Hello Everyone and welcome to another edition of Privacy Tips, the sister podcast for Stupid Sexy Privacy.
I’m your host, BJ Mendelson
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Now, my friends …
So in an earlier episode, I told you about the difference between a Troll, a Goblin, and an Ogre.
We're not really concerned with Trolls in this series. A troll is someone (or a bot) that you just want to score an RBI on (That is: Report them to the Platform, Block them, and then Ignore their existence. RBI.)
A Goblin requires some additional steps.
For example, understanding libel and defamation law within your country – We're primarily focused on the United States in our series — and understanding how to document and log instances of harassment here. We'll get to the legal stuff in future episodes
Once the harassment reaches a certain point, you need to bring that documentation with you to the police and lawyers.
No Documentation, No Case.
So fFirst I have to show you how to track this stuff.
Later in this series, we'll also talk about using Hunch.ly and Page Vault. We're not quite there yet.
So the following discussion is going to have an asterisks next to it. We're going to revisit it later when talking about those two options.
When documenting Goblins and Ogres, if you have the money to do so, you should use Page Vault (which is the best option), or Hunch.ly (which is a good option, instead of taking a screenshot. Screenshots are the worst option, but better than nothing.

Page Vault and Hunch.ly both offer free trials. So if you need either of them temporarily, those free trials come in handy.
For now, and for today’s episode, a spreadsheet and screenshots are fine. The key is to keep everything organized.
-You want to create a folder with the name of the person harassing you.
-And create a folder for each date an incident occurred with that person.
-Make sure each file within that folder is properly labeled like I'll show you in this article.
Your Spreadsheet Should Include the Following Information
Name the File after the person that's harassing you. So, in the example from today’s article, we’ll use the name "Denise Chance"
Since your spreadsheet could become a legal document, don't guess with the name. Use the one the person bothering is using.
Next, you're going to create a spreadsheet with Five Columns. From Left to Right they should be labeled as:
Date & Time (Duh)
Platform (This could be email, voice mail, texts, social media, however the Goblin or Ogre reached you.)
Content (So this is Word for word of what was said. Although we're not big on AI, you can use something like Riverside's free Audio & Video transcription tool to transcribe a Voice Mail. Just make sure to listen, or have a friend listen, to ensure the accuracy of the transcript before adding it to your spreadsheet.)
Feeling (This is actually really important when speaking to the police. Did you feel threatened? You should say that here.)
Name of File (Be specific, include the date, time, and person name. For example: "730DeniseChanceFirstPost733pm" is the date, the name, the order of posts, and the time it was posted.
In the article that goes with this episode, you can see what the spreadsheet looks like.
(And yes. I know. It's a Google Sheet. We'll talk about more secure and private alternatives to Google Docs later. This is just for demonstration purposes.)
Now, every time my new Sock Puppet friend — a fake account being operated by a person or bot — pops up, I update my spreadsheet.
When "Denise" and her comments escalate into libel and defamation, that's when I'd take it to a lawyer.
When "Denise" and her comments escalate to specific threats of violence, that's when I take it to the police. (Note that some police want there to be at least three instances of a threat in order to demonstrate to a District Attorney a pattern of harassment.)
When I spoke to police about a Goblin, they stressed it was important to document how their comments and actions made me feel.
For example:
Did they make you uncomfortable? If so, Why?
Did they make you feel unsafe? If so, Why.
As much information as you can provide to a police officer, and later a prosecutor, about how the harassment impacts you, the better.
That makes Column 4 the hardest to fill out.
First, because you need to start by describing the content as objectively as possible.
So for example, "This is a screenshot of a Facebook comment "Denise Chance" posted on July 30th at 7:33pm in a Facebook Thread. The content felt personally invasive and distinct from the usual trolling, so I decided to document it."
Your situation may be different. So here's a template to use:
"This is a screenshot of a comment on (Platform) by (Name) posted on (Date). In this screenshot/voicemail/video, you will see/hear (Name) do (put the specific action they did here.)
Only after you do this, can you then continue and explain your mindset:
So, "( insert Name) continues to threaten me in an aggressive manner that makes me feel unsafe and threatened because (insert your first reason) (your second reason) and (your third reason.)"
Be as specific as you can.
If you feel like you're in danger, say you feel you are in danger.
If you feel like you're being harassed, say you feel like you are being harassed and explain why.
And finally, if you did something to provoke the response, let the police and attorneys know that too.

Don't hide anything. Because if you DO go to court, you need to make sure the police and the attorneys have absolutely everything there is to make try their case successfully.

"Today’s episode of Privacy Tips was recorded in Hollywood, California and is sponsored by DuckDuckGo.
It was written, produced, and hosted by me. B.J. Mendelson.
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