Comments on: I Am Being Stalked By A Fanboy!

By: bcuban

bcuban — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 12:39:22 +0000

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.

By: Counterpoint

Counterpoint — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 08:55:22 +0000

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?

By: shea

shea — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 07:52:34 +0000

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.

By: bcuban

bcuban — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 23:25:50 +0000

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!

By: Michael Pinto

Michael Pinto — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 23:14:36 +0000

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”…

By: Chris Hooley

Chris Hooley — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 17:35:44 +0000

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)

By: Deadly Furby

Deadly Furby — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 16:22:56 +0000

me-thinks-to-myself………"personally, I just wish that I was an alcoholic and divorced……"

By: Brian Cuban

Brian Cuban — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 13:53:33 +0000

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.

By: Micah Seymour

Micah Seymour — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 11:46:02 +0000

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.

By: Reasonable Robinson

Reasonable Robinson — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 07:19:42 +0000

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.