-6

Said person follows me around on multiple sections of a site downvoting me or un-upvoting me. Any attempt at asking a question gets targeted

Pleas for support from the moderation get ignored out of spite or support for the troll, regardless of evidence provided. Even the systems automated anti serial voting script has caught them twice but they persist. Then they ban me for bringing it up.

What's the best way to deal with this? I just want to be left alone.

4
  • 22
    Since you asked here and Michael took the time to answer, I'm leaving this with edits in the hope that it's a sincere question and you intend to take the advice offered to you. If you intended this as a complaint about this website, then you know full well this is inappropriate - meta or the "contact us" link are the venues available to you for that purpose. Whatever the case may be, please do not engage in any further histrionics in the comments - that goes for everyone reading this.
    – Shog9
    Jul 22, 2017 at 15:44
  • 8
    I've voted to leave this question open. I have doubts about the original intent, and I don't think it's a great question, but it doesn't seem off-topic, and it could help someone in the future.
    – HDE 226868
    Jul 22, 2017 at 21:41
  • 5
    I'm surprised to see how many downvotes this question has. Regardless of the specifics of the case, being followed around the Internet by someone either a little too enthusiastic or fairly spiteful is can be disheartening or discomfiting (and is not all that rare), and needs a more solid answer than "grin and bear it" or "don't talk about it".
    – Euchris
    Jul 28, 2017 at 14:04
  • Related meta post.
    – kenorb
    Aug 9, 2017 at 15:36

3 Answers 3

20

If everything you say is true, then at this point your most sensible option is to simply ignore your "stalker" and concentrate on what makes you happy about the site, or else move on to one where you have a less stressful time.

I assume you mean a site such as Stack Exchange, or reddit, or something similar where user content can be voted up or down. Such sites are run privately, and within certain limits, are allowed to make their own rules about such voting. If you have already made your case to the users designated to moderate said site, and they have concluded that there's nothing they can do about it, then your options are limited.

Also, keep in mind that the voting activities on such sites is usually kept private, and for very good reason. It's entirely possible that the reason nothing is being done to "protect" your content is that the moderators have investigated and see nothing actionable. It's possible that you are overreacting to the usual ebb and flow of voting activity on sites. All user-moderated sites have people who just disagree with everything to be contrary, and since they are anonymous, they can do it. You can't control this, or stop it, and trying to do so will only frustrate both you and the moderators you keep asking for help.

In particular, one thing you should not do is to continue to publicly call out such activity where other users can see it. Since other users can't really do anything to help you, this will mostly come off as attempts to garner sympathy, or to "throw a tantrum". Remember, everyone else suffers from the same kind of random anonymous voting patterns as you do. It's a natural part of such sites. Attempting to somehow single yourself out as a "victim" of such activity is a bad way to gain support from the group you're participating in, as most of them will have already learned to "just deal with it".

All communities have "unwritten rules" of behavior; by making it clear that you either cannot or will not live within those "unwritten rules" you are actively isolating yourself from said community. That is only going to increasingly make it stressful and frustrating for you to participate in said community.

As long as you don't break the rules of said community, of course, you have every right to air your grievances. But if your goal, as you state, is to "just want to be left alone", then really your best option is to find a community who's unwritten rules you can deal with, because clearly whichever one you are participating in isn't working for you.

9

Hide your communities

In your Stack Exchange profile settings, you can hide your communities. That prevents the stalker from having direct links to your other community profiles.

Use a different display name

In your Stack Exchange profile settings for each community, you can change your display name. That makes it harder for the stalker to search for you in that community.

I'm not talking about creating new accounts. Renaming the existing ones will do.

Avoid getting into arguments

It's possible that some time ago you had an argument with a user, and they're stalking you, downvoting you, everywhere you go, just to get a pathetic sort of revenge.

See also: How to avoid arguments.

Ignore it or report to Stack Exchange Admins

Some men just want to watch the world burn.

I see downvotes on the strangest of things. You can either ignore it, or if it appears to be by certain individuals targeting you, use the "contact us" link to inform the Stack Exchange admins in private.

4

Try to use a different username for a while. Possibly create a new account that the person doesn't know of.

Don't link your accounts together, like including a link to your Facebook account on your Twitter account and vice versa.

Try emailing support instead of reaching them via the site. Support via email is usually reliable. Or try the live chats, those are very helpful too.

Best of luck! :)

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.