Netflix/Hulu/HBOMax/Prime (All Streaming Services) • Page 556

I might check this out despite the negative reviews because this bit about internet web sleuths has me personally interested. I posted this in the political forum a couple years back but it’s relevant:

“Late last year (2016) a family friend went missing and she still hasn't been found. I took to social media to defend her name from some of the slander I saw coming out of the woodwork from people who don't know her. One of those places was, of course, the cesspool that is Reddit (also the site WebSleuths). My username on Reddit was my real name because, when I first made the account (it was a few years ago), I wanted to force myself to only post things on Reddit that I wouldn't later regret having associated with my name.

That turned on me very quickly. Internet trolls took to "sleuthing" me, my friends, and my family members. I was accused of all sorts of heinous things from people I will never know or meet. They went through my Facebook profile (which was fairly open at the time but is now locked up tight) and found a terrible student film I made in 2009 about human trafficking. One of the actresses who had a secondary role in the short also happened to have the same name as the family friend who went missing. As a result, the trolls took to Reddit, Facebook and other forms of social media to smear my name. They claimed I was shutting down their inane theories because I was secretly hiding my involvement in the disappearance of said friend. Their claim was that the actress's name similarity and the thematic elements of my short film from 2009 implied I had harbored a deep obsession for this girl for years and then trafficked her. Naturally I thought this would blow over because it was so asinine. I was wrong. They reported me to the police, found my mother's phone number and called her, sent me messages telling me they were going to contact members of my family (one of them was my 80 year-old great aunt), and then, when other people on Reddit came to my defense, they began poring through my Facebook friends list in an attempt to link my friends to the people defending me. They stalked one of my friends (who was not on Reddit and had no idea what the hell was going on), found her place of employment and called her boss to complain about her and harass her. I had to message my family and friends to tell them to lock up their profiles tight because these people were nuts. When they weren't busy stalking me or the people I love, they sent me threatening messages and mocked my wife and son (who was not even two years-old yet). It was an absolute nightmare.”

I’ll add to this that, when I first started posting on WebSleuths I was referred to as a “Verified Insider” simply because I knew the missing girl and, in order to confirm you’re not there to troll, the moderators ask you to confirm your identity with them with a scan of your drivers license and a phone call. So I did that because I was, again, being accused of some bullshit on their forum. I confirmed who I was and that only served to make it so much worse. Eventually one of them contacted the girl’s father to ask him to meet for lunch because they said they had important information for him. He went and they proceeded to tell him I was dangerous and informed him of my student film. He walked away from it disgusted by their behavior. He knew I was just trying to help. I had made a video for the family involving their daughter’s friends (I worked in the film industry at the time so I had the resources to help and wanted to do my part) and knew I could help them get more views on their page. It worked, but, again, it only gave the websleuthers more ammo against me. They claimed I was trying to profit off of her family and that I was trying to seal the film rights to her story so I could gain some personal success. I know that the “True Crime” genre has absolutely taken off in popular culture, but it is TOXIC AS HELL. I have talked to so many people who have experienced what I went through and I combed through various forums on other cases wanting to see if there were similarities and, yep, it’s stomach turning. Complete and total strangers will stop at NOTHING to rip your life apart because they think they’re detectives.

 

Wow, that's fucking awful.

 

I have some fucking heinous screenshots of a lot of it. Kept it for personal protection in case they ever tried to drag me into court because I was THAT paranoid about them. Like literally to the point of thinking they were following me.

 

All that shit is horrifying, sorry you had to go through all that.

Was this case ever solved/resolved?

 

Holy shit

 

Unfortunately she is still missing, however they do have a man in custody they believe to be her killer. He was the security guard at her place of work for a while until the security firm was replaced. A month later he showed up in the parking lot on the day she disappeared, asking for a ride home because he claimed his car had broken down. Guy’s wife was in the hospital with cancer (she died a year later) and he was alone. So he asks for a ride home, she apparently said yes, and that was the last anyone ever saw of her. He pleaded the fifth and is currently in prison because, six months later, his DNA was discovered as a match to a separate case from a month prior to the disappearance. A woman was out jogging in a local park and he grabbed her, strangled her, attempted to rape her, but then let her go when she told him she was pregnant and begged for her life. The police sketch of him was an exact match too. He pled guilty to that crime but still refuses to say anything about the other case. The court case keeps getting delayed because of COVID which has been very frustrating to watch. It’s definitely him though. His phone was pinging all over the place that night and somehow her car wound up parked back in her spot at the apartment complex. They think he parked it there and then got himself a ride back to his own car because there’s security footage of him at a fast food restaurant nearby that same night where he’s seen throwing something away in the dumpster (believed to be her phone). The next morning he went to a ping pong tournament and then visited a Bed, Bath, & Beyond where he bought a new comforter to replace the one that was suddenly, conspicuously missing. The whole thing seems pretty cut and dry. He was a suspect pretty much from day one. I was at the search party for her (which is a deeply upsetting, terrifying experience in and of itself) and there were already rumors floating around at that point.

 

The map movie on prime was cute

 

Hah I sat down and was ready to binge what I thought was a 6 episode docu about Britney...

Only to learn its a single episode, part of a larger series.

Damn. Britney spears deserves 6 episodes. Its wild. Just last month I was reading her wiki and said "shit...there needs to be a Britney spears movie now"

Probably will be better to tell when she gets to say what she wants to say

 

I’m glad the Britney Spears doc was only one episode. I think Netflix continually proves that dragging out a doc into a whole series is a big ol waste of time.

 

The “Cecil Hotel” doc sucks ass. Like the worst part of the Britney doc is it giving credence to weirdo Internet sleuths in place of people with a connection to the case.

It all being done in that melodramatic tone with booming drums and internet dorks commenting on the mental state of person they never met - no thanks.

 

There's a part in the last episode where the coroner reveals the autopsy results as an accidental drowning with no signs of injuries or sexual assault, and one of the web sleuths is like "Are you an idiot! I've done dozens of hours of research on this case, this wasn't an accident!" And they say it with such sincerity, as if they truly believe that doing a couple of hours of reading on reddit makes them more qualified than the medical examiner.

I'm waiting for the Netflix doc that dives into these wannabe web detectives and how they ruin peoples lives.

 

I would watch the absolute shit out of that. It’s only a matter of time before someone makes it because there’s a lot to unravel there.

 

Finally starting Hannibal. How was this on NBC!? Lol

 

Exactly! That's one of the most frustrating parts is that it's gets so close to holding these web sleuths accountable, but lets them off the hook by saying "I was wrong. She seems like a nice person." Like, what about the musician whose life was destroyed?

 

So FUCKING good

 

I loved the show Hannibal in highschool, but tried rewatching with my fiancé the other month and it did not hold up for me. We gave up maybe halfway into the first season. Tons of cool visuals and great casting, though

 

First season of Hannibal is great. Second is good. Third sucks.

 

I wish I liked Hannibal but I just couldn't get into at all

 

I too felt like fuller got a little too concerned with the aesthetic and less the story - had it been a touch less stylized and a bit more direct I think it would have been even better.

 

Couldn't get into Hannibal either. Seems like a lot of gore with little substance. I know people say it gets better once the main plot kicks into gear, but the edisodic format in s1 was too much for me

 

the third season is the best season lol

 

I think that’s when they needed to be more direct to wrap it up? I can’t remember I just miss mags

 

Dude Washington’s 10 min rant midway through M&M is AWESOME

 

This last episode of 30 coins is really fucking stupid lol

 

Avatar the last airbender is so good