My Challenge to Rock!

[kangarunner]

So, what are your thoughts on Pixeldude's evidence in this thread, is Rock the culprit who tried to frame you and who has been behind these nasty Mercer sockpuppet accounts? Because it sure seems that way right about now... sadly, @Winston appears to still be in denial about it. I hope he lets things sink in and accepts the uncomfortable truth sooner rather than later, because it very much looks like his close friend and associate has been rather two-faced for quite some time. Rock has a lot of explaining to do and should come clean.

It would probably best if @Pixel--Dude had a call with Rock to clear things up. Honestly, I haven't looked very closely at the previous posts. From what I know, Rock is independently wealthy and owns rental real estate in the Philippines. It just doesn't make sense that someone who lives on passive income would choose to spend his time making troll accounts on this forum. I would think someone with that high level of intelligence would spend their time doing something better.

[kangarunner]

I will think about it. If Rock is indeed Mercer, then he isn't someone I would want to have my phone number. Is there another way we can do this three-way call thing which protects my anonymity?

I'm honestly nervous about someone I don't trust having my phone number.

I do want to be fair and let Rock have a chance to defend himself, but I just don't know if I can trust him.

Maybe Winston could host a private Zoom conference call with you and Rock. You can join using only your computer audio, no phone.

[Yohan]

..... Honestly, I haven't looked very closely at the previous posts. From what I know, Rock is independently wealthy and owns rental real estate in the Philippines.

About 5 years ago when I met him in person in Thailand, he was also owning and renting out a condominium unit in Pattaya area as far as I remember.

He appeared to me as calm, friendly, financially stable and realistic - for example Taiwan was not the best place for him he told me for entertainment, but it offers him a safe way of living long-term outside of the States, without visa problems and good medical care... but like I myself, he was also interested in living in Philippines and in Thailand (just nearby countries if your permanent residence is in Taiwan, just a short flight).

Quite similar to my own life-style, safe in Japan with a permanent residence permit and with a good retirement allowance from Europe, second home in Thailand and I also keep my links to Cebu Philippines because of my Filipina foster daughter.

It just doesn't make sense that someone who lives on passive income would choose to spend his time making troll accounts on this forum. I would think someone with that high level of intelligence would spend their time doing something better.

I agree, exactly my thoughts. Why should he create troll accounts? For what?
He appeared to me that he is not the type of a person who has fun to annoy other people.

However I am not in contact with him and I met him only once for a friendly talk of about 1 hour and it was 5 years ago.
I don't know about his situation and whereabouts now.

[Lucas88]

I agree, exactly my thoughts. Why should he create troll accounts? For what?
He appeared to me that he is not the type of a person who has fun to annoy other people.

However I am not in contact with him and I met him only once for a friendly talk of about 1 hour and it was 5 years ago.
I don't know about his situation and whereabouts now.

Some people just have strange hobbies that they do behind closed doors. A brief glance at all of the various hobby-related online communities will shed light on a whole hidden world of bizarreness in which all kinds of people including respectable professionals from businessmen to doctors secretly participate.

Some people go to cross-dressing clubs and pretend to be ladies. Others dress up as animals or make bombs in their basement.

Likewise, a substantial number of people use the anonymity of the internet to create fictitious personas and troll forums just for kicks. In today's high-speed internet age, trolling forums is one of the most common strange hobbies. It's so common that maybe it's not even so strange anymore.

[Winston]

How do you guys know if these sock puppets are all from one person or multiple? One person does not have this much time. It could be several trolls right?

Keep in mind that the evidence against Rock is circumstantial. We don't have a smoking gun yet.

Also I forgot to mention @WorldTraveler is a long time friend of Rock too. Maybe you can ask him to weigh in? He will also tell you that Rock isn't the type of guy who would do something like this. It's too out of character for him. Kind of like if one day Charles Manson suddenly become a normie and conformist and corporate drone who watches CNN. Too out of character.

@MarcosZeitola imagine if there was a lot of evidence that your mom was a forum troll. Wouldn't you also say that she's not the type of person that would do that and that it's too out of her character to do that?

