Monday, February 03, 2014

So a writer at The Guardian threatened to dox me today...

Doxing, if you're unaware, is the process of posting personal information about someone, effectively revealing the real life person behind the online pseudonym.

This is a fairly nasty threat against anyone who writes explicitly about sex.  By and large we live in more enlightened times, but they're not that much more enlightened.  People are still highly judgmental about matters of sex.  Writers of erotica write under pseudonyms with good reason!  They don't want their enjoyable and harmless online hobby causing potential problems in their real lives.  There are school teachers and other similar professions that use writing on places like Literotica as an escape valve.  If the nature of their hobby became exposed it could cause them considerable difficulties in their careers.  For people with the misfortune of living in more repressive regimes, being unmasked could have far more serious repercussions.

I'm fortunate that I'm not in that situation, at least I think so.  Which is the problem.  Maybe my employers would be cool with what I write, maybe they wouldn't.  Maybe my friends would mostly remain my friends, or maybe they'd spend all day squinting at me sideways as if I was an alien.  That's the problem with these things, no one can really tell.  Which is why the majority of erotica writers choose to use pseudonyms.  It's safer that way.

I don't know if the threat was serious.  It was a heated discussion.  I and others were hurt and offended by the article and let the author know.  When the red mist rises cross words are typed.  The threat might not have been any more credible than the average twitter death threat.

But...

As much as I dislike bowing down to holier-than-thou thuggery, there are real life risks and consequences.  I have a family and a career.  The fear of a threat like that starts to eat away.  Was it serious?  Were they bluffing?  If they weren't and my real name leaked into the public domain what then?  Will I lose my job and then have difficulty finding future employment?  It's easy for the mind to prey on worse case scenarios.  This is a fun hobby I enjoy a great deal, but it is a hobby and I have to weigh it up against a career that puts food on the table and pays the bills.

I'm sorry to the people coming here in expectation of fun fantasy stuff.  I'm going to have to take a pause and think on this.  I love what I do, but I also love my real life job and I can't take a chance on jeopardising that.

I really loathe bullies, always have.

27 comments:

  1. This sounds illegal, what he's doing. I know of doxing being done by groups like Anonymous, but here you're not doing anything like attempting to overthrow the government, just writing smut.

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  2. Although I usually disagree with you on this kind of stuff (feminism, free speech, censorship, etc.), this is totally unacceptable and I'm sorry you have to put up with it.

    That being said, I don't think it's worth your time to get caught up in these arguments - at least, not in that kind of venue. Standing up for what you believe in is one thing, but a comments section on an online publication (especially regarding politics) is not worth losing time or energy over.

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    1. It is a weakness of mine. I like getting stuck into an argument perhaps a little too much. Something I intend to eliminate.

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  3. What I'm unclear on is if there is anything you can really do. I mean even if you deleted all of your online writings there would still be plenty of saved material and such that could be linked to you, so what good does pausing your work do? Course I can't advise you here, but I am curious how pausing will help.

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  4. As much as I enjoy your writing, do what you need to do. Your family and life come first.

    Whatever happens, thank you.

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  5. Sorry to hear about this, and hope everything works out ok for you!

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  6. Long time fan here, especially after finding out your love for The Doctor.

    This is fucked. It IS bullying, and just because the red letters state it is okay, any man worth his salt knows to the last fiber in his beating heart when he is being WRONGED. Especially when a simple disagreement turns personal. That being said, it is what it is. THAT being said, if you are anything like me, you will be biting your nails about it for some time. I hope you can keep you chin up. Hope for the best, prepare for the worst. Fans aside, you have support out there. You're a writer, so prepare something in written form. Just an idea.

    Best of luck to you, Mr. Hydra. None of us would think less of you for disappearing to take care of more important things. Be well.

    Sincerely,
    Matt

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  7. For all the smut, we salute you!

    Stay safe and stay awesome. We'll still be here for you when you make your return.

    *tries to find a big-tittied succubus to give a non-life-threatening hug*

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  8. I'm REALLY curious:

    Who was the writer?

    Why did he threaten you?

    What were his demands?

    How credible was his threat (was he in a position where he would genuinely know your identity)?

    how influential is he as a writer?

    did he start off the argument with the threat, or was the threat the result of the argument?




    anyway, if you wish to keep this info secret or plain CBA to respond, that's fine.


    Anyway... I'm a long time fan, been here since the start of succubus summoning, and I wish you the best of luck. Unfortunately, life is full of assholes.

    Hope everything works out well

    when and if you return, I'll be here ;D

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  9. Real life concerns must come first. While I understand the urge to pull in and turtle up, keep in mind the nature of the internet: what is said *stays said*. You can't very well take back all the blogs and stories you've posted over the years, and you're not in control of The Guardian's piece of gosu.

