Fight Back!

 

(In an extremely effective and NON-VIOLENT way)

Read on and learn what they do to you, so you can defend yourself properly.

 

Definition: Bad Guy – liar, thief, bully, bossy, generally mean and uncaring.

 

First up, is to “let it go”. Don’t take it personal. Don’t get angry. Don’t throw a hissy fit. Just let it all go and calm down as best you can. Being calm is imperative for clear, rational thinking. You have not been singled out. It’s not just you. Your situation is not unique. The internet is full of bad guys. It is, very simply, “your turn to be the trainer”. 

Realize that this is a matter of teaching good and bad behavior to someone who has not learned it yet. It’s like training your dog. You don’t get upset when your pup doesn’t “get it” the first few times, you just keep trying until they figure it out. No problem. No hurry. Eventually they learn and life goes on. Put on your trainer cap and let’s get on with it too.

They’re been training you to be a sheep for years. Time to stop that nonsense and turn this thing around.

One important thing you must know is that anonymity on the internet (or anywhere for that matter) was NOT created to protect YOU. Of course not. Good people don’t do bad things, so why on earth would you need to be anonymous? You didn’t, except that the bad buys created anonymity to hide themselves, and now you need it to keep yourself safe – from them! And that’s pretty much the only reason you need it. Anonymity was created to allow the bad guys in the world to wreak havoc with impunity. Sucks, but it is what it is. Now we have to deal with it. Luckily, with a little knowledge, we can use this too!

Before you get started with anything, anything at all, PLEASE make a backup of your computer just in case you do something dreadfully stupid and need to get back out of it. Better safe than sorry.

OK, I have to ask… but have you tried ignoring them? I mean really ignoring them. Completely. No responses to them whatsoever. Ghost them. Zero. Zip. Nada. They don’t exist. It usually only takes about a week before they get bored and go away. It’s no fun for them if you won’t screech in pain. If that hasn’t worked, or ignoring them is not appropriate, read on.

Now then, let’s talk VPNs. A VPN is simply a tunnel to somewhere else. It hides where your computer really is. A typical VPN can easily let you pretend you are anywhere in the world. St Petersburg, Russia. Milan, Italy. Detroit, Michigan USA. Almost anywhere. Get a VPN. Go on. Get one. There are free ones and there are cheap ones. Most take just one click to turn on and off. Even Mozilla/Firefox has one. There are a few dozen on the google app store for Chrome. Go. Get. A. VPN. So now, great, you can be anywhere in the world you want. But you’re still you!

Rule #1 here is pretty much NEVER NEVER EVER USE YOUR MAIN ACCOUNT! You’ve probably had it a long time, put a lot into it, and everyone knows you by it. So let’s not risk it!

BONUS POINTS: Make a new login on your computer! It’s not necessary, but if you can. It only helps.

EXTRA BONUS POINTS: Dig up an old computer, make a new account, and use that! Social media doesn’t take much horsepower. Even the old moldy computers still work. Again, not necessary, but another level of protection.

Let’s do a double-check to show you how this works. Turn off your VPN. Open a browser. Go to whatismyip.com. Now, what does it say in the middle up at the top? That is your external IP address, and the city listed is probably spot on or at least close. OK, so let’s try with the VPN… Close the browser. Start the VPN. Start the browser. Go to whatismyip.com again. Now where does it say you are? Different location and different IP, right? If not, then your VPN is not working and you need to resolve that before you do anything else! Otherwise, continue on!

Wait… what are we protecting against?  Well, two things: 1) getting our main account banned, and 2) making sure we stay anonymous. These two tidbits are like the first thing any bad guy ever learns. They are the foundation that gets built upon. Let’s make sure we do this too. Don’t use your main account. Do use your VPN. Stay anonymous. Avoid getting banned (only because it’s a pain to keep making new accounts!).

