01-18-03 @ 4:14 am EST

I've decided it's about time for me to stop being chicken and to post the "Saga of C." I suppose you could call it a cautionary tale to all newbies, as it's the story of one of the first people I "befriended" online...who turned out to be a total psychopath.

I'm fortunate in that his antics seemed to stop at merely harassing and online stalking, and by now, I'm not really that scared of him anymore. In fact now he's just an annoyance on the rare occasions I still come across him, even about three years after I "met" him. (Yes, I do fully believe he would start up his crap again if he knew exactly where to find me. I had an entry in here from not TOO long ago concerning how he had attacked my guestbook anonymously, then e-mailed me to claim it wasn't him. That's the most recently I've heard of him, so far, but he'll likely be back.)

Anyway...this person was a user at a now-defunct message board site, and I was lucky(?) to have copied some of his messages right before that site closed forever, without warning. As such I didn't get ALL the messages I had wanted to save, but I did type up a pretty impressive chronicle of his actions in an old anonymous diary of mine, since set to private on another site. I THINK I still have those entries available...if so, you'll soon be seeing the Saga of C. in installments as I have the time and inclination. If not, well...maybe a summary will do...by now I've actually forgotten some key events. Go figure, because they were horrible when I was going through them. :P

Nobody should ever be subjected to online stalking. Unfortunately, it happens...especially to then-dumb-newbies like myself. I am still afraid of I., the latest person to do it to me, but I hope that someday I'll feel the same way about him as I now do about C.--that he's just a pain, not a threat.

Have to go now...just thought I'd give you the heads-up. Tar...