A number of people who follow SP, some of whom do not blog or comment, have asked me if I know what has happened to her given that when you go to her blog you get the following:
On the 14 February SP posted the following:
I Get to Have My Very Own Stalker!
I've often wondered why, when I've posted a comment on someone else's blog, it doesn't appear instantly, but is saved "for approval."
I've always had open comments on my blog, and have never had a problem. Well, apart from getting an email pointing out that as none of the writer's friends were experiencing problems with their French tax returns, the ongoing problems that we're having with ours, must therefore be a figment of my imagination. I WISH!
So, today I've had a few comments left, of course by "Anonymous" and with an @noreply email address.
I was accused of many things, including being a liar and recycling a blog that I wrote at the time of, and about, Laughing Boy's illness, when things were at their bleakest for us.
I'm not going to go into detail about Laughing Boy's illness, it's not something that he would thank me for broadcasting, but for many months, we were just about at the end of our tether, and I wrote to try and make sense of what was happening to our lives.
It was an awful period, when we both withdrew from just about everyone around us, and spent our days going on long walks together and researching how we could cope with his illness.
As I wrote before (here) had it not been for the French health service, who eventually diagnosed correctly, and treated his illness, our lives would have been very different.
As for recycling, if I've alluded to events that happened at that time, I've always written "three years ago" before writing about them.
So, I, like Britney Spears and other celebs, get to have my own stalker, hence the "saved for approval" on my blog too.
Can't help thinking that whoever" Anonymous" is, (and I suspect that I know) they must be a bit of a wuss, if they daren't put their name to something that they have written.
Between that post on the 14 February SP
posted a number of other articles until the 16 February and then nothing. I think, given the posts
between the Stalker post and the last post on the 16th, SP is taking a break until things settle down with the stalker, with
LB's problems and the various other things that are happening.
Given the number of her Blogland friends who supported her after the Stalker post I think SP knows she is not alone. I, for one, will not be removing SP from my blogroll just yet.
Posts
If you go to Settings>comments> you can stop anonymous users commenting. I have comment moderation on posts over fourteen days. It seems to filter out all but the most determined bram pots.
ReplyDeleteThe problem is, Adrian, that Anonymous then just goews and gets a Blogger account but doesn't create a blog or have an e-mail address on it. I've tried complaining about the comments of such people but a) it takes weeks to find out how to complain and b) when you do Blkogger does nothing about it so all that happens is that @anonymous just gets changed to Amy or Darren or whatever... They are persistent and nsty little buggers.
ReplyDeleteOf course I won't take her blog off my list, either - I hope her drawing the blinds for a while will really make a difference and get rid of Mr. or Mrs. Anonymous!
ReplyDeleteIf the stalker is someone she knows outside of the blogworld "IRL" then it will be hard to solve by blog.
ReplyDeleteI will also not be taking her off my esteemed blogroll - It is disgusting that these people think they have nothing to lose by stalking and harassing great bloggers online.
ReplyDeleteOther than the Chinese spammers, I have not had any difficulty with my blog - I don't word verify either, as it's an absolute pain when you want to leave comments. I do not allow anonymous commenters.
I hope she comes back soon and I hope she knows how much we are thinking about her and wishing her well.
Thank you for posting this.
Fhina x
I remember her post about the stalker...but hadn't remembered that she had had e mails as well as anonymous comments.
ReplyDeleteI used not to have comment moderation until I had one particularly unpleasant person - anonymous of course - gloating about my husband's state of health. I didn't think about complaining to Blogger...though I don't suppose it would have done much good if I had have done...and just went to comment moderation.
It hasn't stopped the person commenting....seemingly upset his health is improving!
I assume it is someone we know, or someone who knows of us...but have no idea whom it might be.
I don't allow anonymous, but Ayak on Ayak's Turkish Delight explained that some people don't want Google addresses...so I'll change that if people put a name on the bottom of the comment.
People put what they want on their blogs.....I know there are a lot of 'living the dreamers' out there who can't bear any criticism of life in France, though I think I've sicked them off my blog by now, and to judge by the expat forum world, some of them can be vicious and personal.
If they think SP's world doesn't compare with theirs, then why not post under a proper name and give their experience?
I'm glad some have found the situation update useful. It would also seem that SP is not short of support.
ReplyDeleteI agree Fly, having read some of your more 'interesting' (ie potentially controversial) posts, that people who don't agree should just exercise their right to express a different point of view in a civilised manner.
One thing I've become heartily glad about is that I chose six years ago to come and live in New Zealand for 6 months of the year and not move to France as I once had thoughts of doing.
Thank you very much for this post. I hope that SP will read this and know how much I am looking forward to reading her blog again.
ReplyDeletePeople can be really rotten, can't they?
Reg. anonymous comments: I have some friends and family members who, every now and then, like to comment on my blog, but they do not wish to have a gmail or blogger account on their own. Since I always know who they are (and it does not matter to anyone else but me), I have no problem with anonymous comments.
ReplyDeleteHaving had one troll in 250 posts and less than a handful of spam is not too bad, is it :-)
So, being less well known certainly has its advantages.
It's a pity. I would guess SP is strong enough not to get upset by whoever has been bugging her. Perhaps it has just made the blog not any fun to write any more. I hope she'll invite her faithful fans to read her blog in the future. I'll keep her on my blog roll anyway.
ReplyDelete