@Pixel--Dude I heard that on the Telegram app you can call others without revealing your phone number. You can consider that app. Or I can just ask Rock to make a voice message to you explaining his side of the story.

Regardless of who the troll or trolls are, we shouldn't give them any attention and just ban them instead, because when you give them attention, they feed off of it, it's like adding fuel to the fire. Best way to is to starve them of the attention they crave. Same with any other bully.

[MarcosZeitola]

@MarcosZeitola imagine if there was a lot of evidence that your mom was a forum troll. Wouldn't you also say that she's not the type of person that would do that and that it's too out of her character to do that?

A bit of a strange hypothetical scenario, but I'll play along.

I would be shocked, @Winston and I would say there's absolutely no way in hell she could be a forum troll. But if the evidence would back up that theory, and she failed to provide a proper alibi or reasons why she's innocent... I would be forced to believe the accusation, as absurd as it would sound to me. I would have a hard time believing a middle aged grandmother could be a forum troll. Likewise, I'd have a hard time believing a successful professional man like Rock, with houses in different countries, a good career, girls to date, would do such a thing...

Then again there are several things that go against this narrative, Winston. For instance, my mother isn't already a part of a controversial forum like HappierAbroad, whereas Rock is. Nor does she have any expressed sympathies for strange and cruel trolls, whereas Rock has expressed such sympathies. So this makes him a more likely candidate. My mother also happens to be a fairly successful married lady, but she has less free time as she also has children, grandchildren and owns a lot of animals, whereas Rock, to my knowledge, is a single childless man who would have sufficient free time to troll a forum, sporadically. Notice how Mercer and the other troll accounts are not active every day, they often go many days or even weeks without posting. Then they pop up out of nowhere and go on a posting spree.

Last but not least, Winston... Rock was not able to provide you with a name of the account he supposedly made that got banned immediately, did he? Nor was he able to come up with a reason as to why he knew "Recover" was banned, before anyone even announced it. If he has no reason for this, that means he IS Recover. And he is linked to at the very least one, if not more, of the troll accounts. He cannot claim he's technologically incompetent, either, because I've often heard he's a pretty brilliant guy, as @publicduende attests to in this thread, and he'd no doubt have the technical know-how to create accounts, or to hide behind VPNs and change his IP address or geolocation.

You can, of course, come up with all sorts of far-fetched theories. You can refuse to believe it's true "because you know him and he's not like that". This isn't a strong argument, however. You can also refuse to believe it's him because "maybe some being from an alternative dimension" did it or "the government is trying to frame him" or whatever. Those would be even less strong arguments for his innocense. In the end, I'd take that good ol' duck test... "If it walks like a duck, looks like a duck and quacks like a duck... it probably IS a duck." Everything presented in this thread points to Rock being behind the trolling accounts. And I know that's hard to accept as his friend... but aside from 'I like him and he's not that type of guy', I haven't seen a single piece of exonerating evidence.

PS: The fact that you would compare having to come to terms with the idea of Rock being a forum troll with me, finding out my mother's the culprit is kind of telling, on a psychological level. It would appear that Rock is someone you respect so highly and who is so "above suspicion" to you that accusing him of these things would be like accusing your own mother? Interesting, Winston. But that kind of explains why he felt so safe to act out and why he never put two and two together, or accept his guilt. He must have felt pretty safe to create trolling accounts, if it's this hard for you to accept the fact that he might be guilty.

[Winston]

@MarcosZeitola

I understand your points. They make sense. I was not trying to bring your mom into this or insult her. I was just asking you a hypothetical question. I don't rule out that Rock could be behind all the sockpuppets. I'm just saying the likelihood seems too low based on what I know of him. But anyone can have a dark side and a double life and be two faced, and Rock has always had a bit of a twisted and morbid sense of humor too, similar to the Joker and Riddler in the Batman movies. So I can see what you mean.

Regardless, even if Rock is guilty of all you say, he is never going to confess to it. So best to ignore all the trolls and just get rid of them like we've been doing.

