I'm honestly beginning to think that people simply don't like me. From being betrayed by the person I looked up to, now I'm being harrassed on PMC? Um...okay. That's...nice.

Ah, haters. We all know 'em. But for many of you, you've never had to deal with one yourself. I hadn't either, until yesterday.

PMC is well-known for having the nicest community of Minecrafters out there. That doesn't mean it's perfect. The bad apples still exist. And when you enter a place like chat, things can start to...heat up.

To protect the user's privacy, I obviously cannot say their name or share any screenshots of what has happened. I will, however, share as much of the story as I can through my words.

It seems, as of lately, I've been establishing myself a name on PMC chat for being active, helpful, and friendly. That's super cool. But with attention comes the goods and the bads. 

I was doing my normal routine on chat, really: talking to other members and scouting for any rule-breaking posts. It was great, getting to know everybody else and having fun just messing around while abiding to the rules. There were a couple of moderators on, and all was fine and dandy.

Suddenly, though, a member shot me a whisper asking if I knew any good servers to play on.

I was on General Discussion with him, and I never even spoke to him once before. Talking about servers on General Discussion is against the rules, so despite feeling slightly bad that I couldn't give an answer, I reported the message and waited for the moderators to deal with it. And so they did, apparently giving him an infraction in the process.

The member realized I reported his message, though, and he was not happy about it. He proceeded to send me another whisper, sarcastically thanking me for the infraction and apologizing for "emotionally disrupting" me by asking for advice. Then, he told me he wanted to discuss this in a place where he couldn't get infractions and asked me for my Skype.

Now, after that...rude reply, I was in no mood to talk to this guy about servers. Right as I was about to report his message, I got a surprising whisper: a moderator was viewing our conversation and advised me not to give out any details about myself. She informed me that they were dealing with this and apologized that I was in the middle of this.

Taking the moderator's advice, I did not give out my Skype, and politely told the user why he got an infraction. Instead of moving on, the user then informed me bitterly that he received another infraction for mouthing me off and would be banned if he got another one. Now here's where it gets really crazy: he blamed me for his infractions. The user told me that he hadn't gotten one in three years and "thanked" me for breaking that. I was getting quite annoyed at this point, but I kept my cool very well and asked him to please leave me alone. I also advised the user to discuss with a moderator about his infractions, hoping he wouldn't continue being rude to me.

The user responded saying he already did, but to no avail, and the infractions were marks on him forever, even though I let him know that infractions only stay active for a month. He then said that those marks shouldn't be there, clearly not understanding his mistakes. He even sarcastically said that asking about a server and making a "passive-aggressive" apology was apparently against the rules, to which I said that it was a sarcastic apology and was rude.

After this point, I don't even really get what happened. The guy decided to get all philosiphical, saying stuff along the lines of how you perceive things and that I had no wisdom in my life. I was very freaked out. I had enough, really. I shot another whisper to the moderator asking if she was still viewing the conversation, and told me she was and to tell him he was causing me discomfort. So I did. Twice. After the second time, he finally gave up.

It's not something that often happens to normal users on PMC chat. But some members, like me, build themselves a reputation and fall into "trouble" with other members who have a bone to pick with them. And let me tell you how I felt about this whole ordeal.

I'll be honest: I have never, ever, been treated like that before. I'm used to people being nice to me, always. Receiving something like this - especially due to upholding the rules - well, it was a new experience for me. It taught me a lot of things about other people. For once, I was being shown that not everybody liked me on PMC, despite how hard I tried to be likable. There's always somebody that ruins it for you. But that's okay; I'm not perfect, nor is anybody else, and if we were perfect and everybody liked each other, then life would get boring quite easily.

Now, I'm not exactly saying I liked being "hated" on yesterday. It was new and intruiging, that's all. But the conversation actually scared me. Like I said, at the end, the guy was getting very strange and creepy to the point I almost wanted to leave chat despite the new experiences and all the fun I was having before. But a part of me was proud of myself for how maturely I handled the situation. I didn't flame back, I didn't say anything offensive, I didn't complain. I complied to the rules fair and square, and everything was alright.

This doesn't mean I thought - or even think - I am more important than other people. I'm not trying to brag with the above statements, I'm really not. What I'm trying to say is that I am trying my best to help people on PMC, and most of the time people don't like that, and stuff like this happens. When it does, I have to deal with it the best way I can, and I'm happy about the way I'm dealing with the negativity I've been receiving. There's no trickery or hidden motives here; I'm speaking in the best way I can. Please try to understand that.

I want to say something to the moderator who was there to help me. Thank you so much, really. I know I've already told you this, but without you there lending me some basic advice, I would have probably been a lot more scared than I ended up being. It sucks you have to deal with stuff like this on a daily basis. And to all of the other moderators, you guys are amazing too. A lot of you I know very well on this site now, and I'm quite happy seeing you on chat often and calling you my friends. It's awesome.

I don't want any of you to ever have to experience something like this, but if you do, I have some advice.

* Do not flame back. This is exactly what the "hater" wants you to do: to provoke a reaction to get their "revenge". Knowing you're upset makes them feel way better. Instead, calmly respond back trying to explain their mistakes to the best of your ability. it's even best if you barely respond at all. If they continue, ignore them.
* Do not minimod. Never make a public announcement about a person's behavior. You may think that you are helping the moderators be aware of a user's actions, but instead it makes you look vindictive and childish to other people's eyes. This does not impress a moderator.
* Do not tell the "hater" that you are reporting their messages. Doing this will only get them more upset and give the moderators more to deal with. If you're in a case like mine, a moderator is likely to be viewing the conversation already, and they don't need to know that the "hater" is aware that they are being "stalked" for bad behavior. Keep your mouth shut and let the moderators do their jobs in silence.
* Do take screenshots, if necessary. It's not always likely that a moderator is actually viewing a whispered converation. If you need to, whisper a moderator on chat with a screenshot of the "hater's" posts so they can see evidence that the user is doing something wrong.
* Do keep your cool. Losing your patience will not make the situation any better for yourself. It won't make you any better than the "hater" is and could make others think that you're childish and immature, just like the "hater" is acting. If you want to speak to the "hater" (or the moderators) in the best language possible, be as respectful as possible and work your way through the issue. If you do this, moderators will be more willing to work with you to fix your problem.
* Do report and block the "hater". Doing this will ensure that they can never bother you again, and you won't have to deal with their behavior anymore. The "foe" option is there for a reason; use it. Reporting a message also ensures that a moderator will be able to view and remove any unwanted posts by the user.

Thank you again for reading this. If you have any questions about "haters" or bullying, feel free to comment below or even PM a moderator. I'll see you guys later. PEACE OUT!