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An internet stalker who I had dealt with before posted my real name, location and birthdate on the comment pages of two entries on someone's wordpress.com account.
I've had the same posts "unapproved" in the past by the mods, but the same exact posts are back up, so I don't know if the journal owner is "reapproving" them.
I asked support for help two days ago and once again today and I have yet to see a response or any action taken.
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For the record, I'm not posting the wordpress entry in this forum, but if I will send the necessary information to a specific individual if need be.
There is no action for staff to take. Posting personal information is legal unless there's a specific reason for it to be otherwise.
If a crime has been committed please contact your local police immediately.
So posting private information about someone is allowed here?
On WordPress.com blogs? Generally yes, unless there's a specific reason for it to be illegal, such as a threat of violence.
So the mods can't just remove two comments? I actually have to get the police involved?
It's up to the moderators of that blog.
Nice.
Thanks for your help.
Posting personal, public information about people is legal on every platform. If you are in the White Pages and/or have taken no extraordinary measures to protect your identity (unlisted number, name off mailbox, etc) then that information is considered public.
If you don't want things to leak out about you on the web, stay off the web, and even then that is no guarantee. There are too many legal ways to get information about virtually anyone.
Having dealt with multiple stalkers, I can confirm that.
You always have the option of abandoning a pseudonym and picking up a new one. Once you tie a pseudonym to your real life identity, you no longer have that portability.
I'm aware of that. But at the moment, these wordpress entries are the *only* places on the internet with my real name posted in such a public manner. This is why it's frustrating for me that people are just looking the other way. It's not something that's literally eveywhere--it's contained to this one specific site. So just removing some comments, NOT the entire entries, would nip this in the bud and I wouldn't have to worry about my privacy being violated.
Legally, public information about you is not private. It's not easy to live with, but it's the law.
sandor00, posting someone's real name is legal. If it weren't, how would anyone write anything about anyone? The internet would shut down tomorrow.
We're not "looking the other way" - there's nothing to look at.
Are these people threatening you personally or encouraging violence towards you? If so contact the police, else, you'll just have to deal with it. I understand you don't like it, but there is no law against it.
The last two times I reported it, the mods removed it. I don't understand why it's so difficult to do that now since the same exact thing is happening again. I will get the police involved if I have to, but that would just make things more difficult for everyone and I'd rather not go through it. I don't see why no one can't just remove two anonymous comments from a wordpress entry.
In addition, the other sites where this stalker did this to me all removed the posts in question and blocked the guy. And here, the response to cyberstalking is just "deal with it".
Talk with the owners of those blogs. They can remove the comments if they so choose.
sandor00 filed a complaint last year to WordPress support, at the behest of WordPress Mark, about the same problem and apparently WordPress dealt with it... so she / he has a right to be confused as to why the same level of concern isn't being shown this time around.
The best thing to do, sandor00, is contact the blog owner and ask for their cooperation. Even with your personal information on a comment form there's very little chance anyone searching for you would ever find their blog / site.
I read the previous thread as well, but there is nothing in there to suggest that it was staff who removed the comments, unless the OP got a reply back from staff saying they did remove them. It could just as well have been the blog owner who removed the comments.
The last two times, I received messages from the moderators saying that the messages had been "unapproved" and that that the blog owner had been warned--so it was dealt with officially.
For the record, I actually discovered these entries by searching for my name on google to see if I could find a review I wrote--it's on one of the first pages. I don't think asking the blog owner would help, either, since he's probably "reapproving" these comments after being warned.
That's why I put the "apparently" in there. Mark -- head of WP Support -- entered the forum, told sandor00 to report the problem to Support and "give every detail". Whether Mark or Support did something or not, sandor00 was left with the impression he/they did.
I reported it to Staff and the postings are gone.
Thanks everyone for your help. :)
So I'm not surprised sandor00 is a little shocked at the current response. Knowing WP will not interfere this time, the best option for sandor00 is to contact the blog owner directly. If their public information is so readily available to their 'cyberstalker' they should consider changing as much of that information as makes sense -- unlisted number, for example.
Also, contacting the police, just to let them know there is a stalker situation, is always a good idea. They can take it seriously, or not, but at least it's on the record.
OK. Now we know that, and I understand your confusion.
That said, I don't think discussing this matter any further in this public forum will add any good to it. It is a matter between you and Support staff, since most of us here are just simple volunteers and fellow wordpress.com users and have no access to anything behind the scenes. Staff occasionally turn up, but they normally don't disclose any specifics as to why or why not they take certain actions.
sandor00... just to clarify,when you say "moderators" dealt with the comments, do you mean WordPress staff?
Just for the record, my response above was for sandor00, not for feartheseeds :-)
feartheseeds:
yes, Mark and Sheri were the ones
For the record, I've since removed every trace of my real name and username off the 'net. As of now, this wordpress entry is the only one left.
sandor00... I can understand why you'd be confused at the response you've received here. You might get a more favourable one if you contact Support directly. In your email you might want to refer to the emails you received in 2008 from Mark and Sheri which outlined how WordPress helped you with this problem. Unless WordPress policy has changed in the past eleven months I'm sure they'll be glad to help you again... if it has changed, you might want to ask to see it in writing. Good luck.
I'll try doing that and see what happens. Thanks.
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sandor00
tellyworth
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