> I was getting some weird responses from people who went through a lot of effort to track me down

I'll just say that this is not new. Some decades ago I wrote a Letter to the Editor in my local paper about a local issue. As per their policy, it was published with my real name. I got several anonymous letters sent to my home about it, plain envelope, typed, no return address. None were out-and-out crazy but they all clearly were from people who had at least one or two loose screws and far too much time on their hands.