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How would you like to be accused of being a “stalker”, and you were NOT allowed to defend yourself?

That’s what happened to me and now I know what it must feel like to be railroaded (unfair treatment), because after I was accused of being a “stalker”, more reckless and false speech spread to other Blogs and Websites beyond Amazon, leading to—for example—the following comment that is still there: 

“I thought this year could not top last year which was an epic year of Authors Behaving Badly but this week there were two incidents that made me feel sad – the first meltdown was with author, Lloyd Lofthouse who tracked down a reviewer who gave him a negative feedback on a review he posted. He was so incensed by this he then tracked down the reviewer’s workplace.” Source: Book Lovers Inc.com 

To tell my side, I left two comments on Book Lovers Inc.com: one on March 9 and a shorter one on March 15. Both comments are still awaiting moderation.

Here is my second—shorter—comment submitted to Book Lovers Inc. on March 15:

You keep using the word review. I did not write a review of that author’s book. I wrote a comment about one of the reviews and I never heard back from the person that wrote that particular review. It’s all in that post on my blog.

There is a difference between a review and a comment.

How would you like to be spoken to in this way?

2. you cannot debate on a rational topic

9. you were told that your reading skills were so poor that you could not get into 1st grade.

10. and one of those four anonymous people makes it clear that he or she was much more famous than you could ever dream of being and that you would never be as smart as he/her.

All of this happened before one of those anonymous people came to my Blog and left comments with two IP addresses.

I wonder how many people would be curious to know where one of his anonymous tormentors might live and who they are.

Do you have any idea how frustrating and helpless it makes you feel when you are attacked like that and they know who you are and where you live but you don’t know who they are and where they live?

And here’s my first—longer—comment submitted March 9:

You say, “the first meltdown was with author, Lloyd Lofthouse who tracked down a reviewer who gave him a negative review. He was so incensed by this he then tracked down the reviewer’s workplace in order for her to get fired.”

Actually, this is wrong and very misleading—a perfect example of how a rumor spins out of control and distorts the actual facts.

Let me make this perfectly clear, I have never tracked down a reviewer who gave me a negative review—not once!

In addition, you may click on the link for my Website/Blog and read all about this particular issue in detail (I copied and pasted that Amazon thread where this took place into that post).

In this incident, I tracked down an anonymous speaker who left a string of insulting comment—along with three others—about a comment I wrote about a review written for another author’s book on Amazon. It was not a review of my work.

When I moved the conversation to my blog and wrote about these alleged bullies that came out of nowhere about a month after my comment had been posted on an Amazon page of that other author’s book, one of four anonymous speakers—Anna Karenina—followed me to my Blog and left several comments and in the process revealed his/her IP address.

Out of curiosity, I did an IP location search and found that he/she may have lived not far from where I live. Then Anna Karenina left another comment with a second IP address, and I discovered that this time the comment originated from the San Mateo County Office of Education.

And yes, concerned, I called because I wanted to know if students had access to that wireless system and I was told “no” and that there was “no” way they could discover who sent that comment to my Blog. It ended there. I did not try to get anyone fired. I never even suggested it. Even if I had, it would have been impossible because “Anna Karenina” was an anonymous name.

During the conversation on that Amazon thread, I was told that I should consider therapy; I was told that I cannot debate on a rational topic; my comments were labeled “ludicrous nonsense”; some of what I wrote was called “nincompoopery”; I was accused of being a somewhat privileged white male; it was inferred that I was an “egotistical narcissist” and described as the “bloviating Lofthouse”, and I was called an “egotistical snob”.

In fact, Anna O’Karenina made it clear that she/he (I still have no idea if AK is a she or a he) is so much more famous that I could ever dream of being and that I will never be as smart as he/her.

I was also told that my ”reading skills were so poor that I could not get into first grade.”

Did I say some things that I regret. Yes, but I challenge anyone to find where I called any of these four anonymous speakers an egotistical snob, etc.

Two wrongs do not make a right and the four anonymous speakers were not innocent. And I had every right to know who my accusers were. The 6th Amendment to the US Constitution has a clause that says as much.

And the US Supreme Court has already ruled that the 1st Amendment offers protection for anonymous speech on the Internet but only if it relates to political speech.

What is considered “commercial” speech does not receive the same protections and is protected only so long as “the communication is neither misleading nor related to unlawful activity. … In addition, fighting words and obscenity are not a protected form of speech.

Note: after I mentioned on my Blog that I had used an IP Lookup to discover the possible location of those two IP addresses that belonged to the anonymous Anna Karenina, I was accused of being a “stalker” more than once by several anonymous alleged cyber bullies.

The last time I was accused of being a “stalker” was on March 27, 2013 on Amazon: “Bottom line is, people have every right to review and comment on your books and the way you stalk people.”

Once again, this issue was not about any of my books, reviews of my books or a comment on any of the reviews of my books. This started when I left a comment for a review of another author’s book. What followed was more comments—not reviews.

And you can read most of it here:

http://lloydlofthouse.org/2013/02/26/dealing-with-internet-bullies/

What is the legal definition of a stalker: “Criminal activity consisting of the repeated following and harassing of another person.”

Does looking up two IP addresses and making one phone call that did not result in discovering the identification or postal address of the anonymous Ana Karenina make me a “stalker” in the eyes of the law?

How could I repeatedly harass someone that I do not know? I still do not know where he or she lives—the postal address.

Now that we know the real meaning of the word “stalker”, let’s think about who the real stalkers are:

1.       The anonymous people that decided I was guilty of stalking, who then tracked down the listings of all my books on Amazon and voted YES for the negative reviews and NO for the positive reviews causing sales to drop.

2.       The five anonymous people on Goodreads that gave my latest novel, “Running with the Enemy” a 1-star rating and probably never bought or read the book (The evidence suggests this is a fact, because by the time these ratings went up only three copies of the book had been sold through Amazon Kindle and nowhere else.) And there are two 5-star ratings. How do you get seven ratings from three sales? If three of those ratings were made by people that read the book, that means four are from people that did not read the book.

3.       The anonymous alleged cyber bullies that continue to leave comments on Amazon recklessly and falsely accusing me of being a “stalker” (the last one was posted March 27) in addition to other insults of a personal nature. This morning I discovered that one of these comments was removed by Amazon and I did not ask them to remove it.

4.       The anonymous people that have continued to leave comments on one of my Blogs.