5 ms·

This feels to me like a person with some sort of mental illness or breakdown and delusions of grandeur and persecution. Their explanation doesn't make much sens

This feels to me like a person with some sort of mental illness or breakdown and delusions of grandeur and persecution. Their explanation doesn't make much sense. If I were Daniel, I wouldn't respond any further.

Huwyt_Nashi021 6y ago
Without that last sentence, I would have assumed you were referring to the recipient, not the sender.
pmiller2 6y ago
Yeah, I agree. In his place, I either would have done nothing, or, maybe made a police report (not that I'd expect the police to actually do anything at this stage). Generally speaking, the less you antagonize someone whose first exchange with you is "I will slaughter you," the better, IMO.
- gspr 6y ago
  > maybe made a police report (not that I'd expect the police to actually do anything at this stage). Indeed. But one shouldn't underestimate the chance that this wouldn't be the first report about this person. Lots of similar reports like this may actually cause them to do something.
  - pmiller2 6y ago
    I agree, in the sense that someone who has done something of this nature is more likely to have done such a thing in the past. However, in this case, the victim is someone who is being targeted through his email address, which is embedded in open source software that's contained in gazillions of systems worldwide. That makes it significantly less likely that whomever he would report this to would have gotten another report about this particular individual.
- arp242 6y ago
  I once tried to have a conversation with a women who tried to drive me and my bicycle off the bus lane (where she shouldn't be driving in the first place); and shouted "fuck off you pissy little cunt" to me. For some reason I thought that if I explained my perspective, she would understand. It ended up with a broken back wheel (she kicked it) and a damaged phone (she took it out of my hand when I wanted to take a picture of the license plate and threw it on the ground). She was clearly unhinged, but I was stupid as well. I should of just let it go; no one who starts a social interaction with "pissy little cunt" is likely to be calmed down by reason. You have nothing to gain from trying, and much to potentially lose.
  - javajosh 6y ago
    A sad sentiment of giving up, but I think it is premature to abandon your approach. I think it may be worth trying for that small-ish fraction (call it 10%?) of people who can be talked back from their anger. Those are good conversations to have for both parties, and worth trying to have, even if it results in failure 90% of the time. That said, I think the real lesson for you is: don't make yourself more vulnerable (e.g. letting her touch you or your stuff) if you decide to try to start a conversation! It also points to a theory I've been considering about personhood, and how people like your driver lady is in a mindstate where, in her mind, you're not a person. It's a very, very dangerous situation, because if they don't think you're a person, then there is nothing immoral about saying or doing anything to you, including violence.
    - arp242 6y ago
      > I think the real lesson for you is: don't make yourself more vulnerable (e.g. letting her touch you or your stuff) if you decide to try to start a conversation! I didn't "let" her, she just did it. I know you mean well and that you probably didn't intend it like this, but this comment comes off as victim blaming quite a bit. As for the rest: thus far I've never managed to talk random strangers down from these kind of rages; but maybe I just don't have the charm shrug Last time I tried was with my neighbour and he ended up calling the police three times over a four-day period on me. My crime? I kindly asked him to not play his music so loudly all day long at the start of the lockdown (especially at 7am) and not backing down when he tried to shout me away. I had "invaded his home" by knocking on his front door... This isn't a fit of anger, some people are just like this.
david_draco 6y ago
He already responded by revealing the email and real name of the person, presumably without consent, aka doxxing.
- lou1306 6y ago
  If the person in question throws death threats around, and if that's their real name and address, then doxxing is the least of their concerns...
- sunir 6y ago
  That isn’t doxxing. You have no expectation of privacy if you send a threatening letter to another person.
  - eznzt 6y ago
    And you base that on what? At least where I live I can't even record a phone conversation without informing the other party, much less divulge it...
    - wizzwizz4 6y ago
      Publishing the emails is copyright infringement; I don't think it's any other crime. And good luck trying to get someone for copyright infringement when you're threatening them with “slaughter”.
    - gruez 6y ago
      Those are usually wiretap laws and only apply to voice. If you transcribe to text it's fair game.
- bryanrasmussen 6y ago
  as I understand he assumes that it is actually a throwaway account and fake name.
bartread 6y ago
I wouldn't respond but I probably would notify law enforcement and give them a copy of the exchange.
- javajosh 6y ago
  Well, maybe, but what about "Don't talk to the police"?
  - zucker42 6y ago
    That's if they are potentially investigating you for a crime. Sometimes, the benefits of talking to the police outweigh the risks.
    - ungamedplayer 6y ago
      If you honestly come across one of these situations, its very rare.
- notthegov2 6y ago
  Good luck telling local law enforcement that a federal officer bricked your iPhone or that plausible denial intelligence agents are threatening you.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
- furyg3 6y ago
  Yeah, I agree. There's probably not much they can do about it (and the individual will probably not end up taking any action), but in case he does, it's nice to have a police record of it all.
ChrisRR 6y ago
Sounds like someone who's developed a prototype which they had grand plans of selling for billions, which then got easily hacked because they don't understand security The $15k figure implies that's either a bill the hackers ran up on an AWS instance or what they valued their development at Edit: The blackmail line sounds like a ransomware attack
- meowface 6y ago
  I disagree. I think this person may not have necessarily programmed anything serious before in their life. Or if they have, probably not a defense project. If you read the follow-up emails - and apologies for the armchair psychiatry - I think this person is very likely in a psychotic state. Their messages sound very similar to what you find in the "BadBIOS" and other "gangstalking" communities. It's not really tethered to reality. I think it's extremely likely the author is not a troll and possesses a sincere and high-confidence belief that powerful entities are tracking and persecuting him and that backdoors in lots of software, including curl, were placed by sinister organizations and used to facilitate spying on and attacking him. The software is perceived as a WMD or pathogen partly responsible for this incursion into his life and the damage he thinks has resulted. He's mad because he thinks Daniel is like the mayor of Flint, MI: the water is poisoning people and he's doing absolutely nothing about it. Of course you'd be angry! This is why it's generally best to not reply to messages as extreme as these. Daniel will never be able to convince him he isn't actually the metaphorical Flint mayor. You just get sucked into a world that's very real to them and not real to you or almost anyone else. It's not possible and not a good idea to try to reason with someone like that.