What's ironic is that Rock's favorite TV series is Colombo. If this investigation into the Mercer trolls were on Colombo, he would ask Rock the punchline question: "If you aren't behind the Mercer trolls, then how did you know Recover was banned when it was never announced?" At that point, Rock would take out his gun and point it at Colombo and say "Alright you got me. I'm gonna have to dispose of you now to tie up any loose ends." LOL. Either that, or he'd make a break for the Mexican border. LOL

Btw, isn't it possible that Rock is merely in contact or correspondence with Mercer and these trolls, just because he is fascinated with them, but isn't Mercer himself? And that's why he defends them? Because he likes outcasts and troublemakers and gets off on them?

You asked which account Rock made that didn't go through. Well it wasn't banned. I looked it up. It was never registered because during the registration process, the forum gave him an error so it was never registered or created. I don't know why. Maybe he was posting from a banned IP address. Or maybe the forum was down at the time.

One more point. If Rock is behind the trolling, then why would he make the tactical mistake of complaining about Pixel Dude and thus making himself look guilty by association? He should know that I am not gonna take action unless there is solid proof that Pixel Dude is banning innocent people, as he claimed. So a smart clever tactician wouldn't have complained about people being banned by Pixel Dude. I mean, if I sent out a bunch of spies or thieves to do my dirty work and they all got caught, I wouldn't complain about it or defend them, lest I raise suspicion toward me, which could connect them to me via guilt by association. It just seems like a bad tactical move, like shooting yourself in the foot. But who knows, maybe he isn't a good tactician and made a blunder and didn't think it through carefully, if indeed he was behind it. People make mistakes after all, but this isn't a mistake I would have made if I was doing something in secret and didn't want anyone to know about it.

But then again, all this is circumstantial. We don't have a smoking gun. But I don't discount your theory as impossible MZ. I just find it odd and unlikely, but I could be wrong. Who knows. I didn't know people could be so strange, and I don't get why the universe constantly connects me with the strangest and most unusual eccentric people. lol. A lot of you guys here are indeed very eccentric and weird character types. lol. Again, I'm not trying to show that I have cognitive dissonance or say your theory is impossible. I'm just saying it's very odd and seems too unlikely.

[MarcosZeitola]

@MarcosZeitola

I understand your points. They make sense. I was not trying to bring your mom into this or insult her. I was just asking you a hypothetical question. I don't rule out that Rock could be behind all the sockpuppets. I'm just saying the likelihood seems too low based on what I know of him. But anyone can have a dark side and a double life and be two faced, and Rock has always had a bit of a twisted and morbid sense of humor too, similar to the Joker and Riddler in the Batman movies. So I can see what you mean.

Regardless, even if Rock is guilty of all you say, he is never going to confess to it. So best to ignore all the trolls and just get rid of them like we've been doing.

What's ironic is that Rock's favorite TV series is Colombo. If this investigation into the Mercer trolls were on Colombo, he would ask Rock the punchline question: "If you aren't behind the Mercer trolls, then how did you know Recover was banned when it was never announced?" At that point, Rock would take out his gun and point it at Colombo and say "Alright you got me. I'm gonna have to dispose of you now to tie up any loose ends." LOL. Either that, or he'd make a break for the Mexican border. LOL

Btw, isn't it possible that Rock is merely in contact or correspondence with Mercer and these trolls, just because he is fascinated with them, but isn't Mercer himself? And that's why he defends them? Because he likes outcasts and troublemakers and gets off on them?

You asked which account Rock made that didn't go through. Well it wasn't banned. I looked it up. It was never registered because during the registration process, the forum gave him an error so it was never registered or created. I don't know why. Maybe he was posting from a banned IP address. Or maybe the forum was down at the time.

One more point. If Rock is behind the trolling, then why would he make the tactical mistake of complaining about Pixel Dude and thus making himself look guilty by association? He should know that I am not gonna take action unless there is solid proof that Pixel Dude is banning innocent people, as he claimed. So a smart clever tactician wouldn't have complained about people being banned by Pixel Dude. I mean, if I sent out a bunch of spies or thieves to do my dirty work and they all got caught, I wouldn't complain about it or defend them, lest I raise suspicion toward me, which could connect them to me via guilt by association. It just seems like a bad tactical move, like shooting yourself in the foot. But who knows, maybe he isn't a good tactician and made a blunder and didn't think it through carefully, if indeed he was behind it. People make mistakes after all, but this isn't a mistake I would have made if I was doing something in secret and didn't want anyone to know about it.

