Four months ago, I posted a piece that had pretty much everyone who commented upset at what I had written.
I had no issue with their comments, other than that I took the time to put up a bunch of legal info to support my thoughts.
Then another person posted, using the Guest Reader option, and proceeded to be initially mildly rude, then more so and outright abusive.
When I saw the comment, I sent a PM to Erin, asking for it to be unsubbed as it was an outright Rule 1 violation.
She did so, but the guy reposted it each time, leaving Erin shrugging and me stuck for four months with it sitting there.
Wendy K posted a blog recently that raised the issue of whether one is being inappropriate in posting a comment on someone's story. In the specific case Wendy mentioned, the comment expressed was quite polite and civil, and there was no insult intended or offered in it.
Yet the author removed it. Granted, as Erin mentioned tonight, it's the author's right to decide to have comments removed, but I couldn't see any reason for the author to do so, except that the comment disagreed with how the story was progressing and thus the author wanted it gone.
Well, I posted a comment several paragraphs in length detailing my experiences with the person I've mentioned already.
I gave my thoughts about the "inappropriate" issue, showing there are times when an author needs to be allowed to have comments removed.
The blog then became a bit of a discussion about what I had posted, some of it info, some of it clarification, then it took a different turn.
About two hours ago, the guy who had been pulling the crap I mentioned posted on that blog, saying rude things about me again.
As I had done with his previous repostings of an inappropriately phrased comment, I reported it to Erin.
What I wasn't expecting was the show of support from some of the folks here. It's truly appreciated. Thanks to each one of you that did so.
Seeing that guy's post in the blog there came fairly close to sending me either into a panic attack or a state of pure fury.
I'm glad I managed to avoid having a panic attack. It was touch and go for a while, I truly wanted to lash out at something thanks to that guy.
To put it politely, seeing him posting there triggered me quite badly, something that doesn't happen to me very often, for which I'm thankful.
I managed to keep control in both ways, and after a few minutes of just chilling and talking to a few folks, I posted a reply to the idiot.
Little did I know that Erin was also writing a reply to his post, which she posted several minutes before I posted mine.
The end result was that, thanks to this guy attacking me in the blog there, two things have happened tonight.
Guest reader comments have been shut down, and Erin explicitly blocked the Tor browser from being able to access the site here.
I'm sorry if all of this happens to affect people who were interested in posting positive comments here on the site.
Thanks to all of this, I'm feeling a bit down and all too awake. The odd part? Ten minutes before that guy posted, I was ready to go to bed.
I don't often mention my troubles here, not in this manner, at least. It says a lot that I feel the need to write about it.
I hope that everyone here is having a better day or evening or night than I've been having for the last two hours.
Thanks for listening to me rambling here. I apologize for my being longwinded.
Comments
I am sorry you got stressed out
huggles.
Re: I am sorry you got stressed out
Thanks, Dot. As I said in the blog, I definitely do appreciate the support I get.
Hope you're having an enjoyable evening.
Sending positive thoughts
I’m glad that you were getting positive support from people here, and it was able to help. It really sucks when someone’s rotten attitude brings us down. For what it’s worth, you got yet another supporter here, sending you positive vibrations from central Canada.
Re: Sending positive thoughts
Thank you very much for giving me your support. It wasn't just simple attitude, Cyarra, the guy was attacking me, not what I had written.
Central Canada, huh? It doesn't get much more central in Canada than living in Toronto. LOL
I used to live in the downtown core, but I had to move last summer and ended up in a nice place in South Etobicoke. I'm about 2.5 miles away from where the city shifts over to being Mississauga, but even with being away from the area I knew, this place is much better.
:eye rolling to the back of her skull:
Ugh, don’t tell me I supported one of THOSE Canadians. Lol just kidding. I’m from Manitoba, so when I say central, I mean geographically, but cool.
And yeah, I understood from what you said that it was more than an attitude. I guess I’m just so used to curbing what I say that I do it instinctively, and what I wanted to say probably wouldn’t have been too in line with the rules either.
