because i post fundraisers on my main, i’ve held off on making a post about this user since i don’t want to deal with rape threats all the time, but i figure i should talk about him* somewhere because his tactics have changed and more people are aware of the bots but unaware of what they are or who’s running them.
if you’ve recently received a reply from a bot saying variants on things like “rape is good for you,” “i don’t understand why you refuse to be raped,” “i don’t think you can be redeemed,” “i’m sorry you aren’t getting raped enough,” “you are so ungrateful to the nice men trying to save you from your rape deficiency,” “i don’t understand why you choose to die,” “you do not get to destroy other peoples bodies,” as well as generic epithets like “pedophile” or “groomer,” you’ve brushed up against the extensive bot network run by a tumblr user formerly known as cockslinger (or numbered variants, as he continued to evade bans).
i became aware of him last year, when he began to harass a trans woman i was following; this was after his second or third ban. he has described himself as “nero,” a trans man “from the 1990s,” and is on an apparent crusade to rid the website of terfs, a category which initially included anyone he perceived as a feminist, though recently he seems to have zeroed in on blogs that use radfem / terf tags. some of the bot blogs appear to be dedicated to the harassment of just one blog; they reblog anything these users have reblogged, adding their own commentary from a limited pool of generated responses. if you’ve received these comments on a popular post, this is likely the reason.
he is obsessed with rape, and this makes up the majority of his threats. on his old main blog, he used to talk about curing feminists via “rape therapy.” the ideology presented by his blog and bots is that all feminists are terfs, all terfs are pedophilic rapists, and only rape or death can cure them. i’m explaining this outlook so that it will be easier to determine when you are being harassed by him; i expect he will change tactics eventually, but the condescending paternalistic tone, as well as the content and context of the threats, have thus far been consistent.
if you get a reply from one or more of these bots, report them as spam. this is the quickest and most accurate way to get the blogs shut down. if you see that the bot harassing you is reblogging from one specific blog, you may also be able to report for harassment. a month or so ago, i would have recommended you block @/mellowclaritystalker, or @/mellowclaritycocker, which appeared to be his mains, but i can no longer find these blogs. if anyone has any information on what blog the bots might now be operating from, or how exactly the bots work, please let me know, and i’ll update this post.
*i’m using “he” because those are the pronouns this blogger has previously presented to us, and it makes the distinction between the blogger (he, singular) and the bots (they, plural) clearer. in using this pronoun, i am not claiming belief in the cover story this blogger uses; i think it’s likely that this is a misogynistic and transphobic troll trying to harass women and make trans people look violent.
