Dear Prudence,
A year or so ago, a small clique of people were nasty to me online over a piece of fan fiction I had written. They insulted and threatened me, and implied that I was a horrible person in real life for writing a story involving sex crimes. I did not react to them directly, but ever since then, I have not been able to stop following and trolling them online. They all have websites where you can send them anonymous messages, and just by sending carefully crafted messages, in varying “voices” both hostile and friendly, I have been able to provoke some hilarious textual freakouts and reported meltdowns from them.
However, I’m getting worried because at least one of them seems pretty mentally unstable and I would feel genuinely guilty if my vengeful and juvenile diversion contributed even partially toward them hurting themselves or anyone else. I’ve resolved several times to stop, but can’t manage to stay away from their sites for more than a week or two. What they said to and about me did genuinely hurt, and still does when I think about it, but the level of ongoing resentment and fixation I feel is frankly disproportionate. What should I do?