How The Madeleine McCann Story Was Hijacked By Web Trolls
FROM the Anorak Forums - by AGW:
One of the most bizarre and troubling aspects of of the Madeleine McCann story has been the way the coverage of the story has itself become the story.
Anorak is not a site which has ever been (or ever will be) dedicated to the alleged crimes of abduction and subsequent claim and counter-claim of deeper, darker deeds involving in turn a resident Englishman in the Portuguese holiday complex where the McCann family had been staying and then the parents and their friends themselves.
Right at the beginning of all this I had predicted it was a complex story which would run and run. I confess to being bemused by the the tale’s longevity. The Madeline McCann story has become Dianaeque in its telling and re-telling, worse it is on a par with the empty and drifting ship the Mary Celeste.
The story of a photogenic, pretty little white girl from a professional and middle-class background was sure to attract attention.
I had always expressed serious doubts about the wisdom of the parents’ determination to avoid clear police advice and follow their own route to infamy…because that it what it has become.
The story divided neatly pro and anti. Not pro and anti the hunt for a little girl or her remains but pro and anti the parents. It has become a love-hate story. Every day in Anorak there are those who praise or condemn, support or vilify.
Professional journalists have watched with increasing bemusement, bordering on horror, at the activities of sites created and devoted exclusively to the Madeleine McCann story. They have risen, flowered and been cut down. The same individuals, only the names have been changed to protect the guilty, have in their turn raged or praised as each site flourished and then fell by the wayside.
The same experts and lost souls appeared again and again, and yet again, during the brief existence of these sites. Sometimes only the keystrokes or style and use of phrases and words revealed their true identity. They took full advantage and became legends in their own lunch-times, master spies, superheroes CyberMan or DigiWoman each using the Internet’s basic anonymity to change gender, location and re-invent themselves as brilliantly clear thinkers, defenders of the faith and public morale and morals or, very sad solicitors posing as desperate housewives.
The 3 Arguidos site is probably the strongest of the allegedly Madeleine McCann dedicated sites. I have no access to it nor seek any since it regularly appears to be an outrageous vipers nest of sad people, many of whom have had brief cyber-existences here. It has attracted an interesting group of supporters and helpers and we should genuinely wish them well. They are the Jerry Springer end of the coverage.
The McCann story can not sustain sites like this and they have to diversify. Recruitment from sites such as ours is one way of doing it.
The Moderators here at Anorak have noted a recent surge of activity as the once-again revamped team at the 3As have become our new friends. Avid letter writers to Anorak and when gently challenged, retreat to vent their spleen within their own site. We had such an incursion yesterday.
We are aware the 3As site has suffered dreadful problems lately and we sympathise but do have our own course to run.
There is always a suspicion, often borne out by later scurrilous attacks, the new best friends have their own agenda. That’s fine we all do…and I do not intend to give the 3As site any further creditability by association with us.
It is worth passing on one of the alleged solicitor types in there tried to publish our editor’s telephone number. Why? It is freely available on this site and he is more than well-equipped to be happily entertained by the odd moronic or dirty phone call.
We remain secure in the knowledge of many things but among them are:
Anorak is the leading site of its genre
It has the most experienced and competent team of Moderators
Its writers are skilled and entertaining
It is growing and constantly evolving which is a healthy thing
It is often not a comfortable place to be but remains vibrant and exciting
Imitation and jealous rages remain the sincerest forms of flattery.
…and the headline to this piece? It is often forgotten that the very next line in that quotation is:
“You ought to be ashamed of yourself”
Posted: 30th, June 2008 | In: Anorak Says, Madeleine McCann Comments (626) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0 | TrackBack | Permalink
Comments
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June 30th, 2008 at 4:17 pm
Sorry I meant : Don’t pretend that those of us who refused to buy the MC’s version had No reason to do so
June 30th, 2008 at 4:15 pm
Ferdinand 86
“The press has been comparably polite and supportive of the McCanns. Of course, they could make their profit just as well with sympathetic stories as with nasty ones.
What was the result? Those who were happy to spread rumours and accept them as fact organised their own media, investing a huge amount of time and energy, to offer innuendo”…
———–
I don’t agree at all with how you tell the story Ferdinand. You seem to be oblivious to one FACT : the MCs were named arguidos, it is not rumour or innuendo.
Straight away, the press and the MC C PR started a campaign to discredit the investigating police forces. They spread rumours, about an abduction, about some people in Portugal, (press conferences, sketches by FBI artists etc)…. Don’t pretend those of us who refused to buy the MCs version had reasons to do so, based on facts. The controversy lies at the bottom of the case, a controversy between the arguidos and the police. And their controversy comes from the fact that the MCs have ignored the PJ, or complained about them constantly, and tried to put the public on their side, against the investigators, mainly throught teir PR and media campaign. They took the public as witnesses form the start. They shoulodn’t be surprised now that the public are discussing the case so much.
