I was reading this earlier, posted by somebody here in their blog. However the blog wasn't open for comments, so I have copied and pasted it so I can add my comment, so to speak...

Cyberharassment - is generally defined as threatening or harassing an individual by email messages or instant messages, or making website or blog entries dedicated solely to tormenting an individual

Another definition is - "Cyberharassment is often used to describe the actions of persons who relentlessly pursue others online with the intention of frightening or embarrassing the victim. Sometimes a harasser intends to "teach the victim a lesson" ..

Or again - Cyber harassment is "repeated, unsolicited, threatening behavior by a person or group using mobile or Internet technology with the intent to bother, intimidate, humiliate, threaten, harass or stalk someone else. The harassment can take place in any electronic environment where communication with others is possible, such as on social networking sites, on message boards, in chat rooms or through email. A cyber harasser often will post comments to the victim that are intended to cause distress and will try to incite others to do the same"

Here on spinchat.com we are fortunate to have a very interested and connected group of administrators. I'm sure they take a very dim view of anything that could be construed as Cyberharassment. After all, Cyberharassment is illegal in many countries now, and perpetrators are having to face severe consequences which in some cases include jail sentences. I think users here should be prepared to come forward and let SPiN admin know about any instances of Cyberharassment. I don't want this site being used for such activity, I'm certain admin doesn't, and I'm sure you don't either

I just want to add a bit that I think is missing...fake personal information and fake photos. When somebody poses as somebody else, citing a younger/older age, photos of a stranger or family member that is not themselves...is not that cyber harassment? When somebody enters in to a relationship with you, under false pretences by claiming to be in their late 20's, although they are in their early 50's, and using fake photos, is that not cyber harassment?, Is that not psychological manipulation? Is that not mental torture?

Or has what I've mentioned, got very little, or nothing to do with cyber harassment?

> Or has what I've mentioned, got very little, or nothing to
> do with cyber harassment?

Nothing to do with it at all unless they are harassing, intimidating etc etc etc.

Otherwise, the internet is the place where people can be anonymous all the live long day,
and theres fuck all you can do about it.

I guess what I'm talking about is deception then? And the suffering put upon the one that has been deceived. No harassment involved?

I included some definitions of Cyberharassment in my blog entry, as readers can see.

There is a considerable amount of comment on the internet about this issue, which I invite you to read if you are still not clear as to the meaning of Cyberharassment. As I stated in my blog entry, it is considered to be a criminal offense in many countries now.

saludos

a

But how do we stop people who use fake photos and use false information on this site. I feel like I have been let down by the current system here upon spin-chat. I'm probably going to end up with a permanent ban for trying to do the right thing in my eyes. If you can't find a URL to the photo used, there seems be nothing you can do. Whilst trying to help other users by pointing out a particular persons activities I seem to be getting persecuted.

I guess at the end of the day I should just say to myself... "look, you've done what you can, you yourself couldn't believe what happened to you, so why should anyone else believe it's happening to them".

What I've engaged in, in the past few weeks is not cyber-harassment in my eyes. I've been deceived by a con-artist. The ramifications on my mental well being has left me distraught. What I've been doing is telling the truth, trying to help, trying to stop the same thing happening to somebody else.

I can see I'm up against a brick wall at the moment though, and my efforts are fruitless. If what i've done is a criminal offence, bring it on I say, because that's where the truth comes out.

I've done my best. I can walk away with my head held high knowing I've done the responsible thing.

Not sure if you have already, but try find the documentary "Talhotblond". It's a good one.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1370889/

Yes I have seen it. It came on a channel called More4, here in england a couple of weeks ago. look back through my blogs and you will see I have written about it. Thanks.

Well, that's where I've seen it too, just didn't know whether you had.

done and dusted then!

There nothing more spin can do than any other site, as far as ensuring a chatters authenticity. There will always be ppl online to decieve you just as there will be authentic people. Blaming spin isnt going to help and its misdirected. Im sure if they found technology that would ensure no one was decieved again they would, like many other sites employ it. Until that time comes you are going to have to employ strategies to protect yourself.

Next time dont invest so much of yourself into someone until you know they are legit. Its not hard to see who is real and who isnt 'over time'. They would be willing to share their phone number, photos & videos of themselves, go on skype to talk etc....if they are for real.

I'm really sorry you had to go through this but at least now you will know a wolf in sheeps clothing and be a lot more discriminative

I seemed to have missed your post in-between the others, I apologise.

Yeah, your right. Blaming a website and it's founders for what's happened to me is probably wrong. We did exchange photo's, cell numbers etc, even sent stuff through the post. But as I've found out, a full name, a cell number, plus google, will tell you exactly who the person is...hindsight is a wonderful thing.

I now know she has done this to others, and the thought of this person doing this again to somebody else drives me insane though because I know the truth. But I've pointed the truth out, and I can do no more. Like you say, a webcam or at least a photo of them holing up a piece of paper with my name on is a prerequisite for me now. Two women this week have emailed me on here and said they want to know more about me, so I said take a photo of yourself holding up a piece of paper with my name on, and I'm more than happy to talk to you...for two women who were so keen to get to know me, they sure have disappeared fast. Some may say that's being a bit over the top, but that's the position I have been left in.

