How do I deal with a stalker?

Question

Someone is going through great efforts to report me enough times to Yahoo that my every move is being challenged. Recently, on People with Disabilities board, I answered a teenager who asked if something was mentally wrong with her, simple because she was acting like a teenager. Three of us "diagnosed" her as acting like a teenager, but mine got removed by a report. Someone else asked if some hearing men thought less of the education abilities of the deaf and worried he was stereotyping. I said there were jerks in any given group, and since the person said only some, it couldn't be stereotyping. That was just removed as a violation. Lots of my answers have been removed for violations in the last two days.

I don't know how they're keeping up with me, since I have my questions and answers blocked to all but my contacts (a very small group. lol) I don't know how many reports ends my time on Yahoo, but I've been given over a dozen violation notices in the last two days for crap like this. I had to report it all directly to Yahoo, because whoever is stalking me is also appealing for me. (It tells me I already appealed when I didn't.)

Any ideas what I can do? I do know stuff that is helpful to people. I am quick to be annoyed by ridiculous questions and trolls, but even there I try to skip it as often as I can. And, of course, I like to answer questions I can answer.

And for my sake, if you have any opinions on who is doing it, keep it to yourself, or this question gets reported too. This is disabilities related, because it is affecting my abilities to answer questions on this board.

Answer 1

I'm sorry your going through this. You were nice to me and the only reason I'm looking at questions on this board was cause I wanted to see if I could help others. Doesn't look like I'm much help. I don't even get half that questions.



But we were taught about cyberstalking in school and a cop came in and everything. My Mom was cyberstalked before. It's over now, but the cop kept talking about how they help kids with these things so I asked if they do the same thing for adults. He was honest enough to say they can't help adults as much. They'll take information but that's all. I guess the only thing I can tell you is that it ended with my Mom. She quit going to her site for a while and by the time she returned the bullies left. You'd think grown-ups would stop being bullies by the time they grow-up, but some don't. I'm really sorry. You do seem nice.

Answer 2

from a legal standpoint ... this is Stalking (even if it is CyberStalking)



If you are getting reported & removed & then if this is only one person doing it... then that person has more than one ID they use & they are reporting you under however many IDs



I think it is SICK that someone would do this to another Yahoo user



I had similar problems @ 2 years ago..... and I am reasonably sure I know who it was... I have a Yahoo Small Business account & I did what the Yahoo Small Business rep recommended ---- I killed off that original email address that I accessed Yahoo through as well as the first screen name that I used... and started over... didn't have the problems any more



as it relates to Yahoo showing that you already appealed ---- it could be that Yahoo has been out-of-its-mind... because there are all sorts of problems with Yahoo in the past several days



One poster mentioned KeyLogger or Virus.... I gotta agree... it sounds like there is more than just one issue going on ---- even if there isn't a virus... they could be a KeyLogger (that he can't see) or you could have been Bot'd (highly likely he won't see that either) ---- if they have gotten to you through IP addy & if you use a modem... then even a complete reformat won't make it go away (just an FYI)...



I have been the "victim" of a random bot'r ---- and you just would never imagine what it took to get that thing gone --- even getting it out of the computer wasn't enough.. it came back in & took control of my computer.... calling my ISP & having them change stuff, getting a new modem & changing network name & passwords, along with reformat before getting on new modem --- finally was enough to get the bot gone



Sorry you are in pain & not feeling well... Hope you feel better soon!

Answer 3

I sometimes feel like people can see my questions and answers without being my contacts.. I don't know.

Answer 4

lynn,

sorry are experiencing this.

it IS stalking,people who say stalking online isnt stalking need to go f.....educate themselves, everyone knows what wikipedia is and they have got a good article on it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyberstalking

it doesnt take a geek [sorry,cyber geek] to know that 'cyber' refers to stalking via computer means,it also doesnt make it any less a problem for people than offline stalking,because pyschological trauma happens in both cases.





recently,two posts/answers of mine on PWD were reported and removed-they were both within the guidelines.

the PWD user; JMITW was apparently so badly stalked she had changed her username and settings.



if yahoo arent doing anything about it lynn,call around to the cop shop and ask for advice because cyber stalking an adult is a illegal criminal offense in america [taken from wikipedia page]:

>>The current US Federal Anti-Cyber-Stalking law is found at 47 USC sec. 223.<<.

