HOW IT STARTED
I met Van Sciver in 2009 when I liked his Facebook page, which he uses to promote his work and increase his fan base. But he also picks on fans with put-down jokes, belittling comments and taunts. He seemed like a decent guy at first, when my ex-wife and I met him in person at a convention in Atlanta in 2010. We talked for a while, and he drew a picture of the Hulk for me. He and I had previously had some political arguments online, your typical back-and-forth, but in person, everything was fine. In public, he was on his best behavior.
We talked after that online from time to time. The exchanges were friendly.
Here’s a screenshot below of one of many conversations we had.
But Van Sciver would regularly post insulting messages on his Facebook page to troll his fans. Some of us would enter the thread, disagreeing and debating what he said. And that’s when his gang of friends would target individuals for harassment.
It was worse than the usual internet argument - they made insulting comments and personal attacks that were not confined to Van Sciver’s page. They sent vulgar, harassing messages to personal accounts, and the barrage was relentless. The attacks escalated into belligerence and aggression bad enough to cause me concern that these people might be dangerous. It is a pattern that can be seen time and again on Van Sciver’s Facebook page. He starts the argument, people fire back, then the goon squad pounces, bullying in ways that are wholly inappropriate and threatening in any forum, under any circumstances. WHO ARE THEY ? Their names are Kevin Oakley, Mikal CG, Kevin Nehring, and Christopher Hugh Varney. They stalked me, as they have others, by searching my internet presence and finding personal and professional information that they used to embarrass and insult for no other reason than they disagreed with me politically. Van Sciver and the goon squad call themselves conservative, but they’re a disgrace to any honorable people who are evangelical Christians, who favor small government and low taxes, and who support an originalist interpretation of the Constitution. Van Sciver and his gang posture themselves as tough guys who use obscene humor to attack whiny, weak liberals. The plan would work better if they were actually funny. They’re not. Among others they have targeted are: Ian Auld, Steven Seitz and Randy Pare, who are guilty of the crime of not being conservative enough, and of having been fans of Van Sciver. Here is a private message, sent from a time when we were still semi-friendly, where Van Sciver admits he likes to mess with Ian Auld and also admits that he knows it becomes a huge problem.
Here’s a screenshot (below) of a forum post by some completely independent person who lays out how Van Sciver and crew do exactly what I’m describing. (Click to enlarge)
Others have commented how Van Sciver and the others are combative bullies who harass people with bogus accusations and constant spamming of their Facebook pages. (Click to enlarge)
Someone from his past even posted about how terrible he was growing up: (Click to enlarge)
Even on a totally different forum board, a year later. (Click to enlarge)
If you need any further proof that I’m not a whiner who can’t take a joke, just google “Ethan Van Sciver Internet Bully” and you’ll get about 10,000 links.. Here’s a link to a forum post titled exactly that “Artist Ethan Van Sciver: Internet Bully?” (http://www.ign.com/boards/threads/artistethanvansciverinternetbully.452504873/) ) – where Ethan vilifies a decent guy and manipulates people into physically threatening him, after already treating the guy like crap. I didn’t mean to write a history lesson, but I do want to prove that I’m not the only person he has attacked in ways that are unconscionable. WOMEN ARE TARGETED AND THREATENED The worst of their attacks are directed at women. The worst they sent me was a post describing my ex-wife being given a torture-porn facial. After my marriage broke up, they did the same sort of thing to my girlfriend. These “men” really like to beat up on women who have done nothing at all to deserve any sort of harassment. They have also placed vulgar, pornographic posts on the websites of my girlfriend’s family who have no idea who these people are or why they’re doing this. They did the same thing to wedding photos a friend of mine posted on his Facebook page. They have stalked me to other groups, where they have posted insulting, harassing comments. They did the same to the Facebook page of the law firm where I work, and to a side business I run. They have created false Facebook accounts in my name and posted the same sort of things as if I were doing it. I contacted Facebook, which did no good. It never does. VAN SCIVER’S ROLE Van Sciver plays the good guy in all this, saying he had nothing to do with any of it, that the attackers were just highspirited guys who sometimes go over the top. But that's the abusive way he strings you along. He makes manipulative comments like you’re just not able to take a joke, that the goon squad really meant no harm. In my case he contacted me directly, saying he wanted to fix things. Here’s a private message where he contacted me to get me to come back after they’d attacked me. He wants me to believe him that he’s not in on the whole thing so that I’ll come back and be the whipping boy again.
