Ok, folks, I have a question for y'all. I have this venomous troll who knows almost every time I make a comment on another blog. It has been harassing me when I post on my blog, and sometimes when I comment on another blog. I think the troll is escalating its harassment and commenting on other blogs when I comment (by saying I shouldn't be allowed to comment or some such drivel). It has been telling me for the past 5 months that I have no right to blog, comment, eat, drive, or do pretty much anything else until I lose weight (and this goes along with the usual fat-phobic vitriol-spewing that we all know and love). That troll is one of the reasons I changed my comment policy to one where commenters had to register, and I have to approve all comments (I'm not about to give the trolls the attention they seem to crave by publishing those comments, troll comments are automatically deleted).
But now it seems to be making its vitriolic comments on other blogs when I comment, which to me, is unacceptable. I don't care that trolls think they can harass me, I don't know them, will never know them, so I don't give a rat's ass about their opinion of me. But when that harassment extends to bloggers I read and admire, it pisses me right the fuck off. I know we all deal with trolls, that's a given when you blog, and I can deal with that (I think most of us can, or we wouldn't be blogging), but I don't think anyone should have to deal with a troll just because they read a certain blog, or a certain individual reads their blog or comments on their blog. That's going too far. If I could figure out how to find out who that particular troll is, it would be reported to its ISP so fast its head would spin. That's cyber-stalking, in my book, and I'm not down with that, at all, ever.
So, my question to y'all is this: Do I delete my blogroll to save y'all the harassment of the troll? I haven't updated my blogroll in quite a while, and this is part of the reason. I really don't want to inflict this asshole on anyone else. I'm subscribed to all the blogs I read (and I think that list is up around 175 or so now, not all of them are fat acceptance, some are political, some are feminist, some are liberal, some are conservative).
ETA - The blogroll stays, hopefully this post will serve as a warning to the troll that its harassment will not be tolerated by anyone (not that that has ever stopped a troll from doing its thing).
ETA: The troll IP is 70.242.65.196, adsl-70-242-65-196.dsl.stlsmo.swbell.net for any FA/SA blogger who wants to block it.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
15 comments:
Comment moderation is enabled. If you're a troll and trying to slander someone or just being generally an asshat, your comment probably won't see the light of day. If you want to have a reasonable, civil discussion, welcome, and feel free to comment.
To the troll at IP: 70.242.65.196 , adsl-70-242-65-196.dsl.stlsmo.swbell.net, your comments will not be published, nor will they be read. They will be automatically deleted. Get a life, sad sack.
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I wouldn't delete it. Personally, I wouldn't allow any troll to troll me or my readers in my own blog. Good luck in dealing with this troll!
ReplyDeleteBrian over at Red No. 3 had a similar troll who followed him from place to place. She showed up on my blog at one point. We talked amicably and then she disappeared. Heh.
ReplyDeleteIt's a nasty little tactic - try to get others to resent you for "bringing" your bridge-dweller with you over to their blogs, or try to make you feel guilty for him/her/it following you. In truth, it's not your fault, not in any way, shape or form. (You're a smart lady and i'm guessing you already know that it's not your fault, but it doesn't hurt to hear other people say it.)
I say warn your friends (as you're doing right now, heylookitthat!), and work with them individually on how they feel about it.
Me? I say if your friend comes over to my blog to play... i won't give them what they want. And if they want to think that i'm handing them an invitation, then i hope they keep reading this next bit: I will get as much tracking information about them as i can, and happily give it to you for your benefit. :)
Sometimes when I'm bored I blogsurf; I go to blogs and check out other peoples' blogrolls and links. If you delete your blogroll, you cut those blogs off from at least one point of entry for new readers. Maybe you don't care about that; maybe the blogs are big enough that they don't need new readers. But when you delete your blogroll you are affecting the blogs you link to.
ReplyDeleteWhat Lindsay is saying is pretty spot on, I think. There's this post, explaining the situation, and you can contact other blogs and tell them what's going on. If they're decent people they'll crack down on the troll. You shouldn't suffer or remain silent because someone else is trying to bully you. That's just jacked up.
What they said. And by the by, I don't think I've seen this troll on my blog.
ReplyDeleteLady Jaye - Thanks, I'm dealing with it just fine. I hate that other bloggers might have to deal with it because of me.
