7 February 2006

Saint Samuel Gordon Stewart first martyr of RiotACT

| Jonathon Reynolds
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Many readers on this site may fondly remember the young, highly opinionated, AM loving talkback radio fanatic and at times somewhat naive, Samuel Gordon Stewart, recent winner of several Australian blog awards.

Apparently Samuel has decided that he will no long frequent these esteemed pages and will now tread his own precarious path to self proclaimed sainthood by becoming a martyr of RiotACT.

You can read all the sordid details here.

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Great, you had to ruin it!

I’m only making this post as the current post count is 69 and this would embarrass little Sammy.

“He’s…special.”

“Gifted?”

“Sort of….”

Finally, in closing, I would like to do my best Jerry Springer impersonation. Just as Jerry does at the end of each of his shows… and no body better say otherwise because I consider this my god given right given that I posted the story in the first instance that has created all the heated discussion here!

“Remember folks, that what is posted on the net is there for virtually forever* and cannot be easily removed, deleted of altered. So think wisely before you post or it will come back and eventually bite you in the bum as some have already – to their dismay -discovered”

* at least until you fail to pay your hosting bills or your hard disk crashes.

I think some give Sam too much credit by sayng he is trying to be a shock-jock. I think he has his opinions and feels free to express them in the hope he will find like-minded people, as he has on his own SGS blog. I choose not to go there because I find Linux discussion akin to plucking nose-hairs, but I won’t post any ridiculous articles with petulant overtones telling people why I won’t go there.

I agree with a couple of comments posted – that the net puts everyone on a level playing field, so fcuk theories about psuedonyms giving people bigger balls; Anyone who flamed Sambo took the risk of being flamed themselves. I’ve seen pretty much everyone here get flamed for saying something stupid (including myself)- and lo and behold the flamees stopped making stupid (or inflammatory) remarks before thinking…

As for RA players ‘ganging up’, well Sam put a few noses out of joint with his yarns. Some fairly harsh things were said; but that’s the game we all play when we post, isn’t it?

I also like andy’s retard remark. (snicker snicker)

This is your proverbial storm in a teacup. I don’t feel I’ve said anything I wouldn’t say down at the pub – regardless of someone’s age, race, colour, whatever; so I won’t apologise. If someone wants to try and take me to task for it than more power – I’m able to back up what I have to say and I’m able to swallow any bitter pills thrown my way for having the balls to say it here or at the local.

Oh, and I didn’t hear you telling anyone to pull their head in Konrad, so don’t preach now, buddy. I don’t disagree with most of your statements or your sentiment, but you’re coming off ‘holier-than-thou’ and that just blows.

Sambo, come on back when you’re ready, you may be nerdish, you may be outspoken but you are entertaining when you aren’t sulking – so no hard feelings from my end.

Sam I always thought deep down you were a good bloke, good luck with future ill miss your opinions

Actually, if you view it in light of the right (or want) of people to remain anonymous while still being allowed to abuse other people who dont see the need to divulge thier identity or nor to remain anonymous or not in that the rage expressed through this anonimity can only be supressed (perhaps) when the desire to do so is excreted onto a forum where those that are anonymous allow those that arent anonymous the expressed opinions of the identity witheld on the forum itself.

Andy, you’ve just declared yourself, myself and everyone having this disagreement a retard. That’s a fantastic way to close debate…

Now you have it andy.

further.. i mean.. seriously, you object, fine, just leave
but why tell everyone you are going to leave.. its just attention grabbing in itself.

theres a picture floating around on the net of a disabled child running through a finish ribbon, with the quote “fighting on the internet is like running in the special olympics… even if you win, you’re still a retard”

Its the internet, grow up and get over it.

Bonfire, I never said I was brave and I won’t be accepting such a claim. bravery was never my forte. All I said was that either you’re public or your anonymous. When dishing out abuse you may as well not do it anonymously. As I said, where’s the fun in that? And on top of it all I’m dishing out is abuse to those who’ve dished out unneccessary abuse. My name’s been Konrad Lenz for a lot longer than I’ve been using the internet too so where does that leave things and what’s real. If I use my “real” name its less public but still identifiable… In your case though Bonfire is probably not the name that 90% of friends, work collegues, acquaintences and people who’ve seen you around know you as in which case you shouldn’t really lump abuse on someone using it. That just seems decent. If its too difficult for you to understand then that’s fine. Not my problem.

I’m a bitch in real life same as on line. Sorry.

Absent Diane11:18 am 08 Feb 06

In real life I am witty, prone to weird sometimes agro outbursts and live with my girlfriend in a cubby house located in our dining room. SO as you can see my internet ‘persona’ is completely different to my real world persona

As for talking online rather than in person, I think naturally you would talk to people online differently, simply because the medium is slower and you can pick your words more carefully. Plus you have to use more of them because inflection is hard if you are trying to avoid using smilies.

Also I can take my time to think and post. In real life just about anyone could run verbal rings around me, I’m not nearly as rambunctious or mean in person either.

But I do love a witty pisstake.

Sammy forget the harsh comments. If you want to have your own Radio show one day you need to get your name out there. It is free marketing! Just ask Konrad.

I actually feel bad, and withdraw all my comments about Sam. I think he’s intellectually disabled, in which case I can’t really bag him out. I’d never really “READ” his blog before. Now I have, I feel really awful.

No more words on SGS from me.

pseudonyms – a useful tool to allow free discussion by people who for various reasons dont wish to disclose their identities.

konrad can harp on about how brave he is to use his real pseudonym, and were all cowards but i dont see any rule in the riotact terms of agreement where it says ‘real names required’. this is a voluntary forum, and you can call yourself aunt mary if you want.

i think what matters more is the logic in what you say, not who is the person saying it.

sgs – if you cant defend what you say, dont say it. a small percentage of his posts were just ill informed. when the flaws in his arguments were pointed out he became quite petulant. go back and read the posts and you will see how he turns the debate about his arguments int a personal attack on himself. particularly the summernats bilge.

however i note that a few blogs in canberra do have a real anti-sgs bent to them, and someone has been trying to hack his blog (according to his blog last night). this is just wrong.

he is young and lacks expericene in life. and we all were once. if he didnt pass judgement on others lifestyle choices i suspect he wouldnt cop the shit that he has.

although he may be sulking, i suspect the experience will do him good in the long term.

also, iirc wasnt ufuckface monkeybike boy our first martyr ?

Absent Diane9:54 am 08 Feb 06

The internet allows some people to indulge in latent personality traits… eg sam being outspoken in things he believes in, where in real life people wouldn’t take any notice…. The internet puts all people on a far level playing field..if your ideas offend the mass then it becomes a little more like reality and you have to then deal with mob mentality…

Oh yeh, simto I agree, not everyone using a pseudonym is hiding exactly. Johnboy is fairly public and there are others. I might finally meet Bonfire soon at my next gig and buy Bon a drink… So I’m not attacking EVERYBODY here. Just to clarify things a little more…

Oh yeh, simto I agree, not everyone using a pseudonym is hiding exactly. Johnboy is fairly public and there are others. I might finally meet Bonfire soon at my next gig and buy Bon a drink… So I’m not attacking EVERYBODY here. Just to clarify things a little more…

Maeliner, to clarify something, my pseudonym is not used to hide my identity. I’m often employed as Konrad Lenz but when filling out invoices for tax purposes in regards to this empoloyment its Konrad Crnkovic. When I was empoloyed at the War Memorial I was employed as Konrad Crnkovic BUT I let everyone know that I was also Konrad Lenz and would place gig posters with my face and other name around the workplace (I put both names on my CV anyway). The two names are like two wives rather than a wife and a mistress. I haven’t changed it officially yet because I’m slow with paper work. Another example of this slowness is that it took me 7 years to get around to doing my tax. I did 7 years of tax in one night. Slow with paperwork… My objection is to anonymous abuse which SGS seemed to get a lot of for whatever reason. When a pseudonym is used to hide under so that someone can hurl abuse someone else there’s something odd going on… I certainly don’t hide under either name that I have… So where’s the hypocricy…
Absent Diane, I enjoy the cranks, I also agree to some extent with your comment. But there was a hell of a lot of misuse of that anonymity…

Ok, now that we’ve dealt with the username thing – is it hypocritical to talk to someone differently online (and with whatever level of buffer between you) to the way you would speak to them in person?

Sometimes I’d say it really doesn’t matter but occasionally you read something and really hope the poster doesn’t act/think like that in reality and that they’re just having a bit of fun winding someone up.

Absent Diane9:21 am 08 Feb 06

the beauty of internet is that it allows anonimity, which encourages debate… (there are some people who misuse that) I personally think if you use your real name online you are leaving yourself open to stupid abuse…. there are a lot of cranks out there…

jamius maximus9:00 am 08 Feb 06

Hey Simto, snap!

PS. Get back to work.

jamius maximus8:58 am 08 Feb 06

Dear Konrad,

Use paragraphs!!

It makes posts easier to read.

Jamie xo

Hm, paragraphs would have been nice there…

Besides, there are a lot of sam-bashers on here who make themselves fairly publically available (Thumer and Maelinar have to be restrained from telling the world where they’ll be every Friday night, there’s photos of JB and the rest of the crew around the place, colsim has let it slip when he’s on 2XX radio a fair couple of times), so it’s not like we’re all exactly hiding behind our usernames, is it.

Konrad seems to have a bigger chip on his shoulder than our Sammy

barking toad8:54 am 08 Feb 06

konrad likes sam ‘cos he masterbates

Mael, he already answered that.

And it’s more like:

“My name…. is Neo”.

Ya goose.

Konrad, how come you attack people for using pseudonym names when you use one yourself ?

I kind of find that a little hypocritical.

Would you like me to go by my Indonesian name; Fauzi ? Would you like me to use my Christian name; Peter ?

I gurantee I could have some fun with my surname as well, although I chose a name (I am getting the feeling I have covered this territory before here) that symbolises, to me, an online representation of my persona; Maelinar.

Before you continue to harp on about peoples names, consider this:

“Goodbye Mr Anderson”
“My… name… is… Neo”
The Matrix (1999)

I especially admire how I stayed engaged through the entire thing, even though it was repetitive.

I feel ashamed reading that Konrad, but then I remember I have already shared my really real name and I hammered down on some of the things SGS said because they pissed me off.

I’d say his private life came up for ridicule because it’s fun to be a cunt sometimes.

So I’m good.

Mr_Shab, it still begs the question of whether its ok to slag someone off incognito. I don’t know Samuel’s employment status, I’m sure he will be answerable to an employer pretty damn soon either way if he isn’t already. Its not like we’re Deep Throat pulling the plug on Watergate here either, its a bunch of anonymous people ganging up on a kid because they think he’s a nerd and they think he’s a nerd because he thinks and acts differently to them. If they were to criticize him for what he says I’d be fine with that but it goes beyond just criticism.1 I’ve watched the whole Samuel thing and thought it strange how everyone’s acting like a pack of wolves descending onto a kid they see as worth making fun of. This is idiotic meat-head behaviour and its spineless when its done anonymously or under the veils of pseudonyms. And as far as kimba’s concerned what “I hope not for your sake” supposed to mean? Is that a threat or a stupid attempt at an insult. I hope kimba’s not your real name too, for your own sake dum dum… As far as my name goes, Konrad Lenz is a pseudonym which is more public than my real name which is Konrad Crnkovic which is a useless name when it comes to making music. The fact that I’m changing it soon officially and the fact that any employer or friend I’ve ever had knows I have two names and the fact that Konrad Lenz is what everyone knows me as makes it a little different to a lot of online names. Also the fact that I’m perfectly happy to tell you my “real” name which I gave up ten years ago makes it a little different. I don’t use it to hide under and I’m perfectly happy for people to know I have two names. I’m a musician and far better known as Konrad Lenz anyway though it is public knowledge that I have the two names that I have. So “kimba” if you want to you can scrawl some on-line abuse about KONRAD LENZ OR KONRAD CRNKOVIC I don’t care. It hardly matters to me. I’ll enjoy the attention. You can even SMS me abuse or call me if you’d like, here’s the number – 0432 353 492. I’ve made my phone number publically available anyway on this site before for reasons of promotion so I may as well do it here. It can’t hurt. It doesn’t matter to me. What’s the worst you can do but hurl abuse? I really don’t care. I’m in the phone book too but I don’t have a land line at the moment so you can’t abuse me there unfortunately. I’d be happy for you to call me on it if I had a landline. If you scrawl your online abuse under a name with which you’re better known to the public I’ll respect you more in the morning. If you do want to abuse someone use a name that is publically known. Yeah you can pretend you’re like the Anti-Clarke Kent/Anti-Superman and don the Anti-Superhero costume online and engage in the fun of teasing some poor kid online and then go through the rest of your life as an ANTI-CLARKE KENT and push paper in your daily occupation all so meek and mild and happy that no one knows you verbally gang up on people online when your not at work or you can grow up and act like an adult… ganging up on poor Sammy doesn’t really seem too adult to me at all. Especially doing it with anonymity. What’s the point of that. If I hurl some abuse at someone I hope that people know its me hurling the abuse, what’s the point otherwise? Yeah Samuel has some pretty odd opinions but there was stuff written about his assumed sexlife or lack there-of and about how he should have more life experieces and a whole lot of other assumptions about his private life. I really don’t care about what someone does in private, whether they’re a drinking, a womanizer, a celibate ascetic or whatever… Its what they say and do outside of that private life that has some bearing on things. The rest is, well, private. Unless they’ve done something really terrible which Sam hasn’t. So why should his private life come up for ridicule? Cheers…

It’s interesting though, isn’t it. Do people speak online to people the same way they would speak face to face or does the anonimity factor change things?

Konrad, some of us work in professions or workplaces that take a pretty dim view of anybody having an opinion.

That’s why I’d prefer to remain incognito.

If I meet you at the pub, I’d be more than happy to personally attack you, or provide my opinion on any subject you’d care to name, without the benefit of anominity.

SGS has the advantage of being young, and not answerable to an employer – therefore it’s not such a problem for him to be identifiable. In his situation I’d probably do the same, as would most of the folk posting here.

LOL…..and Konrad Lenz is your “own name”. I hope not for your sake.

I may be very different in attitudes to Samuel but at least he attaches his own name to whatever comments he makes online making his identity immediatley apparent to whoever is reading. Which is better than the snivelling little swine turds who have been making personal attacks on him all the time.

Absent Diane4:08 pm 07 Feb 06

Dont worry mr shab…. I do it all the time

…and I agree with RG’s earlier post – “Even people who agree with your opinion will still look down their nose at a simpering follower.”

Oh, wait…Crap.

Ahh…so it was. My apologies.

I should check my facts more carefully before shooting my mouth off…;)

Gang up on random, he is cramping my style.

Let’s gang up on Bodhichitta now…. He/she/it appears to be the new weakest link.

Absent Diane2:48 pm 07 Feb 06

Mr Shab… my comment was aimed at random not randomgit..

Sam did not get mobbed for having a differing opinion. He got mobbed for having no discernable basis upon which to stand his opinion beyond sycophancy to shock jocks.

Liars we can at least ignore, assholes we can at least respect. But asskissers just get fair up peoples nose like none other. Even people who agree with your opinion will still look down their nose at a simpering follower.

johnboy took the appropriate opportunities at the Summernats discussion and the speeding discussion to pull down this house of brown nosed cards.

When people realised it they got stuck in with both steel caps at once.

SGS needs more introspection, wider influences and life experiences.

AD – I’m not sure RG was arguing that Sammy should have backed down and meekly agreed. I think he was caning him for getting sniffy about being attacked, and taking his proverbial bat and ball home.

I’ll miss the spirited debate he brought to RA. I kinda wish he’d stay, as he kept things entertaining.

Absent Diane11:32 am 07 Feb 06

Random – If everyone backed down a) the world would be boring b)no-one would get other peoples perspective and would therefore be ignorant in my books… I always feel enlightened after a good debate.. even if it gets nasty at times…

RandomGit, at least he didn’t take a stand in the face of this obvious oppression and vigorously defend his beliefs to all and sundry. This way is quieter.

And the other common response for “young punks” is to amp up the crap and troll for all they’re worth. At least he didn’t do that.

While I normally have opposing views to SGS, I do completely agree with him in this matter. He has been unfairly picked upon in this forum and I dont blame him for deciding not to come back.
There is little point in taking peoples words out of context and slamming them just for the fun of it….though I do see it happen often here on Riotact and is why I tend to only brush over most of the posts and opinions on this site…generally they simply are not worth reading.

RiotAct seemed nice enough a while ago when I first came here, but lately its just full of whiney, anonymous bitchslappers who have nothing better to do than to try to take everyone down a peg in order to make themselves feel bigger.
*shrugs* Some people need that, good on ’em.

See ya SGS, you did the right thing.

Poor little Sammy…

RG – you’re right on the money. If you’re going to make public comment, then be prepared to be criticised, taken out of context, flamed and generally abused. He was flamed a lot as he made a lot of comments; and these were frequently at odds most people’s opinion here.