Thanks for the time you took to express your opinion.

Well, the internet brings together people who don't belong together—the smart and the stupid, the educated and the uneducated, the friendly and the vicious... and so forth.

If you cannot cope with this, internet message-boards might not be the right venue for you... don't look for happiness in the wrong places.

As for anonymity on the internet: Keeping back personal information is not only legitimate but highly recommendable. I find it very questionable that SPiN encourages people to upload photos and lay their whole lives before a worldwide public of total strangers.

Internet message-boards are best used as a field for experimentation or just for fooling around.

If you want love and friendship, find it in real life in the place where you live.

I disagree. I think on the whole like attracts like whether one is online or off line depending on how disciminating you are and what your intentions might be. I have known four couples alone from spin that have met and married. I'm not so cynical as you. I dont see how photos can endanger anyone if they are transparent in and of themselves.

Love and friendship didn't work out to well for me in real life, so like many others I gave the internet a shot. Love found me on the internet, it captured me and I fell for it. Unfortunately I fell for a sociopath.

Spin-Chat opened it's doors as part dating site when it made the change over. So some personal information and photo's are essential if thats what your on here for. If your just on here to chat and f**k about, no need for them, I agree.

I used a message board because i don't get many replies when blogging a subject, if I do it's normally from a the handful of friends I have. I saw the amount of replies the board topics get so i gave it a go for the first time. And bingo, I got opinion from people i don't know, which is what I wanted.

I choose the "Discuss" board because I wanted to discuss a topic of my interest.

As for message boards being a place to experiment, they might be for a Sociologist, but not for me.

I chose the term "internet message board" as a generic term for all text-based interactive online communication platforms—such as forums, chatrooms, blogs, groups et cetera.

Furthermore, you say you were in love with that woman. Have you ever met her? If not, how can you say that you loved her? Do you even know for sure that this person really was a female?

Shaun, online communities are not serious business (they're not even actual communities, by the way). If you want to fulfill your very understandable and healthy desire for a girlfriend, attend sports classes or join a bicycle club or share whatever you're genuinely interested in with other people—in real life. This would be a mature approach. "Social networks" (like this one) are just nonsensical child's play—bluff packages made by dysfunctional geeks for maladjusted nerds... okay, the last part of the sentence was perhaps a bit of an exaggeration. :-)

Anyway, use Spinchat for having fun, but don't take those "friendships" on here too seriously.

You sound like a sociologist. It's weird that you use the same outdated words and phrases I hear the woman in question use. Maybe it's just coincidence. If so, I apologize.

I never had a "friendship" with this woman. I'm fully aware of the difference between friendship and love. I fell in love with her, I loved her. I've been in love before, and those that have know how it feels. I find that question strange. In this day and age with technological advances you can fall for someone without meeting them, that's fact.

I have "friendships" with other women on here who don't tell me they love me, and don't continue to tell me they love me when I tell them to stop.

I have "friendships" on here with women who don't spontaneously start masturbating when I'm talking to them on the phone.

I have "friendships" on here with women who don't send me their panties through the post.

As for the mature approach. Surely if you get continuesly screwed over in the place you live, the next obvious approach is an online community slash dating site. Millions of people do it, are they all immature?

When you suffer with anxiety as I do and find it hard to go out like you use to be able to do, you find other ways of socializing. So for people like me, going to sports, bicycle clubs is a no go

I happened to meet a woman who text me every day, many times a day, was dying for me to call her, told me she was lonely too, told me she loved me all the time, told me I go over and meet her.

Anything you wish to know, read my blogs, watch talhotblond: But ffs don't get mixed up with a con-artist who has multiple men on the go at all times who claims to be 28, but is in her early 50's.

I'm not the only guy, ask others. If you look hard enough you will also find couples who met on here and got married. I've seen the photo's in their profile

One thing I noticed..

> I never had a "friendship" with this woman. I'm fully
> aware of the difference between friendship and love. I
> fell in love with her, I loved her. I've been in love
> before, and those that have know how it feels. I find that
> question strange. In this day and age with technological

You see, you're basing being in love on how you 'feel'. But can you rely on feelings? Feelings come and go.

Also, being in love based on how you feel is a selfish motivation for being with the person. If you didn't feel this pleasurable bond anymore, would you leave her? Many people break up because they don't feel anything, which reveals it was a baseless and shallow relationship to being with.

It's possible to love someone without feeling anything, for a long time. People place too much emphasis on feelings these days, very self-centered.

I just got a final email from her 5 minutes ago saying..."I'm dead"

I guess i am now too.

This topic is over.

im sorry to hear that, btw did she say she is dead, or that you are dead?. Maybe I'm thinking too hard. anyway, I didn't mean to offend, I do have poor communication skills, being into computers and all.

I was trying to say that, basing love on feelings can be dangerous, and misleading.

This comming from you is quite hilarious, didn´t you use your blog to talk trash about other people? Isn't that cyberharassment? And didn't you use your blog to talk all about your drinking problems and how the ladies on here used you? I think you're just to sensitive for the internet.

I think the pictures of you on your msn page are quite hilarious. By the way, she's in her 50's...that's who you've been messing with sunshine. You got played, like me. :)