To defeat trolls, we need to do more than jail them

[MiM]

I just don't get this cyber bullying thing. Ok, maybe for 12 year old girls, but adults? Someone is saying nasty things about you online? Tell them to go fuck a dead goat. Maybe it's just age, I couldn't give a rat's what 99.9999% of ground apes think about me. Or more accurately, what they think about anything, assuming you can call that 60 Hz buzz in their heads 'thought'.

If you are that kind of a guy, you can always tell an irl bully to go fuck a goat too, but not all people are that kind of guys. There really isn't that much of a difference between cyber bullying and irl bullying. Irl might come closer to your skin, but cyberbullying usually has a bigger audience and can spread faster and further. Both hurt real people in very real ways.

Even with full two-way anonymity cyber-bullying can have devastating effects on real adult people. Only a few days ago I encountered such a case on a forum with strong anonymity, where somebody sprung a very malicious "prank" on another user. That "prank" could have had devastating effects on the victim, who already was in a mentally vulnerable condition, and while it lasted the victims distress was definitely real. Luckily the case soon got found out and things could be put right, by a strongly supportive community.

[laklak]

Like I say, it's probably age-related. I was mercilessly bullied through the 8th grade, had a rather profound effect on me that lasts to this day. In fact it has more of an effect on me now than it ever did in the past, I am far less tolerant of assholes now than I was as a younger man. I have no problem telling people to fuck the fuck off IRL or online. I have no problem breaking someone's nose, if it comes to that. It's gotten me in a few dicey situations over the years, but what you gonna do? I don't like bullies and I don't back down from them. That said I'm not a fool, discretion is the better part of valor and I'll retreat if possible, but if someone gets in my face it will likely get ugly.

[MiM]

Wow lak, you just beat Seth at being self centered.

[piscator]

I just don't get this cyber bullying thing. Ok, maybe for 12 year old girls, but adults? Someone is saying nasty things about you online? Tell them to go fuck a dead goat. Maybe it's just age, I couldn't give a rat's what 99.9999% of ground apes think about me. Or more accurately, what they think about anything, assuming you can call that 60 Hz buzz in their heads 'thought'.

If you are that kind of a guy, you can always tell an irl bully to go fuck a goat too, but not all people are that kind of guys. There really isn't that much of a difference between cyber bullying and irl bullying. Irl might come closer to your skin, but cyberbullying usually has a bigger audience and can spread faster and further. Both hurt real people in very real ways.

Even with full two-way anonymity cyber-bullying can have devastating effects on real adult people. Only a few days ago I encountered such a case on a forum with strong anonymity, where somebody sprung a very malicious "prank" on another user. That "prank" could have had devastating effects on the victim, who already was in a mentally vulnerable condition, and while it lasted the victims distress was definitely real. Luckily the case soon got found out and things could be put right, by a strongly supportive community.

Of anonymous motherfuckers there for entertainment? Fucking surreal.

[cronus]

The key is to ignore anything from a anonymous source or at least downgrade its status internally. Not everyone can do that, especially if they are alone and therefore more vulnerable to shouts being put out by more self-confident trolls...seeking a audience.

[Hermit]

It's not so easy to ignore and relax when anonymous bullies publish your address, your parents's address and phone numbers, and perhaps what schools their children go to, along with their threats to rape and/or kill them. While one normally would not expect anything to come of them, this is not guaranteed, especially when the anonymous bully turns out to be a schizophrenic paranoiac.

[cronus]

It's not so easy to ignore and relax when anonymous bullies publish your address, your parents's address and phone numbers, and perhaps what schools their children go to, along with their threats to rape and/or kill them. While one normally would not expect anything to come of them, this is not guaranteed, especially when the anonymous bully turns out to be a schizophrenic paranoiac.

Don't put too much info on the web. I always put mis-info when I can. Appear dumber than you are to be overlooked, and with loons always agree they are right - nothing is lost. You know the world is full of bad, bad people. Dangerous individuals, groups, religions and governments abound. It ain't magic to stay safe online. Realism is enough, with regards the low average out there.

[Hermit]

It's not so easy to ignore and relax when anonymous bullies publish your address, your parents's address and phone numbers, and perhaps what schools their children go to, along with their threats to rape and/or kill them. While one normally would not expect anything to come of them, this is not guaranteed, especially when the anonymous bully turns out to be a schizophrenic paranoiac.

Don't put too much info on the web. I always put mis-info when I can. Appear dumber than you are to be overlooked, and with loons always agree they are right - nothing is lost. You know the world is full of bad, bad people. Dangerous individuals, groups, religions and governments abound. It ain't magic to stay safe online. Realism is enough, with regards the low average out there.

