To: Grainne who wrote (88386 ) 11/13/2004 6:00:28 PM From: E Read Replies (2) | Respond to of 108807 No! I'm sure there have been very few indeed. I think I have posted an experience I had that was extreme, and caused me to remove my name/email address from my profile page. That was years ago. Still, the word "gun" was used, and the person who made the threat wasn't even mad at me (I'd never posted to him), only at people he associated me with but who hadn't posted their own names/addresses. (He was permanently banned from SI.) I personally know two women who have been cyber-stalked on SI, by which I mean followed from thread to thread and had posted to them, against their express wishes, unwelcome, creepy, skin-crawly, sexually-freighted posts. One was merely uncomfortably creeped out over a long period, the other, a more vulnerable person, suffered psychological harm and incurred financial costs (medical and legal consult). SI stopped the first stalking, not the second. I know of no violent crimes against any SI members (one frequent SI poster was shot dead attempting to commit a robbery, I think), and if you wanted for some reason to use your own name, I think you'd be taking an extremely small risk. But everything's cost/benefit, risk/reward. Unless you care significantly, why take even a statistically very small risk of some nutjob fixating on you and deciding to bother you. Maybe not hurt you, maybe just annoy you. Pizza deliveries? Junk mail? Who needs it? But as to whether things have gotten very weird since you've been gone, I'd say that they've gotten at least more frequently distasteful and obviously more polarized. Maybe some people like it better now, for all I know.