Steemit, I have something to say and I don’t think you’ll like it.
I came here by @kushed’s invitation based on my writing on The Huffington Post and what I could offer as far as original work that will both support Steemit through the curation of quality content. I understood the community to be supportive and excited about building a platform based on excellent, meaningful content and rewards for its curation. I wanted to contribute, but what I hoped for was a place I would be welcomed based on my original work rather than my credentials.
The fact is, I have the credentials. I am a woman with a family and friends, a history and a career in writing. I also have a stalker I would love to not have access to just one piece of who I am and what I do as well as abusers who have stood in the way of me expressing myself fully at every turn of my life. To say I was excited to have a space where I could be honest about who I am and what I am going through without those people finding it is a vast understatement. It is not easy constantly curating my life, but I have done it since I understood how to hide or stay silent.
I read around Steemit for awhile before choosing to share as @honeyscribe. I wanted to be sure my topics would be welcome. I was unaware of what happened with @msgivings until my own anonymity had been ripped from me—but not because I was plagiarizing. I have never plagiarized. I stated in my introduction that I am a well-established writer who is sharing work on Steemit it is not safe to share in my public life. The work appears nowhere else because it was written for this forum, this community.
I approached it as though I was writing for any other publication, feeling out the community first to get a general sense of responsiveness, but quickly beginning my work on issues I would otherwise avoid due to my given name in the byline. My work being promoted by @kushed struck me as normal. After all, there were other “publications” running on Steemit, other circles of promotion, and having him stamp his approval on my work is no different than appearing in a well-known magazine.
I shouldn’t need to prove myself or unmask myself.
You can learn plenty about me through my writing if you care to actually know me. However, it is my right to tell my story without my face attached if that is the safest way for me to do so, regardless of potential curation rewards.
Yet here is what happened: The Steemit community set to work exposing masked contributors in a knee-jerk response to betrayal by a long-term trusted writer. I was caught in the crosshairs. It became unacceptable that I write without a face. I didn’t understand that a girl can’t be no one here. My grasp of how Steemit works is still tenuous. I have been treating it like Facebook meets Reddit. We share information such as personal stories or researched work, interact and make friends. The only difference being there is a financial reward for good work. Since no one told me in comments or otherwise that my work was not good, I assumed it was being well-received and that I was as well.
I was wrong. I was being hunted.
Discovery
It didn’t take long for the rumor mill to bring me news there were efforts to unmask me. That was immediately frightening. I requested a “fresh” account from @kushed. I asked because I wanted a place where I could write pieces of my present and past under a new pseudonym. I put up a placeholder introduce yourself post, thinking of it as my landing pad should @honeyscribe be compromised. I created a persona I could write from that was slightly less exactly myself, giving her a different name but my history. @kushed had been sitting on an account that was perfect for me to try writing my story from a new angle. Like @honeyscribe, because I didn’t create it, it wouldn’t lead back to me. That account was @perspective.
Almost immediately after, I came into contact with @reneenouveau outside Steemit. On Sept. 10, we private messaged about @honeyscribe on social media over the course of a day so she could better understand 1) I am an actual person and 2) I have real reasons for wanting to remain anonymous. Real reasons, again, such as physical and mental safety.
Using a pen name or alias is not a new practice. Have you ever wanted to speak up but felt unsafe? Many know the feeling I am talking about.
Once @reneenouveau knew who I (@honeyscribe) was, the paranoia truly came crashing in. I stuck with writing about positivity, the same type of writing that made me think Steemit was an encouraging, caring place rather than an angry, paranoid machine hell-bent on revealing all secrets.
Even though @reneenouveau has shown herself to be kind and supportive, she knows who I am and that removed my immediate sense of safety. My identity was no longer controlled since choice had been taken out of the equation. It was a double-edged sword. Now someone could vouch for me, but she was also someone who could reveal me. And when you have been repeatedly abused and are struggling with a stalker, this is not a simple consideration.
