Being a person who worked to attain an English degree, I like to think I take the meaning of words with a bit of seriousness that might otherwise be considered going overboard. It's natural to be a critic, and, in turn, be open minded to other people's thoughts, positions, and logic.

What the linked article describes, in linguistic terms, is not harassment. At least not without examples. Harassment is a specific type of human interaction - it's negative, very much so. While there may have been actual harassment of the young author, what was quoted is not a description of harassment.

In plain English, the quote says "I received contacts by people I'm not comfortable being in contact with" and that is, to me, a worthwhile concern to have as a young person engaging in the online realm. Be it social, professional, or otherwise. When I had a dating profile that said "Not interested in under XX age or if you have children" and I got contacted by people who were in one of those categories, that's not really harassment - it could've potentially gotten to that point if I had responded or said some kind of derogatory comment - but it's a social interaction.

Writing online or in any public forum is a form of attention seeking. The internet is, after all, a communications platform at its root. However, this article frames unsolicited contact on open internet platforms as harassment, and that is not fair to the English language.

I'm not clamoring for specifics, nor disputing that the interaction(s) may have been uncomfortable. If there was legitimate harassment, that's a valid point and should not be cheapened, and an example, or "comments of a ____ nature" would simply be helpful. I've had my fair share in real life and online. What I am a stickler about is using loaded words inappropriately, because it does a disservice to everyone involved: It misleads readers and it brings the author's motive for such word selection into question. It hurts an otherwise constructive dialog.