Updates: Princeps post-fire fundraiser & Terrors Of The New Column #2a: The Boomeranging Of The Stupid · 7:21pm Mar 13th, 2020
We'll do the serious part before we get into the lunacy.
In the time since the previous blog, the business which owned Princeps' previous building transferred his lease to a new apartment. He (and, if possible, his father) could move in as early as today. There's just two major problems.
* The apartment is completely unfurnished.
* No one is being allowed back into the burn for any reason. This includes his portion, despite the fact that it's mostly intact. Furthermore, nothing is going to be brought out of that section, and demolitions will take place with all possessions still within.
(ETA: Princeps forwarded a letter he received which explains the why on that last: 
)
In other words, until the renter's insurance settlement comes in -- and there's no word on how long that might take -- he owns whatever he was wearing at the time, plus a few emergency purchases and his car. He doesn't have a bed to put in the apartment, and caregiving for his father means he'd need at least two. Kitchen appliances are gone. Computer's toast. Several family heirlooms were lost, which includes the new urn containing his mother's ashes. And no more book collection.
(He's a tabletop gamer. I am hoping the insurance company understands how books can cost $50 each. Crack cocaine really is cheaper...)
So he's going to try and stay in the hotel as long as he can. But now that an apartment is available to him, that part of the insurance may cut out. Added to the uncertainty of the settlement time...
So a GoFundMe was started for him. It's being administrated by his sister, so there will be one extra step to pass through before anything donated reaches him, as she would be the one who withdrew. If you have any questions regarding the drive, please contact him through Discord using @princeps2522.
This link goes to the fundraiser itself.
I realize that with everything going on worldwide (read: coronavirus), this is an exceptionally bad time to ring the Someone Is Hurting bell. We may be on the verge of having -- continental understatement approaching -- a lot of people with a lot of very desperate needs. But fires don't exactly choose their timing. He just had his disaster a little ahead of the pack -- and when it comes to the goal, he's already about 20% of the way there.
As always, it's your decision as to whether you donate. I just link stuff.
A lot.
I think I have a rep.
So in the name of keeping the emotional tone from crashing: remember this moron?
If so, you might remember that I left the classic Banned From FIMFiction video on his userpage, and did so without knowing how long the ban was for. Open, repeated plagiarism... that has a way of skipping the first few rungs on the site's ban ladder. He'd obviously shot past the warning stage, and it only took a day to see that the strikeout had outlasted the twenty-four hour period. So I figured he'd collected at least a week's worth of timeout.
But being banned just keeps you from logging in. It doesn't prevent you from visiting your old page...
The "story" which he'd used as his theft dumping ground had been deleted. This meant that when it came to seeking out those who had wronged him -- remember: it's our fault for calling him out -- he was stuck with the names he remembered. And since I'm pretty sure he needs to wear a tag on his shirt just to keep track of who he is (but only with the help of someone who reminds him to glance down), he just went to his old page and found the one person who'd left a comment there.
Me.
So meet his new account: TotallyNotAPlagiarist101. I'm the first person he followed!
(No, that wasn't the name. Do you really think he would have been capable of spelling 'plagiarist'?)
And he used my video posting as the springboard for replying to me, calling me out for having been so cruel as victimize this poor "author."
You know. Me. The person whom someone -- a complete stranger! -- that had just registered on the site ten minutes ago had somehow located out of total random coincidence, followed by making their very first act into seeking justice for a "writer" they'd never met.
What.
A.
Coincidence.
I can't tell you exactly what he said in calling me out. (I'm the worst person ever! Somebody must do something about me!) It's been a few days, and I didn't memorize it. The exact quote is no longer available. But here was my reply.
I'd ask why you're being so completely unsubtle in revealing your new user ID, {Redacted}, but I think we both know it's because you're too stupid to have done anything else.
Blocked and reported.
Which was exactly what I had done. Blocked him to prevent comments on my stories or userpage, followed by reporting him for ban evasion. And he responded by --
-- deleting the first comment he'd made to me.
Also, he unfollowed me.
I'm pretty sure he saw this as getting rid of the evidence.
Again.
...slow learner.
(And he followed Knighty. Because of course he did.)
However, only the first comment was lost. Because he also decided he wasn't done. (The creation of more evidence isn't important! Not for an innocent man!) So there were three more.
The first:
I'm not {Redacted}? I only saw his account on my sisters laptop and saw the comments you left
I just want to take a moment and applaud here.
