Short Take: Remembering FritzMuffKnuckle

He was a regular at the SJ Hotel bar for years, but as occasionally happens, didn’t come in one day.

At a subreddit called “Bad Cop, No Donut,” a mod who went by the handle FritzMuffKnuckle started having some doubts. He reached out to me. He had an issue with a poster there, a guy who said he was a lawyer, who appeared to be knowledgeable about the law, and who was schooling others about the “meaning” of stories posted. He asked me whether this commenter was for real, knew what he was talking about.

Fritz was annoyed by this guy, as he derailed threads and, to Fritz, was kinda nuts and make people stupider. Fritz was mostly right, and we talked about it. His sense was right, even if he wasn’t clear on the details. As a subreddit mod*, he felt it was his job to not let the place get any worse than it naturally was. 

Fritz and I became friendly, and Fritz would send me links daily. Sometimes, many times a day. And he would take SJ posts and put them up on BCND. That would cause people in the BCND community to stray to SJ, and they began commenting here. Eventually, the one-eyed lawyer did too, pontificating as he had on Reddit. He was not warmly received here. In fact, most of the commenters from BCND found SJ inhospitable.

Eventually, I asked Fritz to stop linking SJ posts at BCND. Most blawgers appreciated the links, as it brought eyeballs. I took a different view. I wanted eyeballs, sure, but only the ones that, in my view, contributed to interesting and illuminating thought. Wild-eyed ignorant rants of the sort that predominated on BCND were neither desired nor appreciated. At Reddit, such stupidity was applauded and validated. Here, not so much.

But Fritz was a regular here, and always welcome. Until one day when he didn’t come anymore.

Fritz eventually moved on to other interests, and I haven’t heard from him in a couple years. That’s one of the weird things about the internet. People come. People go. People are suddenly in your face out of nowhere, and then they disappear. Poof. No clue why. I sometimes wonder if they’re okay, if perhaps they got cancer or were in a car accident. Sometimes, I ask and find out. Other times, I never hear back.

An email arrived yesterday from a relative of Fritz. I got an answer to the question of what happened to my old pal. On January 10, 2019, FritzMuffKnuckle took his life.

Some of you, and you know who you are, have written me over the years about the problems you’ve faced, the personal and professional harm you’ve endured. The nature of criminal law draws in a lot of people who are angry, frustrated and suffering. Some of you have thanked me for what I write, telling me that it helped them to know that they weren’t alone, that there was someone else who understood what they have suffered. Some of you sought help from me that I couldn’t provide. I’m no wizard. I can’t fix everything. I can’t fix most things.

I missed Fritz before. I miss him still. I wish I could have done more as a friend so that this didn’t happen, not that I’m so narcissistic to believe that this was about me or that I had the capacity to fix Fritz’s world. But losing a friend, even if only an online friend, is still painful. Rest in peace, Fritz. i’m sorry that I didn’t do more to help.

*Years ago, Fritz was un-personed as a mod at BCND, even though his name remains listed there to this day.

This was a hard blow to Fritz, His efforts to bring accuracy to a subreddit were unappreciated and let to his ouster. Let that be a lesson.

Short Take: Remembering FritzMuffKnuckle curated from Simple Justice