We have one question for you - would you be proud to put your names to your comments on Michael Tonello's blog?
Those names you called people (and we won't repeat the names or the people) .... would you say them again but this time, own it?
We bet not.
That's the thing about anonymity. It frees people to say things they would never admit to having said. If confronted, we bet nearly all of you would be really ashamed.
That's the acid test, folks. If you would 'fess up to it and it wouldn't bother you .... and we don't think the majority of people on PFA who comment would feel comfortable with that.
21 comments:
I found it interesting that they are so against resellers....but there is a link to CDL at the bottom of the page. Also - she is the only re-seller that they mention more than once with positive comments.
I found it interesting that they are so against resellers....but there is a link to CDL at the bottom of the page. Also - she is the only re-seller that they mention more than once with positive comments.
Browsing PFA makes my hair stand. The evilness. BLACK.
When commenters post with their real names, you ridicule them. Yet you're calling for people to use their real names as if being anonymous implies they have something to hide. They are anonymous to protect themselves from harm's way. YOUR WAY.
Michael Tonello, before you were banned by eBay, when you were reselling, it's a gentlemenly agreement that the private information your buyers provided you: name, contact numbers and addresses were meant to be exactly that: PRIVATE. Instead, you abuse that and expose the customers who had issues with your items. I'm sure they were a minority. A good, well-liked reseller would want to settle amicably. And life goes on. You? You are vindictive.
"And the internet can feed anger and bile in a way that other forms of communication don't - anonymity allows people to express anger in unsettling ways. But I don't think you can look too much on message boards or Twitter, because it's just one person's view." - Danny Cohen, British GQ
All of PFA contains views of 2 people: Michael Tonello and Donna Lehtonen (they post anonymous comments to themselves)
The Purse Forum members who complained to the mods ... surely the numbers mean something. Michael Tonello posted that it's because these members sent private messages to one another to shore support. You sure have a wild imagination.
I have to say that I really don't comprehend why you, the publisher of this blog, criticize PFA for "posting vulgarities and hiding behind anonymity" when you yourself do the same here on PFAE...? What precisely is THIS blog other than another "trash someone" blog. An eye for an eye? Since PFA "started it first", then what you are doing is OK?
You are pointing a finger and three are pointing back at you. You are doing precisely what you criticize. I see no difference in the actions of PFA and PFAE.
Just sayin....
I have to say that I really don't comprehend why you, the publisher of this blog, criticize PFA for "posting vulgarities and hiding behind anonymity" when you yourself do the same here on PFAE...? What precisely is THIS blog other than another "trash someone" blog. An eye for an eye? Since PFA "started it first", then what you are doing is OK?
You are pointing a finger and three are pointing back at you. You are doing precisely what you criticize. I see no difference in the actions of PFA and PFAE.
Just sayin....
------------
The thing about this blog is that it's tried to steer clear of posting vulgarities, and nobody's replied to other people's posts calling them fat skanks or whatever, something that regularly happens on PFA.
The other: people are genuinely afraid of Michael Tonello and Donna Lehtonen and the harm they do. People have been targeted, people have been forced to go to law enforcement agencies to protect themselves. Would anyone NOT want to be anonymous in such a situation?
People got on the wrong side of admins and moderators of tPF for various reasons. They were banned from the forum, but did anyone pursue them relentlessly for no good reason behind the scenes using members' IP addresses and locations? People on tPF posted on PFA using their tPF IDs. TPF did not ban or attack them, but PFA did.
PFA's owners are scary people. No wonder people want to be anonymous.
Quote:
I have to say that I really don't comprehend why you, the publisher of this blog, criticize PFA for "posting vulgarities and hiding behind anonymity" when you yourself do the same here on PFAE...? What precisely is THIS blog other than another "trash someone" blog. An eye for an eye? Since PFA "started it first", then what you are doing is OK?
You are pointing a finger and three are pointing back at you. You are doing precisely what you criticize. I see no difference in the actions of PFA and PFAE.
Just sayin....
April 8, 2011 11:54 AM
This is the rationale that the PFA bullies hide behind to get away with their bad behavior. They rely on others taking the high road.