For what it worth I've got your back
This whole stite is one big support group as far as I am concerned, one I use frequently!
Re: For what its worth, I've got your back
Your support on site and off is very much appreciated, Wendy. Thank you for being a friend to me, friends in my life are rather few.
I hadn't thought of the site in quite that way, but it fits. I just tend to be a rather private person, well, except with friends. See above. LOL
Gentle Hugs
Having crazy stalker dude harassing you here is just soooo not cool. Bluntly put, it sucks. But just like anyone targeting you on the street it's definitely not even close to being your fault.
Huggles
Jenna
Re: Gentle hugs
I'm just sorry that everyone had to see the claptrap that he was spewing.
Yeah, his actions were darn close to being those of a stalker. I'm just glad I used one of my online nicknames here.
Well, I'm not really one to hide on the net, it's actually fairly easy to find info about me if a person puts in the effort needed. The only thing that might make it harder is that one needs to know my full femme name, then it gets pretty easy to find info about me.
Sending Hugs
...And a case of industrial strength ANTI-TROLL spray.
There's a hundred people here who value your presence,
your comments and stories and only ONE chickenshit
mama's basement dwelling troll harassing you.
I recommend you focus on us all,
not this weird fucked up miserable
pile of puke who is no "guest" at my house
~Veronica
Well shit, I guess it really CAN happen here..,
.
Re: Sending Hugs
Thank you very much for your support. Now if I could only collect on that case of industrial strength anti-troll spray. ROFLMAO
As noted in the blog here, thanks to him, guest readers can't comment for a while and the browser he used has been blocked.
I hate to see people be denied access to things like comments because of a troll, but I don't make the rules here or enforce them.
Ummm... unless he has an actual account here, he can't comment at this point due to the restrictions Erin set earlier tonight.
New sport troll hunting !!
Trolls never learn but they do get caught eventually. As for the browser I have asked other sites to block it's use and have had a positive response , so other users of that browser will so be looking for the person that caused the problem. I have found that sooner or later they will need help but the only help available are people they have pissed off and no help will be given. crazypagangurl you hang in there and many hugs to you. Have a good day and enjoy life.
Have a good day and enjoy life.
New sport, troll hunting!!
Thank you for your show of support here and the hugs, mountaindrake. As I've said to others, the support is definitely appreciated.
He caused the situation, and when prevented from being an ass on my story, he took it to Wendy K's blog, attacking me there.
As for others here that might be using that browser, why should they have to suffer for someone else's actions. Sadly, they do in this case. As long as those users of that browser are being respectful here on the site, they'll be suffering because of him being an ass.
I understand her reasoning for denying guest readers the ability to comment and for blocking the browser, but that hurts other users. Those other users have done nothing to deserve being put through the restrictions that were set, but they'll have to take it up with Erin somehow.
That might be difficult if they are only guest readers, as they wouldn't be able to send private messages as noted in Wendy's blog by Erin.
Apologies to you...
Apologies to you...
I was tempted to post a retort regarding that reply by the Guest Reader troll. I didn't think it was offensive nor targeted at you in particular, I thought it was telling you in a roundabout way that it's your story and you write how you want but you need to accept the consequences of it. I have seen many posts that got ignored by Erin and the others that were insulting to commenters and authors while some that were inoffensive but critical get removed with little justification just because it made the author look bad.
Now I understand why you were upset about it, what read one way was really another. It really said you were living in a fantasy world and what you wrote was way off. It wasn't a critique, it was a veiled insult. Putting it up alongside the retort from Guest Reader to the blog you commented in it puts it into the proper perspective. Sorry for disbelieving it and sorry to you for thinking the worst about you, you haven't earned that disbelief.
I'm told STFU more times in a day than most people get told in a lifetime
Re: Apologies to you...
Without context, it can be hard to understand when someone is just being blunt or stepping over the line in a textual medium.
From the moment the guy first posted the comment, it was quite clear to me that he was deliberately being excessively rude in what was said. If he had just let it go and not reposted the comment, it would never have become an issue like it ended up doing.
