The Blog Remains the Same

We've noticed that the "Exposing" blog has renamed themselves "Jack Rip's Harpoon" for some reason. Possibly because it has finally sunk in that they are no longer the exposers of bullying, but the bullies themselves. Whatever the reason, it's clear that the change doesn't extend much past the name--the tactics are still the same.

Since most of their recent diatribes have either been incredibly complex flights of fancy against "Boob" Hinton, or playground-level whining about Maria Birchwood--equally laughable and unsubstantiated--we thought we'd use today's entry to expose some of the minor yet consistent cheap tricks that the Hargoons use. They share too things in common: they are deceitful, and they are so easily uncovered that it's amazing that they believe that anyone falls for them.

Grab some lemon for your tea, sit back, and read along.

Lie #1:The Hargoons Respect Anonymity

This is repeated on a semi-regular basis when encouraging readers to submit information through emails or in the comments section. Yet whenever a reader posts a comment that the Hargoons don't appreciate, they spend a ridiculously large amount of time trying to identify the author of the comment. It is some consolation that they almost invariably identify the wrong person, although possibly not for the person they are falsely accusing. This scattershot approach to identifying commentators does not reflect well on the Hargoon's ability to identify Jack the Ripper, now does it?

You can find examples of your own, just by trawling through the comments section, but we'd like to highlight an incident where the Hargoon's abysmal identification of a commentator lead to an entire article--and incidentally to the creation of this blog.

The original article was a crude and childish attack on Mario Aleppo's daughter on the occasion of her wedding (yes, they really are that tacky). Since we have never encountered Mr Aleppo, we asked a simple question:

Anonymous said...
What is your issue with Mario Aleppo?

Is he a member of the Casebook?

To which we received this reply:

annoyed said...
I once called the National Archives asking to see the Ripper letters and I got put through to him and he asked me some very rude questions, I put the phone down. And he is opening the door to thugs?What's the game?

This sounded ominous to anyone researching the Ripper case, so we asked for more information:

Anonymous said...
What kind of questions did he ask?
Where the questions themselves rude, or just the way he asked them?
Does he often give people a difficult time, or just over the Ripper items?

Which elicited the following response:

annoyed said...
When I called him it was the questions. You have to have a pedigree degree
just to get in the door and I also got the impression he was a snob type. Very
rude and unpleasant.

Well, at this point it sounded like Mr Aleppo was merely doing his job, although there was still a chance that the accusation against him had some merit, so we asked an obvious question:

Anonymous said...
From curiosity, has anyone contacted Mr Aleppo's superior to complain about his
conduct? What was the response?

At which point what had been a perfectly civil and reasonable exchange entered into typical Hargoon territory, starting with an anonymous comment that can only be described as "paranoid":

tellthedumbass said...

Is it perhaps possible those questions were from Mario Aleppo wondering if he is going to get the sack.

Most normal people would rightfully have laughed this off, but then SSR is not exactly a poster-child for "normal", hence the following response:

Interesting point caller, it's true he doesn't look out for anyone except his fat ass.

However since he's retiring he probably doesn't give a damn anyhow. They are odd questions though.

Odd? They didn't seem odd to us. Someone had made a vague accusation against an individual and we were trying to learn more, both about the specifics of the accusation and the evidence supporting it. We suppose in the topsy-turvy world of the Hargoons--where accusations are there to be made, not proven-- such a thing may be considered "odd". We attempt to explain ourselves, in a simple, non-confrontational way:

Anonymous said...

Why are the questions odd?

Mr Aleppo has earned a spot on your blog, but doesn't seem to be a member of the casebook--when I asked why, the response was that he asked rude questions.

Since one day I may need to visit the Archives it makes sense to try and find out what those rude questions might be, no?

However I never did get any detail. Luckily if I contact the Archives after April it likely won't matter, although if those questions are standard procedure I may still encounter them from his successor, so I'd like a preview if possible.

Seem fair? Rational so far? We certainly thought so. However the folks on the blog, readers and authors alike, did not seem to think so Despite giving them yet another opportunity to explain their issue with Mr Aleppo, the next three comments showed up in rapid succession:

shamingstephenryder said...

Dear me what nurds turn up sometimes!

12:28 AM

Anonymous said...

IT IS CODE1888.
12:28 AM

shamingstephenryder said...

Thanks, yes it does seem to be the case.Philippe R Welté ( the man who is asking questions) is a crook and a revolting fraud, and we will be doing a big exposé on him soon.We think he is as likely to get into the National Archives as the backside of an
Elephant.
12:32 AM

Not only were they completely off the mark, but so much for their much vaunted promise of anonymity.

Shortly after, the Hargoon's published this article about Philippe Welté, a man that we have never communicated with. In it, the bloggers accuse Mr Welté of "lurking on our post exposing Mario Aleppo of the National Archives for liasing recently with ripperthugs to find out what questions he should ask to get inside the door at the National Archives." Now, ignoring for a moment that they got the wrong person entirely, look back at the exchange and marvel at the distortion of events.

This is only one of many examples of these recurring and blatant attempts by Hargoons to guess the identity of anonymous commentators, and further to use that (usually incorrect) identification as the basis for future harassment of that person. This from a group that claims to respect and guard the anonymity of all contributors--really they mean all contributors who shamelessly kiss their röv and don't rock the boat with awkward questions or comments.

Stayed tuned for Lie #2...