Hello everyone...

I am sorry to say that I am going to have to have my profile deleted from this board as I appear to have a stalker...It is not anyone from here I am happy to say but I am getting hit with strange e-mails and messages to my home phone and mobile (god only knows how they found me) so obviously someone has put two and two together and found my personal references and put them to use...I have actually been confronted and quoted (on the phone) and I don't feel I can post anything further here and shall message the moderators to remove my details. No one here is at fault, this person is quite unconnected with Music but has made a point of searching me out... not that I have anything to hide but I prefer to remain like everyone else...PRIVATE unless I choose other wise.

I regret having to go but I cannot accept what has been going on and therefore I must say farewell. I shall watch the board with interest and wish you all well..

Kindest regards

Andrew

That's really horrible, Andrew. Why is there always someone to spoil good things?

I wish you all the very best in your music making; it's been great to watch your confidence grow over the months.

Hope you have a wonderful Christmas.

You have mail, and I wish you all the best for the future. This is terribly sad to hear

Very sorry to see you go, Andrew. I've always enjoyed your contributions.

Hope things get resolved soon. All the best.

Hope you feel able to re-register under a new name in future. And I hope your stalker goes away

Andrew, please keep accurate records of everything that's happened and report this person asap. It's very hard to remain completely anonymous these days. Your ISP and phone companies will have records that can be accessed with a court order.

It sounds like it's some sad little individual who feels so clever at deducing who you are and wants to show off.

But you could also take the attitude of 'So what?' After all, this is a music forum, not a financial website. You've done nothing wrong, so why be put off by some underachieving little cretin?

Ask yourself, what would Arnold Schwarzenegger do?

Yes, a loud altissimo E down the mouthpiece is a good start!


Steve

Come back under a new username! We won't tell anyone

Sorry to hear of your problems. Best of luck in the future, and I hope its not too long before you are back.

You have my sympathy and best wishes, but in your position I would not let such a slimeball hound me out of an electronic forum that I enjoyed.

But I might demonstrate that the "Mad" tag is not completely undeserved by putting some of my professional skills and contacts to work in finding the physical location of this nutter, and then making them very afraid.

The wiser course, as has already beeen recommended is to tell the police, tell the caller that you have informed the police, and keep meticulous records. Meanwhile, you should stay on the forum. It has lost enough interesting members already.

I'm sorry to hear that , all the best for the future and do consider the new username option

Don't go

Yes go on, let slip the dogs of war . Don't go AUK. This person already has your info, leaving the forum won't change that. You could just delete your personal details from your profile and carry on.

Have you considered that maybe this person thought they were stalking George Clooney?

Very sorry to hear that this has happened to you A.U.K.

And I agree with everyone who has said how much all of us on the forums will miss your contributions. I hope you can find a way to come back soon.

I can't believe you'd even contemplaite this!!!

Just ignore the saddo and carry on with your life, they will soon get fed up or committed to a mental hospital.

Don't go!

I'm sorry to hear this, A.U.K. I would recommend that you tell the police in the first instance. It is certainly worthwhile having the matter put on file. The police will give you a file reference number and even if they don't have sufficient grounds for charging him at present, if he turns up in real life, you can phone the police, give them the reference number and they have stronger grounds for charging him. He may be stalking other people as well, and the more people who report it, the better the picture that the police can build up. The very fact that he knows you've reported him to the police and had his details put on file may be enough to stop him. These people who hide behind internet personas are often cowards in real life.

What a shame this has happened, and your contributions will be missed. Do think about coming back in due course under a different name.

I hope you can get it stopped. Best wishes, particularly with your music-making which sounded as if it was really going from strength to strength.

I'm really sorry to hear that. Please don't deregister though...your posts are always interesting and amusing. If you make sure you don't have any personal details in your profile you should be able to stay anonymous here.

As for the stalker, as others have said, don't respond, keep records, no matter how disturbing the evidence.