Behold the first plot twist he came up with on his own.
(That we know of.)
Oooh, his sister was a fan of {Redacted}! That explains everything! {Redacted} was the most popular "author" on the site, you know. Huge follower count. Except that there's shadowban software installed by Knighty which artificially lowers the follower totals of anyone who's too good to be here. Who doesn't know that?
Me. And frankly, I couldn't be bothered to find out. So...
That's nice, {R}. Still blocked. Still reported for ban evasion.
We're done here.
And that was all I was going to say on the matter. No more replies. I was just waiting for a moderator to reach the trouble ticket because it was a fairly safe bet that his IP hadn't changed, and I didn't care about any downvotes he might leave because they would vanish at the moment the new account was banned.
(Yes, that's how it works. When someone gets kicked, any red thumbs they placed are null and void. The original total can be seen on your story's Stats page, but won't show up in the title header.)
It still left him time for the second and third followups.
I'm not {R} and also what will you do when {R} comes back? What then? What if he does nothing wrong and you try to report him.
Really standing up for his sister's favorite, isn't he?
Ready for the kicker?
Because this is the one which demonstrates why he needed to be kicked.
Also Do you enjoy taking away the one thing that might make {Redacted} happy. We all love My Little Pony and I'm sure many of us are sad it is gone but there is no need to attack the guy
...just take a moment. Look that over a couple of times. Let it sink in.
I didn't reply to that. There was no point in doing so, not there and then. And he never got a chance to say anything else, because his ticket was reached -- and then it got punched. The new account was banned. The original still has the strikeout mark. And at this point, I think we're probably looking at a permanent invitation to the world, because trying to evade his first timeout has a way of extending the duration on the second. There's a good chance I could openly reveal his name now, but... I'll wait until we hit the thirty-one day mark. And even then, I may remain silent. Because why is he worth it?
But I've thought about what happened during that short-term revival. I've looked at what may be his last words. And I think they warrant an reply. So, speaking directly to someone incapable of understanding...
Yes, {R}.
Always yes.
Because what made you happy was stealing from actual writers. Flaunting the theft. Repeating your violation as a way of openly daring us to do something about it. Over and over.
Of course, I'm not the one who took it away from you, am I? I just reported you to the moderators. I wasn't the only one to do so. I'm just the only one you can identify, because remembering anyone else isn't important. The site punished you. The rules banned you. All I did was join the chorus which was calling attention to the plagiarist. And that's what you can't stand.
If you came back, you'd steal again: I have no doubts there. You don't see anything you do as wrong.
So yes, I do enjoy taking away the one thing which makes you happy, because the one thing which makes you happy is sick. Wounding you gives me great pleasure and a deep sense of personal pride. I love watching you bleed out from the strikeout slash across the falsehood of your name, and I'm pretty sure you stole that too.
Because this is what you got wrong: there was a need to attack you. The code of honor attached to the profession demanded it, and so we all came after you. It was something you'd earned.
You know. A code of honor. That thing you don't have and can't understand.
Maybe you'll come back again. And if you stick to your own writing, assuming you're capable of writing anything at all? Then I'll leave you alone, at least when it comes to reports. I might not recognize your new name, and so there's a chance I could downvote you because as a writer, I'm pretty sure you utterly svck and I downvote things like that. But I wouldn't report you, because at the very least, it was original svcking.
But if you return again in the same way? Openly stealing over and over, proud of what you've done and ready to attack anyone who calls you out, because we're the ones in the wrong?
Some angels announce themselves with "Fear not."
Some do so with "Sorry for the inconvenience."
Thanks for the updates, the funding signal boost, and the righteous fury.
The amount of sheer stupid happening here... I only wish I'd gotten to see any of it.
(Not you princeps, but the people in charge of handling your old apartment certainly qualify in addition to Darth Plagiarist)
This "everything I've done so far has been flawless" mentality is how we ended up with homeopathy.
Okay, so let me see if I read correctly: Princeps' apartment building is... being demolished? And in spite of the fact that his section of the building is basically untouched, no one is allowed to retrieve their belongings before everything gets destroyed?
Forgive me if I'm dumb, but that sounds kinda fishy.
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I'm guessing here, but the issues probably break down as follows:
1. Non-fire hazards. That area was superheated for a while, and that kind of temperature exposure can lead into some chemical changes. At the absolute minimum, I wouldn't go in there without an HM suit and built-in air filter.
