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Do you share a username between HN and Twitter? Because somebody with your username on Twitter has been publicly talking about holding somebody at gunpoint in

Do you share a username between HN and Twitter? Because somebody with your username on Twitter has been publicly talking about holding somebody at gunpoint in Pine Bluff, Arkansas earlier today(1), and has in the past advertised (2) a website with the tagline of “Matching vigilantes with victims for justice and profit “ (3) 1. https://twitter.com/pontifier/status/1559001472746098693?s=21&t=4YEHsr6SNacC5HJ4QXE3Ig https://twitter.com/pontifier/status/1559001472746098693?s=2... 2. https://twitter.com/oriwa_/status/1559042188608405505?s=21&t=4YEHsr6SNacC5HJ4QXE3Ig https://twitter.com/oriwa_/status/1559042188608405505?s=21&t... and https://twitter.com/pontifier/status/1538230779658002432?s=21&t=4YEHsr6SNacC5HJ4QXE3Ig https://twitter.com/pontifier/status/1538230779658002432?s=2... 3. https://www.bensforbars.com https://www.bensforbars.com

_nothing 4y ago
The photo on his Twitter account has one of the websites listed in his HN profile (Crossies) in the background, so I'm assuming that's him.
sacrosancty 4y ago
You make him sound like some sort of violent vigilante kidnapper. Held an intruder at gunpoint after calling police.
- interdrift 4y ago
  Honestly looking into his issues, seems like he's getting dealt some bad cards after investing into a city that is letting him down.
  - pclmulqdq 4y ago
    Honestly, it looks like he isn't going about trying to work with the city very well. He also has videos on there of him lecturing public officials about how slow they are. At the same time, he is trying to build a fusion generator, a science museum, an industrial space, and a few internet businesses that seem to need a secure facility. The planning commission probably has no idea what to do with him, and it doesn't sound like he is employing very many people from the local community. If I were on that city council, I would also be skeptical of the rich guy who bought a warehouse to play around but not actually run any serious business.
    - interdrift 4y ago
      Yeah seems like it's all over the place, but certainly doesn't seem like the city is doing its job when there are multiple break-ins in short period of time of 1 property.
    - KennyBlanken 4y ago
      The "benforbars" site has all the hallmarks of a free-energy nutjob complete with comic sans font and MSpaint images. Between that and the tweet whining about how hard email is to set up (!) this dude isn't qualified to run a Subway franchise, certainly not multiple internet companies.
      - ryanmercer 4y ago
        I went through 6 months of his tweets and, yeah, he either doesn't have a grip on reality, has some sort of mental health issue, or is just constantly trying to run some angle. - Yup, the free energy fonts and conspiratorial claims about video of his fusion reactor being suppressed - It looks like he bought a bunch of people's property for pennies on the dollar, then raised funds from those same people to return their goods to them, then had them trucked across the country in shipping containers to be dropped at this derelict 'warehouse'. - He claims to be solo creating a viable fusion reactor, which appears to be one of the umpteen intended uses of this warehouse - Wonders why the town council isn't trying to help him, when in one of his own tweets admits that he didn't even bother to attend the meeting that was going to hear his issue. - Thinks snipers are stealing from him. - Apparently held a man at gunpoint - Alleges, openly on the internet, that he's storing all sorts of valuable equipment and music media at this warehouse while admitting he isn't even in the state a good chunk of the time - Tried to run for mayor of Provo, UT (population 117k) so he could "disincorporate the city" - the whole benforbars thing - Complaining about the inability to install minecraft on anything other than a linux machine (?) - Various email/server complaints Yeahhhh
        pontifier 4y ago
        It's very interesting to see how the things I've put out there are interpreted. It feels like looking at myself in a fun-house mirror. There are probably huge pieces of these events that I'm not communicating well, or at all. Thank you for your comment. I'll try to be better at communicating the meanings I intend.
- ryanmercer 4y ago
  He made this site... he's offering people $100 per month per person they get sent to jail as long as they remain in jail http://bensforbars.com/ http://bensforbars.com/ ...
  - sacrosancty 4y ago
    So? That's just encouraging people to assist the police when they can, which is what responsible people should be doing anyway. If you don't like criminals going to jail, that's a separate issue entirely.
pontifier 4y ago
Yeah, that's me.
- r0b05 4y ago
  You are not having a good time there are you? This is how people turn into Batman.
  - paulcole 4y ago
    This is so offensive to Batman.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- braingenious 4y ago
  How does the vigilante business make a profit?
pc86 4y ago
Genuinely curious why you're intentionally misframing things this way. Is it political? Or you just don't like this guy for some reason? He's been robbed (from what I can see a dozen or more times), and in one instance called the police and held the criminal there until they arrived a few minutes later. Everything completely legal, above board, etc. This is a perfect example of someone telling the truth in such a way to completely mischaracterize what really happened.
- UncleMeat 4y ago
  Private bounty hunter businesses are harmful to society.
  - pc86 4y ago
    If they are, then they should be illegal. If they are illegal, and this qualifies, then this guy should be punished. None of this negates anything I said previously.
    - UncleMeat 4y ago
      Our society is not perfect. A large number of antisocial things are legal. It is completely reasonable to criticize somebody for doing a thing that is both legal and also antisocial. I feel for this guy. He is getting screwed by a high-violence region. But his approach to solving this problem makes the world worse, not better.
      - pc86 4y ago
        I think it's important to keep the specifics in mind as these things live and die on the specific details. A criminal came to his private property and attempted to steal. He was able to keep the person there - for less than ten minutes - until that person was arrested. Presumably that person is in jail now or at least on probation. Please explain how just letting this person steal leaves the world better than having him get punished for his actions. When victims of crime shrug their shoulders and just say "aw shucks" it incentivizes more crime, which makes the world objectively worse.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