But then again, all this is circumstantial. We don't have a smoking gun. But I don't discount your theory as impossible MZ. I just find it odd and unlikely, but I could be wrong. Who knows. I didn't know people could be so strange, and I don't get why the universe constantly connects me with the strangest and most unusual eccentric people. lol. A lot of you guys here are indeed very eccentric and weird character types. lol. Again, I'm not trying to show that I have cognitive dissonance or say your theory is impossible. I'm just saying it's very odd and seems too unlikely.

Look, @Winston I have done quite a bit of thinking on the subject. And I do understand you make some good points, and I appreciate you keeping an open mind here. Thing is, analyzing all evidence here presented by @Pixel--Dude there are only two possible scenarios that I could believe are true:

1. Rock is behind the trolling accounts or,
2. Rock isn't behind the trolling accounts, but knows who is

If he isn't personally the one trolling the forum but he knows who is, and he refuses to divilge that information? That's honestly just as bad to me. Because the person he defends/admires/protects is someone who says really, really nasty things. Insulting people's partners, wives, girlfriends, kids, even a dead member (Dave) and his son and wife? That's just super low, Winston. Like what the hell sort of man would look at these terrible posts and think: "Oh that's alright, let these trolls stay" and then complain about Pixeldude banning them to you?

I do think that, from a tactical perspective, complaining about your moderator's actions to you, his close friend, doesn't signifify a "tactical mistake"... after all, he likely felt secure in the knowledge that you would not share his concerns with PD, and that he would not, then, publish these conversations. But he did, and that's how he got "caught".

Since Rock knew "Recover" was banned before anyone had announced it to him, this leaves us with two possibilities:

1. Rock knew because he created the account or,
2. Rock knew because the troll behind the account informed him he got banned

If Rock is in touch with the type of person that says these sorts of horrible things, what does that say about Rock as a person? I mean come on, Winston. Either he's saying these horrible things, or he knows who does and protects that person. Neither of these possibilities make him look good, at all. And if he truly is innocent, he could just reveal who told him about the Recover account being banned. Because whoever told him is Mercer.

Like he could easily prove his innocense there. So either he's loyal to someone who doesn't deserve loyalty in the first place, or he cannot prove his innocense because he isn't innocent, no one told him the account was banned but he knew it when he logged in on it and found out he couldn't post anymore. Think about it, Winston.

Last but not least... Rock being close friends with a heinous troll and hiding it from everyone, keeping quiet and defending his troll friend to the point where he, himself, fell under suspicion? That's somehow an even crazier scenario than Rock simply being the troll.

[Winston]

@MarcosZeitola

There's another possibility that you missed. What if Rock was behind the Recover poster, but not behind the Mercer poster and his sock puppets? I mean he could have created a few accounts here and there to post anonymously from time to time, but not be Mercer himself. That would mean that Rock would just be an anonymous poster and partial troll, but Mercer be another person who did all the trolling and made all the other mean sockpuppets that insulted people here?

Remember that Recover was banned because his posts look too much like Chandler and has the same writing style. Not because he said the same things Mercer said. Did Recover say anything that gave him away? Or was he just an arrogant ass with an attitude, like many here are?

In other words, there could be 2 or more trolls, with Rock being just an anonymous poster like Recover, but Mercer doing the majority of the dirty work with all his sock puppets. What do you think?

There is one thing that connects Mercer and Rock though, but it could be a coincidence. Mercer posted many complaints before about fancy restaurants in Fort Myers, FL that were anti-male or didn't allow single men there, if you check his posting history. Well Rock has a condo in Fort Myers, FL too and goes there sometimes to vacation and maintain his condo. I wonder if that's a coincidence or if there is a connection there. Perhaps he knows Mercer and has met him and therefore likes to defend him since he has a fascination with trolls, misfits, losers and unusual character types?

