Hello Everyone

Although I am still on hiatus, I cannot ignore the situation unfolding around my former friend and mutual, Simon.

Several of my friends have reached out to me to let me know that the character that is Simon is currently falling apart, and many people are coming forward to anonymous blogs to discuss personal interactions with Simon.

My friends have asked me to speak on it, because as many of you know I first became mutuals with Simon several years ago and over that time became friends with Simon the character, or as close to friends as someone can be with what ultimately amounts to a publicity role-play for a book series.

Last year, I became uncomfortable with Simon as a person, as a character, and even as a business entity, and I began to distance myself from them.

The problem was that Simon had me sign an NDA (non-disclosure agreement) during our friendship in order to know the real person behind the character.

By the time I realized how deeply tangled a web I was in, I was unable to discuss it publicly without the very real consequence of legal retaliation hanging over my head.

I have seen others talk about Simon and their discomfort about the character on anonymous blogs, but I couldn’t work through it myself even with friends, because I was afraid that it would get back to them and that I could be legally liable for whatever “damage” Simon perceived to their reputation and business. In the last months, I have seen them threaten legal action at the drop of the hat, even going so far as to allegedly use metadata and IP tracking to hold people’s locations as leverage. I didn’t want that to happen to me.

I see now that Simon has essentially been “outed” and that their true identity is known and that they have left the site after making a brief and confusing statement.

Because I distanced myself from Simon’s social scene last year and finally committed to going fully no-contact with Simon personally in January, I can’t comment on this immediate situation because I genuinely have no idea what is happening.

All I can say is that I have been trying to untangle myself from Simon for some time now, ultimately ghosting them without discussion, and I am relieved to learn that people around me are doing the same. I feel that I can at least say what I’m saying now with the knowledge that other people will listen to and support me.

Although I’ve learned that the NDA I signed was essentially powerless and ultimately a manipulation tactic, I am afraid that in making this post, Simon will retaliate against me socially in lieu of any legal power. After troubling over this for weeks, I’ve decided it is a risk I am going to take.

I have reason to believe they may have saved and perhaps even recorded many of our personal conversations, even tracked my location, and although the idea of my private feelings and thoughts being public is humiliating, I am not ashamed of having shared them with someone I thought was my friend.

I know many of you look up to Simon the character and want to believe the best of them. I know many of you are going to tell Simon about this post.

I’m afraid that the truth is they are a troubled person who should not have as much social power and readership as they’ve amassed. I hope that they can get some help and untangle themselves from this double-life they’ve created, and above all I hope that they leave me out of it.

Thank you. I am going to continue my hiatus.