I am being stalked in the social media universe by a Fanboy. It sounds like something out of Nightmare On Elm Street doesn’t it? Here is the deal. Some idiot named Mike Pinto who runs a website called Fanboy has been spending his “valuable” time hunting down my blog content on the Digg social media site leaving arguably defamatory comments. What is a Fanboy? Here is the term as defined by Wikipedia:
“Fanboy is a term used to describe any individual who is devoted to a single subject in an emotional or fanatical manner, or to a single point of view within that subject, often to the point where it is considered an obsession.”
That says everything you need to know about Mr. Pinto. For some unknown reason he has been “social media obsessing” about me for the last few months. His Fanboy site is actually pretty cool focusing on anime, science fiction, science in general among other geek type stuff. I happen to be a Trekkie and the guy has put some cool Star-Trek content up. I have no problem giving his site some props.
The guy is still an idiot. It is res ipsa loquitur. Here is why. An article I wrote about former professional wrestler Jeff Gaylord was posted on Digg. The Digg comments are all pretty inane in general, none having anything to do with the story. That is not unusual within the social media universe. The social media community is no different than any other. There will be those who like you and dislike you based on perceptions formed. The posted comments will to a degree reflect that. These perceptions are never grounded in reality. They can not be because 99 percent of the people have never even met or spoken to each other. We simply know user names and the type of content submitted by a person. I am no different. There are people in the social media realm that like me and dislike me for whatever reason they use to legitimize their feelings. In the Digg realm there are those who do not like me because I wrote an article about getting banned for scripts and admitting that I had gamed the Digg system so some of my content could reach their front page. Ironically that article was my last to make the Digg front page. There are also those in social media who do not like me simply because they do not like my brother. The reasons are limitless bounded only by the limits of what people who have never met either of us can conjure up in their minds. The angry people are easy to spot because the comments are always about Mark or me personally and not the content. I have no issue with it. If it makes “Diggers” or other social media users feel better they can rant away and move on to the next thing that angers them that day.
It is the obsessive Pinto Fanboy/ stalker behavior that is creepy. Not as creepy as the fixation SEC attorney Jeffrey Norris had with Mark Cuban but creepy just the same. It makes you contemplate the things that go through a person’s mind to negatively fixate on someone they have never met in a realm meant to be fun and entertaining. Here is Fanboy Michael Pinto’s comment in response to a my Jeff Gaylord article:
“Isn’t Brian Cuban under investigation from SEC for insider trading charges? Before he yammers on about anything relating to the law shouldn’t he wait until he’s in the clear?”
He has left minor variations of the exact same comment on three other posts of mine that showed up on Digg. Considering not everything I write gets submitted to Digg it is a pretty high fanboy/stalker ratio. So why is Pinto an idiot? The answer is in his comments. Pinto is clearly so wrapped up in his Star Trek fantasy world so as to be completely unaware of anything going on in the real world around him To be unaware that it is my brother Mark who is involved with the SEC. To have missed the international news coverage. The coverage on CNN, Fox, NBC when it was announced is pretty oblivious to the world around you.
It is possible that I am not giving Pinto enough credit. I admittedly do not know him. He may be very aware of the facts. If that is the case he must have missed the part of my blog where it talks about my occupation as an attorney before he began posting arguably defamatory statements about my being investigated by the SEC. Hopefully he is not under some illusion that because he posed it as a question, it is a defense to a defamation lawsuit. If he wants to ring me up, I will be happy to “yammer” on to him about the law of defamation. My non-legal advice to Pinto is that should I decide to pursue legal action his best bet is to claim what I first said about him. Simply admit he is an idiot and did not know the true facts.
I am being tongue and cheek to an extent. The people who know me are for the most part educated and intelligent. They actually pay attention to the world around them beyond Star Trek, Star Wars and Anime. My skin is also thick. I have no interest in winning a legal judgment against Mr. Pinto and taking Fanboy from him. If I did, in the nature of a true Cuban family “greed is good” profiteer, I would change the web site name to “Dallas Mavericks Fanboy” and start selling Dallas Mavs merchandise on it. I hear William Shatner is a Mavs fan. Instead I will be happy to give Mr. Pinto some true facts about myself. This will give him some much needed social media credibility should he wish to continue “yammering” on about me in the social media universe. It will also give him protection in a defamation lawsuit since truth is an absolute defense. Here you go Mike:
I know If I tried even a little I could find better things to do on a Friday night than to rant about a meaningless subject. In my own defense I AM an alcoholic divorcee. That entitles me to act like a meaningless child now and then.