What do you think?

[MarcosZeitola]

Alright @Pixel--Dude that's a very comprehensive and convincing compilation of evidence. There are simply too many similarities for this all be just a coincidence. The Recover account's broken English DOES remind me a lot of Chandler, whose own broken English is identical to that of Spencer. They're all the same person, and almost certainly Rock. Some of the things mentioned by Chandler, too, are identical of Mercer. There's too much overlap for them to all be different persons. Either this is a little group of like-minded incels trolling the forum together secrely, with Rock being their friend and protector, or this is all just him. There really is no other explanation to this.

I hope @Winston will face the music. I know it's painful to come to terms with the fact that your friend is positively insane, but honestly, it is what it is. No need to sugarcoat things anymore. If this is all just a big misunderstanding, I'm sure Rock wouldn't mind explaining all this on the forum as Pixeldude requested? So far, his silence really is damning...

[galii]

Winston said Rock is a Joker kind of chracter. So it might not be so shocking to Winston. Though he would like to blame the universe to make it simple.

Funny thing. When you think about it then Rock might be one reason why the website went to shit in the past years with this trolling.

[publicduende]

@Pixel--Dude

You are certainly doing a hell of a job collecting evidence and connecting dots. I would be quite sad to see @Rock having nothing better to do with his life, than creating multiple puppet accounts and using them to randomly insult people consequence-free.

Him admitting he doesn't mind PAG trashing the place might point to the fact that he sees HA as a turf to be trampled, littered and shat on. This is deeply disrespectful, both towards Winston and the dozens of posters who spent a significant part of their waking hours penning trip reports, giving advice and discussing serious topics (however controversial).

[Natural_Born_Cynic]

@Pixel--Dude

You are certainly doing a hell of a job collecting evidence and connecting dots. I would be quite sad to see @Rock having nothing better to do with his life, than creating multiple puppet accounts and using them to randomly insult people consequence-free.

Him admitting he doesn't mind PAG trashing the place might point to the fact that he sees HA as a turf to be trampled, littered and shat on. This is deeply disrespectful, both towards Winston and the dozens of posters who spent a significant part of their waking hours penning trip reports, giving advice and discussing serious topics (however controversial).

Well I guess it turns out that Rock is a backstabbing, two faced c*nt I suppose.

[Natural_Born_Cynic]

Alright @Pixel--Dude that's a very comprehensive and convincing compilation of evidence. There are simply too many similarities for this all be just a coincidence. The Recover account's broken English DOES remind me a lot of Chandler, whose own broken English is identical to that of Spencer. They're all the same person, and almost certainly Rock. Some of the things mentioned by Chandler, too, are identical of Mercer. There's too much overlap for them to all be different persons. Either this is a little group of like-minded incels trolling the forum together secrely, with Rock being their friend and protector, or this is all just him. There really is no other explanation to this.

I hope @Winston will face the music. I know it's painful to come to terms with the fact that your friend is positively insane, but honestly, it is what it is. No need to sugarcoat things anymore. If this is all just a big misunderstanding, I'm sure Rock wouldn't mind explaining all this on the forum as Pixeldude requested? So far, his silence really is damning...

Well it seems that Rock is a backstabbing, two faced c*nt. I hate people like that. They pretend to be kind to you on the surface then backstab you all the sudden. Real Trojan Horse. You can't trust your fellow American men/incel these days. They have learned how to act and attack like a girl. American men are not really men with all the fluoride water, estrogen laced food products, etc.

[galii]

@Pixel--Dude

You are certainly doing a hell of a job collecting evidence and connecting dots. I would be quite sad to see @Rock having nothing better to do with his life, than creating multiple puppet accounts and using them to randomly insult people consequence-free.

Him admitting he doesn't mind PAG trashing the place might point to the fact that he sees HA as a turf to be trampled, littered and shat on. This is deeply disrespectful, both towards Winston and the dozens of posters who spent a significant part of their waking hours penning trip reports, giving advice and discussing serious topics (however controversial).

I must say I said that PAG should stay because it was a shit show already. I think Winston was trolling his own forum too btw. though in a different way.