Roberta Teller and Diana Glassman want to give plaudits to the website Brand Yourself....www.brandyourself.com. It has proven to be a very user friendly site with live person support a phone call away.....and if they are busy, they really do call you back in a very reasonable amount of time. The staff is extremely helpful-especially for people like us who are not computer savvy. THANK YOU, BRAND YOURSELF! You really are making a difference in helping us reclaim our names on the internet where we were maliciously defamed by a cowardly jerk. You have helped us tell our story in an easy and friendly format......
Roberta Teller: Victim No More - Overcoming the Trauma of Cyberbullying
I started these blogs to counter the anonymous vile, homophobic posts that were written about my partner and me by an obviously very sick person who viciously attacked us online when we chose not to purchase her home. We were well within the legal time frame of the real estate contract and cancelled during the inspection period. We were silent for over a year and now plan to expose the damaging effects of being cyber bullied.
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Friday, March 23, 2012
Saturday, March 17, 2012
ROBERTA TELLER discovers DIGITAL ASSASSINATION
Well, what a surprise that I just discovered a brand new book on the market called, DIGITAL ASSASSINATION: Protecting Your Reputation, Brand, or Business Against Online Attacks written by Richard Torrenzano. Need we say more....?????
To quote him, "In the future-which is now-everyone will have their 15 minutes of shame."
We kinda liked it when everyone had their 15 minutes of fame......
We're headed to his website right now..... www.digitalassassinationbook.com
To quote him, "In the future-which is now-everyone will have their 15 minutes of shame."
We kinda liked it when everyone had their 15 minutes of fame......
We're headed to his website right now..... www.digitalassassinationbook.com
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Roberta Teller's Thoughts about Cyber bullying
I was just reading through the comments that many of you have made and I have to say that it really warms my heart to get all of this support around an issue that has given both of us so much grief over the past year...an issue that we really at first did not want to share since it was so ugly. And I have to say that as much as we "got it" that the woman who wrote this stuff was obviously disturbed and very angry and a real homophobe, it was nonetheless really upsetting to google our names and to see this trash written about us. And even though we knew that we had done absolutely nothing wrong, that we had acted with integrity and within the parameters of our rights, it still ate at us and made us feel bad and embarrassed when we saw it online. And so that's really what it's all about i.e. bullying. The Nazis did it systemically and people do it all of the time...kids are victims, elders can be victims, anyone can be a victim since we all have sites of vulnerability within ourselves. I think that minorities (lesbians being a minority) and all vulnerable groups (the elderly, kids, people with disabilities, racial and religious minorities, etc.) can be even more vulnerable to attacks and bullying, and unfortunately that seems to be one of the main tactics used historically to keep minorities "in their place". Hence the development of the KKK, the Nazis, Rush Limbaugh etc. etc....you get the point! Victimization works by marginalizing people so that groups feel badly about themselves internally, and people are pitted against each other so that we're made to feel separate and can then blame the "other" for whatever is wrong in our lives.
So yes you see it all over the place on a systemic level and of course the systemic sickness always percolates down to the individual level.
So thanks again for your support and keep on clicking and commenting on this blog.
So yes you see it all over the place on a systemic level and of course the systemic sickness always percolates down to the individual level.
So thanks again for your support and keep on clicking and commenting on this blog.
Friday, March 9, 2012
Roberta Teller Asks for your Help
Diana and I are taking aggressive actions to counter the horrible blogs that were written about us. We cannot do it alone and we really need your continued help. As you know, I created this blog and have asked you to click and write comments. And I believe that it is helping. I've noticed that with ongoing clicks and comments, my blog is moving up when you google my name. Initially, you couldn't find my blog, now it is near the top of page 2. Unfortunately, this has not been helping Diana and I have now created a second blog, dianaglassmanovercomes.blogspot.com where I just copied some of the posts from my individual blog. Once again, I am asking that you continue to click and write comments. If you were so inclined, you could copy your comments to both blogs. Really, if you just wrote a word or two, it could really make a difference to us. It is very easy and you can do it anonymously. So here is a reminder of how to anonymously write a comment.
- Simply click on the links above.
- Select a post and click on "comments."
- Write your comment.
- Look for the "comment as" section. Scroll to anonymous and click on it. This is for those of you who don't have a google or wordpress or other accounts and want anonymity.
- Click "publish".
- Write the words/letters to confirm your humanity.
- The comment will not be posted until I approve it-obviously a safety measure for us.
And there's another strategy where we can use your help. We really would like Google to remove these vile blogs and if enough people comment, maybe it could work (we are still pursuing other avenues). You can do this without clicking on the blogs and drawing more attention to them. So here is what you can do, once again with anonymity.
- Go to Google and search for blogger Content Policy Report Abuse.
- Click on Reporting Abuse. Blogger Help
- Scroll to bottom of page. Click on the link named, Click here to report abuse.
- The next page lists various abuses....click on hate and violence
- Click continue.
- Write the URL which is as follows... http://thebeardedcarpetmunchers.blogspot.com.
- Click submit.
Thank you for your help.
Roberta and Diana
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Roberta Teller's Story of Cyber Harassment
OUR STORY OF CYBER HARASSMENT
We cannot tell you WHY we were cyber bullied-that is something that only the sick person who created these posts can answer, However, we CAN tell you what happened. Here is the truth.
In late July/early August of 2010, we were briefly in contract on a property in Mendocino County. During the inspection period, we did just that; we began the inspection process. During this period, it became clear to us that this 2 bedroom/2bath home would not work for us for several reasons:
- When we made the offer, we believed that it woud be within our budget to add on an office or workshop space. We discovered that it would be very expensive to do this and we couldn’t afford it.
- Upon returning to the home, we realized that it was just too remote and we were concerned that we would feel isolated.
- The home was relatively new and some of the construction was still outgassing from the toxic building materials that were used.
We cancelled our contract a week after the offer was made, well within the legal time limit. The sellers signed off on the agreement.
In October 2010, my partner googled our names and discovered these horribles posts. We were completely shocked, mortified and sickened by what we saw. At that time, we were living in a (vacation) rental in Guerneville as we had sold our home in Berkeley at the end of August. Most ot our belongings were in a storage unit in Emeryville, and we still hadn’t found our dream home. It was a difficult and challenging time by itself and these disgusting blogs added another layer of unrest and stress, to say the least. So here we were, spending much of our time and almost all of our energy looking for a home; we were feeling dislocated and ungrounded living in this state of limbo; and now, how do we deal with this cyber attack on us?
We talked to “reputation management” companies and they wanted between $1500 and $1750 each to push these vile posts to pages 3 and 4 on Google. Our attorney wrote a letter to Google requesting that these posts be removed and our request was rejected under the guise of “free speech.” We spoke to at least 8 attorneys who basically agreed that it could wind up costing us a lot of money and could stir up the sicko blogger and what would stop her from writing more blogs about us......An attorney friend of ours suggested that we take her to small claims court because she libeled us.
The truth is we really hoped that it would just go away..........and it never did.
It’s now almost over a year and a half since these disgusting blogs were posted about us and it is now our time to stop the cycle of (cyber) abuse. We want to tell our story because we are not alone. Cyberbullying among children and teens is a growing problem causing terrible injury to innocent young people. And cyber harassment (that’s adult cyberbullying) has prompted a multimillion dollar reputation management business......what does that tell you?
At this time, the vile blogs are still there and we are countering with our own blogs. The story is evolving every day and while we cannot change the past, we can shape the future and maybe make a difference along the way.
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Roberta Teller and Diana Glassman Write a Letter to Their 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.
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