Someone mentally ill has been harrassing our staff and users for over a year now

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Costello

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As someone who has been running a relatively large video game site for the past two decades, I can say that it isn't unusual to have to deal with idiots who think they rule the world. We ban dozens of people every day: spambots mostly, but also people who post threats, who post atrocities, and whatnot.

But there's been one single guy that has been continuously harrassing us for over a year now. That guy is known on the internet as "Clancy" or "clancydaenlightened" on Twitter.

You may think I am exaggerating, because this sounds unbelievable, but truly there hasn't been a single day over the past year where this guy hasn't created dupe accounts, flooded our mailboxes, mass PMed our staff or members, posted threats on twitter, facebook and all that. He keeps creating dupe accounts here through Tor, proxies, VPNs, and our staff continues to block him every day. We have a team of 30+ staff members so it only takes us a second to wipe out his dupe accounts (whereas from our estimate it takes several minutes to create a dupe on our site) so we can literally do this all day.

We have had our lot of persistent assholes in the 20 years this site has existed, but none of them had been at it for more than a week or two. This guy has been at it EVERY DAY for over a year now.
Some of our moderators, having had enough with the guy, started investigating him personally to see what the deal was. Turns out this guy has got all his data out there in the open, he literally doxes himself everywhere and shows the drugs he's under, on social media. His real name, address, phone number, family members, are all easy to find or identify.

He seems to be a legitimately, severely mentally ill person, and I say this not just because of his year-long harrassment but also based on the things he posts on social media. He was recently banned from Twitter and subsequently posted this:

1653528875147.png


There is a hall of shame that exists in our collective memory at the GBAtemp mod team, and, through this thread, I wanted to share with you that we have a winner with this guy. None of us have ever had to deal with someone this deranged and bizarre.

He spends entire nights flooding our mailboxes with shit like this:

1653529642120.png


In light of what's happening in the USA lately with the mass shootings and killings, I am truly wondering if we should probably do something more practical about his behavior -- I'm talking about reporting him to the police, but certainly not doing ourselves justice. Inbetween the flood of insults there's also been threats of mass slaughter and crazy shit like that, that you wouldn't normally take seriously on the Internet. But the recent events make me wonder if not reporting him may put us, or someone else, at risk.

A member who was frequently harrassed by Clancy has told us that they reported him to the local police already, but it doesn't look like they did anything about it -- even though the police was given a name, an address, and a phone number. Now if you have any recommendations on how to handle this properly and avoid what could be another true, real life disaster, we're all ears.
 

KleinesSinchen

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This guy has been at it EVERY DAY for over a year now.
Over a year? Ouch. But the main/real account hasn't banned for a year now (if it is the one I think of).
===========

This description sounds extreme – and a case rather for the psychiatrist than for the police only. What goal could one possibly have to put so much effort into creating dummy accounts that get zapped instantly… while evading IP bans with VPN/Tor? (I've seen very few of them despite being active daily – the staff must be really watchful for this). Please keep it up and don't let anybody ruin GBAtemp and the community.


sorry for probably being on the list of shame I have mental problems.
So do I. Quite a lot of them. But I don't harass/attack people and/or sites online. And as far as I know you don't do such things either.
 

duwen

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Kind of hope that some of the fans of this site that are regulars over at places like 4chan will rally up some anons to do what they do best.
And, while waiting for a natural resolution is far from ideal, I believe that eventually this individual will "Chris Chan" himself into custody.
 

DinohScene

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Kind of hope that some of the fans of this site that are regulars over at places like 4chan will rally up some anons to do what they do best.
And, while waiting for a natural resolution is far from ideal, I believe that eventually this individual will "Chris Chan" himself into custody.

Them saying: not your personal army.
 

RAHelllord

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That doesnt work for a website though does it now? lol
Depending on the state he lives in, the state the server is hosted in, and the state the people getting harassed reside in it may be possible in all of those locations, some of those locations, or none of those locations. In a lot of places restraining orders cover any and all forms of communication that is not legally required to happen (say, court orders getting delivered), regardless of the channels used.

However, I'm not a lawyer, and especially not your lawyer, so this would be something to poke at with the attorney of your choice. But considering you guys know his name already that means getting one nailed on his person will be possible as long as it's legally feasible. And his actions may very well be covered under it.
 
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Depending on the state he lives in, the state the server is hosted in, and the state the people getting harassed reside in it may be possible in all of those locations, some of those locations, or none of those locations. In a lot of places restraining orders cover any and all forms of communication that is not legally required to happen (say, court orders getting delivered), regardless of the channels used.

However, I'm not a lawyer, and especially not your lawyer, so this would be something to poke at with the attorney of your choice. But considering you guys know his name already that means getting one nailed on his person will be possible as long as it's legally feasible. And his actions may very well be covered under it.
Reminds me of how Michael Valentine Smith from Stanger in a Strange Land was technically the heir to four different people.
 