2. Insurance terrors. Anyone who gets hurt by entering the burn might have a really interesting lawsuit on their hands, and businesses try to avoid being on the receiving end of those. Just getting near the property might mean signing enough waivers to create a new fire hazard.
3. Worries about long-term stability. Heat damage can weaken a structure; something which is standing today might feel free to collapse at any time.
4. Contamination. Goes back to non-fire hazards, but there's no guarantee that anything you take out was safe to possess again.
As said, I'm guessing. All I can say from experience is that I have seen a burnout being demolished, and it was possible to see some old possessions among the debris -- but that was a building which was just about completely gone.
However, I've also seen structures condemned for lack of stability. And in those cases, no one went in or out -- or rather, they weren't supposed to. It's not uncommon to have the homeless sheltering in a place nobody would enter. But the risk is constant and eventually, the house number will come up.
5219725 Any policy that stupid has to have a lawyer attached.
Could you say what comic book that panel's from?
5219832
Buck Godot: the Gallimaufry by Phil Foglio. Currently out of print, alas, but quite excellent.
5219855
Is that the guy who does Girl Genious? I thought the style seemed vaguely familiar but I didn't see enough to place it. Thank you.
5219877
Also a bunch of early Magic cards. They should bring him back for a Secret Lair.
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Princeps forwarded this. I'm hoping it'll be legible when enlarged.
media.discordapp.net/attachments/447053256443559996/688117401904349388/image0.png?width=284&height=614
Ooh, nice Buck Godot reference there.
5219832
It's from Buck Godot! Sadly I don't think it's still online, it's one of my favorite webcomics. Maybe it's on Wayback Machine? Anyway, Buck Godot, Zap Gun for Hire is classic space opera by the same authors as Girl Genius. The speaker is Der Rock the Destroyer, explaining to a hive mind why he is utterly unphased that the kill team of thirty he just wiped the floor with is only the first of many.
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A gift from TCC56 to all.
Along with a little help from the Wayback Machine.
On the night {R} came back, I immediately thought of that panel. I wanted to find it and put the image aside until it was needed. But the comic wasn't available online -- until TCC used their GoogleFu and located the snapshots from when the Foglios temporarily hosted the entire run. That link goes to the first page, and you can read everything from there. Just keep in mind that it improves fast.
Have fun, kids.
(Warning for those who remember the original graphic novel: the brothel short has been removed. However, this does render the run as SFW.)
5219944
Thank you! And yeah, the quality goes way up. It’s hilarious, dramatic when warranted (and even when still ridiculous) and I like that Buck actually solves most of his problems by being clever over shooting things. It really hits its stride around Psmith, and Galimaufry is exceptional.
5219725
Seconded. That sounds sketchy as all hell.
On a completely nonrelated note
I was just on the Triptych Group page
The Admins are listed as Estee & Sind
Estee has obvious issues & Sind hasn't been onsite for 2+ years
Site needs a new Admin to AT LEAST put everything from the last 2+ years into the right folders. You're feeling REALLY ambitious, update the "Recommended Reading Order"
I'd do it, but I don't think I have the Internet knowhow. If putting the stories into folders is anything other than "Drag & Drop" I KNOW I don't have the knowhow.
Any volunteers?
5219996
I could?
5220029
Good! Just get Estee to appoint you
Yes, this Completely Random Stranger who's leaping to the defence of Darth Plagiarist apropos of nothing is absolutely, definitely not the Thief in question. It's purely an altruistic act defending this noble, innocent soul from your terrible discrimination. And even though the Completely Random Stranger absolutely is not Darth Plagiarist, they must say, this Darth Plagiarist person certainly sounds handsome.
Why, it's such a plausible story, it's almost as believable as a swarm of bees in a trenchcoat pretending to be your long-lost Uncle.
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5219944
Then I volunteer more formally, then?
I'd appreciate it if Sweetobob had a list of exactly what they wanted to be modified, I think it'd be useful to have a folder of which stories are important to the ongoing mysteries/plot of the 'verse for people who want to get the answers faster.
5220261
Well, if you click on Estee, you see a list of all their stories. Or I could E-Mail you my list of Estee's list of Triptych stories (I've got them in a special folder)
As an Admin, I imagine that you could add any folders that you deem necessary
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I've got what I think is every Triptych story (and those that may or may not be part of the verse) in a public bookshelf on my page, if that helps. I was looking into reviving the Group for a while, but I'm probably not the person to head that
5220273
I meant the specific changes you wanted to implement, but I suppose you put those in your PM