Word: Dox

dox

or doxx

[doks] 

verb 

Slang. to publish the private personal information of (another person)or reveal the identity of (an online poster) without the consent of that individual: The professor was doxed by a bitter student who failed her class.

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              Alicia read the forum post, then read it twice more.  It really said what she thought it did.  Her eye twitched.  The poster was an obvious troll, there was no doubt about that.  Normally, Alicia could deal with such people.  But this one had made a mistake.  This one had gone somewhere even Alicia could not forgive.  The troll had insulted her cat.

                Alicia’s cat, Mr. Fluffer, lay on her bed, blissfully unaware of the insult to his feline pride.  But Alicia knew.  Oh yes, she knew.  And she would not let the troll escape unscathed.  She would have the revenge the cat was unable to attain on his own.  

Her fingers ran over the keyboard, each one hitting its intended key.  A blaze of text ran across the screen.  In a matter of minutes, she saw everything about the troll.  She knew his name, his address, his phone number, his search history.  Every single thing that a computer could record, she knew.  Out of pure curiosity, she perused his history of forum posts.

He was a sad individual.  He was a notorious troll in every forum he posted, and his life outside the internet was just dull and uninteresting.  Yet, Alicia felt no pity for the man.  He was the worst kind of troll online, no matter what he was like in real life.  Alicia was all too familiar with trolls.  Some of them she even had a grudging respect for.  They could take insults to new heights of refinement and creativity.  They created an art form using anger and insult.  But this man?  Not this one.  This was a troll of the lowest order.  Crude, crass, uninspired.  He left a trail of insults without a hint of creativity or respect for the craft.

There were many punishments she could inflict upon such a troll.  She could be petty and change all his passwords, or she could be devious and evil and forever ruin his finances and credit.  But no, neither of those extremes was warranted.  She needed something else.  A slow grin crossed Alicia’s face.  She knew what she needed to do.  Her fingers once again flew over the keys, creating a virtual home for information.  The troll’s information.  After a mere twenty minutes of work, every bit of information on his computer was laid bare to the world.  Anyone with internet access could find out anything about him, provided they knew what to search for.

She stored it all on a single, newly created website that was linked to two computers: hers and his.  His computer would steadily upload new information to the site, and hers would control what was put out and where.  She sent choice pieces of particularly embarrassing information to a wide range of places.  Places where it would be seen.  Places where he was known.  Places where he was hated for his words.   

Her work completed, she leaned back in her chair.  Mr. Fluffer sat up and stretched long.  The light grey cat looked at her momentarily and then moved from the bed to Alicia’s lap.  She scratched him lightly under the chin, feeling the cat purr through her clothes.  The cat knew.  Somehow the cat knew Alicia had defended his honor.  And both of them were satisfied.

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For those who don't know, a troll on the internet is a person who actively tries to make other people angry when posting on any online format.  It's a loathsome practice and nobody likes a troll.  But I also don't really think it warrants such an extreme response.  Others might disagree though.