But no, he didn't want to play fair and used tactics that were underhanded to ensure that he wouldn't be tracked down by Erin.
As he kept reposting every time Erin pulled it, I decided to let it ride for a while, that ended Monday evening. I figured 3.5 months from the last time he'd reposted it after it was pulled was plenty of time and asked Erin to remove it again, which she did soon afterward.
Well, that lasted until early yesterday morning when he reposted the comment yet again (it showed up around 7:45 AM EDT).
I mentioned it in Wendy K's blog in an edit to my original post about the guy and what he'd done.
Erin ended up removing it again and blocked him from commenting on that story, his response was to post on Wendy K's blog.
His rather blatant bias was quite visible in his remarks in his comment there, and drew replies from a few folks including myself.
That was also where he admitted to using a browser that is specifically made to hide the person's presence on the web by masking their presence and falsifying addresses as being internal to wherever one is active at the moment. To understand this better, every time he posted something here, his location was coming up as being internal to the servers/site here, i.e., showing BCTS' internet location.
That comment of his on the blog resulted in all guest readers' being denied the ability to comment and the Tor browser being blocked.
Yeah, reading his post on that blog made it pretty clear what he was doing. I'm just sorry other people are paying for his rudeness.
Apology accepted, I'm willing to let your feelings just fade into the background.
Efindumb, I've given what support I could to you when you were down, it's only fair for me to accept support from you. Thanks.
Not completely
People who had an active guest reader login can still post replies until the cookies expire or get wiped. And while I have blocked Tor, there are other anonymous ways to access the site.
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
Re: Not completely
Thank you for the clarification on the guest readers' ability to post replies here, Erin. What's the usual lifetime of a cookie?
Goddess, that sounds funny. Well, at least it shows that my sense of humour is still here. *grins*
It's pretty sad that you need to go to such lengths to stop idiots like that from perpetrating crap like we saw several hours ago.
I guess it's a one by one process of learning about anonymous ways to access the site before you can do anything about them.
Well crazypagangurl
Hugs to you, and please don't let the assclown ("Jerk") bring you down, as that was probably the plan in the first place (like most trolls).
Re: Well, crazypagangurl
Thank you for the hugs, any support is appreciated.
My mood has improved a fair bit over the last several hours, largely because I've stayed busy with a few FB games I play.
I wouldn't express it as him bringing me down, but as him triggering me, thus reviving memories of shit I'd much rather forget.
To be honest
To be honest, I didn't even know about Guest Reader until about a month ago. I have gotten a few comments from GR, but thought it was a real user, not a generic one.
I guess if I had known that I could assume being Guest Commentator then I might not have joined. And if I hadn't joined, I wouldn't have written stories. And if I hadn't written stories, I wouldn't have encountered a really nice group of people who have supported my writing. And if I hadn't encountered a bunch of really nice people who let me pound away at my keyboard and use my imagination ...
BTW, there is a hole in my bucket.
Thanks for all you write Crazypagangurl. I may not comment often, but I do enjoy your work. And I think it is fair to use a story to discuss ideas and explore outcomes and points of view. It's fiction, not faction.
Keep on typing ...
AuP
P.S. By definition, if I am typing a description of a character, aren't I type casting?
Re: To be honest
Thank you for your support, AuPreviner.
Seeing comments like what I mentioned won't stop me from writing, writing is likely the best outlet I have for keeping my mind in one piece. Note, I didn't say for keeping me sane, sane went out the window long ago. Oh, well, that mind of mine leads me to many stories.
I have to agree, what better use for a story than to explore things that may not be entirely agreeable or pleasant to many of us? Even better if somehow the unpleasantness/disagreeable bits can be somehow transmuted into a form of good, perhaps over a fair passage of time.
Speaking of which
I was in the Hallmark store the other day -- have to admit here, I love shopping in a Hallmark store -- and saw a sign that I almost bought because it really speaks to me ...
Back in 5 Minutes
So very glad it is isn't getting to you and that you will be back in 5 minutes. :-]
Re: Speaking of which
ROFLMAO! Thank you for the laugh, I definitely needed it! *grins*