In October instagram sent me an email letting me know that they had selected me as a suggested user, and all of a sudden my follower count shot up from 9,000 to 31,000 practically overnight. I was really excited and flattered at first, but then I realized that most of the new followers were trolls -- serious trolls. I started getting bombarded with really rude comments and even though I got my brother to moderate them and block people for me so that I wouldn't have to look, I lost all interest in instagram. I dreaded logging in at all, even to look at my friends' photos. I e-mailed instagram to ask if they could reset my follower count back to what it was in October but they either couldn't or wouldn't.
So I decided to start a new private account. I've been using this one (scathinglybrilliant) for a little over a month and I love the peace of mind. I can log in now and talk to my friends, read my comments and enjoy my favorite app again. I hate that I am losing the 9,000 legitimate followers that I had built up over the last few years but I just couldn't see any other way of using instagram without being harassed. And just a heads up -- if you ever get featured by instagram they do give you the option of opting out. I wish so badly that I did at the time, but I had no idea how much trouble it would cause until it was too late.
Anyway, if you'd like to follow my new account it's scathinglybrilliant. I've only been approving public accounts right now but if you have a private one and you're a nice person just leave a comment here letting me know what your username is before you send your follow request and I'll approve it :)