_nothing 4y ago

The photo on his Twitter account has one of the websites listed in his HN profile (Crossies) in the background, so I'm assuming that's him.

sacrosancty 4y ago

You make him sound like some sort of violent vigilante kidnapper. Held an intruder at gunpoint after calling police.

interdrift 4y ago
Honestly looking into his issues, seems like he's getting dealt some bad cards after investing into a city that is letting him down.
- pclmulqdq 4y ago
  Honestly, it looks like he isn't going about trying to work with the city very well. He also has videos on there of him lecturing public officials about how slow they are. At the same time, he is trying to build a fusion generator, a science museum, an industrial space, and a few internet businesses that seem to need a secure facility. The planning commission probably has no idea what to do with him, and it doesn't sound like he is employing very many people from the local community. If I were on that city council, I would also be skeptical of the rich guy who bought a warehouse to play around but not actually run any serious business.
  - interdrift 4y ago
    Yeah seems like it's all over the place, but certainly doesn't seem like the city is doing its job when there are multiple break-ins in short period of time of 1 property.
  - KennyBlanken 4y ago
    The "benforbars" site has all the hallmarks of a free-energy nutjob complete with comic sans font and MSpaint images. Between that and the tweet whining about how hard email is to set up (!) this dude isn't qualified to run a Subway franchise, certainly not multiple internet companies.
    - ryanmercer 4y ago
      I went through 6 months of his tweets and, yeah, he either doesn't have a grip on reality, has some sort of mental health issue, or is just constantly trying to run some angle. - Yup, the free energy fonts and conspiratorial claims about video of his fusion reactor being suppressed - It looks like he bought a bunch of people's property for pennies on the dollar, then raised funds from those same people to return their goods to them, then had them trucked across the country in shipping containers to be dropped at this derelict 'warehouse'. - He claims to be solo creating a viable fusion reactor, which appears to be one of the umpteen intended uses of this warehouse - Wonders why the town council isn't trying to help him, when in one of his own tweets admits that he didn't even bother to attend the meeting that was going to hear his issue. - Thinks snipers are stealing from him. - Apparently held a man at gunpoint - Alleges, openly on the internet, that he's storing all sorts of valuable equipment and music media at this warehouse while admitting he isn't even in the state a good chunk of the time - Tried to run for mayor of Provo, UT (population 117k) so he could "disincorporate the city" - the whole benforbars thing - Complaining about the inability to install minecraft on anything other than a linux machine (?) - Various email/server complaints Yeahhhh
      - pontifier 4y ago
        It's very interesting to see how the things I've put out there are interpreted. It feels like looking at myself in a fun-house mirror. There are probably huge pieces of these events that I'm not communicating well, or at all. Thank you for your comment. I'll try to be better at communicating the meanings I intend.
ryanmercer 4y ago
He made this site... he's offering people $100 per month per person they get sent to jail as long as they remain in jail http://bensforbars.com/ http://bensforbars.com/ ...
- sacrosancty 4y ago
  So? That's just encouraging people to assist the police when they can, which is what responsible people should be doing anyway. If you don't like criminals going to jail, that's a separate issue entirely.

pontifier 4y ago

Yeah, that's me.

r0b05 4y ago
You are not having a good time there are you? This is how people turn into Batman.
- paulcole 4y ago
  This is so offensive to Batman.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
braingenious 4y ago
How does the vigilante business make a profit?

pc86 4y ago

Genuinely curious why you're intentionally misframing things this way. Is it political? Or you just don't like this guy for some reason? He's been robbed (from what I can see a dozen or more times), and in one instance called the police and held the criminal there until they arrived a few minutes later. Everything completely legal, above board, etc. This is a perfect example of someone telling the truth in such a way to completely mischaracterize what really happened.

UncleMeat 4y ago
Private bounty hunter businesses are harmful to society.
- pc86 4y ago
  If they are, then they should be illegal. If they are illegal, and this qualifies, then this guy should be punished. None of this negates anything I said previously.
  - UncleMeat 4y ago
    Our society is not perfect. A large number of antisocial things are legal. It is completely reasonable to criticize somebody for doing a thing that is both legal and also antisocial. I feel for this guy. He is getting screwed by a high-violence region. But his approach to solving this problem makes the world worse, not better.
    - pc86 4y ago
      I think it's important to keep the specifics in mind as these things live and die on the specific details. A criminal came to his private property and attempted to steal. He was able to keep the person there - for less than ten minutes - until that person was arrested. Presumably that person is in jail now or at least on probation. Please explain how just letting this person steal leaves the world better than having him get punished for his actions. When victims of crime shrug their shoulders and just say "aw shucks" it incentivizes more crime, which makes the world objectively worse.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]