No more anonymous comments

I've received a few emails recently from people saying they were unable to leave comments on my blog.  I'm sorry about this but there is no other way.  A few weeks ago I changed a few settings on my blog and removed the ability to leave anonymous comments.  If you can't leave a comment but have something you would like to say, my email address can be found on my for sale page.  

Sadly, I have to prevent anonymous comments because I am no longer willing to put up with the threatening and hateful comments that are being written by the leadership team of a church we left several years ago.  

After leaving that church, from time to time I would get a bunch of threatening comments left on this blog.  Some tell me to die, others tell me to kill myself, some call me an idiot, others ask me what authority I have to write anything.  They are unpleasant, but no one but me sees them, and I delete them.  I never thought too much about who may be writing these comments.  

One of the many nasty comments left by church leadership

Lately, when these comments are left someone also unsuccessfully tries to hack into my email and other accounts.  The comments were all 'anonymous', but nothing is truly anonymous nowadays.  

The timing of the last set of comments and log in attempts made me curious.  I don't know why I wasn't curious earlier, and I feel like a fool.

I work with investigators and cyber security experts, so I asked if they could tell me more about these comments and unsuccessful log in attempts.  They did whatever it is that cyber security people do, then they told me that the attempted log ins had originated from the town our previous church is in and gave me a few other details that link this to the leadership of our previous church.  I feel naive for not realising earlier that these comments were from the leaders of our previous church.   

A few things happened over the past few years that really should have tipped me off as to who was writing these, but I never joined the dots.  It is frustrating that five years after leaving I am still being harassed by the leaders of our previous church.  Their ongoing actions say a lot about them.  

If you are considering going to a church, be careful.  Make sure that you can leave if you chose to do so.  Some churches are great, others less so, and some like my previous church cross the line from being controlling and toxic churches into being manipulative cults that will harass you if you ever leave.  

If you can't leave a comment, feel free to reach out via email.  My email address can be found on my for sale page.