-have just read that yahoo woud need a court order to hand over the identity of the individual but there may be something the police can do.



yahoo need to get rid of the way this damn site is moderated-make it properly moderated or only allow post removal authority to users who give their full identity/proof of who they are,its to easy for narcissists /pyschopaths to bully and manipulate the community to get their kicks [pity they werent given enough of those when they were younger].





also,have got an idea lynn;might be useless-or might not be,will see if can send a PM,havent got a clue how to do this though.

Answer 5

A possible key logger? A trojan is a type of virus. A keylogger may come in the form of a virus/trojan. It is known that many viruses disable your antivirus with otu you knowing. Is it possible for you to take it to a place to have it checked? Is it possible you may have to do an update on your virus protection? If you think this is/could be a solution then- some antivirus companies let useres connect to their site and scan for virus that way because the virus the user has could be new/undefined. New virus definitions are constantly added. In this day, most go for"web root protection" or "root kits"



Other than that it could be:

Some one who sees your top contributor catagory and looks for you there.

Or a contact.



It is probably a virus is my vote because of what you said:

" they appeal them"for" you"

Did you leave your remote assistance on? There is a function that let's you leave your computer in one place but go to another place and and use your computer at home through your work computer. This means you would be controling it remotely. It is a widely popular feature. But it is also a much exploited feature among hackers and practical jokers. So try scanning for viruses through the antiviruses company site, then make sure your remote desk top feature is closed/off.



EDIT: lynn,

Hackers don't just plant the virus junk for phising sites. They are a strange bunch. Some do all kinds of weird stuff. From phising to harrassing to to "botting-out" a computer for a denial of service attack. We don't have to understand, we just have to know it happens. How else could they appeal a reported anwser? Would't they have to type a response under your logged in account? I know it's weird!! I have to stand by my response of : virus with posibility of remote use. It s the only logical conclusion I can see based on what they, by your description, have been able to do. Again,yes. I agree its odd. But would we really want to understand the reasoning for someone to do this? Answering for myself- probably not.

An after thought would be that it came from email. I had a relative email another relative once and it was a site that he didn't think she would visit. The truth we found out: she had a virus that:

1opened her contacts

2sent an email out to more than one person

3 it contained a link

4 if receiver clicked the link, it would take them to a site

5 2 days later the receiver had no working computer



Wished I could help more but my knowledge is limited. Though I don't believe wht I suggested was bad advise at all. Though it may be hard for you to mentally digest,(because you have a life), don't mean there 's not someone out there who would consider it fun or funny. It just means your more sane and spend your time accordingly. People go off on rants here to harress each other often. Different strokes,different folks.

Answer 6

I agree with Jackie, STALKING is physical, if you ment somebody deleting your answers on Y!A you should have said CYBERSTALKING which you did not do.



I would also like to point out, more then one person has to report an answer for it to be deleted. If I report an answer or question something pops up saying "Thank you for reporting blah blah blahs question, if another trusted user of the site reports the question/answer it will be deleted" or something similar.



Chances are it ISN'T one person following you around the site, chances are it isnt even the same person who reports you! (seeing as there are probably a billion different Lynns on this site, it would be dreadfully hard to pick YOU specially out of such a large crowd)



Is it possible, that the way you have been wording your answers is hurtful, arragont, racist, or any of the sort and was actually VIOLATING the rules? That is always a possibility.



I would also like to point out this IS in the wrong section. Yes I read your whole question - and your reasoning is invalid. I am sure there is a section called "Yahoo answers" in here and that is where it should go. This is not a disability if it's your own arragonce causing people to delete the answers you post.

Answer 7

There seem to have been a lot of technical problems with the site in the last few days. A lot fo questions were removed and than returned. Perhaps these recent reports were a similar problem.

Answer 8

Stalking is when they show up to your house or office