Death threats and the Internet

Beware who you threaten...

Published on December 30, 2004 By Draginol In Home & Family

I get threats of various kinds pretty frequently. Sometimes it's because they really dislike my political points of view. Others because they are mad because I moderated one of their posts. And other times they just plain hate me for reasons that I cannot even begin to fathom.

But I get enough of these that I have to take them seriously. When I was younger and had more free time (and a lot dumber) I'd call their bluff. I'd tell them "Go ahead, make my day, coward." I've met enough on-line people that I've found a very distinct corolation between how nasty and aggressive someone is on-line and how cowardly they are physically.

Now that I'm older, have a family, and know that indeed, while most of these people are just cowards, some of them may be truly violent sociopaths, I use more discretion. So I tend not to try to "egg them on". But make no mistake, someone comes to my house after making such a threat I can't reasonably make the distinction of whether they are coming to "confront me" in person, merely to try to "beat the shit out of me" or to "kill me and my whole fucking family" (as various threats go).

And so if anyone reading this is ever tempted to "confront me", make no mistake, I cannot afford to wait and see which type of assault you're planning to make. I'll do whatever I have to do to defend my home, family and myself and ask questions later. Anyone who threatens me or my family and follows it up with an unwelcome visit can be assured it would be the last action they'll ever take.

And anyone who knows me personally knows I mean that. I am not easily intimidated, certainly not physically. So to anyone thinking of sending me some threatening email or private message or on IRC or via instantt messener realize this - I get threats regularly and you may think making such threats is a form of intimidation that you don't mean very seriously. But you can be assured that they won't instill fear but that I will still take it very seriously. I get some threats that sound pretty serious (and specific).

And so I have to assume that every threat is a serious one and be prepared for. I'm not going to shut down my website or quit going on-line because some sociopath doesn't like me.

So my advice to the rash - don't threaten me. And certainly don't threaten me and try to come over to my house to try "give me a scare". I can't afford to wait and see if you're just bluffing or serious.

Comments (Page 3)

drmiler

on Jan 03, 2005

Reply #30 By: hitparade - 1/1/2005 12:10:10 PM
If your looking for family protection, nothing says "I love you honey" like a Mosberg pump shotgun!

Keep punching...

Keep it in stage 3 (rounds in mag but not in chamber) Any idiot that keeps on coming after hearing the rack of a 12ga shotgun deserves what they get. Personally I have a 500A sitting in the cornerwith low velocity loads in the mag.

drmiler

on Jan 03, 2005

Reply #28 By: zergimmi - 1/1/2005 3:08:31 AM
I find it sad that people who use this or any site would then take the step to threaten any person who expresses a point of view different to their own. While I almost never agree with Brad, I do understand where he is coming from as I do with many others who may not express my ideas, and I believe if we are to act as civilised people we accept these differences, argu with them but above all respect the persons right to express them unless they are so incitefull that they should be censored. I have always believed that a true sign of a civilised community is judged by their ability to get on with and care for their fellow humans and the planet in general, not by their level of wealth or development, civilised people do not hurt, maim or kill others they do not agree with or understand, maybe when we all understand this, including individules, businesses, and governments and religions, the earth can really become "CIVILISED".

So by your logic, *anyone who fights a war is uncivilized?

hitparade

on Jan 03, 2005

If you hear it & don't heed it, then you deserve to eat it.

foreverserenity

on Jan 03, 2005

Perhaps you should get the law involved here Brad? Even if it's to make a report. There are some sick people out there, they lurk and lash out at anyone who disagrees with them. But as soon as you stand up to them and show them who is boss, they wimper and runaway, w/their tail between their legs. Sounds like a coward to me - threatening you and now your family - coward.

John Galt

on Jan 03, 2005

Its not giving in, its called being prudent and diligent. So somehow, you think its Brad's job to tackle the retards of the world, and fight back the scum and lifeless idiots of the internet? Then worse, that somehow, this is supposed to make him and his family stronger? You've been watching too many movies, Brad isn't Charles Bronson or something, hes the CEO of a substantial internet firm and a busy guy, and doesn't have time to waste thought on low lifes...

It is EVERYONE'S JOB TO TAKLE THE RETARDS OF THE WORLD. I don't care if you're CEO of Microsoft or joe blow on the subway. If you fight back, they won't try it in the first place, and this world will be a much safer place for everyone's children.

The price of freedom is eternal vigilance. (Winston Churchill begging the British Parliment to act when Hitler look Austria... and the British Parliment did the same thing that most people do now-a-days.)

Draginol

on Jan 03, 2005

Well the threats of today aren't much different from the threats of 5 years ago or 10 years ago. The only difference I see is the availability of Yahoo People Search which allows any nutjob to just type in your name and find out where you live to make those threats hit closer to home.

I won't lower my profile. It's not me that's going to get hurt if someone is foolish enough to come to my home with the intent to do violence to me or my family.

And as a practical matter, I can't lower my profile. Much of the reason what I wrote gets so much exposure is precisely because of who I am and what I've built with my reptuation over the past 10 years on the Internet.

jeblackstar

on Jan 20, 2005

To be honest Brad, this is one of the reasons I never give out enough information on this site for people to figure out who I really am, I admite I've given enough clues that people could, if they really tried, and wanted to violate a few laws, could figure out who I really was.

I had never realized that people could be so opposed to your political position that they would rise to that level of ire. I personally disagree with a large number of things you espouse, but I respect your opinions, and indeed like the way you clearly lay out your thoughts.

Stardock is a wonderful company and you should continue your efforts, I was truely shocked by how well known your company was (being completely ignorant of tech issues beyond how to turn the computer on and access the internet), I mentioned your blogsite and company name to one of the guys in technical support here at the university and he talked for some time over how great your products were.

So, Kudos to you and three cheers from Jeblackstar.

Cheerscheerscheers

jeblackstar

on Jan 20, 2005

My last law teacher gave me a great bit of advise: If some loon comes to your house and tries to harm you or your family, make sure you shoot to kill. A dead person can't dispute when you say "he said he had a gun and was going to kill me and I thought I saw a gun in his hand"

::laughs:: One of my law professors said, "make sure you shoot the guy on his way into your house, because that way it's self defense."

Cheers

Welcome Guest! Please take the time to register with us.
There are many great features available to you once you register, including:

Richer content, access to many features that are disabled for guests like commenting on the forums.
Access to a great community, with a massive database of many, many areas of interest.
Access to contests & subscription offers like exclusive emails.
It's simple, and FREE!