@Maureen: You’re absolutely right — understanding the difference between those who get it and those who don’t is key. Unfortunately, as @LizStrauss pointed out above, the creepy ones are the only ones who have no idea they’re creepy!

@Karen: Yes, it’s the few bad apples that make it bad for all of us. Here I am, feeling extremely naive now, thinking that we were beyond all of that, but I guess the joke was on me. It IS all about respect, and why this medium of the internet distorts that reality for a lot of people is way beyond my comprehension.

@Chris: Given your volume of readership, I’m VERY curious to hear some of your similar stories. You must’ve gotten some of the creme of the crop!

@Amber: I think you may be right that there may be more of us dealing with situations like this than are admitting it. I didn’t give it much thought when I wrote this, it was written more or less as a “I’ve had enough!”-flavored rant.

@Liz: I wish there were some kind of subtle way we could inform these people they’re being creepy online. Unfortunately, as you well know, this extends beyond the context of the internet and into the real world, and these people just do NOT get it. It makes me wonder when and where they learned that behavior like this was OK and interested in exploring the underlying psychology of the entire phenomenon.

That’s the problem under it all.

Liz Strauss’s last blog post..Thanks to Week 169 SOBs

I’m not famous, even by internet standards, but boy do I get my share of the creepies. Like you, I have my phone number on my site and my facebook page, and that’s for business purposes. I need to be available. It’s even worse in a sense that my number on my site can be seen and found by anyone, not just “friends” on Facebook.

But I’m constantly amazed by how even people on Twitter think that your virtual connection is a permission slip to act as though you’re on an intimate basis. I ignore suggestive DMs and emails every day. Dude. You do NOT know me just because we share some taste in music that I tweeted about. I’m a hell of a lot more complicated than that, so please stop presuming.

Thanks for putting this out there. I’d be willing to bet there are even more that deal with it and never feel comfortable saying so.

Amber Naslund’s last blog post..Marketing & Execution in 2009

Boy, this post hits home. I feel for all those line-crossing moments that happen to be just because they’re nice or, gasp, a woman.

Thanks for the post.

Chris Brogan…’s last blog post..Small Town Superheroes

Karen Swim’s last blog post..Blue Days

I blocked some guy on twitter last week who I did not know. I just thought he looked like a spammer because he had tweeted once and then added 1K people the same day. A few minutes after I blocked him, my phone range. It was this guy in Philly asking what he had ever done wrong to me. Then he emailed me twice trying to set up another phone conversation.

Some people do not get it. Some people are creeps. Understanding the difference is the challenge.

Maureen Francis’s last blog post..Birmingham: Let’s Get Visual

@Joni That reminds me of Michael Moore in “Bowling for Columbine” where he walked around a town in Canada opening people’s doors just to see if they were unlocked!

Every time I think about how much some determined individual could learn about me on-line, I do get a little nervous. But social media is like anything else in life, it comes with risks. I figure all I can do is use my head, know what to do if something bad happens and make the best I can of it.

Danko Ramone’s last blog post..These bongs just seem wrong