This is not a "trash someone" blog. Those of us coming forward are not doing so because we're having fun bashing or humiliating random people we envy. That ball is fully in Michael Tonello's and Donna Lehtonen's court. They hurt enough people. Someone finally decided to push back, and I'm grateful someone else had the courage I lacked. I couldn't start something like this, but I am 100% behind this brave blog owner's mission to expose and defeat these bullies. I am not enjoying any of this. But if it helps stop them, finally, then yeah, I'll participate.
We are anonymous here because some of us have been actually stalked for years by those two worthless souls. We are pouring out years of frustration and dislike for two people--Michael and Donna-- who have tormented so many and left a legacy of contempt and dislike they will never overcome.
No one here is pulling a random name off another forum and calling them names. And I think your post is dismissive and misses the point, probably because you haven't been victimized by those two, but I will limit anything I have to stating why I disagree. I have no interest in calling you names, but I also think that if I did, my post would not get through. Because "trashing someone" is not the point of this blog.
I haven't said a single thing on this forum that I wouldn't put my name to if I could. I can't. Because I can't afford to pay the price. It's too high. And I can't have people whose sole offense would be their connection to me to pay the high price associated with pissing off Michael Tonello and Donna Lehtonen, expert cyberbullies.
There is an educational technique where in a last ditch effort to stop a group member from acting out and disrupting a community, you pull them up and mirror their behavior back to them. Most non-sociopaths get it and will moderate themselves at last. I'm not sure Michael and Donna can, because so much of their behavior crosses normal antisocial personality traits into sociopathic acting out, but at least they can no longer bully others at no personal cost to themselves, counting on others to not fight back.
And that is thanks to this blog, that does not exist to trash random strangers, that uses Michael and Donna's own words and actions to name and shame them. This is starkly in contrast to their work on TPFA, where their "name and shame" tactics consisted of naming someone they didn't like, or disagreed with, or envied, and then shamed them by calling them fakes. Or liars. Or skanks. Or fat. Or ugly. Or various unpleasant racist and homophobic nicknames.
Hold your opinion all you want. I won't change your mind. I don't want to change your mind. I do disagree with you, strongly.
Anon 4/11 11:54 AM.
I truly feel sorry for you if you don't see any difference between this blog and tPFA. Where on here are there any vulgarities? Where are posters on here being called skanky, fat etc because they have spoken up about something or disagreed with someone? Where on here is someone accused of involvement with porn, or anything else for that matter, when there is no evidence provided. In fact, when people repeatedly ask for additional evidence on tPFA, they are given the usual skanky, fat responses.
Yes, many posters on here have pointed out specific issues they have had with Michael and Donna and have expressed strong feelings about them. Other than that, I do not see anyone on here digging through anywhere and coming up with vicious postings full of innuendo such as Person A is a scammer, Person B is ugly etc.
Routinely on tPFA, members of tPF have been brought up for no other reason than to ridicule their looks, belongings, reveals etc.
Big difference!
This is just another trash talk blog.
It takes seconds to change an IP address to the one wish to appear when you post. Sorry don't care for the proof. Doesn't matter who runs what.
This blog is just another vent blog. Using the childish justification we're different and they started it.
Karma what nonsense, wishful thinking.
Life's not fair. That's just how it is.
I also commend the owner of this site and I am also afraid to reveal my identity because I have also been targeted by Donna Lehtonen and Michael Tonello and their special brand of cyberbullying. I was shocked that two middle aged people would resort to such childish tactics, but I guess when people hide behind what they think is anonymity they get much worse and these two have gotten much much much worse. I hope they can move on but I am very afraid that they will keep on harassing people and trying to ruin their lives.
I will never understand that this all originated from a love of purses. How could they have spiraled so badly out of their minds?
I will always hope that they have some sense of right and wrong and that they will just stop. But, deep down I know they won't. Donna Lehtonen's inflated sense of self will not stand to be silenced. I'm sure she can barely stand that her blog is private. What's the point of showing off all your purchases when no one is there to watch?
Michael Tonello can never move on because he will blame his present failures on all the people on PF who did not rush to his defense when he told lies and tried to hurt people's personal lives over a bad ebay deal.
I can't believe that all this is coming from a few bad ebay deals. Pathetic is not even an adequate word.
