Regarding sexual harassment

We've recently come across something that greatly bothers us. To the point where... Well, I'm making an announcement about it. Let me be very blunt here, because this isn't anything to be light-hearted about, or even remotely jokey. Sexual harassment is something that we recently have become privy to, thanks to a single user finally reporting this person. I am EXTREMELY grateful to this person, by the way. Now, as those of you with a keen eye may notice, there's recently been one of our first public bans. It is as follows: Now, I normally wouldn't make a show of things like this but there's something about this that bothers me. In the past 2 days alone, there have been 7 people messaged by this individual, if not more, all for the same reason - not all pushed this individual away, which is their choice, but all were lied to in some way, shape or form... Not only that, but some of the accepting individuals were underage. Two things - 1 - If you're underage, why the heck are you doing this kinda thing online? I get that it's interesting and new and stuff - but come on, have some damn dignity! I'm not even mentioning it's against the flippin' rules! Goddamn. Seriously. 2 - If you have someone being too intimate with you (eg. Trying to constantly hold your hand, or kiss you... And worse stuff, but I'm going to stop there) and you don't want them to and you make it pretty clear you're not interested, but they keep at it? REPORT THEM. This is sexual harassment. This is a violation of the law. Seriously. Report it. People who FAIL to report this kinda thing are basically SETTING UP THEIR NEXT VICTIM. Not everyone understands how to say no, or to disengage. Not everyone has the capability to stand up for themselves, for whatever reasons. To some people, this might sound stupid - but trust me when I say we see it at least once a week. That's one time too many time, PER YEAR... Let alone anything else.

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Now, I do apologise if I come off strongly on this, but the reason I do so is for two specific reasons. This post talks about two illegal acts, one of which some people have willingly allowed - some victims have actually pushed this individual away, but not reported it, allowing him to move on to new victims. Needless to say, this person's PMs are now being read through by Sei. Even if you delete a PM, it stays in the system. If you have broken the rules in any way, I am sorry - but you will be found. If you have not, but have had interaction with this individual and thought he was legitimate? Now you know better - and hopefully you learn not to throw yourself at someone without actually thinking first. Very blunt, I know. Very blunt, indeed. But there's no way to sugarcoat something like this. For that, I sincerely apologise.

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wondering if the banned person could be reported to their local authorities? & if you could check if their are other accounts being used from the same ip because if their are it could be the same person & you may want to check any accounts useing that same ip for unsavory activity

This happened to a friend of mine on the old PF. She met some guy via PF and then he sent her incredibly inappropriate emails. I know it doesn't directly involve the site but it was found out and if he ever messages her again he will be arrested.

@Neko, These are things that we are handling at our own discretion - all you need to know is that these things are not being overlooked, and the issue is being dealt with. @Grubey, The PF team can still assist with things if they are met through PF. All you need do, in such a situation, is contact us, and we'll do what we can - we may need information to do so, but so long as it's a legitimate claim, the information we require should be able to be provided.

Moon and Sun, this is stupid. Not this announcement, but the whole friggin' situation. I'm not sure what's worse: the [insert profanity here] who was doing this or the people who allowed him to continue his rampage.

I thank you Garthic and if anything comes up again I will notify the staff. The matter is resolved so it's fine now. Still thank you.

That's the thing, this is just one case. It's not resolved until we stamp it out completely. Hence we need your aid. We need people to step up and report these happenings instead of hiding away.

It's been a while since I last did any research on something like this situation appears to be (not knowing or needing to know full details) but I believe if staff wanted/needed to, they would be able to contact outside authorities ( especially if it turns out to be an of age user targeting those under age). However I'm sure our wonderful staff has gotten this all in hand now and is taking care of the issue well. There are places online that one can contact and report those committing such unsavory acts. To all who might read this comment Please read Garthics message carefully and be wary here on the internet. We would all love that everyone is nice and follows rules and is super awesome but sometimes that's not how it goes. My appoligies that I ran a tad off course there at the end.

I'm glad that the staff is doing this because if they didn't then the person will keep doing it over and over. and also if you haven't done anything wrong in the PMs then you will be fine it's there job to make this site better for everyone who uses it or for those who like Pokemon so again I am happy they know what's right and wrong.

Thank you, PFQ Team. Blunt is sometimes better... in this case it is...