A Tale of Two Moxies

June 12, 2003 8:21 AM

Blogger moxie.nu acuses another blogger of identity theft. The other blogger, moxiepop.com, fires back, saying she got harassed by moxie.nu's readers and that she had never seen moxie.nu's site before. Another blogger goes on the offensive and accuses moxiepop of imitating moxie.nu. Comments start flying on moxie.nu and are ultimately closed by the host. Some other blogs step in, supporting moxiepop (1, 2, 3) and supporting moxie.nu (1, 2, 3). Tim Blair chimes in, Andrea Harris has a few words, Jim Treacher calls for some Moxie Boxing, and Kevin Parrott adds Rockem Sockem Moxies. A delightful train wreck for all to see.
posted by jonah (46 comments total)

Blogger calls other blogger names; resulting story over-uses words "blog"/"blogger" and "moxie", world becomes darker place to live in. Film at 11.
posted by Dark Messiah at 8:29 AM on June 12, 2003

now I want to register a hundred domain names with "moxie" in it just to piss moxie.nu off, because clearly, she's the only person in the world allowed to have that nickname.
posted by GeekAnimator at 8:39 AM on June 12, 2003

mox·ie n. Slang
*The ability to face difficulty with spirit and courage.
*Aggressive energy; initiative: “His prose has moxie, though it rushes and stumbles from a pent-up surge”
*Skill; know-how.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
[From Moxie, trademark for a soft drink.]

Ah, the delicious bubbly irony...
posted by dejah420 at 8:42 AM on June 12, 2003

That does it. I'm closing the Internet.
posted by vraxoin at 8:43 AM on June 12, 2003

this is nothing new. livejournal was built on stuff like this.
posted by cheaily at 8:46 AM on June 12, 2003

And here I was thinking it was only power-mad, control-freak corporations who behaved like asses about this sort of thing.
posted by Blue Stone at 8:48 AM on June 12, 2003

Who are these people? Why is this important? FPP for a blogfight? Blogfilt......
posted by mad at 8:50 AM on June 12, 2003

This is retarded.
posted by xmutex at 8:53 AM on June 12, 2003

It's not important, I'm amazed at how this has spread

People keeping score, a picture poll, me spending too much time reading the inflammatory comments and posts...
posted by jonah at 8:57 AM on June 12, 2003

Who had a website first? Who was published as Moxie first? Whomever it was, deserves the name. If someone came up and used mkelley or even mathowie, even though both Matt and I have used those names as a part of our online personas for years. I'd be pissed. It's what ad people call "Branding!", so yes BlueStone, this is exactly like what corporations fight against.
posted by mkelley at 8:59 AM on June 12, 2003

oh man....this has made for an entertaining morning. I'd never heard of these two superstars before. thank you.
posted by sodalinda at 9:02 AM on June 12, 2003

imagine. teen girl bloggers having a trainwreck. got to be a first. bitch stole my html!
posted by quonsar at 9:03 AM on June 12, 2003

quonsar - you would think they were teens wouldn't you? They're not, one's mid 20's one's early 30's (god, I'm such a shrew)
posted by jonah at 9:05 AM on June 12, 2003

same difference from my crusty, arthritic perspective!
posted by quonsar at 9:06 AM on June 12, 2003

May I take this opportunity to say that Moxie (the olde time soda pop) is some delicious stuff.
posted by drobot at 9:09 AM on June 12, 2003

Now we just have to get both of these people nominated for Bloggies.
posted by furiousthought at 9:16 AM on June 12, 2003

Ohhh, blogdrama.

My friend keeps a journal called Girlmoxie. I am sure she would just laugh at a campaign like this.

There are also approximately one gabillion web pages called "My corner of the Web!"

Aren't there a few more ... distinctions you'd need to make before you can accuse someone properly of identity theft?
posted by wells at 9:17 AM on June 12, 2003

Well, I tap my Mox Bitchy and cast Shennanigans on the whole lot of ya.
posted by wah at 9:28 AM on June 12, 2003

This is retarded.

Yeah, it really is. Makes me glad I don't have a weblog.

It's what ad people call "Branding!", so yes BlueStone, this is exactly like what corporations fight against.

Even more retarded...
posted by SweetJesus at 9:37 AM on June 12, 2003

Moxiemorons.
posted by kirkaracha at 9:45 AM on June 12, 2003

as long as nobody thinks i'm this chick I'm happy. (psst, NSFW). Or wait, maybe I should want to be mistaken for that chick and have people send me credit card numbers. Hmmmmm.....

nice trainwreck jonah, entertaining in a traffic accident sorta way.
posted by dabitch at 9:51 AM on June 12, 2003

A mox on both their houses.
But mostly on moxie.nu. There's an old Chicago joke that comes to mind: Q. What three Chicago street names rhyme with "vagina"? A. Paulina. Melvina. And Lunt.
posted by dhartung at 10:00 AM on June 12, 2003

who.

f*cking.

cares.
posted by bemmett at 10:00 AM on June 12, 2003

mkelley:

Who had a website first? Who was published as Moxie first? Whomever it was, deserves the name. If someone came up and used mkelley or even mathowie, even though both Matt and I have used those names as a part of our online personas for years. I'd be pissed. It's what ad people call "Branding!", so yes BlueStone, this is exactly like what corporations fight against.

the notion that a nickname is yours to own is ridiculous to me. within friendly circles, it may be awkward to have two people with the same name. the internet is pretty large, though, so i wouldn't expect name clashes to be a large problem. on that point, i don't understand the fuss.

the better point, based less on principle and more on reality, is one of common sense. haven't we better things to do with our time? there are quite a few people on the web, and quite a few of those have weblogs. were this moxie girl to try and prevent others from using her claimed nickname, i would call her effort an exercise in futility. that readers of one site are harassing the other speaks rather poorly of the maturity of the readers and of the situation at hand.
posted by moz at 10:02 AM on June 12, 2003

Won't somebody please think of the Whuffie?!
posted by spazzm at 10:11 AM on June 12, 2003

The Rockem Sokem Moxies slideshow sums it up nicely.
posted by LinusMines at 10:19 AM on June 12, 2003

the notion that a nickname is yours to own is ridiculous to me. within friendly circles, it may be awkward to have two people with the same name. the internet is pretty large, though, so i wouldn't expect name clashes to be a large problem. on that point, i don't understand the fuss.

