VIGILANTE DAD A HIT IN WEB SITE FORUM

Plastic Site Posts Story, Draws Supportive Comment From Many

Victoria's own vigilante dad received 15 more minutes of fame on one of the
Internet's most popular news portals.

On July 8, four Victoria Speed Avenue residents, including Rick Boudreau,
trashed a neighbourhood house they said was frequented by addicts and
deadbeats. The incident merited a headline and sparked a discussion on the
digital media hub Plastic.com.

The site, based in Berkeley, Calif., is one of the Web's best-known
cultural forums.

It's a user-driven portal with 30,000 "sources" who suggest prepublished
stories to a handful of editors.

The editors then post links to the stories on Plastic, usually choosing
about 30 a day. Users then provide commentary to the quirky array of
international media stories that appear on the site around the clock.

Thousands more read through the posts, considered a lively and interactive
alternative to traditional news sources each day.

Plastic user Brian Jones, a radio journalist from Poughkeepsie, N.Y.,
suggested the link to the Times Colonist story last Thursday under the
headline "Fed-Up Canadians Trash Crackhouse."

Jones said he found the story on another media portal site.

The post sparked a lively debate about the ethics of vigilantism, renters'
rights and the role of police in Canada and the U.S.

The majority of comments, anonymously posted under first names or
nicknames, condoned the vigilante action, citing the limits of stretched
police resources.

"It's really sad when you do your best to get a little peace and sanity and
the authorities won't or can't help you," wrote user Gonzocanuck.

Another user, Leigh, disagreed with the sentiment.

"This sends out the message that it is OK to take the law into your own
hands if you happen to feel that no one is listening to you," wrote Leigh.

"By no means is this a lesson that any responsible parent should teach
their child.

"They should have used some of that people power to less violent ends."

A user from Washington, D.C. who goes by his first name, Akio, predicted
vigilantism may be a growing trend.

"Back in the day, your opium dens, hop houses and brothels operated on the
physical periphery of middle-class society and were left to their own
devices," wrote Akio.

"Today, the crackhouses, Internet hookers and methamphetamine mills are
smack in the middle of lily-white suburbs."

Peter Murphy, the Plastic section editor who posted the story, said the
piece is perfect for the unique Web site.

"Even if you would never do such a thing, or find their actions revolting,
you can relate to this story -- whatever country you spring from," he said.

Murphy, who now lives in Brisbane, Australia, lived in Victoria between
1973 and 1978 and said the story "tickled" him.

"(Victoria is) almost the last moderately large city in North America that
I would expect to find a crackhouse," he said.

Plastic was launched in January 2001 by Internet pioneers Joey Anuff and
Carl Steadman and has involved guest editors from Spin Magazine, Wired
News, Modern Humourist, the New Republic and others magazines.