#50 Y does Prison Talk hate U? (retro)

Why does Prison Talk HATE you?

Just came back from a nice night of local wrestling, had a really great time and lost my voice for all the screaming. It may be sore tomorrow, but it was worth it. Got back just in time to watch the second half of the Texans vs. Cowboys preseason game.

I had not bothered to want to blog again tonight, so I was checking my emails and stuff, and started to search for some topics. I came across an article about Prison Talk Online and some of the comments for and against it. You guys know the story by now, one half believes the owner, David Frisk, is a con artist and the other side are blindly loyal to the site. It seems that there is no between for most people.

I told you about my comments, which you’d have to jump back and read, but I read the updates on it, and somebody named lysbeth or lyeinbeth or lying with beth, whatever, made a very long post about the wonderful blessings of PTO.

But she made a mistake…she directed some words at me.

She wrote what seemed to be like 3 pages or so of stuff, but here is a warning to someone who wants to take pot shots at me…don’t try to out write me. It’s similar to what a comedian said years ago when an entertainer tried to criticize him. He said, “comedians ALWAYS get the last word”.

Such is true for writers. As many of you guys know, it takes no effort at all for me to put up 10-20 pages in a week. I would imagine this lysbeth took all day to come up with that sermon she served, and would be hard pressed to do it again by 2009.

(yeah folks, I am bearing fangs)

This so called loyal supporter of this site claims that I ought to be ashamed of what I said about Prison Talk Online, and that I owe them an apology….

Well, let me think about that.

Tell you what…let me make this formal. I owe an apology to those of PTO that are innocent of the criticisms I have shared. There are in fact a lot of people who truly are looking for help, and have virtually nowhere else to go. A loved one in prison, and they have no idea how to cope. So they probably google some info and end up running into PTO, and feel that these people are of kindred spirits, which is better than feeling alone in this problem.

I know this is true because even now, long after I have been banned from the site, there are indeed a lot of good people that continue to seek me out, read my blogs and email me. There is no doubt that there are a lot of people who followed my posts on PTO and emailed me, or copied my posts to send to their loved ones. Many are still members of PTO, and every now and again I get an email by a person that lets me know that they appreciate my writings even though I am no longer there. If you ever get the chance, check out the masonik4 and Nolaw97 posts…they are still being read even after all this time.

So I KNOW there are some people there that need the help…that was why I wrote so much for them. But my criticisms were never aimed at every member at PTO, and if ANYBODY thought that, then they are an idiot…apparently like lysbeth.

But I WILL take issue with anybody who attacks my writing credibility, and I take that very damn seriously.

I do not, and WILL not take back anything I said about Prison Talk. I said long ago even as a member that as I blog, I will not kiss PTO or David Frisk’s butt. When I blog, I speak from my mind and my heart, and I don’t hold punches. You don’t like it… stop reading. That goes for the moderators who read my blogs and then run like puppy dogs back to the site whining about me “prison bashing” the site.

Before you open your mouth about somebody, you better first see what he or she is about before blindly tapping the keys on your computer. Whoever this so called lysbeth is , the FIRST thing you need to do before you criticize me is go back to your cave at PTO and look up two names:

Nolaw97 and masonik4.

When you do, read all the post written by those names. It’s quite obvious that you didn’t because that’s not what moderators do. They spend more time banning members when they get the least bit out of line. But if you ever find the time outside of kissing PTO’s butt, you might start to understand what I contribute in the very short time I was there.

Does that make me a saint, of course not (but I am a Saint’s fan), but my first point in criticizing others is to first look at their contribution to the site. Anyone who criticizes Michael Jordan for what he contributed to the Chicago Bulls is an idiot. Anyone who criticizes Brett Farve for his contributions to the Green Bay Packers is an idiot. Am I saying I am in that league…of course not!

But I put up over 1200 posts…

(And this lysbeth would whine and say, “so what, I have 25,000 posts)

Yeah, but most of yours is copy and paste sentences…and almost no real contribution.