Michael and Donna, wake up and realize you are hurting real people who never did anything to you.
Anon 4/8 3:26 pm:
No this is not just another trash talk blog.
Posters on here have grievances with Michael and Donna and the owner of tPFA be that one of them or someone else.
The content of this blog and tPFA are totally different. Posters here are reacting to a long history of behavior that is at best vicious and at the worst criminal.
On the other hand the main purpose of tPFA is to attack people whose only offense seems to be that they post on tPF. For that horrible offense they are labeled scammers, ugly, skanky etc.
At the end of the day, we all know whether what we say is true or not and whether we are being vicious or not. I can't imagine what some of the tPFA posters see if they look into their hearts.
It is beyond me what any of this has to do with life not being fair. Are you implying that any behavior is fine since life isn't fair? That someone should just quietly submit to cyberbullying because life isn't fair?
You may not believe that at some point there is a reckoning of how we've conducted ourselves. But whether that reckoning comes from a higher power - or comes some day when we look back at our lives and face what we've done, the reckoning does come. Whether you call that Karma or something else, I can't imagine looking back and having to face myself as the originator of some of the venom being spewed on tPFA. Or having to face myself as the vicious cyberbully intent on hurting others.
BIG difference between PFA and PFAE.
PFA: Aggressor cum Cyberbully
PFAE: Victims (multiple)
This is now a Victims Unite blog. I applaud the blogowner for giving us all a safe place to fight back. I no longer want to stay afraid. I want the law enforcement to take down the bad guys. I want to go back to my family with my head held high. I want a NORMAL life. PFA ruined it for me. I want this site to capture stories to vindicate our reputations; that it's YOU who cyberbully us.
Still no one addresses the real point here. That there are deep deeep problems with tpf and that is what causes this anger and hurt to build up. To get any place you can share your feelings you need to go away from TPF to a blog. Doesn't that scare you or worry you? Blog 1 was not enough people had to create blog 2 3 and 4 and it's just not right. It's scary. Why can no one state their point and leave it at that why do we have to create all this hate over the internet I don't understand. This all started from handbags? I don't understand can someone explain what happened to TPF for this to be needed? No body tells me.
Still no one addresses the real point here. That there are deep deeep problems with tpf and that is what causes this anger and hurt to build up. To get any place you can share your feelings you need to go away from TPF to a blog. Doesn't that scare you or worry you? Blog 1 was not enough people had to create blog 2 3 and 4 and it's just not right. It's scary. Why can no one state their point and leave it at that why do we have to create all this hate over the internet I don't understand. This all started from handbags? I don't understand can someone explain what happened to TPF for this to be needed? No body tells me.
----------------------
There may be deep problems within tPF. It's a privately owned blog, not a federal organization funded by taxpayer money. If there are situations where something bad/unfair happened, then the solution would be to contact the owners and hope it will be rectified. If it is something that happened between members, blaming the forum is not productive. Would you blame match.com if you dated an asshole you met there?
If you think your grievances haven't been handled properly, the next best thing would be to either 1) go to law enforcement, if it is a criminal issue, or 2) seek an attorney if you think whatever it is can be solved in civil courts 3) Cease patronizing the blog, and maybe 4) Go on and make a better forum with the same content, don't let the situation that happened on tPF occur in your forum, and bring traffic over there. People who have been disappointed in tPF for whatever reason have done that.
This blog happened because an ebay seller, won4the$, Michael Tonello, was reported as selling an item on ebay to a purse forum member, Grands Fonds. She said she didn't receive it in a timely manner. Then other people also listed bad transactions which happened with this seller.
What did the seller do? He came on the forum and made several angry rants. Then he posted the names and addresses of the members concerned on the purse forum, posts which were quickly deleted by the moderators. He insists he did not do that. Why he says he didn't is a mystery to me, because several dozen people following the thread saw his posts. He was banned several times over because he kept coming back and ranting.
He and another member who was subsequently banned, Donna Lehtonen, happened to meet up and became friends. Donna (maybe at his instigation, maybe it was her own mental issues) started harassing purse forum members through private message, asking about their bags, where they bought them, and implying said bags were fake. She was reported to tPF Admin, and subsequently banned.
