Yikes. I'm sorry to hear that.
That moment when you realize it is absolutely time to buy a gun for your own safety, you may have to contact the frickin' FBI, and may have to start looking into another state's requirements and procedures to have someone committed to a psychiatric institution.
Holy hell, Surr 
@Taika ...yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeah, it's been that kind of month. It surfaces now and then, but it's getting persistently problematic over the past month.
This time, starting with the person logging in as a guest on a game and paging me my full, RL name, without identifying themselves. It got profoundly worse from there.
More worryingly, there's a massive separation from reality going on and a fixation on me somehow magically and all of a sudden I'm the root cause of all the problems someone I have barely communicated with since the 90s has.
This combination is not safe.
The person disclosed that the FBI and secret service have already come to visit them about some of their behaviors, and while I don't know if I believe that, it would not surprise me and it is at least a place to start.
While far be it for me to defend our usual asshat troll Rick, this is not Rick. He's a jackass, clearly, but it wouldn't be cool to let people wonder if it's him since he's the more well-known 'chase surr all over and be a creepy asshat' on the forum. It's not him, and it wouldn't be cool to let people (perhaps reasonably) guess that it might be.
There's a reason I had to lock down all PMs/private chats here, and, yep, this same person is why. Third account he's done it from inside a month. Ark and Gany have been champs about this and are on top of it, thankfully, and they deserve mad props for it.
@surreality That's insane! I'm suddenly glad all my problems this month are tied to money and not stalkery nutjobs. If you need an ear to vent to, let me know. We've always had the same rotten luck with jerks on games. They're supposed to stay on games, though! You're upping the ante. (Seriously, though, stay safe. Look up your states 'Castle' laws. Get the gun.)
Do you have a big dog?
@Taika No dog, but we have an ample stock of prop medieval weapons and the occasional animal skull hanging on the wall. That helps with prowlers never daring, but prowlers aren't... this.
It is probably a good thing I'm staying off the one game I play on, even if it's for other reasons at the moment, because I would feel awful if this person showed up there and started up with the harassment and crap. I have been very concerned that this will happen, and alerted the staff, but hopefully my not being around at the moment will head that off at the pass.
Even a little dog can be a great alarm and a huge deterrent. I'm just biased towards big, scary looking pit mixes with a huge BORFBORF and the actual energy level of a pet rock (eats, poops, sleeps, big snores).
With your other troubles in mind, I was trying to think of a cheaper alternative to cameras and motion lights, or a full blown alarm system. In our area a rescue doggo runs about $100, but if they're full, sometimes they slash it down to $10-20.
Cameras still might not be a bad idea.
@Taika We have two cats, tiny space, and it would cost over a grand for fencing, so a dog is really kinda out of the question for us. 
@Taika I see you have met my dog. Yes, great deterrant.
@surreality Have you called your local police yet? Internet stalking/harassment is a thing they're starting to deal with. I don't know how much help they would be, but it might be a place to start. I'm sorry this is happening to you!
@Macha Our local police are fairly useless about this kind of thing, but whether he was just making shit up again or not, he mentioned being visited by the FBI and secret service already. I'd start there, since if it is true, they already have a file on him, and the hurdle re: 'please listen because this is a thing that is happening' (which is huuuuuuge) would be somewhat diminished. If it was bullshit, then it's time to call the locals.
I'm not trusting that so much 'cause I have dealt with a person who chased me around (who lives right in town and showed up the house regularly, pounding on the doors and windows and screaming at the house at all hours, calling all the time to harass, etc.) and all that ever happened was that I got threatened with noise complaints from him screaming and banging on things. Totally ridiculous.
@surreality Sweet baby cheezits. At least my stalkers only watched my house and in through my windows. Yeah, the gun starts looking better and better.
@Macha The previous dude was the guy I dated when I was in junior high and high school, and was years back, thankfully. I don't know why he stopped, but eventually he did.
I just really do not need round two, and the current person keeps escalating.
@surreality You make me scared and worried for you. I know that's not your intent, and not what you want, but Imma worry anyway (Like I do). I hope you can get this asshat dealt with soon and without more (much more) harassment.
@Macha The current one hasn't shown up in person. The continued escalation, the persistence, and the increasing separation from reality are making that seem inevitable, however.
Hence: will be discussing options for firearms with the husband after work. Because I am so fucking done 'hoping for the best' and not taking steps to secure the house and my person in this situation.
@surreality There are some nice guns that are compact for smaller hands (I am thinking you are a lady, which is why I say this). I don't know where you live, so I don't know the gun laws. But yeah. There are nice guns small enough to take around. All the love.
@Macha Yeah, I need small for 'short woman with zero upper body strength'. I'm not in a place with super-restrictive anything, though it's not, say, Florida, either.
When I was in elementary school, there was a friend of mine whose father sold "interesting" military surplus. The closet we weren't allowed to play in had an honest to gods rocket launcher in it. Wishing I hadn't lost touch with them over the decades all of a sudden!
Oh fucking well.
My recommendation would be the Sig P365, but it's probably out of price range at $500.
Next best would be an M&P Shield, which usually runs around $400 but it's been on sale for around $250 pretty often lately.
Those are the two I've been looking at for personal protection. They're smaller, have been rated highly by women for ease-of-use, and still work well for personal defense.
Saying the quiet parts out loud since 1996.
@Auspice Danke. I need to check in with the husband about it. He's sorta wanted to do this for a while, not sure why. But I had, of course, always objected. No more objections. There's been a bat by the door since this started up for a reason.
I am not above digging through the old garden tools in my parents' basement next door. My grandfather's workshop is down there. He invented a long-reach pulley toothed scythe-type-thing for sawing medium-sized branches without a ladder back in the 30s through the 50s. All the old prototypes are still down there, rusting in patches for that extra level of 'fuck all the way off'.
The only actual weapons training I have is in halberd, because life is made entirely out of irony, I guess.
I may be a short runty weak fat bitch, but I am a short runty weak fat bitch who is just crazy enough to haul that shit out and use it on a person who will not fuck off if they are fool enough to show up at my door.
@surreality said in RL Anger:
When I was in elementary school, there was a friend of mine whose father sold "interesting" military surplus. The closet we weren't allowed to play in had an honest to gods rocket launcher in it. Wishing I hadn't lost touch with them over the decades all of a sudden!
True story from my childhood. I was watching a local TV channel when I was a kid in Greece and there was this guy showing off his collection of guns and other stuff. Some of that stuff included grenades. A lot of grenades.
The reporter asked him if he had to register them with the authorities and he, quite reasonably, explain that he couldn't do that or they'd take them away. But he could show them off on TV, there is no problem about that, I guess. Nothing was pixelated either, imagine being that dude's next door neighbor.
I MUST KNOW WHAT WAS SAID IN RESPONSE TO MY STATEMENT ABOUT IRREGULAR LATIN VERBS
"Because I kept tripping over the syllables and sounding like an idiot, mostly."
Then I realized the post above was about school shootings and it just felt gauche.
@Macha The previous dude was the guy I dated when I was in junior high and high school, and was years back, thankfully. I don't know why he stopped, but eventually he did.
I just really do not need round two, and the current person keeps escalating.
