>>The last email I received from Kevin said he doesn't care whether he is readmitted and doesn't even want to come back. The part that infuriates him is that his account was merged, so anyone who does a search on him might turn up the over-the-top posts by "Grover."

That last clause is very likely- over time, IMHO *everything* placed online will be leaked/copied into full view. Therefore the first sentence is only smart if he did do it, since Michel has proof and there is nothing to be done now except to continue denying and retreat. If he didn't do it then he should clear his name asap. Michel needs to be approached with a realistic explanation and some incentive to participate that exceeds his exasperation that the same names keep coming up associated with strife. Vague feelings or conspiracy theories will be worth nothing to him. People also should reflect that M is part of that group of forum owners who adopt and share techniques to spot online sequences associated with bad behavior. These patterns are based on millions of interactions by now including behaviors used by very clever geeks to cover their tracks.

Unfortunately M has closed his firewall to some people after what he described as harassment which does make it more difficult to co-operate now. So, for the record: I'm more than happy to help approach M if somebody comes up with a scenario with some facts- such as an insulted workmate at the next desk bearing a grudge or a TS machine accessible to other identifiable UT people (and an owner willing to share access logs pointing to the real culprit). Let me know,