The Purse Forum Advisory is a blog devised by these two people to discredit and humiliate members of the purse forum. Any sensible person would have had their disagreement with tPF owners, if they had an issue, but these two targeted many, many members of tPF whose only 'crime' was that they were members of a place that Michael Tonello and Donna Lehtonen were dismissed from. Purse forum members are routinely subjected to harassment, name-calling, blog posts are made about them implying they sell fake bags, and their lives are made miserable, just because they are members of this forum.
This blog is a place that victims of these two people can tell their stories. As you can see, there are many, and probably many more to come. Michael Tonello has continued his cyberbullying behavior all over the internet including other forums. I hope his victims obtain some form of justice.
Apparently there are people who have issues with tPF and may feel hurt and angry. I do understand that someone who feels that way might want another place to discuss their concerns.
However, how that justifies the vile garbage spewed on tPFA escapes me. tPFA is the source of the hate as far as I can tell. There may be some catty bickering on tTPF from time to time - but it pales in comparison to the vicious innuendo and lies on tPFA. I think that is the REAL point.
^Good post. This shouldn't be about who set what blog up, but rather address the issues that goes on at the PF to prevent people from posting, the endorsement of certain members to capitalise from the forum, and the notion that if you question anyone/anything you are ripe for the picking. Everything else that has been insinuated, resellers, fake bags etc....is frankly, all hearsay.
On the other extreme, I was horrified to not only see someone I was familiar with have an expose done on them, requested proof, but none given, and friends being trashed in posts. NO ONE deserves to have such personal and private info exposed, at the mercy of anyone. That behaviour is deplorable. These forums and blogs are meant to be an escapism from everyday stresses of life, not add to it. For some this is turning into a living nightmare.
After witnessing some of the vile behaviour of some PF members both on the PF and PFA, I only wish that these vindictive posts stop, and people are allowed to offer opinions on subjects that are of importance, factual and are of benefit to the reader.
NOTHING happened at TPF. If you don't like something you can speak freely or leave. However, TPF is a business and is owned by a for-profit couple, so there are rules that are to be adhered to or you will be banned. Every forum has rules and every place, restaurant and store has rules. That does not mean that you can not speak your mind. Feel free to express yourself as long as you are not bullying people or expressing racist or homophobic feelings. Michael Tonello got banned for breaking the rules and PFAE is a forum for people whom he has stalked and bullied to express themselves without fear of him tracking their IP addresses and forever hurting them and their workplaces.
For those who don't understand the difference between this blog and pfa, if you had been on he receiving end of Tonello's games then you would understand.
And to the poster who thinks PF has problems, my advice is to just point your browser elsewhere.
I am writing this for a friend. Someone - who knows, maybe someone who didn't like her on tPF- who knew her home address published it on TPFA for whatever sick reason. She has had nothing to do with Michael Tonello. She doesn't know who he is. Her address was later taken down, but she heard about it and was, and still is, terrified for herself and her young family.
I wish people wouldn't be so cowardly as to attack the people they dislike anonymously through tPFA.
I've OPENLY heatedly disagreed w/ a mod who's become an admin. Heck, I still publicly disagree and challenge her!
There's nothing unfair about tPF. I was not banned or warned or anything of the sort. BUT, I also wasn't a a complete d-bag when doing so.
BIG DIFFERENCE.
Have I felt things were unfair before there? YES.
Did I realize it's just MY perspective and that MY perspective may not be their's? Yeah.
It's a big friggin' website, thousands of posts/day I have to assume. They can't/don't catch everything. I report the BS I see and most often it's swiftly edited/removed.
I've been there since '07 and I've moved from designer to designer and I have never seen any pattern of them giving special treatment to certain members, sellers, authenticators, etc. . .
Then again, I'm not a conspiracy theorist :-)
Michael Tonello, again and again badmouths the Purse Forum for cultivating a conspiracy against him. What he doesn't see is that, there isn't. What it is, is that he has irked many, many members with his lack of integrity when he was defending himself on the Purse Forum, and then turned nasty when he was caught red handed for lying.
No one can make every single one of us think a certain way. We make up our own minds. There isn't a conspiracy. It was your own way of dismissing it as your own fault.
Post a Comment