You oppose the “sympathetic” stories (=pro-MC) to the “nasty” ones (doubting the MC’s). It is your view that allowing the PJ to suspect the suspects is “nasty”, instead of “sympathetic”. Should the public be “sympathetic” to suspects, for fear of being “nasty”? I find your vocabulary biased, while pretending to analyse the facts with objectivity.
June 30th, 2008 at 4:15 pm
lone mel
June 30th, 2008 at 4:11 pm
:whoops:
June 30th, 2008 at 4:11 pm
not as much as the priest!
June 30th, 2008 at 4:11 pm
273
brandon flours Says:
June 30th, 2008 at 3:40 pm
‘That orange thingy is getting right on my tits’
i was wound up on saturday anyway, but yes, i found it annoying because it wass right there in my peripheal vision, and as you scroll it bobbed up and down. the grey box is better. i have the option in my setting to select a site and to then disable certain functions on it, or at least i think that’s what i did. i don’t know if that can be done on a different operating system.
June 30th, 2008 at 4:09 pm
I think the kids might be a bit shocked
June 30th, 2008 at 4:06 pm
283
brandon flours Says:
June 30th, 2008 at 3:59 pm
Thats what I used to treat my husband to if he came to mass with me
What you wouldn’t just do it the moment he walked through the door after a hard days work?
June 30th, 2008 at 4:06 pm
thisis my body and, mmmm, this is my err… blood…
June 30th, 2008 at 4:02 pm
June 30th, 2008 at 4:02 pm
Brandon, you are supposed to get down o your knees to pray!
June 30th, 2008 at 4:00 pm
Melanie
I dont want to get breast cancer
M and A
Have you seen the item in the DT about the ‘designer’ baby with breast cancer gene programmed out?
It father’s family have all developed it at 27 and 28
June 30th, 2008 at 3:59 pm
Thats what I used to treat my husband to if he came to mass with me
June 30th, 2008 at 3:57 pm
Aye I agree melanie.
Brandon - didn’t go to mass - why did I miss something?
June 30th, 2008 at 3:54 pm
Brandon, you need to get them out more on days like this.
June 30th, 2008 at 3:52 pm
#
279
lone pigeon Says:
June 30th, 2008 at 3:47 pm
what’s the BJ for then melanie?
—————————————–
Did you go to mass?
June 30th, 2008 at 3:47 pm
what’s the BJ for then melanie?
June 30th, 2008 at 3:45 pm
breasts even
June 30th, 2008 at 3:45 pm
Melanie
I have virginal white beasts.
June 30th, 2008 at 3:43 pm
Blonde2 bint is a well known scammer who in collusion with the mod on 3arses destroyed the little credibility that septic tank site could muster, be warned.
June 30th, 2008 at 3:41 pm
268
Chenier says:
‘It’s the monicker suggesting that your home turf is usually on fire; we were hoping to provide you with some much needed cooling wafts…
How very kind.
June 30th, 2008 at 3:40 pm
Brandon, I think you’ll find that that is fake tan!
June 30th, 2008 at 3:40 pm
Sam
That orange thingy is getting right on my tits
June 30th, 2008 at 3:38 pm
What does BJR stand for? I am struggling with the “R”
June 30th, 2008 at 3:37 pm
269
brandon flours Says:
so a long time really. i said goodbye on saturday, was getting maudlin. but found myself reading again, as you do. i found out how to disable that orange thing, unfortuantely it meant disabling plug ins for the site. so now instead of that i’ve got a grey tabbed start plug-in box
June 30th, 2008 at 3:33 pm
Hi Daphne, and blonde
June 30th, 2008 at 3:32 pm
Thanks Sam
June 30th, 2008 at 3:29 pm
267
Daphne Diablo Says:
June 30th, 2008 at 3:25 pm
Well I’m more than happy to bin the 3A. I was merely responding to a post on a thread which I found to be of interest. Just as well I wasn’t expecting a warmish welcome or anything..
I read a lot here but don’t contribute.
—————————————————
It’s the monicker suggesting that your home turf is usually on fire; we were hoping to provide you with some much needed cooling wafts…
June 30th, 2008 at 3:25 pm
Well I’m more than happy to bin the 3A. I was merely responding to a post on a thread which I found to be of interest. Just as well I wasn’t expecting a warmish welcome or anything..
I read a lot here but don’t contribute.
June 30th, 2008 at 3:24 pm
which i think were the times of win 3.1 or win 95 and telnet and usenet.