Who are the worst trolls in this site's history?

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

Probably not enough to call him the worst, but the tale of Pbrunsel and how he torpedoed his reputation with inventing a series of fake family members has always intrigued me.

what

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Probably not enough to call him the worst, but the tale of Pbrunsel and how he torpedoed his reputation with inventing a series of fake family members has always intrigued me.

what

I want details on this too. I knew we had our very own Chris Chan for a while, but I didn't realize we had our very own MsScribe too.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

PBrunsel was a pretty generic teenage blue avatar from Iowa with a bunch of policy positions that were about what you'd expect from a evangelical upbrought teenage socon (at least by the standards of the time, the simple fact that he opposed same-sex marriage would have him labeled a reactionary or troll today, and come to think of it it's been quite awhile since we had a poster who promoted things like young Earth creationism or hardline abstinence only education), but was not aggressive about it in the slightest, and thus developed a large friend circle on both sides of the political spectrum, and was most identifiable by a pretty odd obsession with Herbert Hoover, maybe at least partially attributable to him living pretty close to the small town in Iowa Hoover was born in and where his presidential library is. He was like most posters of the sort known most for his timelines and Atlasia activity.

A couple years after he established himself his brother Karl made an account but didn't post much, and his few posts were mostly apolitical and about things like his pet turtle. And then later another "brother" of his started posting, a supposedly older one who went by the name Hawkeye and posted incredibly bigoted screeds in a much more aggressive way, attacking groups like immigrants, homosexuals, people on welfare, Muslims and a healthy dose of anti-Semitism to boot. Hawkeye was such a blatant caricature that many posters (including myself) couldn't take him seriously and concluded that he was a troll persona, but many believed that he was due to PBrunsel's insistence he was real and his actual brother. He never joined in on Hawkeye's trolling sprees or even defended him, but always insisted he was his actual brother and his background story (that he was a high school gym teacher living at home with the Brunsel family) was accurate as well. Hawkeye did have a few hiatuses, one where I recall PBrunsel stating he quit posting simply because he asked him to.

One day a Hawkeye thread was going as normal until the account Karl, his younger brother posted a reply in Hawkeye's style. It was quickly deleted, but not until several posters has noticed and screenshotted it. After this was exposed "Hawkeye" posted an apology stating that he was not very political and just used the forum as a way to blow off steam and he apologized to anyone hurt by his hateful screeds, and then proceeded to delete all his posts, as did the Karl post. I vaguely recall something about a blog that obviously posted by whoever was behind the Hawkeye account but even more vicious and bigoted being uncovered, but then it too was deleted.

However PBrunsel insisted that he had two brothers and that Hawkeye was real and that he was simply doing this story because he didn't want it to reflect poorly on PBrunsel. At that point most of the forum turned on him and many accused him of actually making up both the Karl and Hawkeye accounts and that he was behind Hawkeye himself.

Surprisingly PBrunsel didn't immediately vanish after this, at least not permanently, though he greatly slowed posting and mostly ceased participating in the greater forum community and just stuck to his timelines and Atlasia activity. His activity eventually faded entirely to nothing of course and his reputation as a very friendly and kind guy was basically destroyed so it's not surprisingly he no longer had a desire to stick around longterm. So we never exactly found out if any of PBrunsel's brothers were real or if he was behind the whole thing, personally I've long held to that Karl was in fact his actual brother (his earlier posts were too mundane for someone to create a sock to post), and Karl was behind the Hawkeye persona but that was obviously fake. The more relevant and somewhat disturbing question is if "Hawkeye" came out of simple boredom and a desire for attention like traditional trolls or if he was in fact some sort of emotional outlet for much nastier things below the surface...I will say that whoever was behind that account definitely should seek help regardless, most normal adjusted people would have a very difficult time writing the sort of things posted by it even if they were "joking" or not serious and just trolling around. So one of the other notable bizarre incidents in Atlas history.

[Stranger in a strange land]

He was certainly far from the worst, but would anyone care to recount the saga of JSojurner pretending to be Coburn2012? Or was Coburn2012 pretending to be JSojurner? We may never know.

Too bad JSojurner skipped off the forum after that. I hope he comes back someday, though I doubt he will: he was a good poster otherwise and I don't think most people would hold it against him now, especially with how much time has passed.

[The Dowager Mod]

I liked PBrunsel.

[Mr. Smith]

SirWoodbury.

There are two ways to look at the thread title, the worst people who trolled this site (which has been most of discussion), or the worst at trolling.  SirWood definitely ranks high in the latter as does the recent efforts of Redban.  I guess bronz deserves recognition for staying in character for such an incredibly long time, as noted Santander has to shift gears to maintain his high standards.  Beet would deserve mention for staying in character for such a long, long time except he's actually <inks>ing real.

These two are often one and the same.

[Continential]

What was Opebo like aside from him being a sexpat.