The birth of @perspective
September 11 is a dark day reminiscent of its own horrors. I made a goal to keep my chin up and started in on telling my story as @perspective with the intention of gradually shifting away from the more dangerous (i.e. partially known) parts of my story as @honeyscribe.
I didn’t want @perspective promoted. I just wanted to start again and try to find the under-community I know Steemit is harboring; writers and survivors who choose positivity when given the chance.
I fleshed out @perspective with the goal of making the account more personable and less suspect, interacting with it as @honeyscribe and vice versa. My thinking was it would differentiate the pair of accounts. I didn’t know that was a practice that fell under the term sock-puppet or that it was frowned on. It’s embarrassing, but I was fully ignorant of these facts. In light of @msgivings et al, I can see why it would be a monitored practice on Steemit, but that has only just occurred to me. My skills do not lie in the technical realm.
Trying again
I jumped right back into writing aspects of my various abuses from a different “perspective,” hoping this time Steemit would leave me to my writing. I grew the account more organically and worked to incorporate more photos from my life.
Here are the strange facts: the majority of my writing in both accounts is true. Names, dates, places have been changed and I jumbled the timelines, but the topics are the heart of who I am and have been. Both faces are me. No, not “schizophrenic” faces. I am both @honeyscribe and @perspective just as you are a daughter/son and a sister/brother or girlfriend/boyfriend or wife/husband or lonely woman/man or cat/dog.
Re-discovery
I applaud the detective work of @ats-david. He is very clever and deeply dedicated to eradicating any whiff of duplicity on Steemit. What he has shown is that I am no great wit when it comes to technology, but he is. I had no goal of “scamming” the system. I am a writer. I wanted to write. I thought it could be my freedom from constant policing. So I wrote. I appreciate his educated journalistic work and the neutrality he extended with his suppositions as to my reasoning behind my actions. I also greatly appreciate the care he has for the sanctity of Steemit. In bringing up those concerns, he is working to make Steemit the safe place I was searching for.
Still, I wish he would have contacted me another way, such as inviting me to steemit.chat via comment, so I could connect with him and attempt to answer questions. He never attempted to contact me to confirm his suppositions which is an important piece of journalistic practice. Rather, he simply sought to expose me publicly to get to whales. This is of great concern to me, especially as he seems to have read my work and must therefore be aware I am writing on topics that put me in genuine jeopardy should I be publicly unveiled.
Please, Steemians, take note that sometimes people hide their faces not because they are liars, but because it is the only way they can step safely into the greater world. Again, I will point to the fact that all work here has been original.
Writing on two accounts and the curation rewards concern
While I didn’t want it promoted the way @honeyscribe was, I did want @perspective read. It wasn’t about curation rewards. Again, I can see why that would be a concern, but until recently, @perspective wasn’t being widely read. I understood the jump in readership and curation rewards to be a result of the commenting and following I was doing with that account with the goal of finding that elusive Steemit community and being heard (or, in other words, no longer feeling silenced). There is great power in stepping back into who you were to dispense the advice you wish you had heard.
An example being that if I were to talk to that just-unmasked @honeyscribe based on what I know today, I would tell her two things:
- Steemit is hurting right now due to an egregious misuse of anonymity, and while you will think it looks very different from the anonymity you seek, Steemit will see it as the same.
- If you are going to give this a try, do some research on covering your online tracks because you are not naturally duplicitous and this choice puts you at extreme risk.
I thought because I have learned to hide in real life, I could keep myself hidden online. Not so. At this moment, I genuinely wish I were a person who was better at lies than honesty. Not because I want to trick anyone. I only want to feel safe.
What does it all mean? What’s the takeaway here?
It has become an express concern that there are people here on Steemit who don’t believe or care that outing me could cause me mental and physical harm. They are intent on stripping me and tying me to the viewing post even if it is just to get at a whale for a perceived wrong.