My point is this, before I even get started, I can say strongly that of ALL the people that have written on PTO, even David Frisk himself, very, VERY few have contributed like I did. I didn’t go around copying news from other sites and pasting it on PTO, I didn’t copy and paste “hi and welcome to PTO” and use it like 2000 times. Every thing I wrote on that site was based from my desire to truly help a person understand how to get through the tough times in prison.

Again, I challenge ANYONE to prove me wrong on that, those posts are still on PTO and still being read.

So that means I have an invested interest in the welfare of those people. Even those that hated me read my posts (and still do). But what that also means is that no site, especially Prison Talk, can tell me how to speak on my blogs…

NOBODY.

Prison Talk does not own me, nor endorse me, and I don’t endorse them. Even when I wrote for them, I saw some major problems in the site, but as many members know, you can’t talk about that without the moderator banning you from the site or removing the post. In all the posts I have ever shared on PTO, I only remember TWO posts being removed. The first post was removed because another member got an attitude and made some very nasty remarks, which forced the site to remove the entire post. The second one was my “last post” which is in fact against their rules.

For those that don’t know, you can’t post a “leaving” post on PTO.

That was the same time I was so pissed at them removing my last post that I emailed the top members and told them I was leaving. They emailed me back and explained to me that they didn’t remove the first post because of me and by policy they had to remove the second one, but they asked me to stay there and in fact asked me to become a moderator.

As you know, I turned it down.

There are a lot of problems with Prison Talk Online, and unfortunately the moderators like lysbeth are too ignorant to address them. They believe that problems should be kicked out. Even questionable issues should be kicked out. I cannot argue about any “scam” because I know nothing about that or David Frisk. Believe me, if I did, I would let you know.

My problem with Prison Talk is that the “lieutenants” of the site are so blindly loyal to the site that they have no problem sweeping the problems under the rug. For example, my argument about book promotions.

Apparently lysbeth is trying to prove that every person that wants to promote their book can talk to PTO about how to properly advertise, and that every person has to go by those rules…that wasn’t even my point and she is talking about something foreign.

My argument is that, as many of you who are members of PTO know, there are a lot of posts about people who come up there and make a post about “have you read this prison book by…” and it gets a lot of comments. Does this lysbeth understand that THIS IS FREE PROMOTION?

And let me stretch this further. This is free promotion to an author or publishing company that has never lent one letter of aid or help to the site. PTO will allow a person to talk about these prison books that they bought from Books A Million or Amazon, knowing that those authors never set foot in PTO before…but are getting lots of free promotion. She says they remove those posts but that is not true at all.

Now, I have never had a post removed from PTO concerning my comments on my books, because I always used it as a point of reference. I never said, “hey, I got this prison book called “Grades of Honor” that costs…” I never, EVER did that. I respected the rules of that site to know better.

But there are in fact many posts on PTO that do promote other prison books, and I always found it hypocritical how this site can turn their backs on ex felons who contribute, but fully support other prison books unconditionally.

Another problem this lysbeth challenges me on is the prison fetishes. You gotta be kidding me! Over half the posts under “husbands or boyfriends” section is a half a step away from porn. How much real support does a woman have for her “man” if she is writing a post about “how long is your man” or “would you have sex with your man in his cell”. There is no substance of prison support there…only prison fetishes.

Prison Talk Online is FULL of people like that. That was why I rarely contributed to that forum. And the thing about that forum was that so many of those women were so blind and sex driven, a post put up at 12 noon could be on the second or third page by 5pm.

That means NOBODY is listening to anybody.

Something is wrong with a PRISON SUPPORT site when more than half the people on that forum for “husbands and boyfriends” are writing sex-based posts. I am not knocking the idea, because we all have our needs…but there is a place for that…or at least there SHOULD be. I’d hate to think a faith filled Christian wife would have to wallow through 25 posts of “when was the last time you had sex with your man”.

That’s not prison support….not to me. Maybe to lysbeth, but not to me.

I also have a problem with correction officers on Prison Talk. I think there are more correctional officers there than ex felons…it makes sense since lysbeth and the other moderators have been banning all the other ex felons and substituting them with correctional officers or self-righteous moderators.

