Deranged is a good description. But, as any other important moment in the life and lore of an institution, Pissant's passing from the scene is complex, immanent and personal to many folks here. He is a complex man. I have and many others have also attempted to help him channel his creativity and energy into something that wasn't a waste of time and energy and destructive to our community, but in the end, only hatred, frustration and disrespect seemed to be the level of exchange that surrounded his work.
I asked for people to be patient, and then I asked for the "powers that be" to ban him, and in this they followed their own hearts and tried as long as possible to let Pissant be Pissant, but in the end, it just could not continue.
Forgive us for wrestling with this, as we all see a bit of our own selves in this and we want to learn the lesson that he paid the price to teach.
That said, it is a better place without him, though I wish it could have been a place with him being rational. I will take a place where he is not and we don't have to cope with his PDS.
I saw that last reply before it was deleted by the mods. It was pretty bad.
One thing I’ve noticed in my six-plus years as a FReeper is that odd behavior follows the temporary banning of well-known screen names. The former Willie Green, once a sort of tinfoily but pleasant fellow, as far removed from any kind of grand government largesse as one could be, emerged as a monomaniacal, one-note drone for high speed rail, Amtrak and trains in general. Not the same person, imho. The same happened in my opinion with the former B-Chan and many others whose screen names escape me at the moment.
How this occurs is not something I’d be able to spell out, but I have heard repeatedly of people with old signup dates and large posting histories being offered money for their screen names. Maybe some old timers continued to bear a grudge and deliberately traded their FR identities for compensation?
Maybe that explains the odd behavior of our Pissant? It was almost like he was being coached by another banned FReeper who was quite obviously an operative and made no bones about it, who would benBob J, reputedly of RightHaven infamy, who was zotted after threatening to sue JR right here on FR, lol, I saw that one happen, too. Talk about chutzpah. That was the most well-deserved and righteous zot I’ve ever seen here, and I’ve seen quite a few.
The long and short if this is that there are a lot of games and scheming going on with certain identities here. At least that is the impression with which I’ve been left, and Sarah Palin inspires most of it of late, all to the negative.