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Sortofok Comes Clean

First things first. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is J and I am a
43yo amateur writer from South Wales. I have been using these forums for research and material for a book / screenplay I am writing.

Secondly, I would like to apologise to anyone who has been offended or angered by any of the comments made by my character sortofok in the course of this activity. This was not my intention and I hope you can forgive me.

A bit of background: When I first had this idea, I visited HPC.com and have been a regular visitor for 3 months. I thought this would be an ideal place to conduct my research but when I came to register, I could not get past the registration for some reason and despite several attempts could not get in and therefore could not post.
During my time on HPC a link was given to a new site called “housepricechat.co.uk” and if you care to visit this site you will see that on April 27th I posted a thread entitled “WOW” in an attempt to bait some unsuspecting poster. However the site was, and remains, little used and so no replies were received.
I am a bit of an MSE fan and have been a regular visitor for years, but never registered. During this time I have learned a lot from various posters and of course from the Master himself. He even turned me onto stoozing from which I have made about £1200 in three years. Not a bad return for zero outlay, I think you will agree.

It was in connection to this that I registered here in order to ask a simple question about credit card payments.
After it was answered, I turned my attention to the property forum and had a look around. I then realised that this was actually the best place to have come to because of the diversity of views which are often lacking on sites such as HPC.

The rest, as they say, is history and for the last week or so I have lived and breathed sortofok. It has been hell my friends. I have found myself, on the rare occasions I’ve been out with friends talking like him and have silenced many a conversation with things like “Tell me my friend, what say you”, “doth thou know the meaning of these words you speak” and “have you come hear seeking knowledge my friend” etc. My mates think I am cracking up because, of course, I hadn’t told them about my double life.

In true literary style I have hardly slept or eaten over this past week but have been fuelled by tea and cigarettes.
Even when I would eventually go to bed after a long day at my PC I could not sleep because all the dialogue from that day was running around my head and at times disturbing me.

I think you will agree, my post count is pretty impressive considering it has been amassed in just 10 days.

I have also, on occasions been terrified that someone would report me to the police for stalking or something and am sure that I was being monitored by someone. Occasionally I would lose my wireless connection and was convinced that this was because of some sort of surveillance being carried out. I imagined a team of detectives and psychologists pouring over every post and trying to trace me. Can they do that my friends? ;)

Last night when CB posted his request for the silliness to end, I don’t think he realised what a relief it was to me. I had become emotionally drained by now and was close to tears. Thank you CB that’s 2 favours I owe you (he also taught me how to post links).

And what of the some of the other friends I have met?
Meliissa, Dooz, Btman, Gen, Guy, the saint, shogun, GG, nicoleg, Norhtern Angel, phlash and of course mrB. (A gentle and kind man who has shown me great warmth even if he hated me at first). I’m sorry my friend.
Some of the other people I have communicated with however, I think were imposters trying to trap me.
When you do something like this, you get very sensitive to things which you would not normally notice.
Every time I hinted at something dodgy, an hour later, someone would post a question about something similar hoping I would spill the beans. You probably didn’t notice, but I was acutely aware of it and became more and more paranoid. I would also keep an eye on the views my posts were getting and was heartened to see them rising rapidly when some wrongdoing was hinted at. I suppose everyone loves a bit of scandal and you nosey lot are no exception.

So, now I have finished I would like to ask if you would allow me to continue posting on your wonderful forum as myself. I do have some personal input to offer and would love to stick around and share some of my knowledge.;)




My situation

Homeowner. I live in a beautiful old 3 bed stone cottage just outside Cardiff. I picked it up very cheaply in 1998 for 37k (yes I did use the “yellow pages” trick but I did not steal the for sale sign).
I have a 51k mortgage and it is valued at 190k

I also own outright a 3 bed terraced house which I inherited in 2000. This is rented out to a couple of male 20 somethings.(and they pay me weekly) ;)

I also own and rent out a 1-bed flat which I bought in 1987 for 26k. And believe me mrb this flat is a s**thole and I really am selling it for 32k. HPI has not come to my rescue on this occasion.

I have a salary of 33k and of course a teacher’s pension.

I also have other savings and investments worth approx 30k. And no other debts.

I do not consider myself wealthy but I am certainly comfortable. At the moment anyway.

The future for sortofok:

Who knows. After being cut short last night, I have not completed my work.
Maybe we could continue our story on another forum?
Does anybody fancy that or have I pi**ed you off so much that you want nothing more to do with me. If so, I would understand.

If you do want to help me finish this work this is the "story" so far -

An old lady has gone missing . The estate agents sold her house for 300k but only handed over 280k and pocketed the rest. Is this possible my friends? We still do not know.
Meanwhile their accomplices have acquired empty flats for nothing. They have somehow scammed the developers. What do they intend doing in these flats and how did they come to acquire them?
Are these the flats near the prison? Are there pylons close by?
Is the old lady under the floor near to where the window once was?
Was she electrocuted?
Or maybe the banker killed her because she knew his secret?
What do you think my friends?
Would this be ok?


Finally, some of the views expressed by sortofok I actually agree with and some I am completely appaled by.

Which ones?