So how then, do we set up a new account? Well, it varies from media to media, but the best little trick of all is to get yourself a temporary anonymous email! Try it! Google (or Duck Duck Go!) “10 minute email account”, or “temporary email”, or “anonymous email”. I know, right? Tons of them! There are a couple gotcha’s, so please be careful. DO NOT ENTER ANY IDENTIFYING INFORMATION. If the email site wants information from you, leave immediately. An anonymous email account doesn’t care who you are and doesn’t bother to even ask. The other gotcha is that a lot of these sites are known to the media you need the email for, and they will refuse to take email from that site. No problem. Try another. New sites come and go all the time, and the media can’t keep up. After just a couple tries you will get an email that your favorite media will take and allow you to register a new account.

So there you are, a brand new account on your VPN. New person in a new place. (Bonuses for different login, different computer, and having made a backup!) Now what? Well now the fun begins.

Yeah. Slow down. Hold your horses. Training takes patience and finesse. Learn some. You will not be doing horrible things to your pup. That’s what they do and that is the wrong behavior. That is what we are correcting.

First up, forget about posting pron and saying nasty things. They like pron, and saying nasty things let’s them know that they have upset you (someone!). Win-win for them. So don’t. Instead, I would recommend smothering in icky sweetness and wholesomeness. For example: posting pretty flower pictures. (bad guys hate flowers, I don’t know why) Or posting MLP (My Little Pony) memes. Surely a few MLP memes will turn the stomach of any bad guy! Maybe they will even take the hint and watch a few episodes to see what Friendship really means. They obviously don’t know and need to learn. But if all else fails, there is the nuke… Oh yes… post a link to the Big Purple Dinosaur (Barney) theme song! “I love you. You love me…”.  O. M. G. Truly horrifying. I know. Sometimes it is necessary to get their attention. In any event, regardless of how long it takes them to stop their bad behavior, you have also successfully marked them so that other people can see they are bad guys. Even this alone is very helpful to everyone else!

Another nasty little trick they do… They lie. Well, of course they do, but they lie with “proof”. They simply make things up. Right. Now you can too! Because all it takes is a screen capture and an image editor. Everyone has those. Everyone can use those. Give it a try! Make a screen capture of a conversation with someone. Now use your image editor to shuffle a few words around. Oh look! Now it’s a very different conversation, isn’t it?

Better yet, as pretty much everything is browser-based these days, try using “inspect element” instead. It’s easy! Right-click the web page. Select “Inspect”. Search for a piece of text. Double-click it in the page source. Change it. Press enter. Ta-da! Behold, now you don’t even need an editor! Exit the inspector and screen-capture that puppy! Here is a link with more details: https://zapier.com/blog/inspect-element-tutorial/

Eventually the bad guy will just shut up for a while and hope that it all goes away. And this is good. When they stop their bad behavior, you stop with the smothering sweetness.

Know that it probably won’t be just you doing this. A truly awful bad guy probably has a few dozen (at least!) people that they have hurt and made miserable. So keep your eyes open and watch what the other trainers are doing as well. I’m sure you’ll learn more tricks as time goes on.

You do need to know at least a little more. Your nemesis there, they are broken. Unlike most people, they enjoy making others miserable. They relish in it. It makes them oddly happy and satisfied. That’s just how they have been brought up, and is the whole reason you are helping re-train them. Remember the very first thing up at the top? “Let it go”? Yeah. Do not let them see you get upset. That is a win for them, and is yet more encouragement for them to continue. Stay. Calm. Keep a clear head. It ain’t easy…

…because one of the things they have is patience and perseverance. They know, that if they keep pestering you, day in and day out, that if they keep poking you in the side, you will eventually snap at them. Oops. You get reported, and boom. Banned. (queue hysterical bad-guy laughter) Obviously I don’t recommend continuously pissing someone off until they snap. As above, the preferred method is being way too sweet, and you have better things to do than waste your time anyway. You won’t be alone. Other trainers will help too. Between the lot of you, it will get done and the bad behavior will stop.

 

This page is just a primer, the bare minimum you need to know. OreSpawn/TheyCallMeDanger provides this information “as is” and cannot take responsibility for how you might use it or any consequences thereof. Use your brain. Make your own decisions. Please be careful out there!