[Sumner 1868]

PBrunsel was a pretty generic teenage blue avatar from Iowa with a bunch of policy positions that were about what you'd expect from a evangelical upbrought teenage socon (at least by the standards of the time, the simple fact that he opposed same-sex marriage would have him labeled a reactionary or troll today, and come to think of it it's been quite awhile since we had a poster who promoted things like young Earth creationism or hardline abstinence only education), but was not aggressive about it in the slightest, and thus developed a large friend circle on both sides of the political spectrum, and was most identifiable by a pretty odd obsession with Herbert Hoover, maybe at least partially attributable to him living pretty close to the small town in Iowa Hoover was born in and where his presidential library is. He was like most posters of the sort known most for his timelines and Atlasia activity.

A couple years after he established himself his brother Karl made an account but didn't post much, and his few posts were mostly apolitical and about things like his pet turtle. And then later another "brother" of his started posting, a supposedly older one who went by the name Hawkeye and posted incredibly bigoted screeds in a much more aggressive way, attacking groups like immigrants, homosexuals, people on welfare, Muslims and a healthy dose of anti-Semitism to boot. Hawkeye was such a blatant caricature that many posters (including myself) couldn't take him seriously and concluded that he was a troll persona, but many believed that he was due to PBrunsel's insistence he was real and his actual brother. He never joined in on Hawkeye's trolling sprees or even defended him, but always insisted he was his actual brother and his background story (that he was a high school gym teacher living at home with the Brunsel family) was accurate as well. Hawkeye did have a few hiatuses, one where I recall PBrunsel stating he quit posting simply because he asked him to.

One day a Hawkeye thread was going as normal until the account Karl, his younger brother posted a reply in Hawkeye's style. It was quickly deleted, but not until several posters has noticed and screenshotted it. After this was exposed "Hawkeye" posted an apology stating that he was not very political and just used the forum as a way to blow off steam and he apologized to anyone hurt by his hateful screeds, and then proceeded to delete all his posts, as did the Karl post. I vaguely recall something about a blog that obviously posted by whoever was behind the Hawkeye account but even more vicious and bigoted being uncovered, but then it too was deleted.

However PBrunsel insisted that he had two brothers and that Hawkeye was real and that he was simply doing this story because he didn't want it to reflect poorly on PBrunsel. At that point most of the forum turned on him and many accused him of actually making up both the Karl and Hawkeye accounts and that he was behind Hawkeye himself.

Surprisingly PBrunsel didn't immediately vanish after this, at least not permanently, though he greatly slowed posting and mostly ceased participating in the greater forum community and just stuck to his timelines and Atlasia activity. His activity eventually faded entirely to nothing of course and his reputation as a very friendly and kind guy was basically destroyed so it's not surprisingly he no longer had a desire to stick around longterm. So we never exactly found out if any of PBrunsel's brothers were real or if he was behind the whole thing, personally I've long held to that Karl was in fact his actual brother (his earlier posts were too mundane for someone to create a sock to post), and Karl was behind the Hawkeye persona but that was obviously fake. The more relevant and somewhat disturbing question is if "Hawkeye" came out of simple boredom and a desire for attention like traditional trolls or if he was in fact some sort of emotional outlet for much nastier things below the surface...I will say that whoever was behind that account definitely should seek help regardless, most normal adjusted people would have a very difficult time writing the sort of things posted by it even if they were "joking" or not serious and just trolling around. So one of the other notable bizarre incidents in Atlas history.

Its time to think reasonably now, emotions aside.

These men chose to be uneducated in a capitalist society. It is basicaly their own fault they died. They at least  had the brains to get a good paying job with their lack of job skills but they had to take the risks that go with these uneducated jobs.

Hawkeye would have a red avatar these days.

[Secretary of State Liberal Hack]

This dude has clearly been the worst. Surprised this poster isn't permabanned already.

Why is that?

It's actually an old joke

Okay. I'm confused, but okay.

The link goes to your profile while logged in. Me klicking on the link goes to my profile.

lol, that got me good. Got a bit worried for a second.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Uh-oh, we got a necromancer on our hands.

[°Leprechaun]

BRTD

[WMS]

Not sure if they were trolling but who was the guy who changed his political opinions after a leadership conference?

Since someone else bumped this thread already, Josh4Bush/Josh22 is who is being described here. Teenager from one of the Carolinas, started off with pretty hard conservative views per his background.

Then he went to a leadership conference and then abruptly changed his political views to hard left because he saw the light.

Then changed his mind back to hard right, I think after going to another leadership conference but I might be misremembering. And then kept bouncing around all four quadrants of the political spectrum, usually going hard whatever, no moderate tendencies. Came out as bisexual somewhere in there too, which led old-timer MaC to comment about how that must have been quite a leadership conference. At one point another old-timer, Gabu, at my request created a mathematical equation wherein Josh22 occupied all positions on the political spectrum (Matrix or Compass, doesn’t matter) at once.

