Some people online today, are profoundly mentally ill!

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

So I go on quite a number of forums, normally to talk about games, and movies. Maybe music too, but I don’t bother talking about music that much any more, as my taste is probably a bit too niche for most youngsters. I’m mostly into retro pop and rock songs, so they probably won’t know much about who I listen to anyway. Older people like my choice of tunes though, which figures.

Anyway, I have been receiving a lot of hassle from this cretin on other message boards. It has been going on for over 2 years by this point. I’m in the UK and I think this guy is in New Zealand, or possibly Australia. The reason I know this, is because he was pestering me on Wikipedia in 2017 and this moron posted with an IP address that I don’t believe was a proxy. In fact, it’s hard to get proxies to work on Wikipedia most of the time. I mean, it’s not that they’ve blocked absolutely all of them, but many already are. So anyway, I got this IP address that I found out is from a company in New Zealand called Spark. And not only that, but the guy had signed up so many sock accounts, and there was a page to do with other accounts he had that were blocked as well, and looking at the logs for those profiles, he had been editing many New Zealand related pages with those accounts.

Well, I’m sure I know who this guy is. I went on gaming forums years ago, and received a lot of abuse from trolls on those sort of forums which ended up escalating into a dire situation, and I had this guy following me from a site to another forum, but it is a dead forum that no longer has any moderators. It’s just a forum for advice on relationships, and I stuck around for over 5 years on that forum, because I liked to post with another guy who is into the same stuff. But this troll registered there and ended up messing up the entire forum, screwing it up for that guy, myself and the other regular users. He posted a photo of himself ages ago elsewhere, and some picture of his dog, and I came across a Twitter profile that I think is that same guy, because it looks like whoever that dude is has the same looking dog, and I know the guy on Twitter too, because he used to run a forum I kept getting banned on, and he was also on other forums with me a long time ago, trying to be wide. :rolleyes:

He has come on that love forum every single day since about July of 2017 and flooded every section with spam, and highly offensive images, or just stupid nonsense. He even posted some flash image of his excrement onto a picture of me, and he made numerous posts about me being on benefits, and stating that I’m using my so-called “retard checks” to get roles in movies, and also going on about matters to do with former professionals who supported me. Well, he has been at it every week for over 2 years. Think about it: 2 entire years of this ADULT being a complete tool, stemming from some petty grudge! He has also been on imdb.com, and contacting actors I worked with in the past via Facebook. I’ve reported him to the police before, as well as overseas, but they didn’t budge an inch. He only really does it on that forum, because when he appeared on other forums, he was banned immediately. But, hell. What can I do? He has even been keeping tabs on me, on Internet Archive. :dubious:

The admin rares logs in on that forum. In fact, the crazy radge pot was doing it all summer long, even though no one posts there anymore. Myself included. Now? I know he is truly cuckoo, because he signs up multiple profiles using my country’s flag, and has conversations with himself, using pseudonyms. He also has a YouTube account where he posts pointless videos of himself wearing a glove and playing around with things such as fruit or kitchen utensils, but you cannot see or hear him in any of these clips. He created a similar channel ages ago with some of the same videos, but with a slightly different name, and he had some videos mocking what I look like, then he later on deleted it.

[deleted links]

I’m intending to quit all forums at the end of 2019 anyway. I mean, it ain’t just due to being abused by idiots like him, although he seems to be a special exception in the lunacy department. However, it’s more so a personal choice. Plus, a lot of forums aren’t that active nowadays in general. But anyway, has anybody here ever been put through anything quite like this before? And if so, how did you resolve the problem? :smack:

2

I don’t think you aid anyone’s comprehension of your situation by alleging that the person who is behaving like a jackass is someone with a chemical imbalance in their brain causing that behavior.

People who seek out mental health services don’t need to see “mentally ill” bandied around like an epithet.

People who wouldn’t spit on a psychiatrist if his cigar caught is polyester suit on fire, who don’t believe psychiatrists treat anything that really exists and considers them all charlatans, don’t appreciate seeing “mentally ill” used every time you don’t like someone’s behavior either.

3

What an odd reply. If you read anything he/she said it’s quite clear the person they are dealing with is mentally ill. Normal people don’t have this sort of obsessive behavior for years.

OP should stop using the forums where they run into this individual or take a break from social media in general for a while. Unfortunately, you run into people online who can remain anonymous and feel they are free to act how they want without repercussions. I know if a forum doesn’t have mods willing to deal with it, I would no longer be part of those said forums. I’ve dealt with the toxic nature of some message boards quite a few times.

4

Sorry, man. I wasn’t trying to come across as sounding offensive with that term, but this guy has been at it for 2 years. Most people would have giving up long ago, which lead me to think something isn’t right with the guy upstairs, or he finds this funny. That was all I meant.

It still doesn’t explain why he would do it for this long. I have no interest in associating with him whatsoever. I just go on some forums to talk about games, and that’s it. I don’t care if people agree with my viewpoints on those games, or not. I’d rather just not have to deal with the silly carry on that inhabits some of these communities. It’s not about that. But I was on a lot of survival horror gaming forums years ago, and I think that’s where I know him from. I was 17 back then and I’m 33 now. It makes it no less unappealing.

