Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
"Haringey man laughs off twitter trolls that set up parody account"
SOMEONE may have thought they were helping Haringey Council by creating a Twitter account that is an attempt at parody of a noted Council critic, Tottenham's Mr. Martin Ball.
According to this article in the Tottenham & Wood Green Independent, the Council have denied that anyone within the Authority has set up the account and Mr. Ball has said whoever set it up should "get a life".
Mr. Ball is unaligned politically.
It's said that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
All that "MoanyMartin_N17" has achieved is to direct more attention to the real Mr. Martin Ball, who tweets under the moniker, @martinballN17.
Under a more generous and enlightened administration, Mr. Ball will be presented with a letter of grateful thanks by the Local Authority for the amount of work he has done in and for the community.
CDC
Haringey Councillor
Liberal Democrat Party
Tags for Forum Posts: Martin Ball, Twitter, parody, spoof, troll
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by StephenBln on
-
Es gibt wichtigeres zur Zeit Clive..
oops.. got carried away.. Dear Clive, there are much more important things going on in the world, than your bid to become Mayor of Haringey..
-
Permalink Reply by Clive Carter on
-
Stephen the attempt to undermine one of Tottenham's leading community activists is not only failing, but it's been counter-productive. The real Martin Ball now has more than 1,200 followers:
https://twitter.com/MartinBallN17
The so-called spoof account deserves a little credit for boosting Mr. Ball's profile.
The effectiveness of the real Mr Ball's Twitter account may be judged by the character of the followers of the fake account. The current followers of the fake account include several Majority Group Councillors:
- Leader of the Council
- Council Cabinet Member for Economic Development
- Chief Whip
- Chair of Planning
Up until recently, the fake account was also being followed by the Chair of the Council's Scrutiny Committee.
It seems possible that one of most irritating phrases that the real Martin uses is, Claire Kober's Cleanest Borough.
The anonymous (fake) account, began with occasionally humorous parodies, but now it's nakedly attacking Tottenham resident Mr. Ball.
Looks to me like an example of sock puppetry/astroturfing with the object of blunting and blurring Mr. Ball's message about the filth on the streets and the uncollected garbage.
Perhaps eventually Majority Group Councillors will devote less time to trying to subvert a critic, and more attention to listening to the message about the unsatisfactory rubbish situation.
-
Permalink Reply by matthew cuthbert on
-
Satire is one thing, but this is childish and denigrating for everyone concerned. Dignity should be maintained in public office, this is poor taste, personal and reflects badly.
What's next MoanyStAnn'sHospital_N15?
-
-
The Malicious Communications Act 1988 and The Communications Act 2003
The Malicious Communications Act 1988 ("the MCA") makes it a criminal offence to send an electronic communication in any form that is indecent or grossly offensive, or which conveys a threat, or which is false, provided there is an intent to cause distress or anxiety to the recipient. Similarly, the Communications Act 2003 ("the CA") makes it a criminal offence to send messages by means of a public electronic communications network such as Twitter which are grossly offensive or of an indecent, obscene or menacing character. The main distinction between the MCA and the CA is that the scope of the MCA is much broader extending to letters and articles as opposed to solely electronic communications and unlike the CA it is not limited solely to public electronic communications networks. Convicted offenders under both the MCA and the CA can be jailed for up to 6 months and fined up to £5,000.
The Protection From Harassment Act 1997
The Protection From Harassment Act 1997 makes it a criminal and civil offence to pursue a course of conduct which causes alarm and distress, which includes the publication of words provided there have been at least two communications. Convicted offenders can be imprisoned for up to 6 months and fined, although this can be increased to up to 5 years and an unlimited fine if harassment causes the victim to fear violence. The victim can also bring a civil claim for damages and an injunction against the abuser, although in reality this is a remedy that is only used by individuals with the financial means to litigate, and only possible if the abuser can be identified, which is not always straightforward.
Libel and Privacy
It can also be libellous to communicate in social media, including to tweet or re-tweet, a false statement which harms someone’s reputation, as seen in the Lord McAlpine case. Likewise, if social media is used to publish private information about an individual, like the tweets involving Ryan Giggs, it could give rise to a potential privacy claim. In both instances, it is possible to seek an injunction and damages.
-
-
Agree Matthew.
In my opinion, it would be wise if the Followers of MoanyMartin who are elected Members of Haringey Council – or their assistants on their behalves – ceased to follow this misguided Twitter account.
Following the recent unfollow by the Chair of the Scrutiny Committee, they now number 7 (seven), including three Members of the Council Cabinet.
I don't think the Following of that account is fair. I suggest that 15% of the Majority Group 'following' a personally-mocking account, represents a subtle form of bullying of a resident, by some who should know better.
-
-
Yes, Osbawn, I believe you're right on all counts (though I doubt much that public resources are involved).
The unauthorised use of Martin's photograph is questionable, not least because it's being used to denigrate him. I was surprised to note that one of the Councillors having chosen to Follow the "spoof" account, is a solicitor.
I remain concerned about the reputation of the Local Authority, whereby a number of Members give the appearance of demeaning the positions they occupy.
Fortunately the Mayor of Haringey and most Members of the Majority Group are uninvolved.
-
Permalink Reply by John McMullan on
-
Hey! This is "the man" employing, thorough favours probably more than cash, a PR firm to harass a local twitter campaigner.
-
Permalink Reply by Michael Anderson on
-
Which man? Not sure which bit of the thread you're responding to. Clive? The Mayor? Martin Ball? Stephen Berlin?
-
-
The first half dozen followers of the MoanyMartin_N17 account include the owner/entrepreneur of Chicken Town, the Chicken Town account, Joe Goldberg and Claire Kober. It's anonymous and articulate but probably just a PR firm they've hired.
I appreciate that Martin has been a bit of a pain in the arse to the first few followers to this account but come on, he's just a local resident (with 1,200 followers on Twitter), aren't there some more constructive rebuttals? He's made mistakes sure but they're going to run out of material if they just concentrate on those.
Is Claire feeling all smart because she managed to lose her case against Julie Davies but gag her and her union about saying so?
Please do check out the @moanymartin_n17 Twitter account for a vision of the kind of stuff the local politicians will pull on you if you're a big enough problem. At least they've upgraded from telling you in to the plod though.
-
-
It's anonymous and articulate but probably just a PR firm they've hired.
John something along those lines occurred to me too.
As long as the "spoof" account remains anonymous, the evidence for a PR black-op can only be circumstantial.
Amongst that circumstantial evidence, I would suggest, is the reliance by the current administration on PR and to deploy it in the face of a problem; not to make a problem go away, but rather to blur it, deflect it and to avoid responsibility.
However with rubbish, a recourse to social media looks feeble. I agree, they will quickly run out of material. There can be little doubt that Mr. Ball's tweets are hitting home: and causing frustration.
Because Martin's tweets are in the public domain – and with 1,200 followers and growing – the only meaningful response is to be seen to action them … and to pick up the rubbish.
-
-
Black op! It's a silly Twitter spat not MI6 counter insurgency!
-
-
Isn't this post a bit counter productive? I'd never heard of this Moany Martin person until you posted this but now (looking at the hit counter as I type this) 325 people have.
© 2024 Created by Hugh.
Powered by
