The cop politely took notes and said he would look into the matter. Ina told the police officer she was convinced that the electronic harassment was related to the graffiti, which would mean that whoever had spent hours of their life tormenting them online had also been to their house. And now, the apparent pièce de résistance: Someone had ordered them a pig fetus. The Steiners woke up one August morning to find that someone had signed them up for “Irritable Bowel Syndrome news,” “Satanic Temple membership,” and “Sin City Fetish Night Newsletter.” By day’s end, they had more than 50 such subscriptions. Several weeks later, the Steiners began receiving vulgar and threatening Twitter messages from someone going by the name Tui_Elei who claimed that the coverage on the couple’s site was harming eBay sellers. Fidomaster happened to be the nom de post of one of the website’s most prolific commenters, who regularly wrote angry messages about eBay’s policies and leadership.

As with any blog, the Steiners’ attracted its share of cranks.

It had all started in June, when David found the word “Fidomaster” spray-painted in black across his brand-new white fence in the front yard. David and Ina invited him inside, took a deep breath, and did their best to sound sane as they began to explain what was happening. “Would you like to accept delivery?” he asked.Ī few minutes later, a cruiser from the Natick police department pulled into the Steiners’ driveway and an officer walked up to their front door. When David reached the company by phone, the rep told him nonchalantly that the wet specimen in question was a pig fetus embalmed in formaldehyde. “Can you call back and ask them what this is about?” Ina asked. After all, the couple were hardly doctors or scientists-they ran an online trade publication and newsletter called EcommerceBytes, which covered companies such as eBay, Etsy, and Amazon. Neither of them had ordered a wet specimen, nor were they exactly sure what one even was. He had, and was just as confused and alarmed as his wife. It said that their “wet specimen” was ready and asked, Did they want to accept delivery? Ina, petite with short white hair, leaned over and pressed a button on the intercom between her room and David’s. One August day in 2019, Ina and David Steiner were in their offices at their Natick home when they each noticed an email pop into their inboxes.

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