An Open Letter to my Friends

An Open Letter To My Friends

Last October, Diana "googled" our names and was shocked and sickened to discover two disgusting, vile and homophobic posts about us written by a very sick person with whom we were briefly in a real estate contract in August 2010.  During the inspection period, we determined that this property did not meet our needs and we therefore legally cancelled the agreement and got back our earnest money.  This person, an obviously very skilled blogger, and a hateful and cowardly person, sought retaliation against us with several anonymous posts on the internet.  For the past year and a half, we have considered various ways to deal with this.  We had an attorney write a letter to google and were informed that "free speech" superseded our rights.  We discussed the situation with reputation management websites and got quotes on interventions.  We sought advice from  several attorneys and honestly, we just hoped that it would all go away.......and it didn't.

I am only now admitting to myself, and now to others, the extent of the pain and suffering that this has caused........shame, humiliation, fear  and impotence - to name a few emotions that have surrounded me. A couple of weeks ago, something shifted for me in a very big way.  I got it that I  had become a classic victim of a bully- in this case a cyberbully. I had become afraid of doing anything, didn't tell or talk about it, and kept hoping that it would just stop. Next, I flashed back to my years as a teacher and remembered how I never tolerated bullying behavior in my classroom; how it was so important for me to find ways to empower the victims and also to help integrate the bully into the classroom in a positive way.......I strived for a win/win for all.  And truthfully, it usually worked. 

And then I got mad, in a good way.  I said to myself and aloud to whomever would listen.  "MY NAME IS ROBERTA TELLER AND I AM A VICTIM NO MORE.  And so, this became the impetus for my new blog.  robertatellervictimnomore.blogspot.com. 

The main purpose of my blog is to reclaim my name and to tell my story loud and clear.  I hope that if someone googles my name that the disgusting, vile post will be countered with the truth of what happened via my blog.  

And so I am writing to ask your support.  I know that you are very busy and whatever you can do to help, would be much appreciated.  

The more people click on my blog and the more comments that are written,  the more likely it will move to the top of the page when you google my name.  

So, some things to do:

1.  Click on my blog regularly and write comments.  These comments can be about cyber bullying, or you could also make a comment about our integrity i.e. countering the awful blog that was written about us.  Anything along these lines would be greatly appreciated.

2.  Send this e-mail to your friends-those who you think would be willing to help us. 

3.  If you know anyone who has experienced cyberbullying or has legal expertise, please ask them to contact me.  

4.  If you know of any resources around this subject, please feel free to share on my blog