Also the type of channel or chatroom you enter may give it away that you are new. These are things stalkers pick up on pretty quickly. Being emotionally unstable is also easy for a stalker to pick up on. Being depressed, upset, abused and chatting about it in an open channel or chatroom where everyone can see, will have someone private messaging you to comfort you quickly. This is something a stalker will look for, weakness.
People looking to make friends or even find romance online are open to many types of stalkers.
We get so many emails from victims of an online friendship or romance that has gone bad and the other person involved is not wanting to end it. Victims always feel guilty as if they have brought this all upon themselves. They are wrong. A stalker knows what they are doing and tries to keep the victim feeling intimidated. This is how they keep control over their victim.