    All that said, your fans will understand if you pack up and leave. I just don't think you should put aside your hobby when there's not an effective way to actually hide it. (Unless you know more about deleting things from the internet than I do, in which case, more power to you. So long and thanks for all the fish. :P

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    1. I detected the Hitchikers reference... But was that a subtle Firefly reference I picked up on as well?

      If so, I salute you, sir.

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  10. god dammit i hate those kinds of people most of them have to much free time and i do think what he's doing is not 100% legal
    anywho i hope you return soon hydra the internetz needs you

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  11. I think this actually is illegal. I know doxing is legal, but from what I remember there's a gray area of what you can do with the information and I do remember that attempting to blackmail or threaten someone through doxing is illegal.

    I think this guy who threatened you might actually get arrested if he is attempting to threaten or blackmail you through doxing.

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  12. MH is it possible to find a lawyer about this? Because this guy threatening you with doxing is illegal.

    From this website: (http://www.hacksurfer.com/articles/doxing-the-gateway-drug-for-hackers)

    "While doxing itself isn’t illegal, what is illegal is what you choose to do with that information and how far you take your Internet stalking. For example, if you hack into their email or social media accounts – that’s illegal, if you manage to somehow find out information about them that’s not available to the public, also illegal."

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  13. One more thing: You can contact Kelly/Warner (http://www.aaronkellylaw.com/contact-us/) for matters related to Internet law-related matters like this. There are other people or groups you could contact, this is just one I was reading about.

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    1. Thanks for the links. I suspect there's nothing to be done at this stage as the threat was not explicit enough. Also, someone at the paper has already done a clean-up job and removed the comments entirely - presumably to cover their own writer. This is good as at least someone recognised the illegality. I hope nothing further will be required, but it's good to have options at hand if our unpleasant little friend escalates to further foolishness.

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  14. CivilDeviation04/02/2014, 04:30

    Wish I knew the circumstances of the conversation. Whatever the case, I do agree that family and friends come first. Though I'm conflicted in that your present actions are saying that it's okay to let him manipulate you and others. I'd personally message him in a couple days, get a clear picture, and figure out your options then- such as a cease and desist if viable. That said, every fiber in my being wishes he/she'd realize what they are doing, and if they continue on that they get obliterated for it.

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    1. Can't do that. They lost their shit and accused me of being a stalker amongst other things (I've followed their column for about 2 yrs because it's rare for sf/horror to get any coverage in msm press). Attempting to contact them would lend weight to this accusation. The correct thing for me to do is to ignore them entirely. Unfortunately, this allows them to use their influence to trash my name amongst their friends in the sf community with impunity. Not much I can do about this. I've already decided that community is toxic and best avoided anyway. It wasn't like I was ever going to get nominated for any awards! :)

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    2. How are you a stalker when you're following a public online column? Or is this column of theirs private and secretive?

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    3. They'd totally lost their shit and gone way past making sense at that point. I used to comment fairly regularly on their series before because it started off a good column. Now it's devolved into the standard Guardian clickbait of spout controversial nonsense to get attention I'll be giving it a wild berth.

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  15. I do not understand what is going on, but stopping writing/posting is not going to solve it. All it does is rob you of your favorite pastime.

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  16. Thanks for all the support. Much appreciated. Sorry to bring a bit of weight and doom to what should be a fun site.

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  17. If you can remember where the threat was posted, you could probably look up the place in the Internet Archive and see if you could find the threat, then bring it to the attention of law enforcement.

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  18. Is this person in a position to actually expose your real identity? Even if he does, I don't really see how it can actually harm you. Your writing is fantasy fiction more than standard erotica, let alone porn; and erotica is very mainstream these days. You aren't even American so you don't have that particular brand of intolerance to contend with either.

    I'd just relax and wait to see what happens. Nothing much, I'd say.

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  19. Hydra, don't worry! We all love you, my man. Take your time, lay low, and let things fizzle out. There's no need to get anxious. You're already doing everything you can and should be doing about it: maxin' and relaxin' in the background while things cool down.

    Your fans'll be waiting for you! Stay frosty, buddy.

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  20. Id just like to say that i understand exactly what you mean. I am a massive fan of your fiction and would support and respect whatever decision you made about your future writing. I think that's the thing that's missing a lot of the time in this, its the respect. People may not like what you do (i personally love it), but they should accord both you and your family the respect you deserve and the privacy it should afford you all. I hope you do what will make you happy and would like to say thank you for all you've done previously. I hope you do keep writing

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