Shticky Guy,
I have a big problem. I have received some emails from friends over the last few days. But are they posters here at ywn or not, if yes then dont I have to report them?
Surely you can differentiate between an unsolicited, unverifiable e-mail and a normal e-mail from friends. This seems like an attempt to discredit the appeal for greater caution through a straw man fallacy.
That said…
Jothar,
Is it possible to stop the conflation of the Joseph/AYC/speculations issue with the real issue of poster safety which is what prompted you to open this thread in the first place (note your OP says “no need to mention names”)? The title of this thread, Be aware of stalkers/info stealers is important to discuss and can be done without naming names. This needless speculation about specific posters only adds fuel to those criticizing greater caution because of the Orwellian feel, and brings people who would otherwise agree with the message of caution to the other “camp”, since the caution appeal becomes associated with personal attacks.
If the moderators suspect a specific poster of harassment, perhaps they can close the problematic thread with a note saying, “if you have been contacted by posterX, please e-mail the moderators.” Nothing more. As for this thread, perhaps rather than focusing on specific posters, we can discuss more general things like warning signs that an e-mail may be phishing, posting with caution, etc.