How to deal with constant harassment?

[lululucylu]

So for the past few months I've been on and off dealing with a user that makes it their job to constantly harass and grief people. They seem to have been stuck on me quite a while. Crashers, pushers, voice screams and foul language (in text too). Usually this isn't so much of a problem, you just block them and move on right? Well, 20 alts later they still come for me. Now they've managed to find where my house is. So it's all just flared up again. I've submitted countless reports on every time they or one of their alts (i know cause most of the names have the same formatting or theme) harassed / attacked me. Some of my friends have been stalked by this person as well, places they work or their homes. Their ramblings and messages contain a lot of foul language and hateful derogatory terms.

This all comes from them not liking my avatar type.

Is there anything that can be done or is this just how my SL is now, blocking and banning this person over and over?

[Lindal Kidd]

Banning, blocking, and AR'ing is the best response.  Also patience, and being careful not to respond to the harassment in any way, other than quietly going elsewhere.  In very extreme cases, I know some people will shelve their account, and create an alt.  I don't suggest this as a great solution...if you do it, your persecutor has in some sense "killed" you.  But you may feel it's worth it to escape the harassment.

[lululucylu]

Yeah, I'm not swapping out accounts, too much invested into this one. Like I've said, I do those things, but they just keep making more and keep coming... 20 and counting (which is against the rules I think of having only a certain number of accounts per household?) Sometimes they will leave me alone for a little while... perhaps a new victim, but always comes back.

Apparently my in game reports, screenshots and details therein fall on deaf ears. I never respond and usually block after the first message i get from each new account.

Coming here is kinda my last ditch effort in trying to get some kind of relief from this, I've been dealing with it for a while. It's like they are just immune to repercussions of what they do here.

[Tactical UwU]

Griefers of this nature do it for the attention and distress it causes you. Usually the best thing I can recommend outside of manually banning them is to set up a security system that will ban an avatar if they were created recently (2 months or 60 days minimum recommended). Having a parcel in a region that requires payment info to access is also a good way to pre-emp stalking attempts. At that point, the worst you have to worry about is maybe a few rude IMs when you log in, just mute the accounts being used and continue with your day from there.

Edited May 23, 2020 by Secondary Lionheart

[Kerrianne Wheatcliffe]

@lululucylu, I am so sorry you are going through this.  It happened to me before too.

I can't say there was a direct relation to this working, but I'd like to think it did.

As a premium member, I opened a support ticket with Linden Labs about the harassment and the mountain of evidence, and made it clear my business was on the line.

Within a few days, the griefing stopped for what seemed to be no apparent reason.  I am guessing that person was tended to, but haven't heard a word since.

[Codex Alpha]

Most 'harassment' is not harassment, but if you feel harassed you can block and ignore the person.
If they are bypassing these with technological measures, then file a report.

99.9% of 'harassment', offensive behaviour, and disputes are easily solved with a 0.00000001 second mouse click.

[Nick0678]

You can't do much but one thing is that you could enable the option to receive messages from Friends Only,

Linden Labs can only ban that account after you submit an AR and they evaluate it. He/she will spoof their data and make a new account...

In case this person also finds your RL info and aggressively harasses you there with other ways  you could try the Police but their hands/abilities are limited depending on tech used, country, local laws that apply and hundreds of other factors. (not everyone is from your neighborhood)

So best thing to do is get used to ignoring that (any such) person, it will eventually fade.

(*This info is based on real facts from a similar but very aggressive form of harassment that started from the game and eventually became an RL problem which also involved harassment of relatives, friends and other people of a person that i happen to know and kept going for more than a year.)

Edited June 26, 2020 by Nick0678