[Foundation-l] Release of squid log data

[Matthew Britton]

SlimVirgin wrote:
> On 9/20/07, Matthew Britton <matthew.britton at btinternet.com> wrote:
>> Brian McNeil wrote:
>>> Stalkers are not a nice thing to deal with and I think you're underplaying
>>> the seriousness of the issue. They may be no serious risk of physical threat
>>> and thus your comments about bodyguards are appropriate. However, you're not
>>> taking into account what it is like when you get death threats by email and
>>> snail-mail.
>>>
>>> About 6 years ago I had to deal with the divorce of my current partner when
>>> she left her husband after he assaulted her. I was made aware through a
>>> third party that he had obtained a shotgun and was looking for me. In the
>>> end - thanks to me employing good legal representation and hiding my
>>> location - he decided to turn the aforementioned weapon on himself.
>>>
>>> Don't joke about stalking, it happens.
>>>
>>>
>>> Brian.
>> Yes, stalking happens. It happens in situations such as that which you
>> describe; this is certainly a problem and such incidents should
>> certainly be taken seriously.
>>
>> But it doesn't happen because someone was banned from a website.
> 
> I don't have time to respond in full to this, but I'm afraid it very
> much does happen because people are blocked or banned, and some of it
> has been quite serious. Nothing rising to the level of being pursued
> with a weapon, but very upsetting threats of violence to family
> members, and attempts to destroy people's careers and reputations.
> 
> Sarah

There is stalking, and then there is trolling with intent to cause the 
maximum amount of fuss and emotional distress.

"I'm going to kill your family" is, in terms of emotional distress per 
word, about as efficient as you can get. It is therefore hardly 
surprising that it is a common trolling tactic.

One or two unfortunate cases aside (which I cannot help but feel were 
not entirely unprovoked) it is this latter issue, not stalking per se, 
which Wikipedia is experiencing.

Furthermore, the issue isn't limited to administrators -- it's perfectly 
possible to make enemies on-line without having any such extra abilities 
(though one could argue it helps) -- so discussion of the problem as 
though it is a phenomenon unique to administrators, as has been 
happening in this thread, is hardly useful.

-Gurch