On a practical note, a telephone answering machine set to "on" at all times helps a great deal. Friends will know that once they start to speak you'll pick up the phone if you are in, and if it is the nuisance caller they will know that their message is recorded for evidence. Unfortunately I speak from personal experience here (I won't go into details).

Generally these saddos lose interest after a while and disappear. In a small minority of cases the reverse happens and the activity starts escalating...if you suspect this is happening get to the police as soon as possible, keep them updated of all activity.

Above all don't let some other person's inadequacies curtail your right to a happy life.

Wishing you all the best. Don't let the *******s grind you down!

I'm sorry to hear this Andrew. We'll miss you, but I wish you well and like others on here, hope you manage to find a way back to this board in the near future.

I agree with the comment of contacting the police. Under the circumstances it would be a wise move.

Stalkers and weirdos of one variety or another are the reason I have avoided joining things like Facebook, MySpace and similar. Just not worth the grief that can arise as a result.

You will be very much missed!

Does your phone have a caller Id display?

If it shows "Withheld" don't pick up. Even if it is not the stalker, why would any of us want to talk to someone that calls us, but doesn't want us to be able to call them? It would be nice if you could send back an electronic message "Calls that withhold ID not accepted" without picking up, but the technology doesn't do that yet.

On the other hand, if the number is displayed the miscreant can be tracked. If it is a land line BT knows exactly where it is. If it is a mobile it can be located by the cell it is using, and unless it is a PAYG SIM it can also be traced through phone company records.

MT

Bad luck - come back soon.

I don't fully understand this caller ID thing, but in this area (with it's own exchange) you can arrange to accept only numbers that are not witheld.
I thought you could do that anywhere.
It is a pain in the neck if I am contacting people from my place of work to arrange an appointment because some recipient's phones reject the call unless I 'cancel' the anonimity by keying in a special number.

You can - if you're with BT it's called Anonymous Call Rejection. Caller Display is the cheaper alternative, or (as has already been suggested) an answerphone to screen your calls.

Sorry to hear that you're going through this, AUK. Go to the police, and keep as much evidence and as many records as possible.

Feel free to keep in touch if you need a tame clarinettist for anything (well, I say tame!), and hope to see you back soon

I have looked at your profile on here you have no personal information showing. so why run, surely they have then won. Can you block personal messages on here? It will be a shame to lose a valuable member of the forum.

So sorry to hear this Andrew - as others have said, I too have always enjoyed your contributions.

I hope you find a way to stay. And good luck in getting rid of the you-know-what.

That sucks.

I guess one of the issues is that if this person is already phoning Andrew up then anything else he says on here can be used against him as they already know who he is even without personal information attached (although that is a good way of warding off any new stalkers).

Hopefully you can come back with a new, clean username, but if the stalker has been paying any attention, they might recognise your writing style, and it's very hard to disguise that.

Everyone else has given good suggestions as to action you should take.

well I have been waiting for a moderator to get back to me regarding disbaling my profile but as of yet no luck...Thank you all for your kind words of support...it will in time get sorted out. I am not running but I don't wish to be monitored or feel that I am...

The situation is as follows...The police have been informed they and I know who this person is...this stems from a long time ago when I was in the theatre...if needs be the courts will deal with this.

The matter is in hand BT have been notified under the telecoms act of 1977 I think...My numbers have been altered and are now ex directory...all calls are screened by BT at this time...

I agree its a sad situation but I will not pander to it so a clean break will not prolong it....

Kindest regards

Andrew

Given our very different areas of musical interest I rarely end up posting on the same threads that you do - but I'll be very sorry to see you go. Your passion for your instrument and determination to do as well as you possibly can come through in every post, as does a sense of humour and a willingness to support others. I find it very inspiring even when it doesn't relate to me directly. I remember your thread about starting playing with an orchestra - I'm going through something very similar with a big band at the moment.

I wish you well with your musical (and other) endeavours in the future.

I hope you don't have to totally deregister