Racists harassing authors

[Samuelx]

We all have our fans, our critics and our haters, but I find myself the target of some racists who can't seem to leave me alone. If you don't like what I write, simply ignore my stories. Seriously, some people have waaaaaaaaay too much time on their hands. Pathetic losers who never write stories of their own seem to have a real hatred for me. These fools are sad, but one of them, like SirCommentarista, might actually be dangerous. What a world !

 

[sr71plt]

I'm pretty sure the Web site doesn't tolerate racist comments (other than from JBJ on the forum). You can delete them from your stories, but if you report enough of them to admin by specific poster (or even anonymous), the Web site might so something about them.

 

[Samuelx]

Understood, thanks. Seriously, I've had my share of haters over the years. I write for all tastes regardless of color, gender or orientation but this one bigot with too much time on his hands is starting to bother me.

 

[HandsInTheDark]

We all have our fans, our critics and our haters, but I find myself the target of some racists who can't seem to leave me alone. If you don't like what I write, simply ignore my stories. Seriously, some people have waaaaaaaaay too much time on their hands. Pathetic losers who never write stories of their own seem to have a real hatred for me. These fools are sad, but one of them, like SirCommentarista, might actually be dangerous. What a world !

If it's actually threatening, contact the police.

If they are in your email, blocking is easy.

If it's just comments on stories, delete them. After a week I find most people give up. If not, a note to Laurel should settle things.

Easy solutions everywhere for this problem.

 

[sr71plt]

I've seen you suggest contacting the authorities several times. I think this is a nonstarter. If you contact the police about trouble you're having on a porn site under a fake account name, I think the best you're going to get is a snort and a suggestion that you get off of porn sites on the Internet.

 

[lovecraft68]

Trolls display all manner of ignorance and seem to target either what they think will bother us, or just what fuels their own hate. In your case its racist slurs and remarks.

I find I get a lot of "faggot" remarks. At first I didn't get it, I'm not writing GM...then I figured it out.

There is a lot of misogyny here, just like on all porn sites. Many men on these sites think women live solely to be fuck holes and that's it. The whole living vicariously through a story where a guy fucks 'dem bitches' right

My writing tends to favor strong female characters. Even the 'slutty' ones know hat they want and how to get it and aren't drooling bimbo cum dumspters.

So from the 'real men' of lit I must be a faggot because no real man respects women I get cuck a lot too...

I see it as just noise and roll my eyes, but we all handle things differently and as suggested if it upsets you, wipe it out.

 

[Samuelx]

I've seen you suggest contacting the authorities several times. I think this is a nonstarter. If you contact the police about trouble you're having on a porn site under a fake account name, I think the best you're going to get is a snort and a suggestion that you get off of porn sites on the Internet.

Understood. What I'm wondering about is, why won't this creep, known as SirCommentarista, simply ignore me and my stories if he hates me so damn much ?

Easy solution.

I love Anne Rice novels and can't stand Saul's horror novels so I avoid them like the plague, but I don't threaten Saul or harass him online.

See ?

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Trolls display all manner of ignorance and seem to target either what they think will bother us, or just what fuels their own hate. In your case its racist slurs and remarks.

I find I get a lot of "faggot" remarks. At first I didn't get it, I'm not writing GM...then I figured it out.

There is a lot of misogyny here, just like on all porn sites. Many men on these sites think women live solely to be fuck holes and that's it. The whole living vicariously through a story where a guy fucks 'dem bitches' right

My writing tends to favor strong female characters. Even the 'slutty' ones know hat they want and how to get it and aren't drooling bimbo cum dumspters.

So from the 'real men' of lit I must be a faggot because no real man respects women I get cuck a lot too...

I see it as just noise and roll my eyes, but we all handle things differently and as suggested if it upsets you, wipe it out.

Fuck hole is all they do right. Pussy whipped is my word for you. Remind me to award you a LAUREL for your pathetic girly man whine.

 

[Samuelx]

Ignore the haters, I say. Wish I could block this bozo from contacting me.

 

[lovecraft68]

Fuck hole is all they do right. Pussy whipped is my word for you. Remind me to award you a LAUREL for your pathetic girly man whine.

