Internet Trolls

[MadAdey]

And as I indicated in my response earlier, who is to say it was comments on the internet that initially made them suicidal?

I said it earlier and I'll leave it as my last comment on the subject (as it's come full circle) what's worse, the tipping point comment or the reasons (which could be vast and varied) that led to an individual becoming suicidal in the first place?



I notice Gerry McCann (sp?) commented that 'something needs to be done' about internet trolls. Who in your mind is more deserving of 2 years in the nick, the parents who leave 3 children alone in an unfamiliar surrounding or the person on the internet abusing the parents for doing so? Who is more deserving of being hounded by media outlets (resulting in a suicide)?

I know what my answer is.

So do you have a problem with cyber bullying then or not? From what I am reading it sounds as if you think people should just 'man up' and accept it. I might be wrong and I apologise if I am.

Problem is the law has to be defined and can't discriminate from case to case. Just because the McCanns did what they did is it ok for them to be harassed? Is it ok for a teenage girl to be thireatened and harassed to the point that she tries to kill herself because she can't take it anymore? If you upset someone, would you just accept it, if they threatened to do things to your wife and kids?

This is modern form of bullying is worse than anything that has happened in the past. At least in the old days, kids could go home and be away from it, but with the Internet they get threatening Emails, people posting pictures of them on the Internet that have been edited to make them look stupid. Kids that are getting bullied nowadays just can't get away from it and I think it is disgusting and anyone who does not have a problem with it are just as bad.

 

[c1973]

So do you have a problem with cyber bullying then or not? From what I am reading it sounds as if you think people should just 'man up' and accept it. I might be wrong and I apologise if I am.

Problem is the law has to be defined and can't discriminate from case to case. Just because the McCanns did what they did is it ok for them to be harassed? Is it ok for a teenage girl to be thireatened and harassed to the point that she tries to kill herself because she can't take it anymore? If you upset someone, would you just accept it, if they threatened to do things to your wife and kids?

This is modern form of bullying is worse than anything that has happened in the past. At least in the old days, kids could go home and be away from it, but with the Internet they get threatening Emails, people posting pictures of them on the Internet that have been edited to make them look stupid. Kids that are getting bullied nowadays just can't get away from it and I think it is disgusting and anyone who does not have a problem with it are just as bad.

Obviously you never read all my comments and to imply I am just as bad (in your mind because you think I condone it is poor), although apology accepted.
I'll reiterate for the avoidance of doubt;

All forms of bullying should be condemned. Is that clear enough?


My initial point was that I think it's ludicrous that with this proposal it is conceivable someone could get less 'time' for a physical assault (I later used a badly broken nose as an example). My argument being I think a physical assault is worse (hence my sticks and stones comment).

To clarify;

It's the apparent disparity in punishment I feel is wrong.

 

[MadAdey]

Obviously you never read all my comments and to imply I am just as bad (in your mind because you think I condone it is poor), although apology accepted.
I'll reiterate for the avoidance of doubt;

All forms of bullying should be condemned. Is that clear enough?


My initial point was that I think it's ludicrous that with this proposal it is conceivable someone could get less 'time' for a physical assault (I later used a badly broken nose as an example). My argument being I think a physical assault is worse (hence my sticks and stones comment).

To clarify;

It's the apparent disparity in punishment I feel is wrong.

i did did find some of your posts confusing that is why I said what I did, but I also included an apology if I had read things wrong :thup:

My my attitude is that mental pain is far worse than any physical pain. If I have a problem with someone and they give me a kicking for it, that is what you are talking about isn't it, a minor assault. Couple of weeks later bruises are gone, aches have gone away. That person is arrested for assault.

Now turn into an attack via the Internet. Abusive emails, constant threats against myself and my family. People putting fake pictures of you online. That hurts and can destroy your life, causes arguments between yourself and your family, interferes with your professional life. That doesn't go away in a couple of weeks, it may not go away in a couple of months, it might never go away. It's a faceless crime and someone who knows what they're doing can mask themself and make it almost impossible to find them.

 

[MattM]

My argument being I think a physical assault is worse (hence my sticks and stones comment).

That may be a typical adult male's point of view, however it's not the same for everybody. Girls / women for example very rarely get into physical confrontations, the vast majority of abuse for the female half of the population is verbal / psychological abuse, face to face and online, and particularly for (school) girls not just by individuals but quite often large groups. Should the law not protect them just as much as somebody suffering physical abuse / assault?

As to 'blocking' the abusers, most schoolgirls are desperate to be accepted in their peer groups and will 'put up' with extraordinary abuse online because they know that if they block whoever is sending the abuse they in turn will be blocked by the whole group which is exactly what they don't want and then the face-to-face bullying will get worse. However much support they get from parents or others and whatever the parents try to do to stop the abuse, the 'victim' sees it as a no win situation which does cause considerable 'pain' that is no less severe than anything a physical assault could cause.

You can't write different laws for different populations so does this type of abuse deserve the same punishment as physical abuse / assault - absolutely!

 

[dufferman]

I watched a documentary hosted by Richard Bacon. In it he spoke to families who had children who had taken their own lives due to online bullying. For some, it would be easy to 'ignore', but for many, as MattM has said, acceptance, loneliness, all those things contribute. There were some truly shocking things done and said online by school children which resulted in one boy throwing himself under a train.

What was really interesting though, was Richard Bacon himself was going through a period of online bullying. A twitter account was created by the name of "I hate Richard Bacon" or something like that, where the account would constantly tweet about Richard and his family, what he would like to do to them (mainly death threats) and, more worryingly, where Richard and his family were. Knowing that a faceless man or woman was sending these tweets, in a public domain where anyone can see and read them, was quite disturbing in my mind.

I believe he reported the account, it was shut down, and 2 minutes later a new one with a new email address was created. There is no 'getting away from it', it's too easy to create fake email addresses and fake social media accounts to just ignore it.

Richard then hired an online investigator to help him FIND the person, in which they found who they thought might be the person. The police then stepped in and advised Richard not to take any further action (e.g. face to face confrontation) as the threats that had been made to him and his family may be real, and a face to face would just escalate things and he & his family could be in harm.

All from a seemingly 'ignorable' source - Twitter.

I'm glad that the internet became the powerhouse it is once I was already in my late teens... I dread to think what kids these days have access to etc online and how it can affect them.

The show isn't online anymore (came out early 2013), but you can see a clip here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01dwg1n.

 

[c1973]

i did did find some of your posts confusing that is why I said what I did, but I also included an apology if I had read things wrong :thup:

My my attitude is that mental pain is far worse than any physical pain. If I have a problem with someone and they give me a kicking for it, that is what you are talking about isn't it, a minor assault. Couple of weeks later bruises are gone, aches have gone away. That person is arrested for assault.

Now turn into an attack via the Internet. Abusive emails, constant threats against myself and my family. People putting fake pictures of you online. That hurts and can destroy your life, causes arguments between yourself and your family, interferes with your professional life. That doesn't go away in a couple of weeks, it may not go away in a couple of months, it might never go away. It's a faceless crime and someone who knows what they're doing can mask themself and make it almost impossible to find them.

That's par for the course for me online sometimes, I'm usually better at explaining my opinions face to face.
It's fair to say I can see why some folks might think I was condoning it in some parts of my posts, I thought I had made it clear I wasn't though, but, hey, I've picked up on comments that folks have made and misinterpreted them. No harm done though. :thup:

I'll bow out methinks, my opinion on the punishment obviously differs from most and I accept that. Doesn't mean I'm wrong though. :ears: