blogger v blogger

i have a confession: even after all the shit i've written about gary welsh, he's never sent me a personal email. i figure he doesn't think i'm worth responding to. i know i've pissed him off before, but even when complaining about me on his blog, he's avoided mentioning my name.

others aren't so lucky. gary has become notorious for sending over-the-top emails full of histrionics when he's angered, which happens frequently. (the man doesn't respond well to criticism, despite what he may say.) yesterday, he sent one to bil browning, even taking it to the next level by threatening to sue bil. bil's response is to tell him to fuck off:

You see Gary, everyone is tired of your irate screeds that you send out willy nilly. This isn't the first time I've had one of your inane notes land in my inbox. In fact, this isn't the tenth or twentieth time. I've come to expect them and usually just junk them for the trash they are. You've even e-mailed some of our other Bilerico contributors based on posts on their blogs.

Do you remember sending Mike Rogers of PageOneQ repeated e-mails screaming that he was stealing your content since his national news roundup didn't link to you but linked the Indianapolis Star stories instead? After all, you're the only blogger smart enough to find a story published both online and in a daily newspaper for the 12th largest city in the US! It got you banned from ever being linked on the popular LGBT aggregator blog for sending threatening and hateful e-mails to the site's owner.

How about e-mailing Pam Spaulding when she didn't write a post for Pam's House Blend about Aaron Hall's murder the way you thought it should be written? Perhaps that ego was also at work when you sent her suggestions on how to write her content better. Her traffic and influence far outweighs yours; maybe she could give you tips on how to make allies in the blogosphere. How was your success rate with this hateful rant?

You've sent e-mails to GayIndy.org's mailing list members - both privately and on the list. Your "friends" forward copies of your e-mails around as "OMG look how crazy he's gotten now!" jokes. Remember when you threatened to publish embarrassing tidbits from my youth if I didn't change my stance on whether or not Aaron Hall's murder was a hate crime? How about all of the times local officials refused to return your phone calls, the mainstream media has ignored you or the local activists have snubbed you?

You have a history now, Gary. You talk trash and then get offended if someone calls you on it or describes you in a manner you don't like. If you don't like how you're being treated by activists, media, politicians and blogs, perhaps the wise course of action would be to change your modus operandi.

i don't write about gary as much as i used to because it just got old; it got to the point where i felt bad for him, like i was picking on him just because he was so horrifically wrong on so many issues.

but those were simpler days. then mayor ballard took office, and gary's dreams of greg the supermayor were shattered by the depressing reality of ballard the bumbler. then came the special election. gary's behavior grew worse than ever, as he became deeply emotionally invested in jon elrod—and was devastated by elrod's inevitable loss. in the days that followed, his tone grew so dark and bitter that i honestly worried for his safety.

but he seems to have moved on, and is back to his old hijinks. only now, his new favorite target is barack obama—he'll post any attack on obama, no matter how absurd. which leaves him in the bizarre position of sometimes defending hillary clinton. i never thought i'd see that happen, as back in the day, there was nobody he hated more than the clintons. i guess you've got to have priorities.

update: as you might've guessed, gary has a particularly whiny post on his blog about the subject. naturally, he does not link to bil's post so that his readers can see what he's bitching about, nor does he bother to acknowledge that he threatened to sue bil, which seems like the whole point to me. ¶