You do have to watch online when it comes to people you don’t know. They could be anyone. At the same time, I don’t have a social life offline, and I don’t even work. I’m online pretty much all day long, suffering from the worst anxiety that has plagued me in years, and I find it draining now, to be honest. I’m likely gonna be doing the same stuff tomorrow.

With that said, I don’t understand the whole YouTube concept either. I see a lot of honest people being buried with little to no subs despite putting out some good content and honest rants as it were, yet all the people that have little to no genuine news and post crap always have like, 5K followers. I’d like to know, A, how they acquired so many followers in the first place, and B, what the traction is with their uploads. It’s bizarre.

5

Lots of forums allow you to put other users on Ignore. And you can block private messages.

You can always create a new ID (StraightDope is one of the very few with some restrictions–socks).

But as to the title itself I don’t see where you would find anyone here who would disagree.

6

So… it sounds like the pattern here is you go somewhere new, this guy follows you, and ultimately destroys the forum. And now you’ve come here???

Well, folks, I’ve got to say, I haven’t been around that long, but it was fun while it lasted. I guess this is the end of the dope.

7

Yeah, …umm, not wanting to touch this. But, dude, you have a serious problem. Don’t wait. Get off line everywhere. Delete your accounts

8

Oh, you think you can listen to a description of someone’s behaviors and on the basis of that alone know that the cause of their behavior is a chemical imbalance in their brain?

Well… I’ve known a shitload of psychiatrists that think they can make a diagnosis on no more than that, but that doesn’t make them, or you, correct.

There are lots of reasons for any given nutty behavior.

It sure seems to me that attributing behavior you find nutty to a person’s alleged mental illness is a rhetorical tool for dismissing them as batshit crazy and hence not to be taken seriously.

9

Welcome to the StraightDope! I encourage you to look through the registration agreement, as well as the forum rules stickied at the top of each forum to familiarize yourself with the boards.

I deleted links in the OP that were to other boards, or to other youtube channels. Linking to outside places isn’t against the rules, but doing things that could lead to board wars, or other actions that should be resolved outside of the boards isn’t allowed here.

This thread isn’t really a debate, so I’ll move it to MPSIMS. It’s where conversations of this type would typically go.

[/moderating]

10

Exactly!

I have a YouTube account, and I’m honest about everything I say, but it often feels like no one even gives a shit. I try to do a variety of videos now, so I’m not beating a dead horse. But even the franchises I focus on are dying, or they are maybe not dying as such, but not all my dogs are barking when it comes to giving them my blessing. I even used to just record myself talking on a camera which was probably boring everyone, but now I use OBS Studio and play around with that. I’m not excellent at making videos either. And I honestly don’t know how to do any of that fancy editing stuff, and maybe my accent is hard to follow, so it’s already dead in the water.

I just don’t understand how to get noticed on YouTube. I also don’t back people up any more amid their cross-channel squabbles. When I do that, it never ends well.

11

Well, following someone around harassing them for two years, making a youtube account to post nothing but their hands in a glove snapping scissors, not to mention repeatedly replying to themselves on a forum that isn’t active isn’t a sign of someone who is normal.

Clinically mental illness is mainly descriptive and you’re diagnosed based on your history and past behaviors. In real life you don’t stalk someone because you’re normal or doing it for fun, why would it be any different online? You can be diagnosed incorrectly but I didn’t claim to know which mental illness this person may have.

Enlighten me on what you think is the cause? Drugs, maybe attention, fun?

12

Sometimes, you have to realize when it’s time to take your football and go home.

I quit Facebook two, maybe three years ago. I do miss some people, very much.

Others, not at all.
~VOW

13

It’s possible nobody does. Your right to express yourself doesn’t come with a requirement that anyone else care what you have to say.
I will admit, the internet does seem to have enabled a particular type of mental illness, namely obsessive-compulsive disorder. Unlike filling your house with hoarded garbage or dozens of cats, though, endlessly chasing down one person or cause on the internet has virtually no personal cost to you other then the time you invest in it. The built-in anonymity even helps you avoid social repercussions of any significance. It’s like someone invented a zero-calorie chocolate chip cookie. Why *not *eat them by the thousands?

14

And sometimes a cigar really is a cigar. You don’t always need to see an official signed certification of mental illness to realize that someone is batshit crazy.

15

OP, am I missing something? Is your problem with this harasser or the fact no one noticed your YouTube account? Or are they connected, some how? Clarify, please.

16

I endorse this sentiment unreservedly.

I would call the person described in the OP as batshit crazy. I would not use the phrase “mentally ill”. “Mentally ill” references a theory that this behavior can be attributed to a chemical imbalance in the brain. I don’t purport to know that. But they’re definitely batshit crazy.

17

This x800 billion.

18

Some people online today, are profoundly mentally ill!

And bears shit in the woods, too.

19

Which makes no sense as no matter how you spin ‘crazy’ it is synonymous with being insane, deranged, or demented. They are one and the same and would be stating they have tendencies of a mental illness.

20

Some terms are much more politically correct than others, and crazy, insane, deranged, and demented are no longer considered politically correct.