[kj] OT: My Turn in Hell

[Thomas Kennedy]

sorry to hear that Alex, hope your mom's health improves.......
   
  -Tom.
   
  p.s.  The cyber-stalker guy:  ???....good luck!

Alexander Smith <vassifer at earthlink.net> wrote:
  Hey Gathererz.....

I'm in a bad headspace these days, and am going out of my skull, so 
I'm going to vent here... thanks for reading, if you bother too. 
Certain names have been Googleproofed to prevent stalking. Bear with 
me on this....

There's some bad shit going on. On Friday, Mom went in for a routine 
check-up, and they found something. Given that we have a history of 
cancer in the family (my grandmother passed away from colon cancer), 
Mom's been going in for check ups pretty regularly for the past 
twenty years. In any case, they found something in her lower 
intestine. They did a sonogram, but it was inconclusive, so they 
thought they'd do a cat-scan. That was all fine and good, but in the 
end, Mom had a *SEVERE* allergic reaction to the dye they used. 
Things got very bad, very quickly and -- suffice to say -- we nearly 
lost her. She's spent the last four days in the hospital. They now 
want to perform a procedure to excise the offending bit from her 
lower intestine (and find out if it's lymphoma, as they're 
suspecting). Trouble is, they haven't nailed down a date for the 
procedure yet, so we're in a frustrating holding pattern at the moment.

In terms of the *OTHER* problem in my life, --- In 2002, EmmTeeVee 
news (where I've worked since the beginning of `06) published an item 
in the "For The Record" section (a daily round-up of small news-items 
that don't warrant full story treatment). This was an item about 
rapper MasterPee suing a "cybersquatter" who had reserved the domain 
name of a website (in this case, "n* l*mit records dot com") in bad 
faith (in other words, let's say Rob's Arse suddenly got famous, and 
some crackpot beat you to the punch and legally reserved the name of 
RobsArse Dot Com for his own devices and tried to extort money from 
you as a result). Blah blah blah, it went to arbitration, and they 
courts found in favor of MasterPee (ironic, as both the rapper and 
the label -- in 2007 -- are all but a memory). In any case, here in 
2007, we got a call last Monday from one Doctor D*** M**. Dr. M** was 
the *other* participant in the lawsuit (i.e. the "cybersquatting" 
opportunist in question). At the time, I should point out, I didn't 
know any of this, and Dr. M** came off as a perfectly polite reader 
with a discrepancy. He calls to say our item is inaccurate, and can 
we take it down. I ask him to forward me the link and we'll review it 
(stupidly giving him my e-mail address in the process).

Here's where the fun begins.

We review the item. Being that it's from 2002 , we have no record of 
who wrote it (For the Record items get no bylines) and -- fuck -- 
it's five years ago, for cryin' out loud. In any event, we do a bit 
of research, find the court documentation and find that our reporting 
is entirely up to scratch. I fire an e-mail back at the man, 
basically saying "thanks for your interest, but we reviewed the item 
and are standing by our reporting."

At this point, Dr. M gets nuttier than he's already been. He e-mails 
back saying that if we do not reconsider "deleting" the item (which, 
by the way, is something we'd never do. We'd correct or retract, but 
*NEVER* delete. We do have some journalistic integrity, after all), 
he would have "no choice but to gracefully meet with" me "in person 
to discuss the issue." This, to belabor the obvious, is simply not on 
the menu. At this point, I rope in my bosses and -- WAIT FOR IT -- 
our legal team. They review the e-mails and say "yeah, he's nuts -- 
engage in no further dialogue with him. We'll handle it from here." I 
sigh with relief. Prematurely, as it turned out.

Dr. M calls me again. I tell him that I've been instructed by my 
superiors and our legal counsel that I cannot speak with him and that 
any further grievances should be submitted in writing and blah blah 
blah. He's not listening. He tells me he's going to hire a private 
investigator to tail me around (who, to my mind, will be one VERY 
BORED private investigator). I hang up and tell all of this to our 
lawyer, who is swiftly becoming a good friend of mine.

Our lawyer's name is Vate. He's a black man. Married. That doesn't 
sound important now, but remember it.

In any case, a day goes by. Vate then asks me to actually RE-WORD the 
news item in question. It's not that we're altering our reporting, 
it's that we're more clearly spelling it out to avoid any possible 
misinterpretation. I disagree with this (give a madman an inch, after 
all...), but agree. Unsurprisingly, this does not sate Dr. M.

Dr. M continues to call and e-mail thinly veiled threats to BOTH Vate 
and myself. Vate alerts Viacom security and has my desk outfitted 
with a new phone (one with caller i.d.).

Half a day passes.

On Friday morning, we get a new e-mail from Dr. M, saying he's 
launched a new website. I'm named as a "racist", "anti-black", "anti- 
fat" and "anti-heterosexual" person. So is Vate -- who is black. And 
married. Nice, right?

Shortly after this, I start getting e-mails from an AOL address, 
claiming to be a reporter from the Chicago Tribune, asking if I want 
to respond. Vate checks with the `Tribune. Unsurprisingly, the 
"reporter" in question is not cited as one of their own.

So, basically, I'm being cyber-harassed. Vate also found the Doctor's 
OTHER site. There's a picture there of the guy. He's based in 
Tennessee and is of Zimbabweian descent.


He's clearly fucking out of his tree.


In any case, that's where it is now. I'm hoping the our legal team 
comes down on him like a fucking hammer, but in the interim, he's 
just being a creepy annoyance. I've excised all instances of my last 
name and my job's name from my own weblog. It's a fucking hassle.


That's the story. Thanks for reading/listening.


Alex in NYC

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