I'm being stalked....

[AuroraVirtuaFighter]

Yeah. I am being stalked, basically, now. At a time when there's way too much crapola going on in me and my guardians' life, now I get information that I am being stalked by unknown benefactors.

After a huge battle on the other site I go on, started when someone attacked my guardians, this guy, some stubborn, huffy 25-year-old college student, tells me that "everytime I go on the Internet, I leave a footprint. People are using that footprint to find information" or something along those lines. I never give out information that could be dangerous to give out on the net (e.g. my address, phone, etc). So I decide to joke it away, asking him if he knew what shower gel I use/what TV show I watch at 6 AM/what book I finished today/etc. And then he's like "Someone out there even knows where you go to school."

Now I'm getting a little creeped-out. Me and Shepard ask him to post the name of the school, since he apparently knows it so well. He doesn't post it, but then he tells me that someone is tracking down my address and phone number so they can write me a letter. We tell them that is kind of stalking and kind of illegal and so we can kind of press charges, but he's like "WRITING A LETTER IS NOT ILLEGAL." Okay, I never told anyone they could write me a letter, nor did I give them my address to do that with. So I ask him how they found my town out, and he posted a town, a zip code, and my Internet company. It is (thank GOD!) the wrong town and the wrong zip code. Then he posts a "picture of my school"...wrong school, wrong town. I call him out, and then he gets huffy and tells me it isn't him who is doing it anyway, but he knows who it is. But "he won't tell us because we'll get all bitchy and whiny at them." Well, I THINK ATTEMPTING TO STALK ME IS A VERY GOOD REASON TO BITCH AND WHINE AT SOMEONE. All he told me was that it was someone on the forum.

The sick part is, these 20-year-old men think they are making a joke. They tell us they are doing it for "the lulz." No. Trying to track down someone is NOT lulz. It is sick and illegal. So I interrogate one of the men, T, who was apparently in on it, and then he tells me only the other guy, P, is in on it. So I ask him to go track down P (of course, being me and trying to make light of everything, I turn it into a game of bounty hunters).

We've agreed, so far, that if we can get the names of the people in on this and interrogate them, we will not press charges. Otherwise we will probably press charges on everyone involved, including P and T. Can we do that?

WHAT KIND OF SICKO THINKS TRYING TO STALK A 16-YEAR-OLD GIRL IS A JOKE?

[Chaotic Lionheart]

*Raises his hand* I would but I love you like your my family i stalk you to protect you from other stalkers which make no sense but I'll stalk the stalkas

[Bub]

I say you stop going on all these other sites.

[AuroraVirtuaFighter]

Wow, you said the exact same thing Serah said (and is actively trying to get me to do). The thing is, I have friends on that other site I do not want to leave behind, and plus it's kind of the only thing that gets my mind off school. (The super-sad part? I'd MUCH prefer getting stalked by on the Internet to anything that goes on with school. Yeah. That's how bad it is.)

I am going to inform the admin of the site, since it is someone on her site doing this and we are good friends. She loves so-called "lulz," but she's intelligent enough to realize stalking someone is not a joke. :\

I must say, with all this plus Phaaze (school), it's been hard for me to keep my "cool-headed soldier" demeanor about all this. I'm probably gonna end up crying by the end of this weekend. :\ I even had a nightmare about this very thing.

[Lady Lamont]

*Raises hand*

You do actually leave prints, IP addresses and the likes of which can be used to track down and pin-point your own home address.

If you go to any other sites, I recommend using some Proxy servers to mask your IP. Nobody bothers with IPs on FFE so you're perfectly fine here.

However, I'd recommend making a "Spam E-mail" address and changing that and sort of make a fake alias to distract them. XD They'll end up tracking you to say... the middle of nowhere in Italy.

I'd also not send them any e-mails with your personal e-mail addresses as they can also rip information out of that too.

Of course, you can do that vice-versa through the site if the admin will release who has accessed your page and details containing traceable information and find out who they are.

If you have any questions about this stuff Star, drop me a PM and I can give you some more information.

[tug31]

Shesh, wtf is up with the world today............

[AuroraVirtuaFighter]

Thanks for the advice Lamont. I don't know how to use a proxy but I may have to invest in it, it seems.