But he is without a doubt the ringleader, he orchestrates it all. He thinks it’s funny, and in some way, I guess it feeds his sociopathic narcissism and enormous ego.
And like any abuser, he will apologize, say he’s been misunderstood and paints himself as the victim. He has had his Facebook account pulled one time for bullying, and his goons created a page called “Give Ethan Van Sciver his Facebook page back.”
Eventually, he created another Facebook page and everything started back up again.
Below, he admits that Michael Nehring makes fake profiles to harass people. He also indicates that he and the others discuss, and probably laugh about this bullying: he wrote “Nah, it was just Michael, seeing if you’d be super cruel if given the chance.”
ETHAN’S FATAL ATTRACTION PERSONA
All I want to do is get away from these people, and in the conversation here, I initiate the break. But he won’t leave me alone. Ethan and his group continues to attack me over and over. Both on this page, but on my own page. One of his minions Nehring continues attacked me with some really personal insults, so I tried to ask Ethan to take it down. It didn't work. Since that didn't work, I made a status post on my own page about how Ethan and his goons are attacking me and adding my friends to their friends list to gather information and harass us all. With his own name on the line you'll notice he is in complete control of what Nehring (and others) post about me. And the exchange ends with HIM THREATENING TO CHOKE ME.
All I want is for him and his creeps to stop. But he won't leave me alone.
He kept coming back multiple times even though I told him explicitly that I want him to LEAVE ME ALONE. He went so far as to make a big post on his page about how I was his “Facebook Friend Of The Day”, which only called attention to the fact I’d left the page and created more drama.
The next day….he still can’t respect my wishes and go away. He messaged me again…at 1:22 in the morning.
I left the page again and I asked Ethan to never contact me again. I asked that he defriend me. I asked that he not contact anyone in my immediate family or circle.
But he kept contacting me, begging me to refriend him and believe that he’s not the source of all this.
Let that soak in. "NOTHING HAPPENS THAT I DON'T KNOW ABOUT."
Let that soak in too. Nehring has 4 IDs that Ethan will admit to. All this is just the beginning of the abuse and harassment.
After a year of my ignoring them, Ethan got back in touch and convinced me that all would be forgotten if I came back. He invited me to appear on his podcast “Vanscivertown.” I agreed. It was a setup. You'll find out more in the next post. PART THREE: http://phenomenalfx.weebly.com/blog/harassment-isnt-comical-part-3 This is the next installment in my request for help in stopping the online harassment myself and others are experiencing at the hands of comic-book artist Ethan Van Sciver. HOW IT ESCALATED – PODCASTS He said if I came on his podcast, it would not be bad and that I should just trust them. So I went on. I told them right up front that I would have to leave early. Everybody played nice, though there was a lot of tension, because everyone knew an argument could break out any time. I tried to play along, as Ethan said he is often the victim of attacks. He’s convincing. Ethan bragged about bullying Ian Auld. Ethan also described beating some guy up for insulting his wife, and then says sometimes his temper gets out of control like the time he bullied a couple of children on a plane until they became “petrified.” When I told them I had to leave, it set them off. They said I was leaving because I couldn’t take it. They denied I had told them earlier I had a previous appointment. On that false premise, they started abusing me after I left, and they kept it up in subsequent podcasts. In a second podcast, they talked about me being an effeminate wimp who couldn’t take the sort of manly repartee they engaged in. Ethan’s comment on manliness: “We called each other fags. But then you grow up and you realize that’s what guys do. You wouldn’t do it around your mom. It’s just gentle ribbing.” In another podcast, they accuse me of being a rapist. If you want to hear it go listen: Podcast #1 (https://soundcloud.com/vanscivertown/episode-11-uncle-toms-stabbin) Podcast #2 (https://soundcloud.com/vanscivertown/vanscivertown-012) Podcast #3 (https://soundcloud.com/vanscivertown/episode-301-iron-man-3-part-2) I've written a rather lengthy play-by-play for each of the podcasts that might be a bit much to read at the moment unless you really want to see how depraved these guys are. AND ON IT GOES Since then, the constant cyber-stalking and bullying have not stopped. At first I did not block them because I didn’t want the defriending to make matters worse. Members of the gang have put derisive comments almost daily on my Facebook page, my law firm’s page, my girlfriend’s page and and those of our friends and her family. Here's an example of what they do. Ethan and Nehring friended a friend of mine, Lita Rebello. Amazing