Have you ever wondered why stalkers decide to…. well, stalk other people? Here, their reasons, whether they admit to it or not, are provided as to why they were driven into stalking in the first place:
1. I envy you
2. I need to fulfill his/her wishes or cravings… I might be a tad (or a lot) obsessed
3. I am invincible because no one can “see” what I am doing
4. I am unemployed/not happy with my current job/career. I need a distraction
5. I want make you feel inferior
6. I am a tad bit (try a lot) delusional
7. I just want to justify my status. So I'll instill fear in you
8. I want to embarrass you
9. I cannot deal with my own problems, so I will give you a problem too
10. I am just curious
So why provide you with their point of view? What I'm trying to get to here, is that it's not our fault as to why we have stalkers. But even so, I'm not saying that we should go post whatever we want online now and start keeping everything on public. Ultimately, it's the stalkers curiosity that leads him to his own frustration and obsession of stalking and threatening. So it's never our fault if someone out there decides to stalk us. However not our fault, we should still take extra precautions as to how we can lessen the likeliness of having a stalker. And we can do just that by:
- Not sharing personal information in public spaces anywhere online, nor give it to strangers, including in e-mail or chat rooms. Do not use your real name or nickname as your screen name or user ID. Pick a name that is gender- and age-neutral. And do not post personal information as part of any user profiles.
- Being extremely cautious about meeting online acquaintances in person. If you choose to meet, do so in a public place and take along a friend.
- Making sure that your ISP and Internet Relay Chat (IRC) network have an acceptable use policy that prohibits cyberstalking. And if your network fails to respond to your complaints, consider switching to a provider that is more responsive to user complaints.
- If a situation online becomes hostile, log off or surf elsewhere. If a situation places you in fear, contact a local law enforcement agency.
Source: CyberGuards and QuitStalkingMe