And Josh was completely sincere every time. Or else he was a masterful troll.

[Never Made it to Graceland]

Uh-oh, we got a necromancer on our hands.

Someone linked to this in another thread which is how I'm assuming IBNU found it.

[Continential]

Not sure if they were trolling but who was the guy who changed his political opinions after a leadership conference?

Since someone else bumped this thread already, Josh4Bush/Josh22 is who is being described here. Teenager from one of the Carolinas, started off with pretty hard conservative views per his background.

Josh4bush/Josh22 is actually a semi-active poster in Atlas as Vern1988/Vern.

[WMS]

Not sure if they were trolling but who was the guy who changed his political opinions after a leadership conference?

Since someone else bumped this thread already, Josh4Bush/Josh22 is who is being described here. Teenager from one of the Carolinas, started off with pretty hard conservative views per his background.

Josh4bush/Josh22 is actually a semi-active poster in Atlas as Vern1988/Vern.

I’ll be damned. It’s hard sometimes figuring out if certain posters are ones I know before or not

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Not sure if they were trolling but who was the guy who changed his political opinions after a leadership conference?

Since someone else bumped this thread already, Josh4Bush/Josh22 is who is being described here. Teenager from one of the Carolinas, started off with pretty hard conservative views per his background.

Josh4bush/Josh22 is actually a semi-active poster in Atlas as Vern1988/Vern.

I’ll be damned. It’s hard sometimes figuring out if certain posters are ones I know before or not

His views have also been stable the last 10 years plus, slightly to the right of center to center right.

[WMS]

Not sure if they were trolling but who was the guy who changed his political opinions after a leadership conference?

Since someone else bumped this thread already, Josh4Bush/Josh22 is who is being described here. Teenager from one of the Carolinas, started off with pretty hard conservative views per his background.

Josh4bush/Josh22 is actually a semi-active poster in Atlas as Vern1988/Vern.

I’ll be damned. It’s hard sometimes figuring out if certain posters are ones I know before or not

His views have also been stable the last 10 years plus, slightly to the right of center to center right.

Well knock me over with a horse feather then

[Coolface Sock #42069]

Since we have resurrected this thread, I will reiterate that King Lear was one of the most effective trolls we’ve had in my 8+ years on this site.

[AtorBoltox]

The one's who've managed to get away with it for years: Beet, Bronz, Tender Branson

[Tender Branson]

The one's who've managed to get away with it for years: Beet, Bronz, Tender Branson

I have never been a "troll" ...

I only post the uncomfortable truth sometimes, that some on here don't like.

[𝕭𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖎𝖘𝖙𝖆 𝕸𝖎𝖓𝖔𝖑𝖆]

The one's who've managed to get away with it for years: Beet, Bronz, Tender Branson

I have never been a "troll" ...

I only post the uncomfortable truth sometimes, that some on here don't like.

Your posts about the Mahometans and about Malthusian catastrophes are indeed uncomfortable, but they are not the truth.

[ilikeverin]

I liked PBrunsel.

Yes, BRTD's description was painful to read; I found him delightful until all that Hawkeye stuff went down.

Not sure if they were trolling but who was the guy who changed his political opinions after a leadership conference?

Since someone else bumped this thread already, Josh4Bush/Josh22 is who is being described here. Teenager from one of the Carolinas, started off with pretty hard conservative views per his background.

Josh4bush/Josh22 is actually a semi-active poster in Atlas as Vern1988/Vern.

I’ll be damned. It’s hard sometimes figuring out if certain posters are ones I know before or not

*hughughug*

[Velasco]

The one's who've managed to get away with it for years: Beet, Bronz, Tender Branson

I have never been a "troll" ...

I only post the uncomfortable truth sometimes, that some on here don't like.

I don't think you are a troll. Rather, you have created your own trademark in this forum. I mean, you are as idiosyncratic as BRTD or Santander in their own ways. However, it seems to me that you should pay royalties to Al Gore... no, sorry, to Loki Mulholland

The Uncomfortable Truth™


https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7119062/

[Tender Branson]

The one's who've managed to get away with it for years: Beet, Bronz, Tender Branson

I have never been a "troll" ...

I only post the uncomfortable truth sometimes, that some on here don't like.

Your posts about the Mahometans and about Malthusian catastrophes are indeed uncomfortable, but they are not the truth.

This depends on the point of view:

In ca. 2015-16, when I said that a lot of rapefugees and other Muslim terrorists were on the way to Europe along with normal refugees, nobody believed me (well, some did).

What do you tell the raped and killed women, children and others in Europe that were killed by these infiltrants that we let in ?

Is it not the truth ?

Or when it comes to overpopulation: what do you think the local elephants, rhinos and Co. in Africa think about there being 4 billion people in Africa by 2100, rather than the 1 billion now ? They are already hunted to extinction right now and their habitats being destroyed further by the cancerous expanion of humans.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

Landslide Lyndon