Subject: We can't actually act unless he gets another account ...
Author:
Posted on: 2008-09-10 23:57:00 UTC
... but I'm pretty sure he will at some point, so I'll ask everyone on the Pit to keep an eye out and report him to the appropriate real-world authorities rather than the moderators if he does.
He's made appearance again, this time using anonymous reviews so we can't trace him, but we have our suspicions he'll strike with an account again sometime.
My point is, it's clearly not legal to send obscene and threatening messages to kids. If he shows up again, I want to report to the proper authorities beyond the mods. I don't know how useful it would be, but I'm pretty sure the registration process must keep some data that could be used to track the user if necessary, and even if not I'd at least like to feel like I've tried.
Who should I report to? I'm in the UK so I don't know whether to contact authorities here or in the US where the site and probably the spammer are based.
I got hit by a panic attack last night in case this idiot is one of the people we've PPCed before. I don't think it is, because the ones I've seen would have the sense to at least restrict their flaming to us and not to random twelve-year-olds, and I don't think any of the ones we've done have anything to do with 4chan.
Please reassure me? Tell me a way to counter-argue if it is and this crosses over into a real-life mess?
I was sleep-deprived when it occurred to me, but still ...
The tendency seems to be for people who've been sporked to come yell at the sporkers directly (or yell about them on anony-memes), so I don't think it's too likely.
I was worried because s/he/it/they spammed one of the kids with copies of The Cluny Fic, but I don't think this is whatsername's style. She apparently responded to crit/flames/something less-than-favourable being said by being coldly bitchy in the author's notes of a newer fic. (Much as the woman scares me, I do approve thoroughly of responding to someone telling you not to write something by writing more of it. It's fun.)
I had the same panic attack when the spambot struck just after I did an interview with a badfic author whom Trojie (easily connected to me via LJ) sporked.
*hugs* It'll be okay.
... but I'm pretty sure he will at some point, so I'll ask everyone on the Pit to keep an eye out and report him to the appropriate real-world authorities rather than the moderators if he does.
You could probably report it to either. One thing you should find out first is whether the UK has laws based on internet harrassment. It's likely they do in this day and age. You can try contacting them, and the mods, first. If they say go chat up the US folks, do that.
I know for sure the US has federal laws about harrassment on the internet; I was the subject of it once. My dad went a little trigger-happy and wanted them arrested because they could have been. It's pretty serious, so I'm sure wherever you go they'll take *you* seriously.
Also, if you have any screencaps or downloaded evidence of this guy, or if anyone else does, it would be good to keep handy and present it. The more hard evidence the better. The mods might be useful for that.