General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Leave Discussionist Alone. [View all]sabrina 1
(62,325 posts)Looks like its a perma ban. I agree such garbage should be instantly removed and the poster banned on both sites. From what I understand, and am not entirely up to date on all that happened, so I could be wrong, but it seems the Admins used a rule for instant banning, which is creating a sock puppet, in order to revoke his posting privileges.
As for reporting to the authorities. I have been badly threatened on the internet and did at one time think of reporting the abuser to authorities. It was especially frightening since he claimed to know where I lived. But after talking to a friend's husband who is in law enforcement, he pointed out that what seemed like threats to me, and they certainly did, worse than what I saw from this troll, to go after someone like that would mean they would spend their entire lives doing so. They are, he said, all over the internet and mostly just total morans spewing their hatred. Annoying, yes, dangerous, for the most part, no from their experience.
He looked at the comments and determined they were not serious threats, just an idiot who was probably drunk and a coward. I felt better after that but it did teach me to be careful about revealing much personal info.
If people feel that every word they say could be reported to the authorities, we wouldn't have much of a discussion forum. It could be used as a weapon, and would be abused, against people someone simply doesn't like.
However if someone does feel threatened, they should go to the authorities themselves.