ReplyDeleteLindsay - I don't think this troll is going to be amicable with anyone who's fat and unrepentant about it, but that's the nature of fat-phobic trolls, I suppose. I'm not too worried about the established bloggers being able to handle his asshattery, I worry about the newbies (I was one once, and trolls' comments bothered me for a while, then they pissed me off, then they bored me, now I laugh at them and delete). And thanks for the offer to get whatever info about it and pass it on. I added the site meter to my blog, once I figure out how to use it, I may be able to find that info on my own (I'm good at figuring things out, just takes me a while sometimes).
Brigid Keely - I don't want to cut new readers off from reading the blogs I like if they happen to stumble on my blog, so the blogroll is staying. Anyone who reads my blog will be warned by this post that there is a cyber-stalking troll on the loose, and they will be better able to figure out how they want to deal with it.
living400lbs - I don't know if the troll has commented on any other blogs for sure, but I posted a comment on fashionablenerd's blog the other day (along with a bunch of other people) and she posted a comment to a troll (whose comment she didn't publish) that no troll was going to tell her who could and couldn't comment on her blog. Which is what made me think it might have been the troll who has been stalking me. I feel sorry for anyone who has to stalk someone online in order to have a life or to make themselves feel better about themselves. And I thought I had a problem with self-esteem in my younger days.........it was nothing compared with this troll's lack of self-esteem.
Vesta I'm sure that this particular troll has been past my blog and even though I am still a newbie here in the sphere I was easily able to discern the vile intent in its thinly veiled comments and delete them. I have a policy to moderate new commenters since I have no interest in engaging in flame wars to stroke the egos of tiny little piss-ant trollers so I love to let them languish in internet ether, forever spurned by the lack of attention.
ReplyDelete*ahem* Back to topic though, I don't think you have to worry about doing more than just giving the warning you just have to the blogs you might read. And frankly, stalking is stalking. If you need the isp address from this bugger I'd be glad to hand it over when it comes up again :)
April D - Thanks :) I'll figure who it is, eventually. At least my readers know what's up and why, which is what matters the most to me, anyway.
ReplyDeleteI'd actually noticed that troll following around - I must say, that's one dedicated... 'fan' you've got there.
ReplyDeleteI think what the others have said about just warning the other bloggers is fine; all bloggers out there accept that they are likely to be trolled.
I wouldn't delete the blogroll, because there are so many awesome blogs there :-)
Hiyas!
ReplyDeleteYeah, said troll commented on my blog not once, but twice. I have their email and ISP still, if you would like it.
And don't feel bad because of the troll. I have comment moderation up, and I'd like to think of it as an Internet Bug-Zapper. Don't delete your blogroll. It just makes the troll think that he/she has "owned" you.
No, seriously. He/she said we had been OWNED. In big letters. LOL!
FashionableNerd - sounds like the same troll, all right. I hate to tell it, no one owns me, or any of us, for that matter. And yeah, email and ISP info would be great, thanks.
ReplyDeletePersonally I think you warning folks is enough. If your spidey sense is tingling that this jackass will be harassing new folks maybe send them a comment as a warning?
ReplyDeleteAlso seriously? Who has that much goddamn free time? What a pain in the ass.
I would be sad to see your blogroll go.
I wonder if you are getting stalked by the same person who stalked me a while back. This is why I installed a comment system which enables me to track people via internet address and e-mail.
ReplyDeleteSarah - if your troll is using an ISP in the St Louis MO area, it could very well be the same one. I have its email address and ISP information, I'm just debating on whether I should publish it or not. I think I'll contact the ISP first and see if they can do anything about stopping the troll. If not, publication is definitely an option.
ReplyDeleteThis should be a warning to trolls that the internet is not as anonymous as they think it is, and that bloggers do tend to stick up for one another and help each other out when the need arises.
I have to say I've seen this troll on my blog (assuming you only have one, but the comments have been the same) and they NEVER get through moderation. Because, you don't need that crap.
ReplyDeleteAnd I've not said anything in my blog because, really, why give the poor individuals any type of attention? And by "poor" I mean that obviously their lives are so small, are so insignificant, they have to harrass somebody else in order to have any feeling of accomplishment? Yeah, they really are poor.
I hope you don't mind cyber hugs, because I've been cyber-stalked before (in the days I used to be on AOL) and it's not fun. So hugs.
Most Fatosphere bloggers have Comment Moderation on already, so if your pet troll follows, it will just end up in the moderation or spam queues where it belongs.
ReplyDelete