I understand that this community is hurting due to recent betrayals. I understand how my trying to hide my identity a second time after having to out myself the first could be viewed as a betrayal. I offer you an apology if I have hurt you. I truly am sorry. I hoped I could be a thriving part of this groundbreaking platform. I had a wish to connect with other survivors of abuse. I will find another path.
I have experience recognizing when I’m not welcome. I am leaving, despite that @kushed has encouraged me to “not just give up because of a couple of internet trolls. Face them head on with the truth, for better or worse and never succumb to providing ID or any other info you are not comfortable with. There are always going to be nasty kids in the sand box, so you can’t simply stop playing.”
I agree. But when my personal safety is on the line, nothing is worth this level of scrutiny. I’m not a witch, although I did meet one recently. Still, I see the torches approaching. I don’t want to get burned for trying to contribute conversation on a platform built for it. I most especially don't want to add to the hurt Steemians are carrying due to recent events.
Steemit, I hope you have better luck not being betrayed. I also hope you have better luck not betraying the confidence of your contributors.
Many of you did show up as friends. I see and appreciate you. I believe this platform has the potential to be a safe space run on mutual empowerment via quality content creation and appreciation-based awards. It’s all about coming together in good faith. I wish that for you all.
If it turns out I have misread the animosity (although I think it unlikely), please let me know. @ned and @dantheman gave their stamp of approval on @ats-david’s skilled outing post. That doesn’t necessarily mean they dislike me or my presence here. Maybe they will chime in.
I would love to be proven wrong and keep writing here. I will be happy to answer questions as long as they don’t point to my offline identity. Again, my safety may not seem like a real issue to you, but it is extremely real to me. At the very least, please realize I have children who can be affected by the abusers in my life should they find more reason to come after me. As I’ve said, clean breaks aren’t always possible even if they are preferable.
Thank you, Steemit. It’s been . . . an adventure.
Images from pixabay.com
" I believe this platform has the potential to be a safe space"
The blockchain is not a safe space. It never has been, and it probably never will be. The blockchain is the jungle, it's the raw, untamed wild west, where a free person can either make a fortune or lose one. It is not for the meek, the timid, or anti social. It might be for the anonymous, but that's up to one who wants to be anonymous.
I agree now. I don't have a clear understanding of the blockchain. The platform I was referring to was Steemit itself. I do believe it has the potential to become a community model based in support and content excellence. I think that is what it tries to be but has yet to achieve.
Jeez. It's really sad to see how fraud can really ruin the environment for everyone. Your story sounds quite plausible, so I suppose it's good to know that the reasons for seeking an anonymous account(s) are legit. Steemit is an experiment and in its infancy. A lot of these issues will be hashed out over and over again, privacy, anonymity, reputation and fraud. This is literally the melting pot for such matters and you got caught up in it. I think if the Msgivings fraud hadn't happened, you would have had an entirely different experience.
I'm very sorry that you had a bad experience, but you obviously have enough insight to understand why many of us feel uneasy about such things, especially when someone is given an account by a whale. In fact, I cannot think of another example of this. Regular users just open their own account, so any deviation from that is uncommon and usually breeds suspicion.
Thank you for telling your side of the events.
The SBI (Steemit board of Identity) is a small group of 7 individuals whos full identification documents are publicly recorded on the steem blockchain. A person who wishes to remain anonymous to the rest of the community can get SBI approved by providing their identification to those 7 individuals.
Those 7 seem to be complete control freaks who want to make this place Orwellian nightmare. Nobody has to identify themselves. Nobody has to do what some small inner-circle group orders. That is like NWO.
yes, nobody has to, but identity is related to reputation, so having an excellent reputation would go along with identification
I agree with @artific. Your group sounds creepy as fuck and it would in my eyes damage the reputation of anyone associated with it. It would also likely label anyone displaying your "stamp of approval" as if it adds value as having at best poor social intelligence.
