Yesterday I learned that death threats were being made against me on Flickr by a new user who registered under the screen name "astromutmustdie."
[link to www.flickr.com]

Worse yet, the same person also left a threatening comment for my friend TBar1984 on his Flickr page (which has since been deleted).

Both TBar and I contacted Flickr about this, and though the threatening comment on TBar's photo has since been removed, the picture threatening me that the person uploaded is still there. Neither law enforcement nor Flickr seem particularly interested in doing anything about this, so after careful deliberation I've decided that enough is enough. As much as I have enjoyed being here, as much as I have enjoyed debunking astronomical nonsense, and as much as I have appreciated the friends I've found here, it's not worth the death threats, especially when people I call friends are getting hit by it too. Is this person probably all talk? Probably, but I'm not willing to bet my life on it.

I'm being threatened because some people don't want to hear the truth and feel threatened by it. I'm being threatened by someone who probably believes the government is hiding the truth, but ironically they are the ones trying to suppress the truth which was right in front of them all along. I'm not a "shill" and I'm not a "NASA agent," I'm just an amateur astronomer who speaks the truth, a fact known by those here who know me and those who have met me in person.

I will continue to support the GLP Observatory for as long as that support is desired. I'm not closing my account; I'll continue to participate in GLP Observatory-related threads and I'll gladly respond to any questions anyone has about anything via PM. I may also pop into voice chat now and then. In terms of actively debunking astronomical nonsense in threads though, I'm done.

Certain individuals of low character will probably celebrate this, and I have already been accused of faking the threats myself. Others will simply say I'm over-reacting and it's no big deal, but that's easy to say when you're not the one being threatened. What they fail to realize is that someone from here has silenced a voice for the truth. When there was a real cosmic threat, however remote, I talked about it (for instance, 2012 DA14's risk to satellites). On the other hand, when something wasn't a real threat, I said so even if it wasn't the popular thing to say.

You may not like the fact that Elenin was not a threat to earth, but that was the cold hard truth. You may not like the fact that there was no way 2005 YU55 was going to hit the earth or moon, but again, that was the cold hard truth. I'm sure much will be said in the coming year about comet C/2012 S1 ISON which isn't true, but this time I will not be here to help debunk it. I'm sure many others will though, and to them I say thanks and good luck.