That's a useful website, Star. Witzend also posted in a separate thread with another useful article. Well worth reading.
As I read yours, Star, I realised that what I experienced was definitely cyber-harassment sufficiently bad to warrant police involvement. I did begin legal processes in one case (which shut off the harassment like a tap) but because I had no proof of the other person's identity (just a very strong suspicion) I didn't. I realise now I could have, especially since with more time and more people getting involved, there would have been proof available if police had got involved.
A note to those on the receiving end - while you're taking screen shots and keeping notes, if you are in any doubt as to the culprit's identity, try to analyse the comments. Look for spelling mistakes, the repetition of certain key phrases or words, see if you can see any giveaway details which are clues. For example, with mine, the person was trying to pretend to be an anonymous person from anywhere in the WWW. I had been careful to not identify location of a particular event I described, but my stalker made a side mention which indicated knowledge I had not divulged. This told me immediately that it was someone I knew, who knew me personally, and who lived nearby. A very creepy thought at first, but it narrowed it down enough so an examination of language used pointed to only one person possible.
And another thing to look at - by this stage, I was hearing certain phrases (used to attack me on the website) being used by 'friends' in criticism of me to my face and behind my back. The further away a person was from being fed false information by the stalker, the less likely I was to hear certain phrases repeated without some 'morphing' into their own words. I was then able to literally map where these people lived and who they spent time with, to identify a neighbour who was not only flooding all my posts with venom, but was pouring poison into the ears of my friends. Her motive - a sense of power over people. Not just me, but the people she was manipulating. A very sick, sociopathic individual. She was also jealous because of other friendships I held, her aim was to try to destroy those friendships (perhaps to make me as miserable as she was). She did destroy some friendships, these have now been partly restored but I will not fully trust those people again. She has moved on.
Once I knew the identity of the person, I knew enough to no longer be afraid or hurt. She is one sick puppy, but totally toothless.
Being informed and being able to identify connections in the cyber-harassment gave me back a sense of control and helped me banish any fear. If any of my children had been targetted, I probably would have done a lot more. Instead, I simply stopped posting on that website and stayed below the radar. More taunts were placed, clearly trying to draw me to respond, but I made absolutely no indication anywhere on that site that those links were still 'live'. I had appealed to the site moderators to throw this person off and remove the offensive items, but although they had done this previously for another person I knew, they didn't for me; unbeknowns to me the site was actually winding down into bankruptcy, so by not posting, I saved myself a lot of time and effort. When the site folded, all the hateful stuff disappeared into oblivion. Except for the copies I have kept, in case she ever does this to me again.
Nasty piece of work. But I'm ready for her. Oh, yes.
So scrutinise the nasty stuff for clues, but also keep an ear to the ground for identical or similar phrases being used either as insults or comments. These are like fingerprints. And if it does get real nasty, with threats of serious harm or death threats, that could be enough justification for someone's computer to be checked out by official experts and it is VERY hard to cover tracks, especially for a busy cyber-bully.
This is serious stuff and should be taken seriously. Responding in kind is not the way, it only perpetuates the problem. But cyberbullying should never be tolerated, appropriate action should always be taken.
Marg