I'd also question the judgement of anyone who gives their personal information to a self-appointed group of people on the internet who claim they want to protect it. It could quite easily be a honeypot intended for future use as blackmail, or more innocently but perhaps no less harmfully be incompetently run resulting in the information being leaked.
My advice: Stay away. Far away.
@craig-grant... I assume that you are joking about there being a Steemit Board of Identity... right? Right???
the best ideas always start as a joke, the SBI approval is not for everyone, only those who want to remain anonymous and still have a high value reputation to earn thousands of dollars in rewards per month, it's a very small amount of individuals who would fit that profile
The idea of having to give me identity to 7 people I don't know is actually very frightening. I like that it is an option for those who feel safe to use it as I see it contributes to transparency, but it is not an option I would undertake given my particular situation. As someone whose anonymity is the basis for her safety, I do believe the practice of requiring individuals to identify if they are not found to be contributing pre-published materials to be an unnecessary act of control, especially in the data age. I see the value, but I also see it as a dangerous practice and precedent.
Hello Honeyscribe - I personally have 4 different Steemit user accounts. One of which I want to use as a pseudonym to publish my science fiction. I have not done so myself, but I see nothing morally wrong with your two accounts having a conversation with each other in the comments. And using multiple accounts to vote for each other is not immoral either.
@freedomengineer you are a brilliant individual and from what I hear the ladies whisper... sexy as hell! I'd like to buy you a cup of coffee sometime.
@troi, you know we are too lazy to drive all the way to Tim's. Just walk your bitch ass to the kitchen and make US a cup.
(ok I can see how this sock-puppet convo can be weird and disingenuous.)
It is weird. I don't think it would have occurred to me to try it if I hadn't thought it would differentiate my accounts and protect anonymity. I enjoyed your exchange though. Perhaps you are using it as a form of performance art, and because you introduced it with transparency, it would not be considered harmful? I think this forum would care most about upvoting in your case below.
You are absolutely right to feel that way. Ignore this SBI nonsense.
We just started SteemVerify. Kind of a 'soft verification' system.
Frankly @stellabelle this is evidence of only of your ignorance. In such cases you might consider asking questions and trying to learn instead of jumping to conclusions and making incorrect assumptions about what is uncommon or what should 'breed suspicions'.
I have created accounts for many people especially from the cryptocurrency community. They are all "regular users" (whatever that phrase means). If I were actively recruiting writers or others to the platform I would absolutely create accounts for them (which is not to suggest those I have recruited have not written some good posts, because they have; I'm just not actively recruiting people specifically for that purpose). It is easy to do, as a normal fully-supported function of the CLI wallet, and not at all irregular. It also sets up the account with the creator (in this case me) as recovery agent, which is convenient since I know these people outside Steem and I can easily help them get their accounts back if they are ever compromised.
Not to mention its actually almost bothersome to create an account right now if you are in the position of not having a facebook account you can link to or a reddit account with positive karma.
Just yesterday a user wrote me this and I was planning on making a post with this issue included, as it needs fixing as soon as possible for the growth of the userbase.
(open in new window for full res)
@smooth I was wondering if there was one or more person 'homesteading' accounts for people whom they were trying to recruit but who have now showed up and found that their names have already been 'squatted' on; such as @rogerver
I don't know. I created some such accounts very early on for the purpose of giving them to the relevant person (rogerver was not one of them), and I have transferred some of them already. I don't know who owns the others nor their intent(s).
Thank you for reading and sharing your thoughts. I do think I would have had a different experience if I hadn't walked into an already painful situation. Lurking didn't reveal that my situation was terribly unusual or would be viewed as such. I saw that a face and photo was preferred, but I didn't recognize that anonymity was considered suspect. I also didn't know @kushed was a whale, which now seems ridiculous, but I understood that term to apply to @ned and @dantheman (which made it extremely exciting when the latter upvoted one of my early posts as @honeyscribe!). @kushed just seemed like a nice guy. I hope sharing my experience lends to the balance Steemit will find. There is so much potential here.
