Dearth of a Salesman

Back when we first clamped the jumper cables to the shiny, titanium neck bolts of this creature we baptized as StopSwartz (RagingPsychoNeighbor dot com was already registered) we expected to be crushed beneath a storm-surge of first-person narratives from those Villagers who had experienced directly the malicious activities of Old Hickory’s Friendliest Duo. In other words, we figured that you, gentle readers, would flood these virtual pages with your own stories of stalking, harassment, and intimidation.

That didn’t quite happen. We were not overwhelmed with stories of bizarre and threatening behavior. We weren’t even whelmed. While there is certainly no dearth of these first-person accounts between you and a particular Swartz, you have chosen to maintain your silence so as not to incur further retaliation from the Riverside Misanthropes.

We know these stories exist. We’ve heard them with our own ears. You have shared them with us via email, over the phone, and in person. We have urged you to submit your account to the blog—change the details as necessary—but tell your story, reveal to the world how the Swartzs were behaving. We believed that the anonymous nature of this blog would enable you to share your pain.

Alas, each of you, to a person, declined. No one desired to stir the pot. If you believed you were flying below the Swartz radar then you wished to remain there. You didn’t want to reveal any detail which may allow them to match a blog entry with an individual.

The irony is that what they did to you was not unique. For every story of stalking, we’ve heard a dozen more. Did you catch them circling your block one night? You are not alone. We had hoped that by sharing stories this community could be educated to the Startzs’ nefarious tactics and be better armed in the fight against them.

And that is maybe where we have failed. We know these stories are out there; we’ve heard them. But we won’t air these tales without the permission of the offended. To date, no one (with one exception) has volunteered to tell publicly exactly how the Swartzs harassed them. We are left with little more than third-person gossip. While we are an anonymous blog, we like to think that we are an anonymous blog with integrity. We’re not just going to publish hearsay no matter how salacious it may be.

So, as we wrap up this blog, we simply wanted to apologize to you, our faithful readers that we couldn’t deliver the goods. We gave it our best. We appreciate your support.