cosplayer and even more amazing person. In a thread of Lita's, totally unrelated to me or the on-going dispute between myself and EVS, they begin making comments to make sure I will know that they have made a new podcast, this time bringing my ex-wife into the harassment. Another one of the crew, Nehring, who wasn’t defriended yet, plays along in concert with Ethan and brings up the podcast in a conversation that has nothing to do with any of their harassment. I ask them to stop, but that’s not what cyber-stalkers do. There is NO reason to find a totally innocent friend of mine and harass me through her posts! Leave her out of it. But Ethan and Nehring and the rest of these cyber-stalkers have no limits. They know NO boundaries. In fact, notice the reference at the end to the S&M Saloon. The S&M Saloon (it initials coming from the names of my friends Sarah and Mel) is a Facebook group and private watering hole So I have to put up with this very frustrating behavior any time and almost every time I want to use Facebook. And Lita is just one of many of my friends who bear the weight of this. It’s not just me. The further they go with this, the more people it affects. Ethan, is your life so sad and meaningless that harassing my friends is all you have to do? A month before this podcast, they attacked my girlfriend’s modeling page again. Here’s a screenshot. Read the greyed out parts, all written by friends of Ethan and spurred on by Ethan’s treatment of me: “Blink twice if you are being held against your will.” - implying I’m a kidnapper or abuser. “Those doe eyes are legally binding.” – another reference to my online dating screenname and the pet name “doe eyes” of someone I was dating previously. That’s CREEPY. “You geaux girl!” – Remember that name, Adam Kast. He’ll show up later. A harmless, if cheesy, comment. Still it’s posted to annoy us as Adam is an unwelcome guest on Margeaux’s page. Here are a set of separate comments made under the caption of her photo post. Comments attacking me with a fake profile by falsely accusing me of rape – on my girlfriend’s modeling page! That's right. This Natasha Knight person is entirely fake and made up. Just to accuse me of RAPING HER. No doubt it is one of EVS’s minions named Michael Nehring with one of his fake profiles. Or Ethan himself. I take accusations like that completely seriously. I would never do such a thing, but what's more, it could ruin my career. Think it's over? Nope. Not even close. Here’s an example from one of. EVS's minions. (His name is obscured because I’d blocked him.) I got more than enough of these from various members of the gang for it to be highly annoying. Clearly I tell them not to contact me, but they keep on doing it. Again they attempt to embarrass and humiliate me by referencing my online dating handle “Legally Binding”. If you listened to the podcasts, you'll remember that they tried this before. It was supposed to embarrass me for fear that secrets of my love life would be exposed. Here’s another exchange where I ask Ethan’s minion Kevin Oakley to leave me alone. He sends another message, attempting to sound nice, after I’ve told him to stop. Of course I blocked the annoying messages, but after I that, things got even worse. His minions resorted to making yet another fake profile posing as an exaggerated, buffoonish version of me. I reported it twice to Facebook, but nothing was done about it at all. It stayed up. At the time that it happened, I wasn't thinking of taking screenshots, so I apologize that I don't have pics of the abuse. Don't worry. I've got pics of further abuse later on. I tried once more to just ignore it but they escalated things by making racist, misogynist comments across Facebook that people started to believe were actually ME! Eventually I’d had enough. I wrote another status message asking Ethan Van Sciver to stop the harassment. His response? To threaten me. Again. (Remember when he threatened to choke me earlier?) I’m asking for him to stop the games, end the harassment, and this is the response he thinks is appropriate. He’s threatening me with lawsuits and talking about ruining my life. I tried to get the fake profile pulled down without success. They continued to create (or buy) fake profiles, send me friend requests, and carry on conversations for months, trying to monitor my life and make insulting comments on my page, and friend’s pages. When they get discovered, the profile is deleted and they make another one. Recently and out of the blue, I decided to check my Other Messages folder. What do you know, they’d just sent me a message from a new, fake profile of me that simply read, “Hi there. Hahahahahahaha.” Here’s the profile: Thanks to the overwhelming response of my friends, Facebook had to take notice and it was deleted. Just another in the ever-ending list of harassment. But it wasn’t over. They made another account with my name and posting something vulgar on my girlfriend’s Facebook modeling page: Notice the fake name? Jalfred Jalfie Jorris. Yep it’s the same guys alright. They