I get that you don't think this is a relevant subject for HN, but others do. I do. And I don't believe this is something petty. This is a case of an individual who has been stalking and harassing multiple people for over a decade. The police have done precious little because they, by their own admission, have no idea what to do (other than issue PPOs, which aren't enforceable over the Internet) or how to catch him. This is the state of the art. This is an /Internet/ issue because, the giant, blazing, un-asked question is:
If we want to maintain a free and open Internet, how do we then police our own egalitarian, meritocratic anarchism without relying on big brother technologies to do it or inviting governments in to intervene? If someone approaches those with the know-how to help, asking for help, and are summarily told to fuck off, who then should they turn to?
Though I'm sure they exist, I don't know any hacker types or friends of the Internet who want to just hand over ammunition to people who want to regulate the Internet more. So, please, try to take a long view on this issue, even if Rachel can be kind of a drama queen.
(I don't know if you are a sockpuppet, but I do know you clearly haven't been around very long. Don't act surprised at accusations of sockpuppetry.)
Frankly, I'm inclined to believe those other people are wrong--as I've sketched out elsewhere, there is quite obviously nothing productive here that we can discuss. We lack useful information, we lack unbiased info, and all we can do is rage for one side or the other while producing nothing other than noise.
"If someone approaches those with the know-how to help, asking for help, and are summarily told to fuck off, who then should they turn to?"
They probably should've thought of that prior to pissing off people. You know the great thing about the internet? We have the unique opportunity to deal with people on an equal (mostly) footing.
Your damsel in distress? "Rachel", or whatever his/her/its name is? They can go to the same resources we all have, they can learn about the same subjects as we have, and uniquely empower themselves with the same know-how we have.
Even better, they can clutter up HN with threads asking for that information, without ever having to mention why they need it. Isn't that great? Isn't that productive?
Or, you know, they can waste our collective cycles trying to find somebody else to pull into their drama vortex. Funny thing about meritocracies--if you lack merit, yeah, you are expected to fuck right off.
Hell, if you really want vigilante justice, go try and summon the /b/astards and goons from SA. HN is not for dumb shit like this.
"So, please, try to take a long view on this issue, even if Rachel can be kind of a drama queen."
Don't insult us by trying to conflate internet policy with what can help out your friend (?).
The long view is that every time we get others involved in petty drama, we waste their time. Every time we stoop to engage with people who clearly get off on trolling us, we encourage them.
The internet is an anarchy, yes, and that's what's so great about it. And you know what? Maybe Rachel should consider taking a breather, or not replying to trolls, or maybe just trying to get along and be a friendly person regardless of some people being dicks.
Thank you, this is actually a very finely crafted criticism. I appreciate it greatly. I haven't been around very long here (about 24 hours).
My purpose here was to lend credibility to Rachel's claims from my own experience with a mutual cyberstalker and ask for help in the form of feasible advice, recommendations on investigative techniques to help us build our case against him so we can (finally) get the law involved in a meaningful way, and possibly even find some humans who might know a thing or two about tracking douchebags on the Internet that may be willing to lend their services once we can establish credibility in their eyes.
HOWEVER, like an idiot, I lemming'd right into defending Rachel's credibility on this forum, slashdot, reddit, and didn't focus on my original objective. Productive would have been getting inspiration for new tactics and strategies, since we've hit the wall and we're out of ideas.
"And you know what? Maybe Rachel should consider taking a breather, or not replying to trolls, or maybe just trying to get along and be a friendly person regardless of some people being dicks."
Yes, this has been my main argument to her regarding her behavior. None of these posts she's made were coordinated with anyone else in our group. She's pissed some people off because of it. I've explained to her that she needs to grow up and get her shit together so she's not a walking troll magnet.
(also, good god, how many aliases do you have...)