Comments | thedivinegoat: PSA: "Can I talk to you?" troll

thedivinegoat

PSA: "Can I talk to you?" troll

Mar 03, 2010 08:20

ETA 20/09/10 I am still updating this post, although I'm tending to add the names in batches so it may be a week or so before I get around to it.If you have recently received a random message or contact from an unknown person containing text similar to the title, it may be a troll. His name seems to be Paul Melville Austin, but he uses a variety of ( Read more... )

psa

Comments 22

andraste_oz March 3 2010, 11:07:38 UTC

I've been contacted by this person twice and have ignored it both times. The first time was some months ago, to my LJ account, from his account bullenemu and I thought it was a troll and ignored it completely. The second time was yesterday, to my Dreamwidth account, from his "australianchild" account. Both times the message and subject line were exactly the same:

Hi
can i talk with you?
please?

I ignored it, because it's such a bizarre way to contact someone you've never had contact with before (ie, without saying why they want to talk to you, what you might have in common, etc) and so it just felt generally trollish/needy right off the bat.

Happy for this to be unscreened.

thedivinegoat March 3 2010, 11:11:03 UTC

Thanks.

snufflesdbear March 3 2010, 17:04:18 UTC

Here via RM post.
I think I have been contacted a few times by this guy - oddly enough, not my LJ address, but an outside one I use as it has a spam catcher I can view. I have gotten 3 or 4 at each of the addresses. The spam filter catches them, and I deleted them unread. I saw one day 2 with that header. So I figured it was spam.
I am so sorry for the people who have be (opefully only virtually) attacked by this person.

Sure, you can unscreen this. Maybe it will help someone to think to check those spam filters. I will also link to this both here and at Insane journal and FB, if that's okay?

thedivinegoat March 3 2010, 18:27:57 UTC

I will also link to this both here and at Insane journal and FB, if that's okay?

Please do. The wider this is spread the better.

st_aurafina March 4 2010, 02:55:31 UTC

I've had contact with him, as australianchild on Dreamwidth. I assumed he was a young girl, or perhaps someone a bit older with little internet experience.

Nothing creepy happened - they contacted me via PM, said that they had noticed I had "enid blyton" in my interests, and "Can I talk to you?" They mentioned their favourite Malory Towers book.

I blathered happily on about Enid Blyton and Malory Towers, told them about fanfic and gave them a bunch of recs at the Yuletide archive. And because they were an Aussie, I offered to add them. Which I did - they never reciprocated, or posted anything in their journal - and I thought nothing more of it.

I wasn't suspicious - I just thought "internet noob" and was kind and gave them some recs.

I'm happy for this to be unscreened also.

thedivinegoat March 4 2010, 07:09:48 UTC

Thank you

(The comment has been removed)

thedivinegoat March 4 2010, 07:10:15 UTC

Thank you.

(The comment has been removed)

thedivinegoat March 4 2010, 07:10:52 UTC

Thanks, it's good to know what other fandoms he's popped up in.

lizbee March 4 2010, 23:15:58 UTC

OH MY GOD, I HAD CONTACT WITH THE SAME "GIRL"! She, too, said that Kate Orman had mentioned my name. I thought that was strange, because I didn't think Kate knew who I was, but she seemed young and vulnerable, and I didn't want to let her down.

We had a lot of conversations about sexual assualt, boundaries and the awfulness of being a teenager with big breasts. I gave her a lot of advice, but she became very clingy, and I wound up backing off. I've always felt really bad about that, so I'm kind of relieved to know it was a troll.

She used the name "MechaMinx".

(And this can be unscreened.)