What do you do about stalking harassment?
I have a couple of stalkers who follow me around from thread to thread, they are everywhere I turn. They pretty much never address what I actually have to say, they just want to call me stupid because I have confessed to believing in Qi in the past. They always try to find a way to twist things around back to that whether it’s relevant or not.
Lobohan
and
Bryan Ekers
Is there anything I can do about it or do I just need to put up with the trolling?
Nevermind I put Lobohan on my ignore list. Bryan Ekers is at least tolerable half of the time so I don’t even care that much as long as his idiot droog isn’t following me around nipping at my heals. This thread can be closed, I won’t be coming back to view it.
Well, let me get this in before it closes. My solution is to not to reveal things on this board that I think I can be ridiculed for (excluding anyone on my ignore list, if there even is anyone). While there are not a lot of people who ridicule people for having different beliefs than them, the ones that do are quite obnoxious, but apparently do not quite fall afoul of the “Don’t be [act like] a jerk” rule.
Heh, it’s not that they don’t fall afoul of it it’s that the mods don’t really care for some reason. I know people who posted here for the better half of a decade who have stopped posting here because of those kinds of assholes who think it is their holy duty to berate people who think differently than they do. And these aren’t sour grapes people, these are people who just say that the board has gone downhill and that they don’t see it coming back. This sentiment has been quite common.
Basically, if you’re an atheist you’re allowed to be a jerk in GD, if you’re not then it’s not ok. That’s pretty much the gist of it.
I can see where this might be a problem in Great Debates – a place where opinions and beliefs are not necessarily given the same weight as facts.
Not trying to insult anyone here and with all due respect, mswas, but can you give me some examples of where you have been unfairly treated in Great Debates?
Please note this is not a thread for discussion of what people believe. We all have our own belief systems and your mileage may vary. That’s not the point here.
These “stalking” allegations are also meaningful and we would like to see some proof of that as well. Could you send me some examples privately, please? We’ll discuss with the rest of the staff.
It’s not Great Debates, it’s being followed around consistently from forum to forum. But it doesn’t matter, I put the offenders on ignore.
If someone is “following you around consistently from forum to forum” and making negative comments right behind you, etc. , if there’s a significant pattern of that kind of behavior, yes, that’s harassment. And we throw people out for that. So is that actually happening?
These are serious accusations and we want to find out how this is happening and what’s going on, so please, back up these accusations with some cites.
I thought we weren’t supposed to reveal ignore lists outside of the Pit. Has that changed? I can’t keep track.
Boo!
One problem at a time, okay?
But you’re right – the Ignore function is private and should be kept that way except in the Pit, where stating someone is on your Ignore list is about the least offensive thing you can say.
Even if I am trying to let a moderator know that I have dealt with the action to my satisfaction? That seems like a sort of strange rule doesn’t it? I guess I should do it privately?
You can let a moderator/administrator know by private message or e-mail. It was a million times more convenient to just post it here though I acknowledge.
But if the rules of the place mean that certain people will be banned for harrassment, it would behoove you to give an administrator some examples of said harrassment. Probably preferably in private message or e-mail.
But then again, I’m not a mod or admin. Not only am I not either of those, I’m not even a paying member, so my thoughts don’t mean anything. :(
EDIT: I’d like to add a more personal note to you mswas. This message board is a lot smaller than people seem to think it is. It’s very easy to run into the same people over and over during just your normal thread reading and browsing. I personally rarely partake in GD or Pit threads, but you and I both know we’ve shared some threads together recently. It’s not that I was following you or vice versa, it’s just that this place is not that big and it’s really easy to participate in several threads, all with the same people also participating. Being a regular in The Pit and GD will only make this more pronounces, as those two fora definately have “regulars”.
If I am making sense, say so. If not, just smile and nod and I’ll recognize that as the default expression you give to that crazy person that is talking to you for unknown reasons. 
If the way you’ve dealt with a problem is the ignore list, then YES, you should tell the moderators privately. Announcing that someone is on your ignore list is tantamount to personal insult and not allowed. And while I’m at it, calling a poster an “idiot droog” is also a personal insult and not allowed in this forum.
Now, for the record, we’ve seen no instances of you being harassed. Harassment is against our rules, and a serious offense. However, “harassment” is very different from “having opposing views.” Two posters with opposing views might very well come into debate (or even conflict) in multiple threads. That’s not harassment. Harassment is when someone follows you around, even in threads that are not about politics (or whatever) to challenge you everywhere on everything. We don’t see that happening here.
Yes, you should do it privately. Because people around here use it as a weapon when they have disagreements with other people and we don’t think that’s an appropriate use of that tool.
Who you choose to Ignore should be your business alone.
The only reason it’s not a rule in the Pit as well is because it’s silly to prohibit that in a forum where you can call someone just about any ugly thing under the sun . . . putting them on Ignore is the very least of it.
Speaking of which, you also shouldn’t be calling people names in ATMB . . .such as “idiot droog.”
I would still like to see some evidence of your complaints – you do not have to list them in this thread, you can send me email. You should not be making highly inflammatory and negative statements that you cannot support or will not defend. We can’t just take your word for it that you are being stalked or harassed.
Charges such as this one are serious matters and we very much want to investigate the validity of this complaint:
If this is merely your opinion that’s another deal entirely but you can’t just make up stuff and throw these kinds of charges around without having something substantial to point to. Opinions are not facts.
As I appear to be peripherally involved in this topic what with similar false charges being levied against me in this thread, I am asking the Administrators here to please read and take appropriate action on what I feel is rule-breaking behavior on mwsas’ part.
Namely spamming and derailing a GD thread with spurious accusations. I would add “stalking” as well but in most cases I find that a hollow claim as the real motivation of any given poster is very hard to prove.
:rolleyes: Oh please.
You called me out in the OP, posted it in the Pit and then when it was moved you asked me not to discuss a topic and then you started discussing it when I replied specifically to the same thing you replied to in another thread.
My mistake in the first place was starting a new thread. If I hadn’t started a new thread then I would’ve been merely responding to posters who were addressing me.
Don’t talk shit about someone’s beliefs and then expect them not to respond.
Then you didn’t look. Tomndebb even saw it because he moderated Lobohan. Lobohan has several times been moderated in such a fashion for responses like that to me. So you clearly didn’t even look.
I’ve been here 8 years longer than you have. I know the difference between just running into someone and someone consistently following me around for a long time. It’s always the same people, ALWAYS.
Then you can, of course, help Dex out and provide some cites of that?