Chapter 16 – IP Addresses Of Essay Commenters (or, The Spy Among Us)

@gottiewrites 30/08/14

My latest chapter has been officially paused, because your recent comments have made me aware that Rob’s online behaviour seems to be slightly suspicious. I’ve realised that I should be taking this all more seriously. I’m currently working on tracking down more information on the HelpMePay data. I’m going to be contacting the authorities if I find anything truly concerning.

In the meantime, to record everything that’s happening in case this essay is important later, last night I made a note of all anonymous commenters’ IP addresses.

While I was making back-ups of all of my comments, I realised that I could use the IP addresses to work out where my anonyrat lives. The one who sent me the cease and desist letter back in chapter 7. I looked up the location, and it turns out they’re in LA.

Not just LA, actually. The IP address is registered to a familiar location. Rob and Nathan’s house.

Which means . . .

Hi, Rob? Thanks for the comments. I hope you’re enjoying the essay.

Now, as far as I’m concerned, this isn’t too much of a surprise. I knew already that he’s reading this essay. He stole my laptop, after all. The first anonyrat comment was posted the day after someone told Rob about this essay at ComicCon.

He’s fluent in fan culture from his LiveJournal days. We also know that he thrives on attention, so it’s not really shocking that he decided to check out a thesis written all about him.

Just to remind you, here’s the first comment my anonyrat left:¹

Anonymous To the owner of ‘gottiewrites’-

We are writing on behalf of RBC, who have filed for a permanent injunction against your website for unsubstantiated claims about the cast members of their TV show Loch & Ness. If the account and all associated uploads aren’t deleted within 48 hours, you will be liable for prosecution on grounds of libel and slander.

Please confirm within ten business days that you agree to comply with our request, or further action will be taken. We appreciate your cooperation in this matter. Though we recognise your enthusiasm for the TV show and associated cast members, we ask that you respect our desire to protect the integrity of our client’s intellectual property rights.

Yours sincerely,

Marcus Feinstein

This makes sense, too – he was trying to stop me posting about @silentwakes. The @silentwakes LiveJournal account was deleted the very same day that comment was posted here, as spotted by one of my hawk-eyed readers, so he must have taken it down the second that he realised I was writing about it, then tried to silence me with a legal threat.

When I proved that the lawyer’s letter wasn’t real, and continued to post the essay even though the @silentwakes account had been taken offline, he somehow tracked down my address and broke into my house instead and stole my laptop.

If you guys still need evidence that I’m telling the truth here, I don’t think you’re going to get much better than this. You can corroborate all of this for yourself – you can find the IP addresses of the comments above, and Rob’s home address has been posted in the comments several times by now.

Rob is literally here right now, commenting on everything I do. Everything I’ve told you is the truth. Please stop attacking me in the comments, both here and on that awful reddit conspiracy theory thread. It’s cyberbullying, and I shouldn’t have to put up with it.

I. Am. Not. Lying. To. You.

– gottie

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Footnotes