Here’s where I stand with correctional officers at PTO. I know there are a couple that are indeed good people, I knew good correctional officers while I was in prison. But most of the ones I have read on PTO was so one-sided or sarcastic about inmates that it was a discredit to the site. One guy on PTO literally hunted down my posts and made comments on it, to try to give the reader the “prison officer side”. I remember checking his number of posts and saw that he had like 8...and all 8 of them were on my posts.

Another guy was making sarcastic remarks about inmates, and the moderator at the NC forum did nothing about it until one of the members got upset with it…she ended up getting warned and then she left the site, while the correctional officer got a light tap on the wrist.

So prison support seems to be accurate… they support the PRISON, not the inmates…I get it now, Prison Support Talk Online…

And let’s talk about WHY I was banned. Some people think my original name, masonik4, was banned. That is not true at all. I left.

I got sick of how poorly Prison Talk treated members, and I was disappointed at how hypocritical this site was to ex felons. Note to people like lysbeth…if you don’t have EX FELONS contributing, then your site has NO foundation.

As masonik4, I left because I was disgusted with how it was run, and I also wanted the freedom to say what I wanted, no dog collar around my neck like at PTO. It’s funny, I got an email from a father who used to read my posts at PTO, and one great comment he said about me was the fact that I didn’t pull punches. I would give you my heart, but I would not pull punches to kiss any site’s butt.

But months after I left PTO, I was still getting emails from people who read my posts and wanted to know where I was. Some of those people left PTO and started other prison support sites and asked me to contribute there. But because I had so many people asking me for help, I decided to come back to PTO. But when I petitioned the “powers that be” I got no response.

I had asked them previously to close my account as masonik4, and they did, now I was asking them to reopen it…and they didn’t (or wouldn’t). So, I came back as Nolaw97. Again, you need only check out those two names to see my contributions…

(and I hope that they are gonna remove them all just for spite… because it would prove my point about their hypocrisy.)

A few months back, I helped a nice lady in Canada, and she supported me by buying my book. She enjoyed it, and was disappointed at Prison Talk at how they would allow promotions of other prison books, but even after thousands of people read my posts, they would not support me.

The moderators of PTO didn’t appreciate that, and they banned her from the site… then they banned me. This is what pisses me off, I was not banned for any rules because they got rid of me because they felt that that nice lady and me were working together…which was never true. She supported my writing and challenged all those people at PTO how a person can write over 1000 PAGES for their benefit, yet they could not give him the time of day. The true nature of Prison Talk was shown on that day.

Understand this folks, I was not banned for talking about my books, in fact one of my last posts there was one of my short stories. I had not posted on PTO for almost a week when I heard about my banishment. Needless to say, I was pissed.

To make matters worse, some of those moderators were taking cheap shots at some of my prison blogs by making anonymous comments…hey, if you are a coward, that’s what you do.

I have been banned from other sites, I have been kicked out of prisons, but I take it personal when my guilt was spawned by ignorance. As I said, after blogging about it, I got a personal email from David Frisk himself. I thought about whether to read it or not, because it could have gone either way.

Fed-X, or David Frisk, has been out of prison almost as long as I have. I know that because I wrote a post on PTO about an anniversary of me getting out of prison, and he responded himself saying that he had been out almost exactly that long. So we have something in common. But I had to make a decision. If I read that email and he said ANYTHING to piss me off, I would write 10 more blogs about PTO, and it would not be nice…

Or I could ignore it completely, dump it and focus on getting back to writing for those with loved ones in prison. I chose the latter. David Frisk is not more important than my desire to help others. Whether he said something positive or negative is immaterial, I make the final decisions on MY blog…not Fed-X, not lysbeth, not mrsdragon, NOBODY.

And in the last many months is has indeed grown. I am indeed hated by a lot of people at PTO, but none of them can argue my contributions to that site. Somebody once said to me, “we can protest your ban by finding your posts and simply putting AMEN on it to show our support”. That’s cool, but I don’t want you to do that. People like lysbeth will ban you for that.

