I think I messed up

[Mourningstar]

This is a little embarrassing. If I'm posting this in the wrong place, please move it. The other day I got a private message from user Darningdarling1318. They seemed pretty normal and friendly but in hindsight, I think they might be a bot or a scammer or something. They invited me to this cross stitch group they were in which sounded really cool and they said they had free discount codes for new members. I assumed they just misunderstood what red thread was and I've recently been getting into cross stitch myself so I was really excited to meet someone who seemed to know a lot about it. I know I'm an idiot but I clicked the link they sent me. It looked legit. I entered my name (handle not real), agreed to the terms and conditions and then it just sent me to a page not found. I realised after that it might not have been legit, I'm an idiot. I changed my password immediately and blocked them but people should be careful if they send you any messages.

Since then I've felt a bit off. Things feel a bit..bland? I have no idea how the two could be connected but since then I haven't really felt anything like happiness or sadness or anything, just nothing. Food doesn't taste of anything and the world just feels kind of grey. I don't think I've been dreaming and the weirdest thing, which is going to sound crazy, I think animals have been acting weird around me. A couple of times now dogs have been barking at me for no reason, even my neighbour's little border terrier which is the sweetest thing in the world and always happy to see me. I was at my friends this morning and her cat seemed scared of me, again she's always been really friendly in the past.

I really hope I'm just sick or something and maybe my imagination is connecting dots that aren't there. If that's all it is and I feel myself in a couple of days then I'll feel really stupid again and I apologise. I'm just a little concerned and really wish I hadn't clicked that link.

[BlackGlass]

There’s an old idea in folklore about threads binding the soul. Spinners, weavers, and tailors appear in myths far more often than most people notice. The Fates cutting a thread. Witches stitching curses into cloth. Names sewn into garments.

When I read that spam message earlier, I thought the phrase inside it was odd:

skin is the prison of the undevoured.

Not the sort of language someone uses when inviting people to a hobby group.

And now you describe the world feeling “grey.”

If this were a story, it would sound like someone cut a thread they shouldn’t have touched.

[Mourningstar]

I didn't even see that. well, shit

[NullSaint.exe]

That’s actually pretty typical. Humans are terrible at noticing anomalies inside otherwise normal patterns. It’s called inattentional blindness.

Someone could put a completely bizarre sentence in the middle of a paragraph and most readers would skim over it if the surrounding text looked routine enough. Spam bots exploit that all the time.

[Mourningstar]

Well I’ve got a doctor’s appointment booked so hopefully I’m just being paranoid. The things I read on here probably don’t help with an already overactive imagination. I need to try and get some sleep.

[Fly_Mulder]

I'm going to take a wild guess and say you didn't happen to read the T&Cs (like 99% of the rest of us)? If you have that link still, it may be time to revisit it and see if you can review what they said.

Terms and Conditions can be considered a Legally binding contract so long as they don't override statutory rights or exclude liability improperly. I'm morbidly fascinated to think that they're also "binding" for other contractual styles.