Case in point ^^^^^

I'll get you a nice plaque that says "I'm a man, dammit" for Christmas.

 

[sr71plt]

Understood. What I'm wondering about is, why won't this creep, known as SirCommentarista, simply ignore me and my stories if he hates me so damn much ?

Easy solution.

I love Anne Rice novels and can't stand Saul's horror novels so I avoid them like the plague, but I don't threaten Saul or harass him online.

See ?

My post was directed at Hands.

As far as "why can't they?" this is a futile exercise. They do as they like.

 

[TxRad]

If he is e-mailing you from your Lit account make copies of the e-mails and send them to Laurel. If he is leaving comments on your stories, use the report function. In either case, Laurel will look into it. She can't block him but she sure as hell can dump him. This also applies to anonymous. They may be anonymous to us but not to her.

 

[sheablue]

I'm so sorry you are having to deal with this. People are crap, sometimes.

I would also suggest contacting Laurel, if you feel this guys is even borderline dangerous, she should be able to do something.

 

[HandsInTheDark]

I've seen you suggest contacting the authorities several times. I think this is a nonstarter. If you contact the police about trouble you're having on a porn site under a fake account name, I think the best you're going to get is a snort and a suggestion that you get off of porn sites on the Internet.

There's no law against erotica, and most police I know aren't so high and mighty that they'd refuse to investigate a death threat because of where it was seen. Of course, if the threat is clearly meaningless - he wants to kill you but has no access to a real name or location - then there's nothing worth reporting. But the OP talked about harassment and finding it dangerous, so I assume he let a real name get out there. Otherwise, yeah. It's just Internet As Usual.

The law is often used as a club to keep entrenched interests in place, but at heart it's supposed to keep the herd from stampeding. Using it on people who think they're above it all is a useful way to bring them back down to ground.

 

[sr71plt]

There's no law against erotica, and most police I know aren't so high and mighty that they'd refuse to investigate a death threat because of where it was seen. Of course, if the threat is clearly meaningless - he wants to kill you but has no access to a real name or location - then there's nothing worth reporting. But the OP talked about harassment and finding it dangerous, so I assume he let a real name get out there. Otherwise, yeah. It's just Internet As Usual.

The law is often used as a club to keep entrenched interests in place, but at heart it's supposed to keep the herd from stampeding. Using it on people who think they're above it all is a useful way to bring them back down to ground.

I guess it's OK with me if you live that fantasy that you'd get any satisfaction, but I'll probably try to save others the empty frustration of trying when you bring it up. I think that's incredibly naive, though.

 

[BuckyDuckman]

Understood, thanks. Seriously, I've had my share of haters over the years. I write for all tastes regardless of color, gender or orientation but this one bigot with too much time on his hands is starting to bother me.

In a way, you're letting him win, you know? Deleting comments is a hassle, but our ability to moderate comments suggests we have an obligation to do so, too.

I've had my fair share of haters leaving horrible comments. For a while, there was some anonymous nutcase who would show up about every two weeks, leave a hateful comment, usually with an anti-gay slur, and one-bomb my stories. One day, while cleaning up after him, I realized I was apparently following right behind him. As soon as I'd clear one comment, it's see that he left a new comment on a different story. He hasn't been bothered in a while. Guess he got tired of the game.

Good luck!

 

[sr71plt]

Yep, there are those here who hold that deleting comments is a sign of weakness. Conversely, I see leaving them up as someone's control over you that you are made to feel that you can't just zap them and move on.

 

[Bramblethorn]

I'm so sorry you are having to deal with this. People are crap, sometimes.

I would also suggest contacting Laurel, if you feel this guys is even borderline dangerous, she should be able to do something.

Also, if he's harassing you, he may be doing the same to other people, in which case reporting him is doing them a favour. Good luck with it.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Case in point ^^^^^

I'll get you a nice plaque that says "I'm a man, dammit" for Christmas.

My name is Johnson, that's like Rolls-Royce if ur a guy. Whereas ur last name is Bush, not so good.

 

[Laurel]

Generally, we allow the authors to police their own comments. The only comments we generally remove are spam, threats of violence, and content that violates our guidelines (i.e. underage references, bestiality, etc.).