Maybe the greatest compliment I will ever get from PTO is that their own members come to read my blogs. Why? Because they understand a couple of things. First, I never said I was God, nor do I act like Him. I never said I was Moses coming down from the Holy mountain with the gospels of prison issues. What I am, is an ex felon, a guy that did time in prison. I am also a guy who loves to write. I am also a guy that understands that even though I had issues with God, I understand that He obviously cares so much for people with loved ones in prison that He has encouraged people like me to write about prison issues to give you hope. Make no mistake, this isn’t just done out of my genuine feeling to help…I originally would have NEVER wanted to write about prison.

EVER.

Heck, I tried to quite more than once because it is so damned frustrating to write and be spat on by the very people you are trying to help. But it is apparent my heart will not let me leave you guys, at least not now. I can’t just ignore the fact that there are millions of people suffering with loved ones in prison. I believe that God also understands that and He wants to help. Yes there are prison ministries and prison support sites, but in most of these places there is something missing.

An ex felon who can write…a lot.

If I hated you or didn’t care, I could probably write maybe 10 posts at the most before my heart would convince me to say, “screw these people”. But I challenge anybody living right now to argue this point:

How can anyone say I don’t care if I have written over 5000 pages of prison issues?

I said PAGES, not posts. Think about that next time you want to criticize my writing lysbeth.

Those people also understand that I speak from experience, not second hand knowledge. I said once and I say again, just because your husband or boyfriend did 10 years or more in prison does NOT mean you did. So by default your info is second hand. I am not degrading it, because it does have value, but don’t EVER say that you know more about prison than me based off the fact that your HUSBAND did time…not you.

Don’t ever say that.

Third, those people also understood that what I shared always came from my heart. Now I know sometimes I get upset on my blogs and bear fangs, but I warned you about that on the first few blogs. You knew that was possible when you started reading my blogs, and if you didn’t that isn’t my fault…that is your fault.

But in doing that, you get to see my true sincerity even when things are argumentative. Masonik4 always tried to keep things absolutely bright and positive, which is cool…but Nolaw97 has no problems telling you about the thunderstorms and the floods…but get this…I will also do my best to walk you through it. You are not reading the works of a perfect man, you are reading the works of a person who cares enough to write thousands of pages to give you hope.

Nobody on PTO can say that…ever.

I spent all that time there because my heart went out to members who needed help, and I answered well over 1000 emails, got vast numbers of comments on my posts and had many people looking for my posts. I would have easily tripled my efforts if I thought that site had credibility, but I have virtually no faith in the moderators there. NONE.

So a hated man lives in this abode, this prison cell. Ironic, I can write 20 pages to help you with your loved one in prison, but some of the very same people that will read my blogs and print them out will spit in my face and curse my name.

Tell me, is this really prison support…or vanity? I admitted that I was not perfect, but lysbeth never implied that there were faults with Prison Talk and she certainly wasn’t so bold to discuss them, otherwise she’d have to ban herself.

Interesting. How can you carry hate into a prison support site, and still call it support? Either hate is real, or the support is real, you can’t have both. If it is a true prison support site, then hate cannot be allowed to exist. But if there indeed IS hate, then there cannot be support, because it is based on love.

Anyway, some of you asked about why I don’t write there anymore and what happened. It’s funny that even some who asked about it ended up telling others only a piece of what happened, afraid that if you told it all, you’d be banned (yeah, I know about that folks, people tell me stuff). It’s kinda funny that a person will read my blogs here, and go back to PTO and tread lightly about “hey, where is Nolaw97” and someone will vaguely say “I heard there he had some issues and is no longer writing”.

Yeah, thanks for sticking up for me, way to have my back while you continue to copy and paste my blogs.

That’s not everyone, but there are a few that know what I mean. Most of those who email me from PTO understand my position and say they always read my blogs, but they need to stay connected to PTO because there are others there that are in their same position. Cool, I get that…

But does that HELP you…or are you just sitting in a mire of depression? There are solutions you know, if you are willing to look for them. Maybe you’ll find the faith to ask me to talk about it, and we can find resolutions or solutions together…or not if you are fine where you are…your choice….I’ll just keep writing.