Buga DiFino busted

January 26 2004

One of the stories I heard last night at the Welcome Reception is the troll named Buga DiFino has been caught.  When I say "caught" I don't mean he/she is now spending lonely nights in a small prison cell, simply that they know that their little hijinx on notestips and other blogs have been traced back to them.
So how were they busted?  Well, as Volker said at the time, the Internet is not anonymous.  A suggestion to any of you thinking of trolling on weblogs or elsewhere on the web -- don't do so from a static IP address registered in your real name.  Once that was obvious, I told a former colleague of "Buga" about the whole thing, that person rang him/her up, asked to speak to "Buga DiFino", and the that was the end for this particular troll.
Now that we know who Buga DiFino really is, does that change my impression of the discussion on notestips?  Though "Buga" was in fact someone I knew, like some of what happened last week, there's not much sense in another public personal attack.   They did raise some valid points in the discussion, and people I've talked to say that they got a lot out of the point/counterpoint.  Good thing, too, because Mr. Golding, who apparently missed my postings about the eWeek and CNET articles last week, and the rather direct commentary on the CNET one specifically, is blogging about the supposed MS effort to go after Lotus developers this morning.  Uh, Mike, check out those two links, and you'll know that there's almost no truth to the story, and the sources have no credibility.  In fact, I spoke to a reporter from a competing publication last night, and they laughed at the mere thought that there was anything real here.
Further, today's announcements at Lotusphere should address the concern MS is trying to FUD -- making development of collaborative applications on the J2EE platform an easier task.
My lotus.com/weblog now has my day one content summary... and for those of you here, see you in the Opening General Session in about an hour -- make it so!

Ed Brill | WDW Dolphin, Orlando FL USA Category:  Blogging  Add/View Comments [7]

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  1. 1  Neil  | 1/26/2004 6:30:52 AM

    I have seen Patric Stewart on stage in London he is superb... Should be a good keynote !

  1. 2  Frank http://www.domino-admin.co.ulk | 1/26/2004 7:03:14 AM

    Not only am I missing out on this year's 'sphere, but it sounds like I am missing out on a chance to see one of my all time fave actors (yes .. I am a Trek Geek, as well as a Lotus Geek).

    ** Sigh **

    Oh well, I'll just need to take comfort from the stream of information being blogged @ LS2004.

  1. 3  Wild Bill http://www.billbuchan.com | 1/26/2004 9:24:49 AM

    Hey Frank - think of the frustration - I'm here - but in the basement.. Sigh..

    --* Bill

  1. 4  Buga Difino  | 1/26/2004 10:42:19 AM

    Ed, lets clear a few things up :-

    There are two simple reasons I chose to make a few comments on Notestips using a fairly obvious pseudonym :-

    a) I wished to be careful to avoid giving anyone the opportunity to go to any of my previous employers customers and say "Look what .... said" - something I felt would be unfair to my former colleagues and employer.

    b) For reasons of professionalism I did not want to associate my comments with my new employer either. (Now for sure you understand the point because you said it was "pretty unprofessional" for someone else to make certain comments using his real name.) So which is it ? Be named and be damned for being unprofessional or be anonymous and be damned for anonymity.

    I still think a&b are valid reasons to post as Buga.

    Now that Buga returns a few Google hits I am thinking of keeping it as a "nom de plume" ... what do you think. Maybe I could start an personal blog.

    Is it really Jean-Luc ? Wasn't he a Borg once too ?

  1. 5  jonvon http://jonvon.net/ | 1/26/2004 11:13:25 AM

    ed, have you invented a new meme? you've already redefined the word troll as a noun, and adjective and a verb. unless someone else has said this before, you may have just added a new idea to the english language. :-)

  1. 6  Nathan T. Freeman  | 1/27/2004 11:40:58 AM

    New meme? "Troll" has been a multi-part word for as long as it's been in use on the 'net.

  1. 7    | 1/27/2004 8:12:42 PM

    But for people who are reading your comments, it's nice to know where you've come from and where you are now to put what you're saying in perspective.

    We've all got our own bias, it's nice to be able to see where it all comes from.