“Live Long And Prosper”
February 14th, 2009 at 7:19 am
Could he be decribed as a 'Kling-On'!? Great explanation of the character and the phenomenon of the 'Fanboy' or 'Troll' . I work in Higher Education in the UK and will be using your post in ugrad marketing course to show the dark side of social media and networking. I guess because the 'sphere' lacks alot of the social controls we have on our behaviour that we get with 'normal' social interactions, e.g. being sight of other people listening/watching, its easier for people with Pinto's predispositions to 'do their thing' . Prof Mark Griffiths at NTU – UK calls the 'sphere' as 'dis-inhibiting' environment. Mind you Pinto is probably the type that could 'lock on' to any target with conventional letter writing and/or phone calls too. Maybe there are clues in Transactional Analysis? what is the 'stroke' s/he gets from doing this? Do you inadvertently provide a stroke by responding? Understanding this might offer a way to restrain the behaviour? This is difficult of course with an obsessive compulsive character type.
February 14th, 2009 at 11:46 am
C'mon Brian, you know better than to feed the trolls. You've just given "Mike Pinto" the biggest thrill of his life and guaranteed he'll troll you even more to get another response.
That said, it was a funny post, and I enjoy the forthright style of your blog.
February 14th, 2009 at 1:53 pm
I promise all that his antics are not impacting my life in the real non-social media world and that it the only world that counts. Every day 100’s of ideas for stories go through my head. I decided to pick something sarcastic and light on a slow Friday. It was really about content I thought would be amusing and not about him
If the irony between his behavior, the web site name and the definition of Fanboy did not exist I probably would have written on something else. It is all tongue and cheek.
Mike, as you will surely read these comments, if it gives you pleasure to be negative fanboy as to my blog content, knock yourself out and I hope my post got you some decent blog traffic, I do like your site.
February 14th, 2009 at 4:22 pm
me-thinks-to-myself………"personally, I just wish that I was an alcoholic and divorced……"
February 14th, 2009 at 5:35 pm
I think it's cool that somebody in your position doesn't hide from social media. As a public figure, you're gonna get a pile of whackos who obsesses about you. And social media does give them more direct access to you.
It's a common adage "Don't feed the trolls" because it just gives them more motivation, but there is a tipping point. Once they start to actually shape the public perception of you, it needs to be confronted.
Cheers for taking on this weirdo head on. He's probably in his trailer home, smearing lipstick on his face in his his skivvies a la Steve Buscemi in Billy Madison, with your pictures all over his wall. While you're in a private jet on your way to the playboy mansion…
Game over fanboy. You already lose…
(BTW, if you ARE in a private jet on your way to the playboy mansion, can you swing by AZ and pick a brother up? We'll hang Bri, hit me up brah)
February 14th, 2009 at 11:14 pm
Alright – maybe I did go a bit too far in my snide Digg comments!
I apologize.
But you're one of THEM – a person who's related to someone who owns a professional sports team which makes you PRO-JOCK in my book (which was my real hidden agenda all along). But I do admit that it's hard to slag a man who signs off with “Live Long And Prosper”…
February 14th, 2009 at 11:25 pm
Apology accepted. I do like your site. It was a very sad day in my book when Next Generation went off the air. Waiting for the blu-ray!
February 15th, 2009 at 7:52 am
Interesting. I've never read or heard of your blog before, but Mr. Pinto is a digg friend and he sent me a shout to this article, and I was curious so I dugg and came and read it.
I really enjoyed this post. I read it two times and propped it across "social media" sites by sumbitting and voting.
March 5th, 2009 at 8:55 am
you know what I say, f-ing deal with it. These days people can't freaking deal with anyone on the net, as soon as their poor little ego gets bruised they pronounce their enemies 'trolls'. There are plenty of places for constrained, polite discourse. The net isn't one of them, but you opted in to that didn't you: looks like it didn't quite turn out the way you had hoped.
I notice that you don't even cite any of these 'trollish' comments your friend has posted. Instead you choose to harp on his affectation for Star Trek and other techniques for trying to prove he is some anti-social loser. You say you don't even know the guy in real life- so who really cares?
March 5th, 2009 at 12:39 pm
Michael and I have actually gotten to know each other since and have a friendly relationship. It would not have happened if I had not written the article. FYI-I did post the comment and stated the the others were minor variations of the same comment. Ironically as you clearly did not read the article, You are the classic definition of a troll. Come out of your bedroom or basement cave, put out the joint , quit living with mommy and daddy and find a job. You will feel better.