[Foundation-l] Stalking Article

[Dan Rosenthal]

On Tue, Jun 10, 2008 at 4:26 PM, Ray Saintonge <saintonge at telus.net> wrote:

> David Yellope wrote:
> > If there are individuals who are actually stalking someone, I'm all for
> > bringing the heavy end of the hammer down on them. A friend of mine, an
> > English Wikipedia Admin/Check User (who happens to post on WR herself!)
> was
> > stalked by a banned user on Wikipedia, and her stalker was subsequently
> > jailed for it (as a parole violation of a previous stalking conviction).
> > (I'd link you to her story on Wikipedia Review, but it's in a member only
> > section). So to say I support stalkers and harassers would be an untruth.
> >
> > But let's make sure we are dealing with the stalkers and the harassers
> and
> > them only, and not using too broad a brush here.
> That's the crux of the problem.  Most of us do not participate in these
> dramas so that by the time we get to hear of them there appears to be a
> presumption of guilt, and an absence of real evidence.
>
> If the stalking behaviour happened on wiki it would be more convincing
> to have specific links to the precise place where the threats were
> made.  Those that do such things can probably all do it in one or two
> sentences.  They don't require long-winded explanations trying to
> explain why those couple sentences constitute stalking.
>
> Off-wiki stalking is mostly beyond our control.  If you can't even link
> to the offensive comments what are the rest of us to make of it when you
> can't provide evidence.  My own appreciation of natural justice and
> fairness does not allow me to simply agree to the facts of an accusation
> just because someone has made the claim.
>
> If you believe that you have a real case of off-wiki stalking regular
> law-enforcement and the courts may be your only option.
>
> Ec
>
>
Durova's point is that in her case, law enforcement was unable and unwilling
to help. Apathetic would be an understatement. Willfully negligent might be
even more appropriate. I think her point is that we ought to consider what
actions the foundation can take to assist individuals in cases where the
courts and law enforcement aren't a recourse.

And I'll verify her statement about the particular stalker on Wikipedia
Review and the checkuser he stalked (not that we don't all know who that
might be), namely because he's got my personal information too and has
threatened me as well.

-- 
Dan Rosenthal