Huwyt_Nashi021 6y ago

Without that last sentence, I would have assumed you were referring to the recipient, not the sender.

pmiller2 6y ago

Yeah, I agree. In his place, I either would have done nothing, or, maybe made a police report (not that I'd expect the police to actually do anything at this stage). Generally speaking, the less you antagonize someone whose first exchange with you is "I will slaughter you," the better, IMO.

gspr 6y ago
> maybe made a police report (not that I'd expect the police to actually do anything at this stage). Indeed. But one shouldn't underestimate the chance that this wouldn't be the first report about this person. Lots of similar reports like this may actually cause them to do something.
- pmiller2 6y ago
  I agree, in the sense that someone who has done something of this nature is more likely to have done such a thing in the past. However, in this case, the victim is someone who is being targeted through his email address, which is embedded in open source software that's contained in gazillions of systems worldwide. That makes it significantly less likely that whomever he would report this to would have gotten another report about this particular individual.
arp242 6y ago
I once tried to have a conversation with a women who tried to drive me and my bicycle off the bus lane (where she shouldn't be driving in the first place); and shouted "fuck off you pissy little cunt" to me. For some reason I thought that if I explained my perspective, she would understand. It ended up with a broken back wheel (she kicked it) and a damaged phone (she took it out of my hand when I wanted to take a picture of the license plate and threw it on the ground). She was clearly unhinged, but I was stupid as well. I should of just let it go; no one who starts a social interaction with "pissy little cunt" is likely to be calmed down by reason. You have nothing to gain from trying, and much to potentially lose.
- javajosh 6y ago
  A sad sentiment of giving up, but I think it is premature to abandon your approach. I think it may be worth trying for that small-ish fraction (call it 10%?) of people who can be talked back from their anger. Those are good conversations to have for both parties, and worth trying to have, even if it results in failure 90% of the time. That said, I think the real lesson for you is: don't make yourself more vulnerable (e.g. letting her touch you or your stuff) if you decide to try to start a conversation! It also points to a theory I've been considering about personhood, and how people like your driver lady is in a mindstate where, in her mind, you're not a person. It's a very, very dangerous situation, because if they don't think you're a person, then there is nothing immoral about saying or doing anything to you, including violence.
  - arp242 6y ago
    > I think the real lesson for you is: don't make yourself more vulnerable (e.g. letting her touch you or your stuff) if you decide to try to start a conversation! I didn't "let" her, she just did it. I know you mean well and that you probably didn't intend it like this, but this comment comes off as victim blaming quite a bit. As for the rest: thus far I've never managed to talk random strangers down from these kind of rages; but maybe I just don't have the charm shrug Last time I tried was with my neighbour and he ended up calling the police three times over a four-day period on me. My crime? I kindly asked him to not play his music so loudly all day long at the start of the lockdown (especially at 7am) and not backing down when he tried to shout me away. I had "invaded his home" by knocking on his front door... This isn't a fit of anger, some people are just like this.

