In the definition of stalking: "The crime of following or harassing another person, causing him or her to fear death or injury" it seems clear that we are talking about dangers in the physical world. Injury comes however in many forms; damage to a reputation is a form of injury that can have a lasting impact to a person.
In a mail thread, there was talk about being "streetwise", this may be good advise but what is streetwise, how do we still maintain our NPOV, how do we still prevent pov pushing, how do we deal with cranks? If streetwise means that we leave the rougher areas of our project, would our Wikipedia still be NPOV ?
A book by Daniel J Solove was recommended to me. This book, the future of reputation is recent, 2007, it's subtitle is: "gossip, rumor and privacy on the Internet" and is available under a CC-by-nc license.
With the recommendation came the comment: "The solution is going to have to involve auto-criticism, from all sides and accepting that hostility will always exist, so the problem becomes drawing proper boundries." The person who gave the recommendation wished me good luck, he indicated that he does not want to become a victim of cyber stalking.
Thanks,
GerardM
PS So now I need to find time to read a book :)
Showing posts with label stalking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label stalking. Show all posts
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Why not join "Durova and friends"
Yesterday I started a Facebook group called "Durova and friends". This group is to get more attention to the stalking phenomena and the victims of stalking. Stalking as a phenomena is quite something... Just look at the Wikipedia article; its neutrality is disputed, it is in need of an expert sociologist, an expert psychologist, it needs additional citations and it even may not represent a worldwide view of the subject.
I am happy to find currently 36 members of this group. Two people have written on the group wall about Wiki related stalking. I informed a person on another project about the group, I was pointed to this website and was told in the strongest terms that he would stay away from Wikipedia and its phenomena after past experiences. Names of other victims and stalkers were given... There is a self help group of Wikistalking victims... People are still rubishing the idea, people are suggesting that you should be street wise ...
I have not been stalked. The closest I come is by being asked to reconsider friendship because of me being outed as a friend of Durova. I am angry and I use my anger to get attention for this phenomena. Anger however is not how to help, it needs cool expertise, it needs a protocol that expresses how to deal with stalking incidents, it needs compassionate people that help victims with the stress of being stalked and it needs an overall understanding of how it affects the Wikimedia Foundation and its projects.
As I am not an expert in this field and as stalking is belittled and ignored, I feel that we indeed need, like the Wikipedia article suggests, experts with a sociologist and psychologist background to help us understand stalking in all its gradations. Once stalking has been identified as happening in real time, we need a protocol that allows us to help victims in their dealings with the authorities. When we KNOW that stalking is happening, the protocol should allow us to invoke the name of the Wikimedia Foundation, name its multi million budget and its multi billion worth. It should be a protocol because we cannot be seen to be the boy who cries wolf.
To answer the question, you should not join "Durova and friends" when you are afraid of the stalkers. You may be outed as a friend of Durova. Then again, I think she is a wonderful person so you could do worse. When you are a victim of stalkers, there are other places where you can get some comfort and support. When you feel like me, you may choose to defy the stalkers and become a "friend".
For Durova and myself the action of Mr Brandt has been good; we have many more Facebook friends now.
Thanks,
GerardM
I am happy to find currently 36 members of this group. Two people have written on the group wall about Wiki related stalking. I informed a person on another project about the group, I was pointed to this website and was told in the strongest terms that he would stay away from Wikipedia and its phenomena after past experiences. Names of other victims and stalkers were given... There is a self help group of Wikistalking victims... People are still rubishing the idea, people are suggesting that you should be street wise ...
I have not been stalked. The closest I come is by being asked to reconsider friendship because of me being outed as a friend of Durova. I am angry and I use my anger to get attention for this phenomena. Anger however is not how to help, it needs cool expertise, it needs a protocol that expresses how to deal with stalking incidents, it needs compassionate people that help victims with the stress of being stalked and it needs an overall understanding of how it affects the Wikimedia Foundation and its projects.
As I am not an expert in this field and as stalking is belittled and ignored, I feel that we indeed need, like the Wikipedia article suggests, experts with a sociologist and psychologist background to help us understand stalking in all its gradations. Once stalking has been identified as happening in real time, we need a protocol that allows us to help victims in their dealings with the authorities. When we KNOW that stalking is happening, the protocol should allow us to invoke the name of the Wikimedia Foundation, name its multi million budget and its multi billion worth. It should be a protocol because we cannot be seen to be the boy who cries wolf.
To answer the question, you should not join "Durova and friends" when you are afraid of the stalkers. You may be outed as a friend of Durova. Then again, I think she is a wonderful person so you could do worse. When you are a victim of stalkers, there are other places where you can get some comfort and support. When you feel like me, you may choose to defy the stalkers and become a "friend".
For Durova and myself the action of Mr Brandt has been good; we have many more Facebook friends now.
Thanks,
GerardM
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Durova is my friend
Today it gets personal. I have been informed that Mr Daniel Brandt, a person with a dubious reputation when it comes to on-line privacy decided to "out" all Facebook friends of Durova.
Durova informed me about this and suggested that given the new circumstances, I might like to reconsider my Facebook connection. I have reconsidered and as a consequence I am writing this post. I am happy to acknowledge my friendship of Durova. I find that she is a spirited lady who has an enviable stack of ackomplishments. The work that she does for restoring pictures is such that I have commented about this in the past. This example is just to prove my appreciation for her.
Mr Daniel Brandt, has the kind of reputation that is hard to shake. By acting like this, by telling the world the real name of Durova, someone who Mr Brandt knows to be stalked by the type of people that go to jail as a result, he demonstrates how irresponsible he is.
Until now I have had no interest in Mr Brandt, I have since learned that he runs a website, that a visit to his website will have him harvest cookies. That as a result it is better to stay away from such a creepy site.
Mr Brandt, for the record, my name is Gerard Meijssen and I am happy to be a friend of Durova.
Thanks,
GerardM
Durova informed me about this and suggested that given the new circumstances, I might like to reconsider my Facebook connection. I have reconsidered and as a consequence I am writing this post. I am happy to acknowledge my friendship of Durova. I find that she is a spirited lady who has an enviable stack of ackomplishments. The work that she does for restoring pictures is such that I have commented about this in the past. This example is just to prove my appreciation for her.
Mr Daniel Brandt, has the kind of reputation that is hard to shake. By acting like this, by telling the world the real name of Durova, someone who Mr Brandt knows to be stalked by the type of people that go to jail as a result, he demonstrates how irresponsible he is.
Until now I have had no interest in Mr Brandt, I have since learned that he runs a website, that a visit to his website will have him harvest cookies. That as a result it is better to stay away from such a creepy site.
Mr Brandt, for the record, my name is Gerard Meijssen and I am happy to be a friend of Durova.
Thanks,
GerardM
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