How do I feel? Well, at the moment, I'm in the middle of a panic attack about it. I haven't had one in long enough to forget how awful they are.

I feel extremely violated. Even though my nickname among my friends and colleagues is Skeptic -- and with good, good reason -- I try hard to believe the best about everyone until proven otherwise. It's easier for me to be skeptical about "facts" than people, although there are those who immediately push the "watch out" button for me.

I feel a little stupid. I have been online since the days of BITNET -- back when only universities and the govt. had email and chat capabilities, long before the Web -- and I guess in almost 20 years I have gotten a little complacent. I don't think twice about buying things online. I sign my real first name here, and my general location. Although I know from firsthand experience that email can be retrieved and read -- a former boss did it to me, wanna talk about violating trust? -- I won't send a postcard with identifying info on it, but I'll say anything in email without a second thought.

I feel extraordinarily sad for the 99.9% of good people on this site who are now questioning everything. I feel TREMENDOUSLY sad for my friend wi-fighter, the victim of a truly malicious person. I worry that I have p*ssed off someone here enough that someone will do something similar to me.

Overwhelmingly, I'm just really, really sad, and feeling a good deal less safe.



Candy