If you allow me to stay, you can ask me yourself if you want.
You are also invited to comment on what I have done.


Thank you my friends for your tolerance and warmth

I salute you and wish you all the best
Whenthemusicstopsmakesureyou'renotleftstanding
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Comments

  • Madjock
    Madjock Posts: 744 Forumite
    this website has some very strange folk on it, but i cannot imagine for the life of me why you would be writing a book about anything other than student phil.
  • Doozergirl
    Doozergirl Posts: 34,082 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    The only reason you are still posting, I reckon, is that it's a Bank Holiday and the moderators are away. When they get back, I suspect you will have some grovelling to do, so if you do want to continue posting I suggest you spend today writing sensible replies.

    You've certainly got yourself a profile though I have no idea why you needed to go to such trouble to do so. Giving genuine people duff advice or leading them up the garden path i s a horrible thing to do. I will certainly continue to be wary of you for a while if you do continue to post and I'm not convinced that you and Mr Broderick aren't the same person either.

    I couldn't believe that every time I logged on, you were still here, still posting. You're not quite the full shilling!
    Everything that is supposed to be in heaven is already here on earth.
  • sortofok
    sortofok Posts: 515 Forumite
    I am sorry if I have upset you dooz. It wasn't my intention.

    This writing game can be as dirty as property sometimes you know.

    I understand that you and several other "heavyweights" around here are very well respected by other posters and I share their admiration.
    I would appreciate therefore if you could help in my rehabilitation by convincing people that I mean no harm.

    Thank you.
    Whenthemusicstopsmakesureyou'renotleftstanding
  • Madjock
    Madjock Posts: 744 Forumite
    This is the internet, I don't think I would entertain vouching for anyone, never mind a troll such as yourself.
  • thesaint
    thesaint Posts: 4,324 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture Combo Breaker
    Long live sortofok...:beer:
    Well life is harsh, hug me don't reject me.
  • stolt
    stolt Posts: 2,865 Forumite
    I've been posting about you on the other thread, I'm am too convinced that you are several other user names are the same people, shame that genuine threads have been ruined because you have been talking to yourself via several user names, and I think thats the problem, you didn't mind turning genuine problems into games played out by yourself. I know I moved to another board or if i saw anything with your user (names) in I didn't bother reading them, and I bet I wasn't the only one.

    I hope you are being genuine this time although somehow I think it won't be so easy to trust what your saying for a lot of people.

    I'm sure 'your' friends will be happy that you can now spend some time out with them and not on the forums 24/7, tbh i was starting to think you were a bit nut, nut and that you were lonely or something and to keep people talking to you, you would argue with them and in a weird way it would make you think they were your friends.

    from this post you actually seem quite normal now but there was a stage that i thought this is going to be someone to watch...


    i have a question for you then, are you also registered on these forums with any other user names?
    Listen to what people say, but watch what people what people do!!
  • roosterbean
    roosterbean Posts: 459 Forumite
    I'm a new member to MSE and as much as the recent shananigans have been tedious and I'm glad they are coming to an end, it has temporarily kept my mind off my property sitting in a stagnant market and my grasp on my dream house slipping away, my friends...
    "A" is for Opple if yowm spaking loike a yamyam!
  • Toto
    Toto Posts: 6,680 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture Combo Breaker
    I think it's great that you've come clean. However, my concern is the people who may have listened to bad advice. Using someone’s problems, dilemmas or potential life changing decisions to fuel your own 'research' is wrong. Someone's life could be altered, not because you believe what you've written is true, but because you wanted to fuel a debate. That's nasty and wrong.
    I don’t understand why you couldn’t just read the boards? Surely the most effective research is the true thoughts and feelings of real people, not engineered driven debate. All you have done is created the arguments you wish to hear.
    This is a website where people come for help with many aspects of their daily life. House buying and selling is stressful enough without someone using these boards and the people who post here for their own gain and with an ulterior motive.
    I do wish you the best with your book, however for the sequel I would suggest being open and honest from the beginning and asking for people’s thoughts on particular topics.
    :A
    :A
    "Everyone is a genius. But if you judge a fish on its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid" - Albert Einstein
  • daphne_descends
    daphne_descends Posts: 2,517 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture Combo Breaker
    A writer? Don't give up the day job... no offence but the littering of the phrase 'my friend' gets boring third time round.
  • sortofok
    sortofok Posts: 515 Forumite
    Thank you for your replies so far.

    Once again I apologise if, while going about my work, I have caused anyone any distress or confusion. It really was not my intention.

    In response to the question about multiple identities - I can assure you, it was only me. To be honest, I didn't even know it was possible. This is only the third chat forum I have ever registered with and I am not really familiar with all the possilbilities or how they even "work".

    I'm serious....

    For example, I don't even understand Dooz's comments about moderators.
    I've heard of them but don't really know what they do. Do they monitor what's going on or something?

    And also, I have noticed that my "gazundering" thread is missing. Can anyone tell me where it is gone?

    I am in a state of exhaustion at the moment and am just glad this is all over.

    Forgive me.


    Please.
    Whenthemusicstopsmakesureyou'renotleftstanding
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