John McAfee. John McAfee John McAfee is running for US president as a member of the Libertarian Party. This is an op-ed he wrote and gave us permission to run.

Libertarianism contains an important principle called “non-aggression.” It means that we do not strike out at another person or entity. It also states that if someone strikes out at us, we respond with the minimal force necessary to defend ourselves. Saturday, I got another chance to practice this principle.

Internet trolls are an annoyance for many of us. They enter our chat rooms, post unflattering comments to our posts, seek out our friends and acquaintances and harass them and generally manifest as a swarm of mosquitoes.

I have existed much of my life in the on-line world, beginning with bulletin board systems in the mid 1980s. I in fact owned the largest bulletin board in Silicon Valley from 1985 to 1989 — Homebase. If anyone has experience dealing with trolls, then I come close to being that person. Yesterday a troll was annoying my wife on Facebook and I gently stepped in to prove a point. I posted my private phone number for all the world to see then I invited the troll to call me. The following screenshot, posted 6 hours later shows the result:

My post received 1,100 likes.

Now, I risked being called by random strangers for the rest of my life. But I have faith in my followers. After the above post I received 7 additional calls — all from people who had not read the post. One half hour after the post the calls stopped and I have had no random stranger calls since.

I was polite and chatted for a minute or two with every caller. I believe I will have 200 or so extra votes for my candidacy.

Jonathan Garber at Business Insider challenged me to publish my number again in this article.

Here it is:

731-608-8837

Before you call, keep this in mind:

I published my number in a forum of my supporters. I knew they would not call when I asked. This forum is not the same. Any random call will not be received kindly. And if you think you can block your number, or use a caller I.D. spoofer and I will not know who you are, then you do not know who I am.