going to change anyone's mind.

    For the record, I think she's full of crap and would love to see this drama fade away.

    ReplyDelete
  67. IMO This post was a bit out of line. There's no denying he probably shouldn't have posted it in the first place. His suspicions were definitely founded as it's clearer every day anything associated with "markco" is probably a scam, as several bloggers have shown with evidence in the past (tobold, gevlon, wowcrusher). However I do think people are overreacting, he never accused TGQ of faking her accident and in fact went out of his way to see that he didn't doubt it happened. He merely stated his (well-founded) suspicions and you guys need to get off his ass for that. I'm sure many of us had the same suspicions especially with TGQs recent WoW speed run link, just didn't have the guts to say it. Now someone has and you won't let him live it down.

    Anyways Critical I will continue to read your blog I really like your style and you are more honest and straightforward than other bloggers I have met. You and Gevlon both. Here's to the future success of your blog and don't let this shit get in your head!

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  68. This post was in no way out of line. The only aspect of this that is out of line is all the anonymous Marcko-Philes that jump to his defence.

    L2Read then have the guts to comment with your actual ID and a reasoned argument backed up with actual real proof. Something I see lacking in every anti-critical comment.

    Sounds like a massive set up to me at the expense of the poor lady who had to undergo hell on earth; whether she is TGQ or not.

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  69. Heh. I'd like to point out that I get many, many e-mail messages a day, each of them claiming to be from a "person of high significance" or that "a highly religious artefact needs to be retrieved". There are many different variants -- the most famous of which are the Nigerian 419 e-mail scams.

    Do you know what each of those messages asks for? Money. Generally they ask for small amounts first ("Oh, we need $100 to bribe an official in our horribly corrupt country") and then move into the truly huge amounts ("I guarantee that this is the last payment. Once we have our wonderful McGuffin, I promise you'll get double your money back. You just need to pay me an extra $10,000")

    Do you know what each of those messages relies on to get that money? Sympathy, trust and a little greed to begin with. They rely on the fact that people feel bad about bad things happening to other people. They rely on the fact that you are interested in the possibility of getting a little money back for your trouble. And finally they rely on the fact that you'll TRUST a RANDOM STRANGER on the INTERNET.

    To TGQ : if you are the woman in the linked story above, then I'm sorry. I don't think that anyone should go through anything like that. You have my sincere sympathy and I wish you a fast recovery.

    However, having said that, I will not be sending you or anyone else that you link to money. You know why? YOU'RE A RANDOM INTERNET PERSON. Getting other RANDOM INTERNET PEOPLE to back you up isn't enough to prove that you're anyone. Sorry if this lack of trust offends you and your cadre of random voices, but quite frankly this _is_ the internet. People lie and manipulate trust to gain financial benefit every day.

    Flaming Critical for asking the fairly obvious question and actually doubting a story on the internet is silly. After all, if no-one questioned this sort of thing we'd all be sending money across the internet to complete strangers. In this age, not questioning information that you get on the internet is insane. Who does that now-a-days? Don't blame him for the environment that he's a part of.

    I guess at the end of the day, I'm just a very cynical person and you are welcome to disagree with me, but if you really want to send money to random people, I'd just like to point out that I'm a princess fallen on hard times and I need $1000 to bribe my way out of my corrupt country. I promise that I'll pay you back double when I get out. I'm worth $500b US Dollars. Really. :P

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  70. I have read the Gold Queen's blog for a long time, I have always enjoyed reading it and found her posts very helpful and entertaining. However, when she made the post revealing what had happened to her, something just didn't seem right.

    I have visited the links she provided about her attack and it only made me doubt it even more. According to the link, this incident happened on the 27th of October (a Thursday), however there are posts from her on the 1st of November (Tuesday) stating that she is still on her "holiday" in Serbia. If I had just been through something like this in another country, I wouldn't be sticking around for any reason. If for some reason I did decide to stay, I certainly wouldn't refer to it as a "holiday."

    The article also states that she returned home on a Monday.If she was still in Serbia on the first, this means she did not go home until the 7th where she went straight into hospital almost two weeks after her attack. She says her injuries were so severe that she still remains in hospital. If her injuries were so bad what was she doing in between the 28th of October and the 6th of November? How was she able to travel home?

    Of course she can argue that the article is incorrect, but she has stated that it is the most acurate article and continues to link it to people.

    I understand that people are coming out saying they know (not personally) Alyzande and that they know it happened, but really, we don't know who these people are. Even if these people do know her, if she can lie on the internet about such a violent attack, then she would need to lie to everyone she speaks to on the internet who reads her blog.

    A few days ago someone posted on her blog stating that they didn't believe her story. She made a call out for anyone on her Facebook to verify that they had seen the police report, there was no response from anybody.

    From the day this story came out, I kept trying to tell myself that there was probably some explanation for these inconsistencies, but now it seems more people are catching on to the same things. I have no doubt that this happened to SOMEONE, I just don't think it was Alyzande and I am sickened that someone would lie about such a story.

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  71. Critical, my man! This post has made you one of my instant favorites. And I do mean instant. Not because I agree nor do I disagree, i'll just wait and let time tell the full story. The thing about this post that made me write a reactionary post about freedom of speech was that you spoke your mind. And you wrote this post with valid arguments. The blogosphere needs bloggers like us that speak our mind regardless of what the norm is.

    Like I write in my post, I support The Gold Queen as well as Critical and I wish you both the best. Sadly enough I doubt that this story will end soon and silently.

    Sincerely,
    Grayz

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  72. Oh, another thing. You didn't need to apologize in my honest opinion. If you speak your mind and do so with arguments that are valid to you, then speak it.

    Hell, I might come back to this blog and completely disagree on something, but to me, that would be great cause i'd know that I was speaking to someone who speaks his own truth. And that is worth a lot more to me than reading a liers words.

    “All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them.” -Galileo Galilei

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  73. Wow. Late to this all, I know, but I hope you (Critical Goblin) have crawled into a cave never to return to see the light of day. You are despicable.

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  74. Also late to this all, I know, but I hope you (Critical Goblin have NOT crawled into a cave never to return to see the light of day. You are pretty good at what you write and I have enjoyed your earlier posts.


    Keep up the good work mate!!

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  75. Great post! The fact that you means someone is reading and liking it! Congrats!That’s great advice.

    Broach manufacturer

    ReplyDelete
  76. Foo, cost and price are not the same thing. If I found someone willing to sell ink at his cost to make it I too would gladly buy all his ink and never mill another herb. gold-strategy

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