[photo: non-nude Ha Jiwon]A funny thing happened on the way to the on-line forum...
The data from sitemeter.com is always fun to peruse. It gives me a sense of what kind of people are visiting, why they are coming, and sometimes even where they are located. It also lets me know that most of the crazy commenters who leave a few weird messages are all one person in Thailand. I also know that a certain controversial commenter is leaving an electronic trail leading to his Inchon-based academic institution—a fact about which this person might not be aware—and this blogger could be setting things up for a world of hurt if the wrong person decided to abuse that information. I urge this person to use an anonymous connection while at school.
Anyway, since Pope Plungius returned to the pulpit, links to my blog directly from the Plunge Pontificates have surpassed those from From the Naktong to the Yalu, the bloggist formerly known as the Marmot (well, maybe he still is known as "the Marmot," but his blog is no longer the scatalogical-sounding "Marmot's Hole").
I still get a lot of hits from the Marmot, and that hasn't changed, but there is that huge jump from Plunge Pontificates. What is it about the pontiff of pontification? Though I can agree with some of his critics that at times he can seem a bit too singularly anti-Japanese government (a very different thing from being anti-Japan), I guess we might attract a similarly moderate readership when it comes to Korea-related issues, as opposed to the knee-jerk Korea bashers that frequent some of the Korea-related blogosphere.
After Marmot said that Plunge essentially put him on the map (a map on which Marmot's pretty much represents the capital of Korea), I wonder what it is that concentrates so much influence within Plunge's blog. Maybe Marmot can share with us what he meant.
I also get a lot of hits from AsiaPages. I thought it was because of the prolific comments I used to leave, but more often the hits come from AsiaPages or Marmot's threads where I haven't even written anything. I get hits from Oranckay and Coming Anarchy, but usually only when I have written something or my post is linked.
And then there are the google searches. As I jokingly predicted, I actually am getting hits at this post from people doing a search for "nude Koreans" (I'm listed at #5; Marmot's is also listed, at #3; AsiaPages is listed at #7).
[photo: nude Koreans]Surprisingly, a lot of people (a couple dozen a week) link to my site after searching for info on Haan Kilsoo. This archive piece is what they find. Apparently interest in this enigmatic person has jumped since a movie about him is in the works.
Finally, my favorite surprise link is the people googling "pimped-out minivan," who get to read about my Kia Carnival and its spoiler. Believe it or not, this actually happens about ten times a week. Who on Earth, besides me, would want a pimped-out minivan?
[photo: haenyŏ,also non-nude Koreans]
Good on you on getting to the person that has been causing you trouble.
ReplyDeletePersons—plural. I have no doubt that more than one person has their petty little mind plotting against me.
When I first had Internet-related problems, it was a group of three people who were whipped up into a frenzy, two of which took it to the point of trying to get me fired from my two jobs.
I am on to my own internet stalker, have tracked him to Ireland, and I know where he works and what his name is. His comuppance is coming.
I urge against that. These things often get very out of hand before one person throws in the towel.
Darin wrote:
ReplyDeleteSomeone tried to get you fired from you job? What kind of a fool is this guy.
"Guys" plural.
What could you have possibly said that would warrant you needing to loose your job?
I'm not going to get into specifics of content, since everything on Blogspot is searchable, and it wouldn't be prudent to leave this out there for posterity, just in case one or two of these nutjobs is out there and still angry.
It was a few years ago, and it involved someone posting under false pretenses orchestrating the whole mess. To compound things, many of the comments being attributed to me weren't made by me but were made through my Internet connection (and some of which I sort of defended). Some of those, in turn, were deliberately mistranslated into outrageous screeds purposely designed to make me look very bad, and those were sent to places and email addresses where people I knew in real life would see them, causing professional embarrassment.
I certainly disagree with lots of people on lots of issues, but trying to get someone fired? Geez... I'm sorry to hear you've had to deal with that.
Fortunately, my higher-ups were very understanding, and they knew what was being written about me—in emails being sent to administrators—was so obviously not at all like anything I believed that they didn't buy it.
Personally I'm unemployed so I don't have to worry hehe..
Unemployed angry loner... maybe we have to worry about you! How do you manage to stay in Japan while unemployed? Are you on a student visa?
And I feel that by using my real name for everything it takes the fun out of trying to figure out who I am, so no one tries to come after me.
