What a valuable and totally legitimate use of time and resources!

Last March, we reported about a series of empty and mildly cute threats hacker group Anonymous made to Denver mayor Michael Hancock over the city's unfair homeless policies.

Now, in a newly released video, Anonymous has shifted gears and is threatening to expose Mayor Hancock's theoretical involvement with a prostitution ring associated with Denver Players if he doesn't resign.

In 2011, the Denver Post and 9News tried to tie Hancock to Denver Players via his phone records, but there was no definitive proof that the numbers on the records were his. However, since there was also no definitive proof that the phone numbers weren't his, many people believe it's still possible he had something to with it.

The Anonymous video rehashes all of these possibilities before making this threat: "We plan to expose what has been hidden for years. With the powers of Anonymous bearing down on you and your corrupt cronies, its only a matter of time until we uncover the dirt you been trying to hide from the community you lied your way into leading, from the depths of your closet. No skeleton will be left unturned."

Uhh … Yawn.

What mayor hasn't been involved with a prostitution ring? And are Anonymous not exposing Hancock's involvement simply by threatening to expose it, thereby rendering their own threat inert? Does not compute.

Is it just us, or is anyone else beginning to think Anonymous is not an international network of activist hackers, but just some disgruntled Denverite in his basement with a desktop and access to a Guy Fawkes mask?

Here's the video … look out for the line, "We will never forgive the lies, and although you may have, we will never forget the lives that have been lost under your regime." So many lives, you guys.

Look: the idea of a rogue group of hacktivist badasses fighting for social justice is an awesome one. But the current targets of Anonymous' brilliance do not live up to the potential of such an idea.

Shouldn't Anonymous focus their efforts on issues that really matter, and people that really take lives?

How about ISIS? The FLDS Church?  Boko Haram? The kind of people that make fake Planned Parenthood abortion videos? Internet pedophiles? Cartels? North Korea?

We're not doctors or anything, but it seems like those targets bear a little more weight and societal impact than what one small city's mayor does with his penis.

Plus, we don't need help from people of Anonymous' expertise for the kind of stuff Hancock is involved in. Small-scale government scandals like his have been exposed for years without the intervention of multinational hacking syndicates, so … thanks, but no thanks, Anonymous.

But beyond that, there's an even bigger problem with Anonymous we'd like to call out.

Shutting down websites and doxxing (releasing information) doesn't actually help people at all.

Sure, in some cases, it might spread awareness, or cause enough anger to elicit a reaction, but it rarely does. This is proven by Anonymous' track record of making no real difference. Shutting down websites or making the Internet mildly irritating for people for a while is no better than an angry Facebook post from your aunt that calls out some social problem but isn't backed up by any kind of tangible action. What's that called? Ass-tivism? Because you sit on your ass? Yeah.

Knowledge doesn't always translate into action. Knowing whether Hancock did or did not hire a prostitute does not mean the average person has much power in the situation. Regular Joe might not even care. We, for one, couldn't give two shits what sex Michael Hancock does or does not pay for. And even though we disagree with his policies on Denver's homeless, there's not really a way to change them other than to abide by the same democratic law amending policies we always do.

What would really help is if Anonymous would get out from behind their computers, and actually go help people. We should do the same.