Wow! Just . . . . Wow! (Please stay, honeyscribe!)
People need to leave accounts that state that they wish to be anonymous alone.
There really isn't anything that an anonymous account can do that is so egregious. Steemit is well protected against Sybil (clone) attacks.
I can understand being disappointed when a professed identity is not true -- and I don't have a problem with that being punished . . . . BUT outing a harmless truth-telling individual is A TREMENDOUSLY ANTI-SOCIAL ACT.
I suspect that @ats-david just thought that it was a really cool puzzle -- but we all must be careful how we impact the lives of others (with large stakeholders needing to be even more careful than most due to their out-sized power)
Yes, and no. Internet trolling and harassment, including by self-appointed Internet Police, is real thing. People get carried away when there is a screen separating them from their victims and this is something that either needs to be accepted as part of the territory, or actively resisted. I have tried to support the latter, because that is not the sort of community I want Steemit to be. But, perhaps, @neoxian is absolutely right and this is and will remain the wild west where trolls, harassers, witch hunters, and self-appointed judges of right-and-wrong are going to run free with people like @honeyscribe and @kushed best advised to protect and defend themselves as best they can (or leave). These are issues well worth considering for all.
"I have tried to the latter, because that is not the sort of community I want Steemit to be." <- Please do keep trying. You always come across as a reasonable, thoughtful guy/gal. Trial by mob and stone-throwing are best left on the pages of history books. Communities should celebrate, reward and raise concerns loudly and passionately. The communities should appoint small groups of thoughtful, experts to deliberate and punish based on evidence and due diligence. The damage of rock-throwing can't be undone. Safety matters.
"The damage of rock-throwing can't be undone. Safety matters." <----This. Yes.
Yes, Jamie. Thank you for saying so well.
Thank you. I appreciate the invitation to stay. I love writing here. I hope this all resolves.
Sweet girl, I'm so proud of you! I hate that I had a part of making you feel uncomfortable. I honour your work on and offline. Thank you for your kind words about me that I do not deserve.
To everyone else, our actions here do have real-world impact on lives, please remember there are real people being these accounts.
Honeyscribe, Thank you for your persistence and bravery and not giving up on the platform. I wish you nothing but success.
Love,
Renee
Thank you. You couldn't help it. I know you were only trying to keep Steemit safe. You have also worked to help others respect my boundaries, and that is endlessly appreciated. We all need support like this.
I don't think it really matters if they ask for your identity, just ignore them. I'm not sure why they do this to some and not others. @chadcrypto pointed me to this post, he was targeted like this as well over his photography articles. They never bothered me once about proving I am who I say I am. I understand your concern of people figuring you out though, being a public writer for a well known establishment. My advice though when they ask, just respond to them with this:
I work hard on my articles most times, other times not so much, and I deal with one of these sorta trolls on a daily basis but for a different reason, he falsely flags everything I post and he will show himself in this post as well now since I commented.. don't worry though, he shouldn't target you, just my comment. Keep at it though, do your best, ignore those types of people and just respond to them with that image.
Thank you! I appreciate the support. :)
I verified myself just because in a very unique way, lmao..
https://steemit.com/steemit/@kingarbinv/verifying-identity-uniquely
LOL. I think you nailed it. ;)
Because There are no women on the internet!
I have noticed a trend on Steemit to look very closely at female-identified contributors more so than male.
It's an internet tradition. A technological extension of the fact that Witchhunts were directed at women, over 70% accused witches were female. The males most likely their immediate circle (supporters). Often a woman achieving some type of 'unusual' success; material, power influence or otherwise was a trigger of a witch-hunt. As it was believed she made a pact with Satan for it.
this isnt meant as a feminist theory, rather I analyze things from a cultural-historical perspective as it's how humans work; aegis developed over the centuries, we don't decide on it rationally.
Do you have a longer piece on this? Because I would LOVE to read more.
