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 11:46 pm
501 Ferdinand
Now you don”t seriously expect me to be THAT clever do you?lol
So it was a televised debate that couldn”t reach any firm conclusions……..were the
debaters well known?
June 30th, 2008 at 11:44 pm
477
chenier Says:
June 30th, 2008 at 10:03 pm
[...]
It seems to me that somewhere along the line a small child ceased to be of any importance to the people enjoying themselves ranting about the presumed wickedness of her parents; the most heart-breaking thing is that the parents don’t seem to care either….
****
Not for me, Chenier.
Apart from the fact that
- this forum reads like a good interactive detective story
and
- that the same interaction is as addictive as a soap series [where you "meet" the same people on a daily basis and nothing much happens = replacement of failing old-fashioned social network [when it wasn't called network yet]
- I can not forget about a small child, who is a best abducted and being cared for by nice strangers, and at worse abused, afraid, hurt and - in this case- maybe at best again: dead.
And, indeed, it does seem that her parents IMO care less than “we” do …
June 30th, 2008 at 11:42 pm
500 noseycow
As I said, it”s what I read………. maybe it was Holland, but I”m sure I read NZ. I just
tried to find the McCannfiles to read about CP, but I must have typed the wrong address because “not available ” came up. Can you let me have the correct address for
Mcannfiles……..I typed http://www.mccannfiles.co.uk, is that right.
How are you by the way, don”t seem to post at the same time do we, not much to say
really.
June 30th, 2008 at 11:40 pm
Try this. http://tinyurl.com/3vx8qo
June 30th, 2008 at 11:39 pm
499 val:
Sorry you didn’t get the pun. “Young Chicken Hunter” is the Google translation for Pinto Monteiro, and “Paul Butterfiled” was the Google translation of Paolo Rebelo.
June 30th, 2008 at 11:34 pm
Val
am not sure of the dates but Nanny P is in her early 20’s and the McC’s were in New Zealand 10 (?) years ago.
Can’t see that it would be of any relevance even if they had known her as she was just a child at the time.
Her interesting comment was that a parent came in and said that they’d heard somebody shouting ‘Maddie’ and they then ran out to check.
Very interesting as the McC’s have said on numerous occasions that Madeleine would not answer to ‘Maddie’.
June 30th, 2008 at 11:29 pm
495 Maravilha/497 Gandolf
Ferdinand posted a translation on 461….I asked who Paul Butterfield is , he asked
if I knew Young chick Hunter, so I”m still none the wiser!!!!!! Presume it was a T.V.
Debate and Paul was the Host.
June 30th, 2008 at 11:19 pm
495 Maravilha
Charlotte Pennington was one of the Nannies at the OC and looked after Madeleine.
Seemingly she was near Kate on the balcony and heard her screaming “theyv”e taken
her”, according to the Press that is. I also read that she is a budding actress and knew
the McCanns when they lived in New Zealand. What exactly is she changing in her
statement, is there any reference? I remember reading that Madeleine was in the
creche on the afternoon of the 3rd and CP gave her her tea and she went back to the
Apartment about 6pm. Could be something to do with that.
June 30th, 2008 at 11:14 pm
Sorry Marv….TV1 am looking there also.
http://www.tvi.pt/
June 30th, 2008 at 11:11 pm
489 chenier
My laptop siezed up last week and it turned out to be a virus!!!!!! Luckily I know a
guy who is a computer whiz and he couldn”t fix it there and then so took it away and brought it back a couple of days later. He even added a couple of programmes and
charged me next to nothing for the work involved. Since yours is still under warranty
I would get it fixed now to be on the safe side and ask for it to be cleaned, mine looks
great now.
June 30th, 2008 at 11:05 pm
493 Gandolf,
you cite RTP and I checked on it and the only thing I found was an article about Gonçalo Amaral leaving the PJ today.
Where did you read or see what you wrote on 493?
June 30th, 2008 at 10:58 pm
There is a very interesting study about Charlotte Penning on McCannfiles today.
There are contradictions in her statements, it seems.
Is she by chance Tapas 10?
June 30th, 2008 at 10:56 pm
RTP reporting that the PJ have no conclusions and nothing to charge anyone with, further updates expected
June 30th, 2008 at 10:46 pm
We ancients had the same problems with our Rune Stones Chenny, download anew graphics drivers i.e. update them, all will be well your future will be bright and flicker free.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90mZThOY_8k
June 30th, 2008 at 10:37 pm
484
DuncanR
Hi Duncan. Hope all is well.
I have no plans for the summer. My son was at Lourdes recently and my daughter is off to Italy with the school at a cost of £550 not including the £400 spending money I have to provide. I can’t leave my son on his own but I am hoping my sister will help out and I might manage to take my youngest for a weekend somewhere. I won’t be cleaning the house for 7 weeks though that is certain.
June 30th, 2008 at 10:37 pm
chenier
sorry, if i were to try and figure out the workings of the computer, your warranty would be way past its sell by date
June 30th, 2008 at 10:35 pm
And speaking of laptops, I have mine back, with a new mother board and a new cpu. The only problem is that the screen flickers as I type, thus interrupting what passes for thought processes at this end.
Does anyone have any idea what might be causing this?
Bearing in mind that the warranty expires in August…
June 30th, 2008 at 10:31 pm
483
wtf
It is sad moving on and I loved being in P.1 but the class I am getting I know some of them as I had them 5 years ago in P.1 and most of them are nice kids. There are a few with problems but I’m sure I’ll cope.
June 30th, 2008 at 10:29 pm
No cava but reinstalling drivers and programs on the “new” laptop.
