Things definitely went too far here. I've been doing some reading on the effects/affects on the cheaters/serial cheaters here and just as everyone seemingly acknowledges there is a 'line' re-suicide that those caught up in a scandal may sometimes see and even consider acting upon, there is clearly IMHO culpability on the part of those responding to the allegations/actual cheating incidents/cheaters themselves.
Doxxing, posting fake reviews on a professionals patient feedback forum [fake yelp reviews/similar], contacting Deans/provists/employers/neighbors/mothers and whatnot are all far, far , far beyond any decent/normal behavior that should be in response to a discovered cheater and certainly too far for an alleged one.
Frank [RIP] probably had a little bit of the 'God complex', which some/many MDs do, and often times deservably so. Eg, they directly save lives, improve patient outcomes and it appears in his case he freely gave of his services all the time. One unfortunate aspect of this appears to have been a fascination with going after the AG record-type performances and it seems like cheating just kind of snowballed as many have said: while cheating in races might not be a perfectly victimless crime, it certainly is pretty minor. As everyone I think has said: if he just came clean at some point, fessed up, moved on, I think we'd all agree: Hey Frank, you are a pretty awesome person. It's ok to be in the mid-pack with the rest of us. Heck finishing a marathon at age 70 implies you are waaaaaaaay an outlier already. You are already the cream of the crop!
So without rambling much further my conclusion is internet trolls are toxic. The worst of the worst behavior rises to the top and this anonymous character assasination/reputation damaging/ is far, far worse than the original infraction. The punishment MUST fit the crime and these things time and time again go WAY to far.
The cheating should be between the RD and the athlete [and anonymously the tipster] period. Personal names should never be disclosed. These Doxxing sites/forums need to be shut down for comments the second any personal info gets shared and must not be allowed to continue.
The Boston Marathon [and lots of other races] will always have bib mules, twin cheats, age cheating, qualifier cheats, bike qualifier cheats, and more as people find more and crazier ways to qualify.
Doxxing and destroying the personal lives of those who make such an infraction is a penalty far outside the original infraction. I can't even believe I have to type this out. Yes cheating sucks, but "naming and shaming" is far, far worse. It has to stop or there will be more Frank's. [and Jane's, and Anitas, and all the other unfortunate catalogued individuals]
Not sure if I'm the only one here who has made an unfortunate mistake but here's an example from my life:
In my late teens I committed a crime [property], and managed to steal some money that caused some temporary hurt to a few individuals [amount was well sub $10k, but still in felony class]. Due to my privilege, and public defender (!), I was able to get probation only, and credit for time served [weekend in the clink], and had a few items on my record such as the record of the offense, and I had to disclose it when I went to Law School, and things like that. But here's the important part: The matter was expunged from my record and nobody [not even my spouse!] knows about it nor can find it. I did a terrible thing, and I was in a bad spot, but it was handled by the authorities and [theoretically] I paid society back for the crime I committed [which was an ACTUAL felony!]
Who is going to expunge the records of these unfortunate souls who have the top 10 search results being 5,000 page threads about some race cheating incident they did?