I will write one about that specfically. I mention a bit about it in many of my blog posts. Thanks for the interest/feedback. Specifically the Witch-hunts or more general?
Well this is an unfortunate turn of events...
Put your safety first, of course, but maybe wait for this to blow over a bit and come back anonymously, taking care not to leave trails. Research how to stay anonymous online. The community does not require people to identify themselves unless they are claiming to be 'somebody' in meatspace — as a way to stop identity theft. Anonymity is fine on here, and many people do it quite well.
I think some people owe you, and @kushed, an apology.
Thank you. I am happy to know this. It does make me feel better to see so much positive response.
Keep your head up girl
This made me smile. Thank you. :)
You are welcome !
I am sorry about all of this that has happened to you. Even though I partly understand @bachist's posts about kushed'd suspicious voting activity, we should still not start revealing users who clearly wanna remain anonymous, or pressure them to do so.
The biggest reason I think stuff like this happens is because of humans worst flaw; greed. I have been trying to ignore it and keep an eye shut when I see it happen ever so clearly on the platform, but some times things go too far. Greed is a powerful weapon and for many very hard to handle, it is mostly showing when something is given to you, you hold it for a long time and then it is taken away. Reminds you kind of about the effects of ring in Lord of the Rings. Without having to name any names, I am sure some of you may know who are/were affected by this and I think one of the problems of this is the amount of whales that follow certain well-established authors.
I understand the platform is still at an early stage and that amount of voting power is concentrated on a few, even though its being dilluted on a daily basis. But seeing authors write 4 posts per day, always make a huge amount of rewards (regarding the rest of content creators) and thus bringing an unfair viewpoint to many users. This is usually when drama starts to break out and most of the time by those who have been in the same position before but aren't any more, they want to cause as much noise about it as possible. Threatening the platform, all users, their own reputation and account, just to screw it up for everyone else because they themselves can't handle the greed. I have seen this happen in a lot of other communities and even more in the decentralized ones where anonymity is easy.
Anyway, in my opinion, those who are receiving a big part of the daily pool in payouts, should in one way or the other provide some sort of verification to some trusted parties, (take example of the reddit IAMA's and how they verified to the reddit mods so they could anonymously answer the IAMA without giving away who they are (this was mostly the case about people who have experienced something rare or are in a special situation that is interesting to readers)).
What I mean is, I have no problem with you staying anonymous and since you have a problem with revealing your identity the community should respect that and value you for your content you provide. But since the economy is what it is lately with a decline in steemprice (something that happens all the time in crypto), people are on the edges of their seat and want to act when they see foul behavior that hurts the future of the platform. Hope you understand.
I disagree that writers who are creating original and unique content have to verify themselves due to the declining price of steem tokens despite the current 'economy'. 5 months into any new cryptotoken project is nothing. Steem has more potential than most other projects that I have encountered, some of which (like Ethereum or even Lisk) didn't have basic features beyond a blockchain.
Give it time.
I don't think we need to sacrifice principles of people choosing to remain anonymous because they've managed to achieve some level of success because the economy is going down the drain.
I agree.
I'm not sure I fully understand this comment. I want to let you know I am glad you are voicing your opinion. What I gather is that people want to know who is getting a piece of the pie if there are limited pieces of pie? That seems natural, but is also not necessary or always achievable. But I am also seeing you recognize my reasons for requiring anonymity and support it. Thank you.
dont think it matters whether someone is a well established writer or not... good content is simply good content. Regardless of credentials.
I agree. I hope I have provided that.
