Oh My! Sexually Explicit Internet Activity?
First Roberts (Hillyard's attorney) asked if I'd ever made any comments about penis size on the Internet? Yes, I had. I participated in a discussion in the atl.singles newsgroup which wandered into the topic. I couldn't find a copy of my post, but I did find it quoted in someone else's response in Dejanews. In fact, my remarks are far more clinical than erotic, and that would have been obvious to any reader, including the attorney.
Then he wanted to know if I'd ever made a comment about having a very strong sexual appetite? Again, yes. The remark was made in the alt.support.diet.rx newsgroup, in a discussion of the side effects of a medication I took briefly. It wasn't made in any forum or in any manner which could possibly be taken to be a solicitation for men to help me satisfy that appetite. Again, I don't have a copy of that post, but I did find a copy of the message to which I replied, and the text of my reply quoted in someone else's post.
Well, hadn't I posted information about BDSM (bondage/discipline/sadism/masochism)? I told him I might have, just as I've posted information about computers and churches and auto mechanics and nail salons in responses to people's requests for information. It didn't mean I had any first-hand knowledge, and I never claimed to have any—it did mean I knew where to find the information the people needed, and that I know people who are involved in BDSM and have therefore learned a fair amount about it secondhand.
I've found copies of four posts I made that touched on such subjects. One was a flame of a man who posted an ad to atl.singles saying he was seeking a submissive woman, written because I considered the guy dangerous. Another was a joke about dominatrices. In the third I explained what the acronym BDSM (among others) meant. The fourth was a remark I made in a size acceptance newsgroup, saying that I've noticed that all fringe groups (like pagans, SF/F fandom, the queer community, and BDSM enthusiasts) seem to be more accepting of difference than "normal" people. I probably have posted information about finding BDSM resources on the net at some point, but couldn't find a copy of the post. At one point Dick Coward said I was involved with a BDSM group called the Anvil Dungeon, so maybe I referred someone to their web site at some time—but their site seems to have disappeared now, and I have no idea whether or not they're still around.
Hillyard's lawyer wanted to use the above remarks to conclude that I was deeply involved in some horribly perverted underground activity—poor man probably thinks anything that violates Georgia's sodomy laws is something to be embarassed of, anyway (omigod, I even made mention of that in a post!) I've posted to sex-related newsgroups a total of three times—all occasioned by Dick Coward's forgeries. The first was a response to someone who flamed me in alt.sex.bondage for (supposedly) posting the excessively crossposted ads on 8/16/1996—the idiot hadn't bothered to read the headers to see that it didn't come from me. I'm afraid I don't have a copy of it. The second was a response to someone who was reposting the pornography Dick Coward doctored to bear my email address. The third was a plea for help in getting rid of further sex-related posts forged in my name, and was made to some of the newsgroups to which Dick Coward posted the 8/16/1996 forgeries and to news.admin.net-abuse.misc.