No, Darin, it makes it easier for someone to get you. These people didn't go after me because it was "fun," but because they felt it was their fanatical duty to destroy someone who they thought was trying to undermine their world view. Even someone they'd never met.
Anyway, that kind of behavior is completely out of bounds. Unless you think someone is a danger to others (or themselves), or something along that level of seriousness, there should be no reason to reach out to someone's person like that. A bruised ego is no reason to bruise a person in real life.
The picture of your pimped out van is down. Put it back up, yo.
ReplyDeleteThanks. It's fixed.
To be honest, it's just a story that links to me mentioning my pimped-out minivan. After I get the recent accident damage fixed (a good lesson from that is that you should arm yourself with knowledge of the rules of the road) I'll post something.
And the person who talks of giving someone offline their "comeuppance" ...
ReplyDeleteGood on you on getting to the person that has been causing you trouble. I am on to my own internet stalker, have tracked him to Ireland, and I know where he works and what his name is. His comuppance is coming.
... later writes this:
Real names on internet forums could very well facilitate stalking, even murder. Someone in your hometown REALLY didn’t like your opinion? That person could find you and kill you.
That's just rich.
Could you explain for the satisfaction of readers how you dealt with those trolls and what punishment they received?
ReplyDeleteitissaid wrote:
ReplyDeleteCould you explain for the satisfaction of readers how you dealt with those trolls and what punishment they received?
I can't divulge too many details, but it was different from case to case. For the most part it involved a mix of being frank and direct with the people for whom I worked (when they were being directly sent things I had supposedly written) and playing dead (as in what you do when a bear attacks you).
Mostly playing dead. As I suggested above, you cannot win when in an online fight against an anonymous person who is hell-bent on injuring you in real life. Even if you do come out ahead, it can get very ugly.
It also helps to be a good person and a good worker in real life. In the first incident, what I was being accused (what was being sent to my bosses) was not just not true but was so not like me at all as to be incredible. As in the original meaning of incredible: something you cannot believe.
Had I been an ass to my coworkers or whatever, the b.s. accusations might have seemed more plausible.
I thought perhaps you may have discovered their identities and contacted the proper authorities. No?
ReplyDeleteDo you feel that justice was served? And are you happy with how?
ReplyDeleteThere actually is a way to deal with anonymous posters on the internet. The internet is really not that anonymous and if you have the right tools and resourceful mind, you can track down anyone. If someone is harassing you, the web hosting companies have a legal obligation to cooperate with police, etc.
I had the identities of some of the people who went after me, including the workplace of one of the people who'd made violent threats to me (he was a doctor!) and the guy orchestrating everything. The first time (late 1990s?), I discussed this in detail with a gentlemen from California (I was in Seoul) who back in the day had been instrumental in setting up USENET for Korea, and sought his advice.
ReplyDeleteHe was very zen about it, saying that these anonymous people were probably in no position or of no real desire in real life to make good on any threats, so the best thing to do was put out the fires with my bosses (who had been sent stuff I was alleged to have written but had not). Me engaging them in an escalating tit-for-tat would have been the opposite of how I'd want my bosses to see I was handling it. It's best in a case like that to show that you yourself are the calm and rational one, while the person meaning to do you harm and saying you've said/done horrible things is crazy, violent, and irrational.
But I do do due diligence with people who do these things to me, and I've usually gathered enough information to know who they are and how to fight back if they continue. Most of these things eventually die down. Frankly, playing dead has been effective (and my then-fiancée preferred this method anyway; she thought it was unseemly to have such enemies in the first place, and she'd never cared for me spending time online when that same time could be spent taking her to Myŏngdong or the movies).
It was a few years ago, and it involved someone posting under false pretenses orchestrating the whole mess.
ReplyDeleteYou should do a post on how Usenet was set up in Korea. That ought to be interesting.
ReplyDeleteSomeone tried to get you fired from you job? What kind of a fool is this guy.
ReplyDeleteGood on you on getting to the person that has been causing you trouble. I am on to my own internet stalker, have tracked him to Ireland, and I know where he works and what his name is.
ReplyDeleteYeah, it might be interesting to do that. When I'm back in Korea, I should look up "J" and see if he's still around. I think he'd be happy to be the subject of a post of mine.
ReplyDeleteThe internet is really not that anonymous and if you have the right tools and resourceful mind, you can track down anyone.
Delete