I'm done.

That's it. I'm not doing this any more. I thought I had some good debates and had fun over the last two years in the blogshpere, but no more. This morning I received an e-mail from fellow blogger 'jeff' in which he threatened to do an 'expose' on me, that he would be publishing my personal information like my address and phone number and that he would be contacting - and I quote - my 'wife and\or children' to tell them about me.

Well, blogging is fun, but I won't endanger my privacy or the privacy of my family. I will no longer be making any posts or comments. It is simply not worth it. In the end, I have better things to do with my time than engage in online vendettas or even fights involving lawyers and cops.

I could fight this, and quite effectively (and I still might have to if the threats are carried out), but that would be too much of a distraction from my private and professional life. I've done the cost-benefit analysis and I have decided that the fight is simply not worth it.

There 'jeff' you won. Happy? Your the king of the internet trolls. Enjoy your reign. I am done with you and this whole thing.

To all my blog buddies, feel free to drop me a line if you are ever in Ottawa and we can have coffee - I still appreciate the many friends I have made, even those of you on the BT's. In the real world, I have found that we are all pretty much the same, so I'll keep it to the real world.

Goodbye.

Update:

I am trying to come to an amicable understanding with 'jeff' to get beyond this. In an effort to move thing forward let me explain a few things, since many people are e-mailing me and asking.

Jeff and I have been sparring in the blogshpere since pretty much the beginning two years ago. At first he was 'Alberta Nation' and then became Jeff. We had many a 'tete-a-tete', often passionate ones. Last year, during a very passionate discussion, I outed Jeff - I published his real name and the city in which he lived. I repeated this on a few blogs comment sections.

This action was completely uncalled for on my part. It was juvenile and vengeful. I had not used Jeff real name since that time (nearly 18 months now) mostly because I think, deep down, I knew what I had done to him was wrong.

Jeff, let me apologize for that right now. I should have realized how bad that was and respected your desire for (pseudo) anonymity. What I did was uncalled for. I'm sorry for any difficulties this may have caused.

Jeff is not a bad guy. He is passionate in his beliefs and has himself admitted that he sometimes 'talks out of his ass' - don't we all. We have even occasionally agreed on things and, in a strange irony, it was Jeff that told me to take down the picture of my newborn last December because, as he said, there are lots of weirdos out there.

I have already obfuscated Jeff's real name on my blog here, at the request of another Jeff by the same name from his city about a month ago.

Now, this was all water under the bride until last week. On another blog, Jeff was 'outed' again and this is what precipitated this latest issue. Jeff has already come to terms with that blog owner, and that blog has removed the post with his name. As I am friends with this blog owner and had met him in person a few days before, Jeff decided I was part of this latest 'outing' as well.

Jeff, I wasn't.

All that being said, let me say this:

My name is Mike Park and I live in Ottawa. Yes, that is really me in the picture to the right (though not my bike, sadly). I have now 'outed' myself to the same extent I 'outed' Jeff.

I still don't think I will return to blogging anytime soon. What transpired between Jeff and I has forced me to reconsider my personal responsibility in all this and I think I need time to come to terms what can happen when one tries to be (pseudo) anonymous on the web. I hope Jeff will drop me a line or give me a call so we can talk and work this out. I would like cooler heads to prevail and not, as Zorph has said to me, 'internet stupidity.'

In the meantime, as the Buddhists say, I will choose 'Noble Silence.'

Upper Date:

Cooler Heads have prevailed. Thanks Jeff. Perhaps I'll be back in the New Year.