Published on 12, July, 2020
Several days ago, I found myself on the receiving end of a Friend Request from a new member, which immediately caused me to feel unnerved and suspicious.
I question if it's a generational thing, or if it's just me. At the time that I received this request, there had been no prior interaction on the forum between myself and this member. Furthermore, their member profile was completely blank. Therefore, I had no way of knowing if this person was on a similar wavelength to me, or if we had anything remotely in common.
I too had this.
An observation I made, which I'm willing to admit that I could be wrong about and could just be a coincidence... I got the distinct impression that the forums were being closely monitored by a particular individual. As soon as someone they hadn't interacted with before was active in the forum, that member would immediately be targeted.
I will admit that when I initially returned to this post to read the various responses, I felt what can best be described as a sense of foreboding when I realised you had been targeted. Having observed the way that other members had been targeted, it was rather like watching a TV or film scene... The viewer knows what's coming, but the unsuspecting character doesn't.Several months ago, there was a conversation that had taken place between myself and another member. They were of the opinion that the likelihood of someone going to the effort of registering with NAS, for the purpose of trolling, spamming, or anything else untoward was slim. I disagreed. Whilst I find it hard to understand the mentality of such people, I'm aware that it's their idea of fun. If they are determined enough, they will go to extraordinary lengths to get their kicks.
Genuinely nonplussed too by what any real person (even if a troll) could be getting out of it anyway. They communicate so sparingly and confusingly that there’s not even any sense of ‘baiting’ so to speak - just a sort of deep unease and confusion that is so instant that communication from our side would cease immediately anyway. Not much sustenance there for someone on the wind-up is there?
Yes! I got ‘can you help me?’ as soon as I posted in this thread. I have a stupid thing even at my age where politeness can overcome common sense. But never for too long! The weirdness was impenetrable anyway. As a 45 year old bloke I do not want to be privately corresponding with someone who publicly has a kid, then privately mentions ‘my school’ and is linking to the most problematic and delicate of topics with no context. Ten minutes was all I needed to step away, so I can imagine it’s been the same for many others.