I do not send emails to anyone on that site, so it's all good with the email thing. Actually I don't even really send emails to anyone on any site unless it's an emergency anyway.

So far the IP has been getting my town wrong (this actually isn't the first time someone's tried, but it's the first time someone's tried with the intent of trolling me THROUGH ACTUAL POSTAL MAIL). They've been getting towns very close to my town though. We're gonna keep trying to track down, through the P guy I mentioned up there and through the admin, the people who are attempting this, interrogate them, and depending on their own actions either let them off or press charges. I've learned that charges actually CAN be pressed over people on the Internet, regardless of what those "IT'S THE INTERNET AND YOU CAN'T DO ANYTHING" people are telling me.

I'm just so incredibly distressed right now, as is everyone around me. I mean, I'm already having trouble due to freaking Phaaze...couldn't they have done this in the middle of the summer when I was, I dunno, not having breakdowns at random? I woulda been distressed anyway, though, considering how sick it is that these men (MEN. IN THEIR TWENTIES.) think stalking a young girl is a joke. I never even did anything to warrant this crap..I'd always been polite to them until recently because recently they haven't DESERVED my politeness. Do they seriously think you can play a joke like THAT?

[Xuro]

Again, you venting how much they're getting to you isn't making them want to let up. Each time you use the internet you DO leave a sort of footprint. Using a proxy won't necessarily help either. They can study the way you type and places you go to in order to find out other accounts you have on other sites. They can link all your accounts together and compile all information you've posted from any of them. Saying "They've been getting towns very close to my town though." is definitely not a good idea. This board isn't private and anyone can see it and know that they're closer to you. While harassing people over the internet may be illegal (I'm not sure on the laws), tracking down someone's information from things they've publicly posted is not. Considering the success "Anon" has had in messing with people before, I doubt there's all that much you can do. Even if you did press charges against a few people, there would still be others to take their place.

[AuroraVirtuaFighter]

..Whose side are you on anyway? o_o

[Xuro]

Why do I have to be on a side? I'm just stating the truth (as far as I understand it). What do you want me to do, call them "meanies", make a joke, and say that I hope they get in trouble? Such superfluous actions would be of no real help to you. Informing you on how your actions affect them and how they work would be much better in terms of trying to get out of this situation or minimize the damage. Ignorance of the facts is how numerous problems get started and you staying blissfully unaware while you romp around your forums and websites is likely to keep you in this situation for quite some time. Also, me offering any sort of advice at all should be enough to determine a "side".

[Lady Lamont]

I do have to agree with Xuro on this, by offering advice Xuro is on your side - and I do have to agree with the advice given.

The advice could be considered somewhat harsh, however Xuro is rather correct on this (and I no - the manner of the advice given cannot be written up as harassment) particular situation so I would really read it neutrally as that is basically what I would say (had I not been too damned lazy to write it up) myself on this Aurora.

[AuroraVirtuaFighter]

Meh I may have been a little out-of-line to be all OMG WHOSE SIDE ARE YOU ON THIS IS TOTALLY A GAME OF SIDES NOW!!!! anyway. Sorry, Xuro. It's just like...you're basically telling me there's absolutely no way to get these stalkers off me. And, well, yeah. That's alarming, to think I have stalkers but there's no way I can get them to gtfo. I do know that charges CAN be pressed on people on the Internet, though, because I HAVE seen it happen to someone I know very closely. And my IP is not something I publically posted, these guys are using IP tracking programs to find it. :\ I don't just post my IP out in the open..I don't even know what my own IP is. And I obviously never posted anything concerning my address, I'm not stupid like that.

I think I may have found a way to get em off me by now anyway,though, but that information is classified (they do read my posts on other forums, including FFE, so it is for the best that I keep my methods top secret). I just hope it works and they do finally decide messing with a random girl in America's life is not worth their time.

[Lady Lamont]

Then perhaps, simply discussing it on an Open and/or Public and overly easily viewable forum is not the best idea to do in this situation as it seems to have been an on-going issue?

Honestly put, but IP tagging is extremely easy to do. You don't even need "IP tracking programs" to do that sort of thing (trust me on that).

[Chaotic Lionheart]

Aura just chill sis it'll blow ova just chillax the world is crazy filled with crazy ppl threats are just threats