by Kristine Erickson
When I launched this website on July 9, 2018, the Contact page showed only the email address above. Every other page on the site included my name as the author, but I was afraid to add any personal info. I assumed I would be bombarded by haters.
On July 10, after receiving nothing but encouraging emails, I got brave enough to post a link to justiceforluke.com on my personal Facebook and Twitter pages. I wasn’t too worried about Facebook, because its privacy settings enable me to block out anyone I haven’t already accepted as a friend. On Twitter, which is more like the wild west, I again assumed I would be bombarded by haters. Instead, I was showered with likes and encouraging comments.
Six days after launch, my site has had 2700 visitors. I still have received nothing but encouraging emails and only three critical comments on Twitter. It’s almost enough to restore my faith in mankind.
Update Posted 7/28/2018
I should have known that fairytale world wasn’t going to last. Nineteen days after launch, my site has had nearly 10,000 visitors and 30,000 page views. The response has still been overwhelmingly supportive and encouraging, but I’ve also had the opportunity to confront the ugliness of the world face to face.
There was the SBNation MLB Desk writer who launched an F-bomb into my inbox and then proudly received the adulation of her Twitter fanboys and fangirls for her verbal assault on a 65-year-old woman who had simply emailed her a link to the open letter from Luke’s parents. There was the creepy man who emailed me under an alias, claimed to be a close friend of someone who knows the Heimlich family, and seemed to regard it as his civic duty to convince me Luke really is guilty. After I wasted my time on a polite email response, he pinged me on Twitter under his (presumably) real name and tried to start the same conversation in public. At that point, I figured out he’s a scammer, and I blocked him from addressing me there.
The people who make me sad are the ‘celebrity victims’ who harass me on Twitter for having the audacity to debunk the many falsehoods that have been published about Luke’s case. Their response to every allegation of a sexual offense seems to be perpetual condemnation and vengeful action. By broadcasting truth, supported by links to dozens of public documents, I’ve placed myself squarely on their enemies list.