Web stalkers are us.

Hey, just in case you haven't encountered this kind of thing, and wonder if it's real, here's your proof. Below in the post about my pseudonym, I mentioned a web stalker we had unfortunately attracted way back when. Even though this blog is barely a week old, and I haven't really told anyone about its existence, the stalker found it. "Stumbled across quite accidentally" indeed.

Here's the email I received from said stalker on 2-27-03. I've edited out some of the ickier delusions and more prurient stuff. The email address was a hushmail address, a service where all your email's automatically encrypted, a haven for the paranoid.

This is at least the second time that we have read one of your ignorant blurbs about your wife's "stalker" on your "blogging", that by the way we stumbled across quite accidentally I might add. If we see any more of this crap, you may be quite surprised to see yourselves plastered all over the web. We have left you alone, and after 2 years we still have to put up with this bullshit. The only ones who are "disturbed" are you and your so called wife, that you cannot admit to her part in this is beyond us [delusional stuff snipped] You can believe what you want, we really dont care any longer what happened. Just sick of this shit. Placing all the blame on one person shows that you are in denial. They were both to blame, your wife being as much as stalker as anyone, as she stalked our friend in irc. Dont bother emailing back, we have no use for you, just stay out of our lives and keep your disturbed opinions to yourself, [delusional stuff snipped]. Remember 2 can play the same game.

This was also emailed to my wife at her new email address (so much for trying for anonymity). Scary.

One of the cute tricks these people did was photoshop a picture of my wife's face (found via an IRC community page) onto a pornographic picture. They posted this picture on the web and emailed it to everyone on that IRC community page.

So, really, folks, just keep your personal information secret, if you can, and don't let all the loons in the world into your life. Become "Sally3243" or "donutnut" or some other safe persona out here in postcard and pamphlet land. (Douglas Adams of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" fame once described the web, accurately I think, as one large pamphlet that we all send postcards to each other about.) I think 9-11 proved how drastic things can get when someone hates you irrationally and thinks you need to pay. There are a lot of freaks in the world. Let's be careful out there.