david_draco 6y ago

He already responded by revealing the email and real name of the person, presumably without consent, aka doxxing.

lou1306 6y ago
If the person in question throws death threats around, and if that's their real name and address, then doxxing is the least of their concerns...
sunir 6y ago
That isn’t doxxing. You have no expectation of privacy if you send a threatening letter to another person.
- eznzt 6y ago
  And you base that on what? At least where I live I can't even record a phone conversation without informing the other party, much less divulge it...
  - wizzwizz4 6y ago
    Publishing the emails is copyright infringement; I don't think it's any other crime. And good luck trying to get someone for copyright infringement when you're threatening them with “slaughter”.
  - gruez 6y ago
    Those are usually wiretap laws and only apply to voice. If you transcribe to text it's fair game.
bryanrasmussen 6y ago
as I understand he assumes that it is actually a throwaway account and fake name.

bartread 6y ago

I wouldn't respond but I probably would notify law enforcement and give them a copy of the exchange.

javajosh 6y ago
Well, maybe, but what about "Don't talk to the police"?
- zucker42 6y ago
  That's if they are potentially investigating you for a crime. Sometimes, the benefits of talking to the police outweigh the risks.
  - ungamedplayer 6y ago
    If you honestly come across one of these situations, its very rare.
notthegov2 6y ago
Good luck telling local law enforcement that a federal officer bricked your iPhone or that plausible denial intelligence agents are threatening you.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
furyg3 6y ago
Yeah, I agree. There's probably not much they can do about it (and the individual will probably not end up taking any action), but in case he does, it's nice to have a police record of it all.

ChrisRR 6y ago

Sounds like someone who's developed a prototype which they had grand plans of selling for billions, which then got easily hacked because they don't understand security The $15k figure implies that's either a bill the hackers ran up on an AWS instance or what they valued their development at Edit: The blackmail line sounds like a ransomware attack

meowface 6y ago
I disagree. I think this person may not have necessarily programmed anything serious before in their life. Or if they have, probably not a defense project. If you read the follow-up emails - and apologies for the armchair psychiatry - I think this person is very likely in a psychotic state. Their messages sound very similar to what you find in the "BadBIOS" and other "gangstalking" communities. It's not really tethered to reality. I think it's extremely likely the author is not a troll and possesses a sincere and high-confidence belief that powerful entities are tracking and persecuting him and that backdoors in lots of software, including curl, were placed by sinister organizations and used to facilitate spying on and attacking him. The software is perceived as a WMD or pathogen partly responsible for this incursion into his life and the damage he thinks has resulted. He's mad because he thinks Daniel is like the mayor of Flint, MI: the water is poisoning people and he's doing absolutely nothing about it. Of course you'd be angry! This is why it's generally best to not reply to messages as extreme as these. Daniel will never be able to convince him he isn't actually the metaphorical Flint mayor. You just get sucked into a world that's very real to them and not real to you or almost anyone else. It's not possible and not a good idea to try to reason with someone like that.