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.
Thank you for doing that Starfox.
I have no problems with friend requests on this site, after all it's not real life, it is the internet.
Just be cautious.
Don't:
Is my paranoia getting the better of me with all this recent talk of trolls ? Please see the comment I made on "
i have received a couple of these , thanks for this
Kerri-Mod Ross-Mod Karin ModJust hoping that tagging some moderators in here might highlight some of our concerns that the user might still be doing this and highlighting this as a potential issue? Sorry if there was a better way of doing it, but I have reported said user a couple of times and not heard back if this is something being looked into (and it is clearly causing a fair few users issues)
Hi Shardovan, stop apologising man!! (I say that tongue in cheek).
It may be true you could have come across as naive but I am sure the polar opposite can be true for me, overly cautious, distrustful and a little misanthropic of particular types I should think are good ways to view me (I watch things play out over a long time and when I see certain "signals" play out repeatedly, or conflicting information, I just can't help but feel it is someone who is up to no good and not in genuine need of help, or that the help they need is far too much than any one person can provide).
I'll reluctantly refer to the spiritualistic "yin and yang" balance stuff, it could be the no nonsense approach that you wished you were more capable of would not be a good fit for you and your approach would probably not be a good fit for me and one I would struggle with greatly to be honest.
I'd just be more concerned about getting yourself into a situation where you have to ask other people how to figure out how to unfriend someone, because you realised the "oh no" point a little too late, don't be hard on yourself about this Shardovan.
I don't like the idea of that either bit unnerving.
I did notice that the 'identity' had edited one of their posts so that it now includes more information. However, I was unaware that they had done similar with their profile / bio, so thanks for pointing that out.
There is one thing that just does not add up though, which was something that another member had spotted. It relates to the age of the 'identity' and the age of their child.
I know it's not impossible for a female to get pregnant and give birth at a young age. In 1939, there was a girl in Peru that gave birth by caesarian section when she was only 5½ years old. I believe she was 7 months pregnant.
To be honest, it's hard to know what to think.
Difficult choice here. If it is a very "edge of the bell curve" person who's been speaking to us, then I'd want to be kind, but if there's some script kiddie reading this thread and laughing at us, It would be good to find out, and release the flying monkeys...
I note that the identity everyone has been talking to has opened a channel of private communication and responded to some of my suggestions, seemingly, and filled in some profile info. But it was proving impossible to open a simple dialogue, even simple questions were just reflected back to me.
I'm really not sure what is going on. (My default condition for most of life, sadly..)
It's an interesting theory Martin. If you're right, I'm not so sure I like the idea of us being used as guinea pigs to test out an AI construct.
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.
Possibly. The uncanny valley on this one feels very deep. I did politely explain my rationale before unfriending but feel a bit of an idiot if I was doing so to a random bit of programming. The last thing they said to me was ‘I’m not a bot’ which I couldn’t help projecting the characteristics of sadness and rejection onto. I felt sorry for them. But I think ultimately it *was* projection, and that it was my own empathic hurt being mirrored by an entity that did not care.
My only means of accessing the internet is via a desktop PC, so I have no idea what the difference is for members that access the site via a mobile phone.
On the topic of NAS number members, I cannot deny that I find it considerably easier to remember and recognise names. I used to think they were people who didn't know or hadn't got around to changing their number to a name, or else were not planning to stick around. However, if there are members that feel more confortable sticking with the NAS assigned number, then what right do I have to judge them for it?
The conversations with 'the entity' are so very odd and one-sided, that I wonder if someone is testing out an artificial intelligence construct on us? One designed to gather information on a topic, then create conversations related to the topic - in this case autism? Just a thought.
Yes, at school and yet with a child - by implication - who is several years old. Strange indeed.
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?
I'm only looking on my phone so that might be why I haven't seen one.
Hi Paul. That’s ok, and thank you for being so kind in your description of me. I know I was not the target of your primary criticism., But I can also understand how I came across as frustratingly naive and unhelpful to the situation (feeding the troll as they say) - even if I got my bearings and sussed it out quite fast overall. I hadn’t been on here in a couple of weeks so did rather blunder in with less risk aversion than I’d normally have switched on had I been more immersed in the ebb and flow of the forum over that period. Apologies for any extending of a trolling situation that was maybe otherwise fading out that I might have inadvertently caused. I’ll be a bit more consistently worldly wise in future - it helps protect everyone, especially the more vulnerable- who I know you are very good about looking out for, and in a no-nonsense way I wish I was more often capable of myself!
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.
We live and learn. I think that’s the magic formula for sure!