So sorry this has happened to you. I don't why these trolls just cant let good people write. I just found you, and I'm sad they are causing you so much trouble. This whole site is supposed to be a place for people to share their stories, images, videos and whatever. I'm a small minnow and I being a photographer. Got called out to prove who I am. It's pissed me off. I showed my real face in my intro, I even gave my website. Yet they wanted me to hold up a freaking paper to my face with Steemit and the date written on it. It was ridiculous. It's like I have to stand outside of Steemit Square and scream at the top of my lungs who I am! I got into crypto currency because of the crypto part. Not having to show my Identity. Yet this platform is the opposite to what crypto currency stands for. I'm fine with that, I never wanted to be a secret. Yet I respect the ones who do want that. Just like you @honeyscribe. You should be able to express yourself. If you got steempower, you own part of steemit. You keep going. I know I will be here to cheer you on!
Precisely--the "crypto" aspect speaks to that desire to be freed from the constraints regularly placed upon us and achieve our dreams.
I am so sorry you were put in the position of sharing more than you felt good about.
thank you.
Hopefully it will never be a requirement to unmask yourself on steemit. If I do... I'll die. Which would suck.
I hope you find a way to write and to stay safe. It should not have to be a choice in your galaxy.
This got a laugh. Thank you!
LOL
oh my gosh. yes. nice.
Ah yes. It was very touching... and then he gave my body to the cannibal teddy bears and they burned my suit.
Kids... am I right?
Hahaha... you were already dead though... so... there's that.
Anyway, you got that shimmery blue glow after life body thing going on, so you can't complain too much (even if the remakes turned you from an old man into what may be the most annoying boy-man character in the entire Star Wars franchise.... other than Jar Jar, of course).
Seriously. Obi wan didn't turn young. Yoda didn't turn into a freaking tadpole. But I turn into that twit? This is how it should be.
Always and forever. And... Han shot first. That is undisputed.
Let's be clear here: the villain is your stalker. He/she is the shit head. I don't swear often, but that is the individual who has used violent language and force to destroy your sense of safety. They are the problem. That is what I hope we, as a species, can come together to prevent.
I'm so deeply sorry you need to hide in order to feel safe, but that is not the long term solution. You are a free individual human being, and you have the right to express yourself genuinely. If someone has taken that from you, that person needs to be held accountable. Steemit is a safe place for those who can be their true selves and have no credible threats to their safety. Maybe that means it's only a safe place for the privileged. I hope not. Unlike some who want to bring everyone low in order to equalize the playing field, I hope we all rise up to new levels of joy and prosperity.
If Steemit provided value to you, then stay. Keep expressing yourself. Be true to who you are and to your readers. Don't hide, but fight. If it requires a personal protection detail, they make enough damn money on Steemit to pay for it. Don't let someone else control your life. Be stronger than that and set an example for all the others who have no voice.
Edit: this reply was meant for @bacchist, but I hope you see it as well.
Thank you. This is inspiring! I hope to have the privilege of freedom and acceptance here. I would love to keep writing (and so far I see many voices saying "stay"). I am already fighting so many battles. Showing up on a platform finally free of a stalker only to discover I am being watched with eagle eyes is difficult to overcome. Sometimes we must choose our battles. Thank you for the encouragement to battle for my place here.
I have been behind you 100% from the start. As I have said in chat many times to many people, there is a consistency to your writing, which spreads to the comments.
You are clearly a real, intelligent, woman, whom I believe deserves mine and the support of others on this platform. Don't let the idiots and the communists drive you away.
Yay @honeyscribe!
Cg
Thank you so much, @cryptogee! I was away all weekend to give myself a break from sadness and anxiety. I am glad I came back to see this. :)
Oh girl, (wrote oh boy first ..) you can write. I wish I had 10% of your writing capabilities !!!
Thank you for your post, and please keep posting, we need more authors like you.
Thank you!
Thank you for posting this. One of my worries about that post by @ats-david was that someone could have their security compromised.
It is sad that as a result of some people's fraudulent activity innocent people get mislabelled. I'm sorry that this has happened to you.
One of the most important aspects of Steemit needs to be that people feel safe and secure. It is sad that hasn't been the case for you.
I hope you are able to continue writing safely.
Thank you. I appreciate your concern. I hope so as well.
You're welcome.
