The first petition was originally posted under the title "Let's get rid of Cherry once and for all". If one searches unders it message ID in Dejanews, one finds followups, though, oddly, not the original post itself. Odder still, one can't find it, at present, in Alta Vista using an advanced search of Usenet, which is how I collected this thing originally, if I recall correctly. I'm glad that I saved a copy, when I had the chance. (It also appeared under the title "Let's end Cherry's abuse once and for all", and vanished altogether).

Here's an intriguing little tidbit to top it off. The "Cabal" - Skirvin, Lewis, et al., have, in the past, justified their online activities by saying that they were acting to keep Usenet usable, by keeping spammers and trolls from disrupting it completely. And yet, Fred Cherry, who is the Classic example of all of these things, isn't mentioned in Tim Skirvin's Killfile Dungeon, at all, except as an aside in pages devoted to other people, while those who have merely disagreed with Tim, and on one case, merely declined to date him, have been, at great length. Lewis, who expresses such pious concern for outrageously dishonest posting, in his NoCem notice, as of June 26, 1999 (well after the time of this petition), has made not a single post critical of Cherry, that can be found anywhere in the Dejanews archives. (Whether he ever NoCemed a post by Cherry prior to that date, is harder to say, as the name of the author of the NoCemed post does not appear in the notice.)

Now, one might, however naively, think that someobody with this avowed goal would be supportive of an effort to put an end to the presence of somebody who was known for crossposting his spams across dozens of groups, in which they were radically off topic, at a time. But here, we get to see Lewis attempt to keep people from seeing this petition, by filing a NoCem notice against it. (For those who don't know, a NoCem is a notice suggesting that a post be overlooked. On some systems, these automatically result in the post vanishing off screen.

It is almost as if Skirvin and Lewis were acting like they were Cherry's allies, attacking his critics, but leaving him alone.

Now, please do look at what Lewis has referred to as being a "troll". Then return using your left arrow key.

Note that the Breidbart index of this post is well under 20, yet it gets condemned in a "velveeta" report, in a semi-anonymous post. (Velveeta is spam that is massively crossposted, but not duplicated. Note that the groups in which the petition appeared, were exactly the ones in which Cherry had been libeling people, and hence was on topic, there). Nice bit of irony, given that the action serves to help out one of the most notorious crossposters ever.

(The Breidbart index, a number that crowd is obsessed with, is the sum of the square roots of the number of groups each individual identical copy of a post appears in. If the index of a post is over 20, this is claimed as a basis for cancellation. On whose authority this "rule" has been established, is never quite made entirely clear). Look at what he said was an inflammatory pack of lies, and ask yourself how honest the man looks after this. Look at what he Nocemed.

Does this look inflammatory to you? What an inversion! People are asked to join in writing to sysops in the Boston area to please refrain from giving Cherry access, because he has made a habit out of libeling people who disagree with him, referring to them as NAMBLA supporters - and it can easily be verified that this is the case - and Lewis tells people not to look at this petition, in the interest of avoiding outrageous lies! In other words, what Fred has been making, and the petition complains of.

I would propose that the Cabal has no interest in making Usenet usable at all, but merely is engaged in a childish and petty grab for power. The last thing on earth that they'd want to do is get rid of people like Cherry. The irritation they cause is an issue that net cops can capitalise on, as they try to build up a base of support. Insignificant people seeking glory in the fabrication of insignificant causes, and nothing more. In a peaceful environment, who would put up with someone who took it upon himself to tell him where and what he could post, if he didn't wish to be harassed?

Skirvin and Lewis aren't troll fighters, they are trolls themselves, as are their friends, and are probably having as good a laugh over the disruption that they've caused, as Fred Cherry is himself. What a tribute to the widespread gullibility of the online community, that so many embraced them as if they were conquering heroes, fighting for the greater good of our virtual kingdom.