And I still have to answer an email by Orange with 1,5 page of questions because I complained about the speed of my broadband connection.
Now I have to restart my computer. BBL
June 30th, 2008 at 10:22 pm
485
ffs Gandys back on the Columbian stuff
June 30th, 2008 at 10:20 pm
Beware the darkening horizon, the blackness that is the brightest light before Armageddon will soon be upon those whose charity knows no beginning and their cruelty no end. Drink not from the poisoned chalice that has the mark of the trident, the favoured instrument of the trolls who spread their mischief and poison from the dark satanic realms of that place signified by the number 3, they are amongst us be vigilant, for the forces of The Ancients are at hand to swat the larvae as they appear, they lay this larvae in your sub-consciousness if you succumb you will become members of the troll army of that dark place, gibbering slavering mindless minions of the dark bjr and her simpering acolytes………………but fear not they are no match for the powers of Anorak or the Adepts of Kankarakanada. Do not lose sight of the light that is Madeleine McCann, where the light is the pure will be found……Argesha kloyter wutreshy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lboS7psz-qc
June 30th, 2008 at 10:17 pm
Hi Ciara
You can’t be cleaning the house for the next 6-7? weeks.
Got any plans to go away anywhere?
June 30th, 2008 at 10:16 pm
ciara
Must be funny to have to hand the kids over at the end of every year. I got so emotional when my daughter left her primary school last year and went into middle school. Her teacher is so lovely, and she said at my aughters parents evening that she will be sad to see them go, as they have been a particularly good class. Im sure you will be able to cope with the new influx, failing that, there is always vino!
June 30th, 2008 at 10:12 pm
471
wtf
The hols had a good start as it was dry today and no rain until the evening. I’ve been cleaning the house all day. Just glad to be off work. I am getting P.6 next year and a class of 32. There are two with behaviour problems and one with suspected ADHD. I am enjoying the present. Will be pulling my hair out next term I think.
June 30th, 2008 at 10:12 pm
448
Totje Says:
June 30th, 2008 at 9:10 pm
Freedom of speech doesn’t worry me, as long as we know where to draw the line [eg insulting/hurting other people/religions/whatever].
BUT what DOES worry me that this new “way of communication by blogs/forums” attracks all kinds of people and some are not very scupulous. They invent stories, they like it to wind up other people etc. Remember the story about the girl that committed suicide because someone posted malicious things about her [Cheryl told us a while ago]?
And I wonder how I’d feel if one of the posters on a [dark] site would loose his/her common sense and indeed committed a crime against the McC’s?
I also wonder if I’d change my mind about the police/fbi/cia/whatever being able to monitor the internet/emails etc. of “normal” and “innocent” posters.
_________
Hi Totje, strange you brought that story up - that woman who was involved in causing (or rather was the cause) that young girl to take her life from the *shit posted on the net has finally been charged! Here is the link to the latest news and law they ‘got’ her under!
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-myspace16-2008may16,0,3642392.story
Totje, I think people who don’t think someone(s) , who might be mentally unstable or an outright fanatics, can’t be influnced by the shit that is posted on sites all over or newspapers re the Mccanns and would not possibly try to cause them physical harm live in a dream world!
June 30th, 2008 at 10:09 pm
476 Totje
Please?? Have you been on the cava
June 30th, 2008 at 10:07 pm
474 Totje
No didn’t notice one that disappeared. Was it from you?
And yes the orangy thing is still here. Think ole Mr Anorak must be making on it, like mobile masts?
June 30th, 2008 at 10:06 pm
Totje:
Did you read my latest mail?
June 30th, 2008 at 10:03 pm
448
Totje Says:
June 30th, 2008 at 9:10 pm
Freedom of speech doesn’t worry me, as long as we know where to draw the line [eg insulting/hurting other people/religions/whatever].
BUT what DOES worry me that this new “way of communication by blogs/forums” attracks all kinds of people and some are not very scupulous. They invent stories, they like it to wind up other people etc. Remember the story about the girl that committed suicide because someone posted malicious things about her [Cheryl told us a while ago]?
And I wonder how I’d feel if one of the posters on a [dark] site would loose his/her common sense and indeed committed a crime against the McC’s?
I also wonder if I’d change my mind about the police/fbi/cia/whatever being able to monitor the internet/emails etc. of “normal” and “innocent” posters.
———————————
I think that part of the problem is that segments of the media are also happy to make things up, as well as simply topping and tailing press releases and calling it journalism; it’s a lot easier to spot it nowadays because we can switch from one to another on the web.
Much of the hysteria in this case was deliberately whipped up by and with the media at the outset; it’s difficult to judge who is manipulating and who is being manipulated.
The difficulty the McCanns’ have is that they have not only launched themselves as media players but also sought to obtain funds from the public here and elsewhere; the Fund itself is not a charity, but a money making concern. Calling something ‘not for profit’ doesn’t actually make it not for profit; otherwise every company in England would be on that bandwagon…
The willingness of the McCanns’ spokesman to make accusations of vile crimes against more or less anyone isn’t calculated to result in much judicial sympathy, or at least much judicial sympathy for the McCanns’ spokesman. His willingness to tell the media about the hearing scheduled for the Family Court on July 3rd suggests that the McCanns are not interested in the substance; it’s just more spin.
It seems to me that somewhere along the line a small child ceased to be of any importance to the people enjoying themselves ranting about the presumed wickedness of her parents; the most heart-breaking thing is that the parents don’t seem to care either….
June 30th, 2008 at 10:02 pm
snybody = anybody (*%$#(*()%$#* typo