made another fake profile. And they’re referencing the “Daddy” talk that Michael Nehring used months and months ago. Apparently their pastime is fixating on me and my loved ones. IT GETS REALLY OLD QUICKLY. Back in January, I got a message in my Other Messages folder from one of Ethan’s trolls named Adam Kast. It went to my other folder because I’d already blocked him for harassing and insulting behavior. True to form, he tries to buddy up to me using the name of a mutual friend, and act like he wants to work everything out. The message below was sent in late January. Fast forward to a few months ago when I get an actual phone call from Adam Kast. At first I didn’t recognize the name, but I have a service on my phone that works as an immediate Caller ID. I answered the phone with a cheerful “Adam! Hey man!” because I thought it was a cosplay friend from Facebook. When he hung up immediately, it dawned on me exactly who it was. Another of Ethan’s henchmen. Moments later I got a text from someone asking for legal representation. I won’t spoil the fun though. Read a bit. Remember, “Nothing happens that I don’t know about.” – Ethan Van Sciver So EVS & his crew have shared my personal online information, dating profile, and personal phone number with yet another person who his now posing as a potential client and harassing me on the phone. Where does it end? Oh it doesn't. They continually make more and more and more fake profiles to harass me, my girlfriend and my family. Here's one. And they use it to make posts on my girlfriend's pages. I post a picture of a foam armor commission that I'm proud of finishing? They post with the fake profile to insult me. I make a post about my little dog, Bean...and they respond with more fake posts to mock me. They insult me with mocking profile pictures, based off insults they've made before. Trying to hint that I have a droopy face or jowels. I post a picture and a comment about my girlfriend... And they try to insult her by shaming her with a picture of someone who looks different. (For the record, I don't find the picture ugly, but they are of course trying to say she's fat) Think that's the only fake profile? Nahh, braah. So let's see what they have insinuated above:
So now I'm Hitler apparently. WHO HAS TIME for all this. To make new profiles. To go find pictures and write inflammatory posts. Wondering if they kept going? They did. And another.... And if there's some lingering doubt that this was directed at my girlfriend as well, here you go. Remember. Each one of these profiles contacts my friends and family in order to friend them. So they see all this and it gets really insulting. The whole thing gets very meta. One profile will post on another guy's profile. And they post on one of the other profiles that is cyberbullying me. IIt gets very, very tiring to deal with this multiple times a day. Check out the comments below. Surely they stopped there, right? Funny you might ask. So this continual cyber-harassment and abuse has gone on for years and years.
I've not feeding the trolls for years. And they came back. I've tried asking politely for it all to stop. It never does. I've tried contacting Facebook. It doesn't help. But you can. I hope. The last installment will explain how. PART FOUR: http://phenomenalfx.weebly.com/blog/harassment-isnt-comical-part-4 How this has affected me
This crap goes on every day. They send me friend requests from fake profiles multiple times every day so they can make harassing comments for no reason at all. I’m tired. This wears you down. They sent my girlfriend comments saying they’d like to “F--- her right in the p.---. And that’s not the worst of it. How would that make you feel? They use multiple fake profiles to reinforce fake profiles so you don’t know who’s real and who’s not. I don’t spend all my time Facebook, but it is the best way for me to communicate with friends, family and clients, to promote my businesses and causes I believe in. Van Sciver will no doubt claim he’s not responsible for the actions of others. But the fact remains that he created this situation and has done nothing to control it. He does it because he gets away with it. There’s nobody to stop him. Schoolyard bullies don’t stop without some authority figure cracking down. Neither will he and his goons. HOW YOU CAN HELP Share this post and spread the word that Ethan Van Sciver and his gang are internet bullies and cyberstalkers. Share it on antibullying pages or even comics/cosplay Facebook pages. Blog about this on Tumblr or the web. Submit it to a group or organization that could pressure these jerks into stopping this harassment. I truly believe that raised awareness is the best way to stop people like this on the internet. I will appreciate any help you can offer in spreading this post. |
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September 2023
AuthorThis blog is penned by Alfie Norris, the proprietor of Phenomenal FX. Any advice given is probably erroneous and you are risking your own death trying to duplicate any of it. Categories |