This is kind of a difficult thing to do when you are a public figure. Check out #gamergate, for example. Or some of the messages Richard Dawkins has received.

[cronus]

It's not so easy to ignore and relax when anonymous bullies publish your address, your parents's address and phone numbers, and perhaps what schools their children go to, along with their threats to rape and/or kill them. While one normally would not expect anything to come of them, this is not guaranteed, especially when the anonymous bully turns out to be a schizophrenic paranoiac.

Don't put too much info on the web. I always put mis-info when I can. Appear dumber than you are to be overlooked, and with loons always agree they are right - nothing is lost. You know the world is full of bad, bad people. Dangerous individuals, groups, religions and governments abound. It ain't magic to stay safe online. Realism is enough, with regards the low average out there.

This is kind of a difficult thing to do when you are a public figure. Check out #gamergate, for example. Or some of the messages Richard Dawkins has received.

Don't be a public figure. You don't need to put your own name in lights to have social influence, to have a life. My dad said if you don't like bullets keep your head down in the trenches. And he never even fought in the war, he drove a ambulance.

[Hermit]

Don't be a public figure. You don't need to put your own name in lights to have social influence, to have a life.

The social lives without the likes of Martin Luther King would be vastly different today for millions of African Americans. Malala Yousafzai may have a similar impact for women in Islamic communities. Should we advise public figures to shut the fuck up for the sake of their personal safety, or should we take whatever reasonable measures we can to protect them from being harmed?

[piscator]

It's not so easy to ignore and relax when anonymous bullies publish your address, your parents's address and phone numbers, and perhaps what schools their children go to, along with their threats to rape and/or kill them. While one normally would not expect anything to come of them, this is not guaranteed, especially when the anonymous bully turns out to be a schizophrenic paranoiac.

Well, that just happens sometimes when you go looking for internet emotional substance...That supportive sisterhood may be composed of paranoid schizophrenic bullies who will republish your publicly-available info the minute you infuriate them.

[Hermit]

It's not so easy to ignore and relax when anonymous bullies publish your address, your parents's address and phone numbers, and perhaps what schools their children go to, along with their threats to rape and/or kill them. While one normally would not expect anything to come of them, this is not guaranteed, especially when the anonymous bully turns out to be a schizophrenic paranoiac.

Well, that just happens sometimes when you go looking for internet emotional substance...That supportive sisterhood may be composed of paranoid schizophrenic bullies who will republish your publicly-available info the minute you infuriate them.

Would you please translate this?

[piscator]

It's not so easy to ignore and relax when anonymous bullies publish your address, your parents's address and phone numbers, and perhaps what schools their children go to, along with their threats to rape and/or kill them. While one normally would not expect anything to come of them, this is not guaranteed, especially when the anonymous bully turns out to be a schizophrenic paranoiac.

Don't put too much info on the web. I always put mis-info when I can. Appear dumber than you are to be overlooked, and with loons always agree they are right - nothing is lost. You know the world is full of bad, bad people. Dangerous individuals, groups, religions and governments abound. It ain't magic to stay safe online. Realism is enough, with regards the low average out there.

This is kind of a difficult thing to do when you are a public figure. Check out #gamergate, for example. Or some of the messages Richard Dawkins has received.

You make your choices, you live with the results. Dick understands that. That's why he's not out in front on this narrowing of free speech.

[JimC]

It's not so easy to ignore and relax when anonymous bullies publish your address, your parents's address and phone numbers, and perhaps what schools their children go to, along with their threats to rape and/or kill them. While one normally would not expect anything to come of them, this is not guaranteed, especially when the anonymous bully turns out to be a schizophrenic paranoiac.

Although this can happen in extreme cases (and the answer surely is an informed police/legal system that can respond appropriately), it is not mainstream internet trolling.

[piscator]

It's not so easy to ignore and relax when anonymous bullies publish your address, your parents's address and phone numbers, and perhaps what schools their children go to, along with their threats to rape and/or kill them. While one normally would not expect anything to come of them, this is not guaranteed, especially when the anonymous bully turns out to be a schizophrenic paranoiac.

Well, that just happens sometimes when you go looking for internet emotional substance...That supportive sisterhood may be composed of paranoid schizophrenic bullies who will republish your publicly-available info the minute you infuriate them.

Would you please translate this?

"Will, thet just heppens, mayt, whin ya go lookin' fohr internet eemotional substince...Thet suppohrtive sitsahood who you just sharhed somethjing prhivot with may be fookin fulla bullies who will publish yer shit the first tyme you rhight piss 'em uff."