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sad not the best of days ....

*sigh* i really need to just vent here right now, something i haven't done in a while, i know.

so i got this PM that scared the hell out of me at first! the topic was "we regret to inform you" and it started out stating that i had been reported! i racked my brain in panic, i hadn't done anything worthy of being reported? wth?!? but then... what if i had, or someone had decided they didn't like me and had found some excuse to report me? i was horrified at the possibility!
i was so worked up i could hardly read, but i scanned the rest of the PM quickly hoping to find some clue as to why i was being investigated.
what i found was a request for my password and email address. further more they wanted the password spelled out with dashes between it (l-i-k-e-t-h-i-s).
wait a minute ... i realized then that this might be a fake, a scam to get my log in info. as i got to the bottom of the PM i also found a note requesting that i remove all the items i had up for sale from my shop, "to make things easier for our staff," it said.
that was the clencher! i reported it as suspect of being a scam.
then i remembered a friend of mine on here who had been hacked. i decided i should fwd my friends (or her at the very least) the message so they could see what one looked like.
heck, i'd been wondering myself what one looked like on and off for some time now, esp after she'd been hacked.
i wondered how anyone could make a PM convencing enough that someone would overlook the obviousness of asking for a password. and now i knew.
that's when it occurred to me: as i sent the message to the afore mentioned friend, i thought, why stop at people i know? shouldn't i be warning gaia in general?
of course there are lots of warnings around, but i'd still wondered what one would actually look like, and some part of me thought that no one would be dumb enough to send such an obvious scam. so why not?
i copied the text of the PM, even the to and from, and posted it in the forums.
i figured a really good place to post something like this would be in the newbie section, because they'd be the most likely to need such a warning, right?
when i got there, i hesitated for just a split second, because i remembered this section was mostly for introductions. still, it was also for welcoming new members and i had given people warnings and advice in there before (though not quit like this i guess), and this really did seem like the place to post it, ya know?
so i went on a head, and was careful to open with a welcome for the new comers. i went on to say that i thought i would give them a warning as sort of a welcome gift. i talked about how i had received the PM and been so surprised and scared at first that i had almost rushed past the obvious clues. i told them to take this as an example and a reminder that the warnings they'd heard were true. not to EVER give such information out, and pointed out some traits about the PM which clearly gave it away as a scam.
well, i felt pretty good about myself, i don't mind saying. i've always really liked feeling like a provider or aid or teacher.
heck i like it so much i almost went into education, and then counseling! then i realized that writing was my true passion, and that i could both counsel and educate others in writing, thus reaching people through my favorite medium AND catching those that might not have been able to (either not comfortable or never having the had the chance) be taught or counseled otherwise.
that said, i figured i'd done my good deed for the day or week or whatever. i didn't even really expect a reply to it, i just figured ppl would see the title "warning noobies: example of a scam" and read it if they wanted to see the example or were curious, and afterwards they'd be like "oh well yeah that's obviously a scam" and latter on have something to pull from if they ever got a PM like that one. i believe i also mentioned some other types of scams in my intro ... yeah, i'm pretty sure, i know i was thinking about it anyway.
but yeah, so i left feeling pretty good about myself.
now a little while latter, i went to view my "recent topics" and re-hit some of my bump posts again, when i noticed that i had a reply to the warning i'd left in the noob section.
not thinking anything of it really, i went to see what they'd said.
and what i found was someone telling me i was spamming.... Spamming?!? i'd only meant to send out a warning! to do people a favor! i didn't mean to spam? and how was a warning spam anyway?
i guess i came across more angry then confused when i posted "wtf? how is this spam" and something about "just trying to do ppl a favor, gawd." anyway, so this guy gets on and starts backing the call up. he treats me like i'm an idiot! he basically says: duh, she's telling you your spamming, and points out that there are already a couple sticky notes talking about spammers and one of them already says not to give your info out. then he tells me to follow a link (to the sticky's i guess, i don't know i never tried it) and die.
well i get mad, because a "go die" statement and treating me like i'm a retard, doesn't set well with me. so i tell him that yes i already know about the sticky's and ... damn i don't really remember, anyway, it as something angery and clearly my telling him where to get off. then i say, if it's so horrible that i posted this warning to go ahead and report me.
cuz frankly i don't see how my post is spamming at all, so i figure he and she are being dumb/mean about it anyway.
so the girl comes back and says that she was just trying to inform me that it was spam or whatever and that spam was reportable, and since i had such a bad attitude that maybe she would report me.
i go back and reread her post and my reply to it, and realize that she must have read more anger then confusion in my statement, and i must have read more rude then informative in her's. so i figure, i should be nice at this point. for one thing, it was obviously just a misunderstanding, and for another i'd be estatic to get out of this stupid fight, and what's more to get out of it with everyone on good terms.
so i write her back and apologize that i came across angry. i explain that i hadn't been angry at her and that mostly it was that other guy whom i was upset over. then i ask her again, but in more clear terms, what she means that this is spam. i ask her if i should be moving the topic to another thread, and explain my afore mentioned motives for posting and for choosing to do so in the noob thread.
she's gone for a bit, and someone else gets on and tells me how to move the topic if i'm going to, and explains why my post would be considered spam. she's very matter-of-fact and very nice about it.
she says she knows that it would be a waste to put the topic in CB but that technically that was probably the only place it would really fit.
then the first girl comes back again, with a btw that admins have a different color of name.
i can't help but roll my eyes. well DUH i already knew that. i mean, that's how it is on other sites and mmo's. i spent a lot of time on flyff (an mmo) a couple summers back and saw admins running around with different colored names then the rest of us on a pretty regular basis.
i bit my tongue though. i say as nicely as i can that i figured this would be the case already, based on what i just told you, and asked again if she felt the topic should be moved. or rather this time i asked basically "so do you care if i leave this topic here?" i've yet to hear back from her....
i finish talking to the matter-of-fact nice girl, and a couple other ppl say similar things in a similar manner as her.
then one guy comes on and says that that's enough of that and that this is spam so let's just let it die.
it pisses me off that i'm concluded a spammer, but i don't want to fight anymore, esp not start a new fight, so i say fine, whatever, i'll leave this here then, sorry i didn't mean to piss ppl off, and let it die if that's what'll make everyone happy.

anyway, i just barely get this all done with (i hope at least) and i get a PM response from the friend i mentioned before. and she's all sad over a misunderstanding in which she was trying to help a friend of hers and he got mad at her for it. pretty similar to my situation really o.o so it's helping to talk to her about her's, because it's so similar, but i just felt i had to tell my story too.
i'm feel much better now actually. i don't know if it's all the writing about this, or the fact that a good bit of time has passed now, but i kinda think it's mostly the former.

wow, this is probably one of, if not THE, longest journal entry i've ever written on here. o.o i'll stop now :p