Truly, you have never been to the mean streets of Team Counterstrike, where online disputes over who gets to use the handle "SlimShady03" can lead to carnage of unspeakable sux0rz.
posted by XQUZYPHYR at 10:20 AM on June 12, 2003

this kinda goes on from mkelley's point...

if she had named herself something a bit more original, she might have a point (i'd get pissed if someone started calling themselves cheaily, mainly because i'm the only cheaily on the web. go on, google it. it's all me)

but naming yourself after an existing brand kinda negates any claim of originality she might've had.
posted by cheaily at 10:23 AM on June 12, 2003

Try to imagine how little I care.
posted by tommasz at 10:34 AM on June 12, 2003

yeah, I care so little I'm not even going to post to this thread.
posted by whatnot at 11:03 AM on June 12, 2003

awesome, i love a good entertaining eDrama, and i agree with moz, i mean people can coexist in real life with the same name for their whole lives.

its not like corporate branding, corporate branding is identity an internet nic is a pseudonym, you have your sphere of people that know you, just because she picked a one-word dictionary nickname gives her no right to monopolize it.
posted by yeahyeahyeahwhoo at 11:26 AM on June 12, 2003

I have to put up with this guy, so I say moxie.nu's got no call to whinge.
posted by ursus_comiter at 11:39 AM on June 12, 2003

Truly, you have never been to the mean streets of Team Counterstrike, where online disputes over who gets to use the handle "SlimShady03" can lead to carnage of unspeakable sux0rz.

I've got to give that my vote for Quote of the Week.
posted by Dark Messiah at 11:50 AM on June 12, 2003

In a way, your online pseudonym *is* your brand. If you have a weblog, people know you by your (pseudonym) name. Lord forbid the battle of two Kottkes or cringe SlimShady03's in the weblog-o-sphere.
posted by mkelley at 1:33 PM on June 12, 2003

So, if people want to protect their weblog 'brand', can't they trademark it? Moxie is already trademarked by the Coca-Cola corporation (I think they bought the Moxie brand a few years ago.) I am a fan of this fine beverage.
posted by drobot at 1:40 PM on June 12, 2003

phredd, eerr, ursus_comiter.. thats a great shot of you in the wee car. [ha!]. Now, who else has a nic-twin? Fess up, it's funny!
posted by dabitch at 2:12 PM on June 12, 2003

this is nothing new.

Anyone else remember the usr/bin/girl thread?
posted by eckeric at 2:20 PM on June 12, 2003

mathowie, can I change my username to 'kottke'?
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 6:00 PM on June 12, 2003

I had never heard of either site, but I'm pretty sure that Moxie Magazine predates them both.
posted by blissbat at 6:20 PM on June 12, 2003

mathowie, can I change my username to 'kottke'?

Then I want "Koxie" or "Mottke".

Damn all of them!
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 6:55 PM on June 12, 2003

I remember this sort of thing happening three years with the term "frog". It happens all the time. Bitchy teenage girls in scratch matches, mrrrow! Bah. Who needs them?
posted by GrahamVM at 7:01 PM on June 12, 2003

You know, back in my day (dusts off cobwebs, clears throat), the very second thing you did after getting your first modem running was to find out that "Spock", "Mr. Spock" and even "Captain Spock" were all taken on every BBS you had a number for. So you learned to deal, and thought up something original.

Of course, this was in the olden days, when men were men, women were mysteriously missing and modems were 300 baud.
posted by arto at 3:42 AM on June 13, 2003

I still have my C= 300bauder since she was my first. On the other hand, I sacrificed my 2400 modem with a hammer to the everlasting glory that is my USR 16.8K Dual Standard snagged up from the sysop deal.

Anyway,

Your brand is dead and no one cares.
posted by john at 3:09 PM on June 13, 2003

My boyfriend in college nicknamed me "Willow" and started leaving notes on my dorm door with that name. Another girl on our floor got all huffy and insisted that since she was born with the middle name Willow, she had more right to it than me. She never really got over my disinterest in fighting about it. I guess some people just need that kind of drama in their lives.

The full nickname was actually Willow Wisp, which I used to use for my email accounts, but I kind of lost my fondness for it after finding this: http://www.willowwisp.com.
posted by ukamikanasi at 5:10 PM on June 13, 2003

I remember this sort of thing happening three years with the term "frog".
*SNORT* I thought of the same thing, Graham. :0)

Any other nominees for the "Dumbest Fight of 2003?"
"Identity theft". Oh Jesus...!
posted by EricBrooksDotCom at 9:47 PM on June 15, 2003

Identity theft? puuuuuuuuuuuuuuulease. I think someone has delusions of grandeur. shiyat.
posted by Ricky_Silk at 8:42 AM on June 25, 2003