Fast forward to 2015. There is a Twitter account called @GodfreyElfwick. It mainly ‘parodies’ the left, muslims and transsexuals. It began by doing this in character of a dim SJW. It was cruel and occasionally very funny
One day it just stops posting. Then, in 2016 it starts up again. It’s a bit different this time round. Godfrey sometimes slips out of a character when it’s critiscised. It starts to target people who don’t belong to any of the groups it purports to satirise
This is where the story gets less objective I’m afraid. I DO belong to one of the groups that Godfrey ‘satirises’. One day in the Autumn of 2017 I was having a conversation on my TL and the next minute my mentions were full of people I didn’t know.
I looked back and saw that Godfrey had quote tweeted me, with a cruel comment about my appearance. This led to lots of its followers tweeting me with insults. I was angry and tweeted some of them back, defending myself
The problem was, a lot of Godfrey’s followers were very right wing, or trolls, or bullies, or a mixture of those. For days afterwards, no matter how many I blocked, they carried on and the harassment got worse
A couple of them said they knew were I lived and that I should be careful because they might hunt me down. One said he was going to rape me with the barrel of a rifle until I cried for my mummy and then he’d rape her
Another one said he’d cut my dog’s head off and feed it to me. It was at this point that I shut down my Twitter account and deleted the app from all my devices. I deleted my FB and Reddit accounts to be on the safe side
For days after that I was terrified every time my phone pinged with a text or email. I didn’t answer the door and I couldn’t go out alone. My work suffered and I was on the verge of being fired. I broke down and told my boss everything just to keep my job
He was very supportive and arranged for counselling. Obviously it wasn’t just the Twitter bullying that had brought me to the edge of a breakdown but it was the catalyst
After a while I decided it would be good for me to go back to social media. I opened a new, locked, account and allowed people I knew and trusted in rl to follow me back. I was told that Lisa Graves had been running the Godfrey account that targeted me
And I was bombarded with stories and screenshots of how she had bullied and harassed other people, from both accounts. I followed some of the people she’d targeted
They were a mixed bunch, some like me, had just been minding their own business and been attacked out of the blue, some were very political and outspoken and she’d insulted them for their views, some had started on her first, criticising her behaviour
Most of them were quote tweeted so that her rabid followers could join in the bullying. She would often resort to personal insults about their appearance or lifestyle, even if all they were doing was arguing with her point of view on a subject
I reported her and her friends whenever I saw them bullying people who hadn’t done anything to deserve it.
Then, a few weeks ago, Cancer Research posted a tweet about smear tests. I saw a lot of transgender people on the replies praising them for their inclusive language.
But Lisa quote tweeted the original tweet, taking the piss out it for not just saying ‘women’ Some people pointed out to her that not all women need smear tests. And that not all people who need smear tests are women
But then, Lisa and her followers started attacking the people who were thanking Cancer Research UK, some of those people clearly being very damaged and vulnerable
One woman it particular took her to task for her stance but Lisa didn’t reply. That woman then posted a response to all the people attacking CRUK, explaining why the inclusive language was a good thing
She was also part of a discussion on the tl about why Lisa and her followers were being unreasonable
During the conversation she posted a tweet that said ‘It would be worse to wish more cancer on people wouldn’t it?’ accompanied by a gif of a drag queen drinking tea
Lisa had recently recovered from cancer, so this joke was in very poor taste. It seemed to me to be directed at all the people attacking Cancer Research but even so, in light of Lisa’s experience, not funny IMHO
For the next few days, Lisa and her followers attacked the woman and the people who defended their friend, one of whom was @TechnicallyRon
Lisa didn’t acknowledge that over the years, her followers had wished or threatened much much worse, on people Godfrey or Lisa had targeted (without any criticism from Lisa)
She also didn’t accept that it was a ‘joke’ in the context of the discussion. (Despite her having defended Dankula’s ‘gas the jews’ ‘joke’ very vocally)
Then Lisa and her followers switched their attention from the woman who’d made the joke and concentrated on @TechnicallyRon. Over weeks, for hours on end, they insulted and harassed him
He mostly ignored it but when he finally responded to Lisa, pointing out some of the things she’d done in the past, she called him a cunt. Shorty after that her account and GodfreyElfwick were suspended
Lisa kept opening new accounts and they kept being suspended, although as I’m posting this her current one is still up. At this point she and her friends stepped up the attacks on Ron
They posted screenshots of two tweets from Ron’s account in 2010, which used the n word. They weren’t directed at anybody, they just used the word
Ron then posted a blog saying that he was certain he hadn’t posted those tweets. After that, some of Lisa’s followers posted screenshots of other offensive tweets from years ago
I’d argue that anyone can tell those tweets aren’t by Ron. He’s a writer and the grammar and punctuation in those tweets is all wrong. And it’s just not his sense of humour. He just doesn’ wrote anything that offensive
As I write this the personal and vicious attacks ion Ron by Lisa and her friends and followers are continuing. He and his wife have locked their accounts.
At this point: a small diversion. This account isn’t ‘me’. I’ve deleted my account. Someone who is angry on Ron’s behalf is posting what I’ve emailed to them. So don’t bother attacking this account. It’s just a conduit
So why this very long and rather dull thread? Because Lisa and her followers are blaming Ron for getting her banned. But it wasn’t him, it was me
I emailed somebody high up at Twitter. I had already reported every single tweet attacking Ron, his friends and his wife. But I also sent screenshots of the tweets by Lisa and Godfrey that are far worse than anything Ron and his friends have ever tweeted
Why have I done this? Because Lisa and her friends are lying bullies. They claim she’s disliked because of a tweet by someone else about a burnt chicken nugget
WRONG. She’s disliked because of her continual targeted attacks on people who don’t deserve it. She’s disliked because she’s bullied people off Twitter and forced others to look their accounts permanently
She’s disliked because she’s cruel and sneering and patronising and smug and arrogant. She’s disliked because she’s made the lives of many people worse than they were
And now, she’s trying to destroy a man because she doesn’t like him and thinks he somehow had the power to put a stop to her abuse. She’s trying to hound him off Twitter and to end his career
So please help me to stop her ruining someone’s life. RT this so that people realise what she really is. Not a sarcastic shitposter, but a bully
A lot of people who follow her aren’t aware of the her cruelty. My DMs are open. You can send me screenshots from her suspended accounts
And of course, if you have examples of people bullying her, I’ll post those too. But you can bet I have context.
I don’t wish any ill on Lisa. I just want her to stop making people unhappy