Your post acknowledges what you did wrong, but gives good explanations for why you did them which I find quite believable.
Many of us are worried about the health of the platform. I'm sorry for my part in upvoting the posts about you, despite the fact that I think it's right to highlight duplicity. I hope that it hasn't caused you too much harm or exposed your real identity.
Let's move on from this and hope that both new users and those who wish to police the system (as I still believe we need to) can learn about how we approach these issues in the future. I hope you do come back to SteemIt, even if it's under another pseudonym.
@demotruck, this apology brings tears to my eyes. Thank you for the welcome and safety you are extending.
People will always get jealous, when it comes to money and power.
I've had comments that I have to do an introduction post with my face and piece of paper, like I'm a celebrity lol. Can you imagine that?
I've read in books that native Americans (Indians) always had two names: one public name and a real secret name, which they would never diclose "because of the power it would give another person over them."
Call me superstitious, but that's why I always try to avoid publishing my real name and why I never post the picture of my kid in social networks--to avoid some 'bad eye.'
But enough about me! I enjoy your posts, please keep posting :D
Never give up, honeyscribe!
Thank you, @richman! I am grateful for your support!
@someguy123 has created a site that allows people to create anonymous accounts. See his post announcing the site here: https://steemit.com/steemit/@someguy123/anonsteem-create-anonymous-steem-accounts-without-social-media
You could convert some of your well deserved and earned steem into bitcoin using https://shapeshift.io to buy yourself a whole new identity.
Thank you for feeling my work deserves the steem. :) I think I'm too hurt by this whole process to trust the community right now, but maybe I will write here again at some point as @honeyscribe. I see that my voice is valued. I don't see the point in starting a new anonymous account as if I gain followers and curation rewards regardless of how long it takes me to do so, a new hunt will be launched and I'll be in exactly the same position. I gather this from comments on this post from others who have gone through the expected channels.
At the end of the day, it is a couple of people (we all know who), starting all of this. Ignore the trolls, you still have lots of support.
Cg
Thank you. :)
i hope you don't go away. I know it's not nice being witchhunted (i was accused of alt accounts). but stay, your writing skills are perfect and exactly what we need here in steemit.
Thank you!
If people took the time to read your posts...I find it easy to tell the effort and time someone puts in that they arent someones sock-puppet.
Why does it make a difference if they want to post on different accounts, so long as they post original content? it doesnt.
Thank you. I agree. I think many people do on this platform. I wish I had not been the person put on display, but the comments have overwhelmingly been kind, so maybe this is a good I can give back to Steemit.
I'm very mixed about this post also. I like the transparency of it. I understand your perspective and I do feel you have a right to anonymity. It's also messed up that you have a stalker and you deserve everything that you can do to avoid that person But being really honest, are you really surprised by all this? You say you switched to @perspective because Of your anonymous status was broken but then you continued to write on @honeyscibe. Why did you do this? Also if you were trying to distance yourself from this account why did you comment on @perspective introduction post with this account? The comments and post below are too long and I don't have time to read them all but i really want to give you the benefit of the doubt.
I wonder if a private message feature could solve some of these misunderstandings. Why should you be forced to chat someone in real time.
It is sad but also interesting to watch this platform self destruct. So much finger pointing. Such a shift in moods from we are changing the world to let's get that guy over there. I imagine it happens everywhere but here it's more public.
I wish I had the answer. I have seen this happen in other places--the rallying and codeswitching. In fact, it looks a lot like civil war. As to "peaceful" community spaces where I've seen this behavior, it seems more focused and aggressive here. Of course, with the exception of abuse and being stalked, I've never received this level of focused, judgmental attention before. :(
This is exactly the reason why I have refrained from posting although I'm active on comments. I keep hearing the chant of "Verify yourself" showing up. As a fellow abuse survivor I have no intention of ever exposing my real identity. If verification becomes mandatory on Steemit, it would discourage a lot of people from contributing. Not all of us like to live in the public eye.