… In all of about three days. Kind of impressive, that. And, yeah, I know I am writing about it again. My blog, my topics.
To begin with, for the record, appearing out of nowhere and, without provocation, attacking, insulting, maligning, demeaning, harassing, bad-mouthing, and otherwise berating gun bloggers in order to goad some manner of defensive reaction out of them says far more about you than it does about them.
Additionally, given recent new evidence, along with the mind behind “Smoke and Thunder” invoking Markley’s Law, I think it is a pretty inescapable conclusion that this webpage is nothing more than a false-flag operation being run by a “gun control” extremist (or, at least, some other individual wholly dedicated to demonizing firearm owners). Consider those personal attacks, ad hominem fallacies, the “carries a concealed handgun which provides comfort and warmth” comment, the fallacy that we are “driving people away” with our oh-so-scary demeanors (obviously incorrect, but an extension of the myth of “declining firearm ownership”), the repeated references to “gun fanatics”, the invocation of Markley’s Law…
In fact, I almost wonder if this “Michael Frank” is nothing more than yet another stooge being employed by the person behind this site, especially given the author’s repeated reference to “young people”, and in light of the potential child pornography charges against someone with the identical name as the author, this is starting to look like the proverbial “orgy of evidence”. Hey, if he has no problems fabricating “accounts” for gun bloggers, he surely would not be troubled about lying regarding the site’s authorship, and what better sock-puppet than a purveyor of child porn – something everyone hates?
This is, of course, all speculation at this point, but, in my opinion, Smoke & Thunder should be regarded with the utmost suspicion and caution until such time as concrete evidence regarding the author and his motives is presented. The person behind this site is not the friend of firearm owners, young or old, as his actions have clearly shown.
So where is that touch of class they were supposed to bring to the gun community? I can’t help but think we got trolled, no one with any real business sense would publicly post attacks and vulgarities for everyone to see if they wanted to sell something. Does he think potential advertisers would like that?
In other words, the site should be called “Smoke and Mirrors”?
Gasp! If this keeps up we could lose possibly one, or even TWO new gun owners to his propaganda! Not really very likely but it could happen, maybe, if all the stars aligned and stuff…
As best I can tell from posts about them, the Choke on Chunder site came into being less than a week ago, fully-formed, already in mid-air and approaching its apogee over the circling shark. I have no interest in visiting their site for further details, much as I have no interest in checking portalets for loose change that users may have dropped into the storage tank.
If someone decides to go muck-wading for profiles over there, feel free to let me know if my single-digit-hit-per-day blog* shows up….
*I would probably see more traffic if I actually posted new content on a regular basis, but I like using my free WordPress blog as a comment anchor, with occasional posts as bonus free ice cream for those few folks who bother checking my blog.
It’s a definite anti-site IMHO.
Agreed on all counts.
Also: AUUUUUUUUGHHHH! TV Tropes! I’ve been sucked in! You bastard!
@ Pyrotek85: Oh, I know we got trolled. The question is why? What is the person behind all of this trying to gain, and what is he going to do with it?
@ Lynn H: Ayup. There is something nefarious going on behind the scenes, and it is only a matter of time until we shatter those mirrors.
@ Groundhog: Which is why I am quite happy to continue “feeding the troll” in this particular case – folks need to be warned of what this site is, and if no one is willing to address i for fear of creating attention for him, then the unwitting will stumble into the site and take it for an honest attempt at a firearm-related social media site.
It is incumbent upon us to keep that from happening.
@ AuricTech: The entire fashion in which this site appeared gives me no end of concern… There is, indeed, a very warped mind behind it, and I only hope we will be able to determine whose it is in very short order.
In a similar vein, I hope that mind gets the help it so obviously needs…
@ SGB: We are still accumulating data, but all the evidence we curently have points to “yes”.
@ Jake: I do not know what it is about that site, but it surely has devoured millions of manhours, has it not?
[...] and abusive mind behind “Smoke & Thunder”, one thing is for certain – he seems to be attempting to discredit pro-rights webloggers by acting the arse and then associating himself with us, and by lampooning us at every available [...]