That said, if you see a comment which you feel is inappropriate, please do use the REPORT feature (the little gray triangle at the bottom right of the coment) to bring it to our attention and we will run a manual check as well. In the OTHER field, let us know why this comment is a problem, and if the user has other problem comments. There's no need to report multiple comments by the same user if you let us know to check their history. When you report comments this way, the system will send us a direct link to the story and make it much easier for us to check.

Once you have reported the comment using the method described above, you may delete the comment from your public message board to discourage further trolling. We will still be able to see the comment in the database, and track it to any other comments and fraudulently placed votes.

In summary, the best way to fight trolling is:
1) Report it. (via the above)
2) Delete it. (and let us take care of it from there)
3) Ignore it. Do not complain publicly or discuss it, as that will only make the troll happy. Report, delete, and spend your time interacting with those who enjoy your work. They are the ones deserving of your time - not trolls.

If you have any questions, please let me know.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

LOVECRAFT is dissing me, make him stopppppp!

 

[TxRad]

LOVECRAFT is dissing me, make him stopppppp!

Dissing you? LC? No way!

But hey, let me give it a try.

Diss... diss...

Diss... diss... diss... and hell, I'll even throw in a Dat.

Feel better now?

Some of the things you have to do to keep these old fuckers happy.

 

[lovecraft68]

Yep, there are those here who hold that deleting comments is a sign of weakness. Conversely, I see leaving them up as someone's control over you that you are made to feel that you can't just zap them and move on.

This is an endless debate with the only right answer being each author does what is right in their mind for their stories.

For those of us who choose to leave the mindless graffiti up for all to see, that decision is beginning to be taken away from us as I have had several removed by administration lately.

They were part of a sweep I requested after receiving 23-yes 23- consecutive hate filled comments on my stories all accompanied by a one bomb.

I requested the bombs be looked into, but said nothing of the remarks, but laurel pulled them anyway.

I've had three such attacks, all since about halfway through the nude day contest.

I love all the 'coincidences' that go on here.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

This is an endless debate with the only right answer being each author does what is right in their mind for their stories.

For those of us who leave the mindless grafitti up for all to say, that decision is beginning to be taken away from us as I have had several removed by administration lately.

They were part of a sweep I requested after receiving 23-yes 23- consecutive hate filled comments on my stories all accompanied by a one bomb.

I requested the bombs be looked into, but said nothing of the remarks, but laurel pulled them anyway.

I've had three such attacks, all since about halfway through the nude day contest.

I love all the 'coincidences' that go on here.

^^^^Candy ass wuss. Maybe the girls will protect him.

 

[HandsInTheDark]

This is an endless debate with the only right answer being each author does what is right in their mind for their stories.

For those of us who choose to leave the mindless graffiti up for all to see, that decision is beginning to be taken away from us as I have had several removed by administration lately.

They were part of a sweep I requested after receiving 23-yes 23- consecutive hate filled comments on my stories all accompanied by a one bomb.

I requested the bombs be looked into, but said nothing of the remarks, but laurel pulled them anyway.

I've had three such attacks, all since about halfway through the nude day contest.

I love all the 'coincidences' that go on here.

That sounds like one person who's adept at changing IP addresses, more than a group. It's not difficult to pretend to be several different people - we all know how, we write characters after all. It would be fascinating to be able to stop sock puppets and really know how many people you've ticked off...

Wikipedia faces a problem very like Lit's. Some of the topics are contentious and anyone can say anything. So wikipedia has a policy: you can edit "anonymously", but if you do your IP addresses is recorded and displayed as your name. You want to push your inflammatory agenda? Go for it, but you're giving up an address.

I wonder if that would work here, for comments and even votes. It would clearly have a chilling effect on comments in general, which is bad. And it wouldn't stop someone really good at coming up with new IP addresses. But the average hater would probably back off fast. And the average person wouldn't care. Sure, there are government officials and celebs who might stop leaving comments, but who cares about Kim Kardashian's opinions anyway.

If displaying IP addresses is too scary, then salt and hash them into a unique number, and display that instead. You'd be able to tell when the same ip address was posting again, without knowing the address itself.