Mitch

Mitch was in no way bizarre.

Mitch originally joined OtakuBoards under the name animelover way back in 04-08-2002. Eventually he changed his name to “Mitch.”

He quickly became a moderator for Otaku Lounge, joining the staff in September of 2002. He quickly became friends with Charles, way back when he was still going by the name Crazy White Boy.  The two formed an OtakuBoards clique called “The Hammer Brothers” and closed threads with images that depicted gavels banging.

Much of Mitch’s time on OB was spent in the OtakuBoards Anthology forum.  In April, 2003, Mitch was transferred over as the moderator of that forum, succeeding Raiha.

Mitch had aspirations to be a writer, and his poetry and writings can be found throughout the Anthology forum. Much of his writing is pessimitic in nature; his earlier works were grotesque and Poe-inspired. Nearly all of Mitch’s work was written in a stream-of conscious style and although his work was initially lauded because it sounded sophisticated to members, he eventually fell under criticism because much of what he wrote did not make much sense to anyone but him.  He would often use big words just for the sake of doing so; they made little sense in the context of his writing.  Eventually, Mitch began to act very bizarrely, which was reflected in both his writing and his habits.  One poem he wrote featured the narrator eating human feces.  He also began responding to discussions outside of the Anthology forum with poetry, which prompted James to scold him.  It was eventually decided that because Mitch’s writing was so confusing, it did not make much sense to keep him around as a moderator of the Anthology forum and he was removed from the staff.   Mitch’s writing today aims to be philosophical or transcendental in nature and to his credit, his writing has improved.

Ironically, Mitch is most well-known for his notorious, long-lasting feud with Alex, whose original name was PoisonTongue.

The feud began with a single PM in which Mitch was apologized to Alex over a minor quibble, and Alex answered him with crassness.  Alex often criticized members’ writing with very frank critiques.  Mitch, who was not accustomed to receiving negative criticism, responding to Alex’s mean-spirited critiques with attacks of his own.

The feud between Mitch and Alex lasted several years and spanned various sites, spilling over to their blog pages, and even Group Sounds as recently as April 2007.  The rivalry seemed to end in the thread “So I’m Going to Run Away From Home.” Both Mitch and Alex launched into their final personal attack against one another, this time using image replies to insult each other. Of particular note, Mitch replied to Alex with an image of Arnold Schwarzenegger, pointing an accusing finger with bold text reading “shut the f— up!” below him (uncensored).  Although James deleted the post, Mitch quickly reposted the image.  The staff had distributed dozens of warnings to both members and Shy decided to finally ban them both.

Mitch found out that Alex had returned to OB, under the persona of Papa Smurf. Therefore, Mitch decided to return, now under the persona of Phaedrus. The last known incidence of the incessant quarrel was in a philosophy thread made by Phaedrus, in which Papa Smurf was up to his usual antics. Eventually, both members would be banned again for different reasons.  Mitch was banned because his posts had become too bizarre to deal with.

The dispute between Mitch and Alex seemed to finally have a happy ending when in an IM conversation, Alex stated that the entire feud was all in fun. The confession was a hard thing for Mitch to reconcile, seeing as he had actually felt abused and hurt by Alex’s actions against him; however, at this point in time, decided to look back at the feud as something which made him stronger, and which should not impact his life in any negative way whatsoever.

However, Mitch would eventually join Group Sounds and begin to target Alex, which resulted in a week’s banning. 

Mitch rejoined OtakuBoards as Copycatalyst on June 7, 2007 in order to participate  in the RPG, Final Quest for Glory 2.  Mitch’s return to OtakuBoards would not be long-lived, however.  Mitch began to become heavily (and publicly) criticized for his long posts in Otaku Lounge; several members expressed their frustration toward Mitch’s posts by pointing out how difficult to read they were to read.  In turn, Mitch’s behavior became increasingly caustic.  Tensions began to rise in the thread “What is Beauty?” when a group of members began to gang up on Mitch within the thread due to his confusing posts and aloof tone.

As a direct result of the “What is Beauty?” thread, Mitch created a thread on Group Sounds that insulted OtakuBoards from top to bottom.  After the Group Sounds thread was promptly closed, Mitch went ahead and created what was essentially the same thread–only on OtakuBoards.  Since hardly anyone knew what the hell Mitch was saying to begin with, the thread began as a lighthearted exploration of what OB is.  However, during the thread’s lifespan, Mitch’s general behavior across the site became more volatile, his insults and criticisms became more frequent, and his rants more incoherant.  Mitch became increasingly narcissistic; he dominated the pictures thread with topless images of himself and became more elitist with his rants.  The culmination of Mitch’s behavior was James giving Mitch his third ban, on July 7, 2007 in the “What is OB?” thread.

 Ironically, Mitch was banned for the second time on Group Sounds, only days later.

 Further Reading:

The Tragedy of Mitch and Alex

Categories: Banned Members, Former Staff