If you haven't been the target of an internet hate campaign, you really have no idea how awful it can get. I was targeted twice, once back in 2002/2003 over my anti-war blog posts, and again over World of Warcraft. And I'm a white dude, so I didn't get the worst it can be.
Now, when I say "I didn't get the worst" I still got death threats, exhortations to commit suicide, rape threats, constant harassment and belittling, insults to my wife, my appearance, and more. So imagine just how bad it can actually get.
Worse still, in both cases the people who instigated the attacks walked away with no difficulties because of it. One of them got lionized later by the WoW community. People I like and respect were sad when he died. A man who got people to flood my inbox with death threats.
And keep in mind, this was over a video game.
I said something positive about a video game and someone decided to sic his army of hate filled flying monkeys on me and it lasted for years.
Years of people demanding I die, threatening to come find where i lived, and worse.
I said something positive about a video game and someone decided to sic his army of hate filled flying monkeys on me and it lasted for years.
Years of people demanding I die, threatening to come find where i lived, and worse.
Now, it was my job then, as it is now, to be accessible online. I can't just unplug from the internet. I write and post my output online. I play online games and write about them. The internet is where I work. So no, it's not 'just trolling' and it's not easy to avoid it.
When people say "I didn't want to talk about it because I was afraid it would incite them further" literally dozens or hundreds of emails may have come in saying they would be found and harmed. Maybe thousands, depending on how big the harasser is. Maybe even more.
I'm still afraid to mention the name of the man who unleashed the attack on me more recently, even though everyone knows who it is, because frankly I don't need an inbox full of death threats and threats to come find me again. It's psychologically draining to live under siege.