He’s being overly precious. I give him a couple of months before he starts posting again.

Then again, he’s just about stubborn enough to never come back…

He’s certainly come across as quite the young prat at times but I would say that he’s probably copped more crap on here than anyone else I’ve ever seen (though I guess I never could be that bothered standing up for him) and the times he was shot down for a lack of life experience were pretty harsh.

But yes, lots of discussion provoked (though much of it about him rather than the topic at and) so maybe the dream of shlock jockdom will pan out.

Just do us one favour sgs and try to become a good lefty shlock jock, there are already far too many neocon artists about.

barking toad10:23 am 07 Feb 06

hey growling one, the old schoolmates posting on your link have a high opinion of the nerdie one – especially liked the masterbating(sic) bit – dissapointed he gave it up in year 9 though (maybe that’s his problem)

Sam has learned the lesson of anyone who sticks their neck out in the public arena of words. He is too young to bear the burden of dissent, so he has stepped back whilst trying to maintain his psyche without listening.

Like every other young punk on the net before him.

Good luck to him finding a clue in the future.

petulance.

youth.

ignorance.

I think it’s a pity that Sam has decided to abandon his rants on the RiotAct. Kinda the same way that I think it’s a shame Pauline Hanson is no longer a part of the political scene. I didn’t agree with her ideas/policies/visions/ravings, but it got debate going and her opinion was just as valid as anyone elses.

Everyone can benefit from widening their horizons and experiencing the world we live in, but I don’t think that someone should be ostracized due to lack of worldly experience. I wasn’t alive for WWII, I haven’t been an astronaut, I’m not a politician, but I’ll happily comment on all of the above.

Personally I think sam’s commenters are some of the most advanced comedians in the world.

Typical, we make him famous (Australian Blog Awards) and he is now too good for us!

Samuel’s blog was bad enough, full of self-pity but what about the comments he received LOL. Must be Sam’s groupies.

Absent Diane9:20 am 07 Feb 06

Im gonna miss the little guy…couldn’t stand anything he said… but he had the guts to say it (it often left me quite bemused) and the insuing debate was always interesting to read.
Mael – good call ’bout the PS and breeding out backbone…

He honestly believes that his not posting here is going to cause such a problem that it needs a long drawn out post to explain it?

I have never known anyone with such an over inflated sense of self importance. EVER! (and yes, I am even including Bonfire and myself in that).

Growling Ferret9:06 am 07 Feb 06

Poor Sam

Its not only those who know him from the intermernet that think he’s a starange character – a few former school mates have passed opinion on Sam and his, umm, obsession with self pleasure, here…

http://www.syndicatemotorsports.org/forum/index.php?showtopic=3969&hl=samuel

I apologise in advance for anyone who is visual…

Can’t he just stop posting/visiting without the long drawn out explanation? Does he want attention or scores of people kissing his backside telling him how respected he was and how much people liked him? He’s an intelligent kid who will make something of himself but life experience is so sorely missing at this point in his life

barking toad8:18 am 07 Feb 06

sam is not going to post on here – we’ll all be rooned!

care factor extremely low

Life experience has to accumulate You can’t turn an 18 year old into a 30 year old no matter how many times you take them out drinking and getting into fights. Sam did seem to bring out the aggressive streak in some people.

I view Sam’s situation as reasonably similar to my own in some circumstances, I’m sure we’re all aware of the fact that Areaman and I have extremely polarised opinions about public housing for instance, and we go the subject passionately.

I’ve certainly not attempted to be inflammatory towards SGS, however he must respect that on a site such as RA, you should expect to be flamed for every word you write, be it under a gramattical, heirachial, factual or just plain disagreeance issue with what you have written.

The unfortunate thing really is that the life experience to be able to weather the storm so to speak, which was quite the underlying current of the advice that was being given to SGS, will be ignored, and unheeded.

SGS, you will do well in the Public Service my friend, if you ever decide to join, for they too have absolutely no need for backbone, infact they have selectively recruited it out of the public service by virtue of it’s omission from selection criteria.

(That was a compliment, however badly it sounds)

I love RiotACT. But I do think that Sam has been given a raw deal from time to time, which hasn’t been fair.

There’s a quote already in the pool room.

A shame Sam won’t take our advice.

I’ll concede that would have meant missing the “Best of Laws” from time to time.

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