Creamu

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Ooof, that is very unfortunat. Taking drugs is an indicator that he has a warped perseption. Other than getting him into a institution that will make sure he does not take mind altering substances, there is no quick solution I am afraid. If he is at it for this long with this dedication I don't think ignoring him will make him stop. It is possible but not very likley. Despite his vulgar and extreme behavior I hope he will be fine.
 

Nikokaro

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I remember this so-called "enlightened" person (self-defined as such). For a while he continued to post videos on his profile, or on that of others, and he only answered some of my questions by posting other videos. Yes, I remember some of his mention of drug use. Then it disappeared from circulation. At first it seemed harmless, but maybe I was wrong. Has anyone ever managed to communicate with him? Has he ever given answers that were consistent, relevant to the topic? Maybe here he was only looking for the attention of others and a form of friendship and help .... I hope that he will not be abandoned to his destiny, and that someone will help him, poor thing ....😑
 

Creamu

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I remember this so-called "enlightened" person (self-defined as such). For a while he continued to post videos on his profile, or on that of others, and he only answered some of my questions by posting other videos. Yes, I remember some of his mention of drug use. Then it disappeared from circulation. At first it seemed harmless, but maybe I was wrong. Has anyone ever managed to communicate with him? Has he ever given answers that were consistent, relevant to the topic? Maybe here he was only looking for the attention of others and a form of friendship and help .... I hope that he will not be abandoned to his destiny, and that someone will help him, poor thing ....😑
I am sorry to hear that. There is not much use in armchair psychology, but it may be a case of bi polar. Hopefully a professionell will check on him or perferably someone who is close to him. Wish him all the best.
 
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soup1

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As someone who has been running a relatively large video game site for the past two decades, I can say that it isn't unusual to have to deal with idiots who think they rule the world. We ban dozens of people every day: spambots mostly, but also people who post threats, who post atrocities, and whatnot.

But there's been one single guy that has been continuously harrassing us for over a year now. That guy is known on the internet as "Clancy" or "clancydaenlightened" on Twitter.

You may think I am exaggerating, because this sounds unbelievable, but truly there hasn't been a single day over the past year where this guy hasn't created dupe accounts, flooded our mailboxes, mass PMed our staff or members, posted threats on twitter, facebook and all that. He keeps creating dupe accounts here through Tor, proxies, VPNs, and our staff continues to block him every day. We have a team of 30+ staff members so it only takes us a second to wipe out his dupe accounts (whereas from our estimate it takes several minutes to create a dupe on our site) so we can literally do this all day.

We have had our lot of persistent assholes in the 20 years this site has existed, but none of them had been at it for more than a week or two. This guy has been at it EVERY DAY for over a year now.
Some of our moderators, having had enough with the guy, started investigating him personally to see what the deal was. Turns out this guy has got all his data out there in the open, he literally doxes himself everywhere and shows the drugs he's under, on social media. His real name, address, phone number, family members, are all easy to find or identify.

He seems to be a legitimately, severely mentally ill person, and I say this not just because of his year-long harrassment but also based on the things he posts on social media. He was recently banned from Twitter and subsequently posted this:

View attachment 311464

There is a hall of shame that exists in our collective memory at the GBAtemp mod team, and, through this thread, I wanted to share with you that we have a winner with this guy. None of us have ever had to deal with someone this deranged and bizarre.

He spends entire nights flooding our mailboxes with shit like this:

View attachment 311466

In light of what's happening in the USA lately with the mass shootings and killings, I am truly wondering if we should probably do something more practical about his behavior -- I'm talking about reporting him to the police, but certainly not doing ourselves justice. Inbetween the flood of insults there's also been threats of mass slaughter and crazy shit like that, that you wouldn't normally take seriously on the Internet. But the recent events make me wonder if not reporting him may put us, or someone else, at risk.

A member who was frequently harrassed by Clancy has told us that they reported him to the local police already, but it doesn't look like they did anything about it -- even though the police was given a name, an address, and a phone number. Now if you have any recommendations on how to handle this properly and avoid what could be another true, real life disaster, we're all ears.
is there a shadowban kinda thing where he thinks his messages and posts are getting through but are secretly blocked cause that'd prolly make him take wayyy longer to realise
 

AmandaRose

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is there a shadowban kinda thing where he thinks his messages and posts are getting through but are secretly blocked cause that'd prolly make him take wayyy longer to realise
So it would kinda be a situation where to him his posts are showing but everyone else does not see them. This would be very difficult to implement but could work as he would end up thinking nobody is replying to his shit and he might then eventually get bored and fuck off to another site as nobody is giving him the attention he clearly needs.
 

rantex92

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is there a shadowban kinda thing where he thinks his messages and posts are getting through but are secretly blocked cause that'd prolly make him take wayyy longer to realise
i dont think that would be a good move like op stated he want to go the legit way

it would be easy to get some tempers pentesting the hell out of him but then we go down on his level
 
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