Poll: cyber bullying

[Knight Templar]

Inspired by MGG's thread, (I think) I have decided to ask if anybody here has ever been involved with cyber bullying, and how? Be honest if you were the bully, although I don't think anybody here would do it on purpose.

Me, I never give people the chance. I don't use a phone, I don't talk to people I don't like and I use "block" liberally. But I only do it if the person is going out of there way to be mean.

(If this has been done before I was unable to find it.)

 

[Singing Gremlin]

We got this lecture on cyber-bullying at school. I stopped paying attention at about the same time they began hailing the block button as the work of the devil and how ever mousing anywhere near it would instantly bury you in bad karma and cause a fairy genocide. The hypocricy of the anti-bullying campaign amazes me. It's like they try and force the idea of everyone being happy and nice and talking to each other down our throats. I don't like you, I don't want to talk to you, I'm not going to talk to you, oh quit whining, I don't see how I'm making your life miserable by removing the presence of someone who hates your guts.

But then I'm a heartless scrote and have probably missed the blindingly obvious reason why blocking makes me the devil incarnate.

Yes, I'm ranting now. Quiet, me.

 

[[HD]Rob Inglis]

People do this shit because when you're not face to face with someone else, it's very easy to say or do anything and get away with it, and still feel good about yourself. You can't see the impact upon another that might normally make you feel sorry for what you did. It's basically just the human nature of "If it doesn't come back to bite you, you don't feel bad about it" which is very true in many situation if you think about it. People who bully are just too insecure with themselves to civilly or comfortably interact with other people; I know. Eventually (and hopefully) these people will mature or come to terms with their troubles.

 

[sammyfreak]

I have had experiences with both yes sides.

Me being a victim happened in a WoW guild with a very dominant guild-leader. It wasent very direct but i was very unfairly treated and often bullied durng guild runs.

The other ocasion with me being on the other end was in another WoW guild there was a younger member who was rather unpopular for rather good reasons. But we did treat him very poorly and would often make fun of him in a mean way. Afterwards i did apologise to him and i hope i learnt my lesson.

 

[John Galt]

But then I'm a heartless scrote and have probably missed the blindingly obvious reason why blocking makes me the devil incarnate.

Like Mama used t'tell me, "If you can't say something nice, then your a horrible liar."

I think it's hardly an issue. It seems kind of inefective to yell at someone over the internet. I mean come on, what's more satisfying, grabbing someone by the collar and saying "Pay up or I'll cut your dick off" or typing that on someone's instant messager. If you actually are getting bullied by someone you know in reality, then they clearly lack the backbone to say it to your face so why worry?

 

[Easykill]

Does harrassing MGG/TheNegotiator count? I'm pretty sure he's contemplating suicide... Well, I hope so, anyways.

 

[General Ma Chao]

Three words: Star Wars Kid

 

[nightmare_gorilla]

i've bullied people online, but usually it's real dicks. or 4 year olds. either way it's pretty funny if done smartly.

 

[BigNiceJohn]

Cyber bullying just seems so impotent. I couldn't agree more with John Galt. I've been on both the giving and receiving ends of it, and the experience is exactly the same. I don't understand why words on a screen seem to inspire so much passion.

I know that marks me as being old, remembering to a time when there were only 2 or 3 kids in the class with internet access, but it seems like there's a need to equate internet people with real life friends, and that couldn't be further from the reality. That's not to say people you meet online aren't friends, I've made some damn good friends online who have become my friends in the real world. My point, long-winded as it may be, is that people need to take it easier, and not expect anything, positive or negative while online.

 

[General Ma Chao]

I think you guys are missing the point. It's not about blocking some annoying little bastard who's using the N-word. I'm talking about things like someone taking an unflattering picture of the target and posting it on the net for millions to see. That's exactly what happened to the Star Wars kid.

That kid got humiliated in front of the whole world. If you don't know, he recorded himself in his AV lab swinging a broom around like Darth Maul. He forgot the tape and one of his friends found it and decided to put it on a fileshare site. A Star Wars fansite added lightsaber effects and Duel of the Fates. The video was all over his school and everywhere he went, his classmates were harassing him with "Star Wars kid!" this and that. He couldn't finish school and was so destroyed by the humiliation he had to spend time in a psych ward. Cyberbullies can hurt just as much as real ones.

 

[John Galt]

Well, if someone posts blackmail on the internet, then what can we do about it? Censorship of the internet is a slippery slope.

 

[BigNiceJohn]

Willie Nelson said something along the lines of "If you're doing something that you'd be embarrassed about if other people found out, you shouldn't be doing it." That goes for the Star Wars kid, sex tapes, and really anything.

 

[John Galt]

Yeah, just don't do anything stupid near a video camera and you should be fine, but in the event that you get blackmailed, the internet won't ignore you just because it's not nice to make fun of you.

 

[sapient]

Cyber-bullying is what you make of it, really. Cyber-bullying goes something like this:

Person 1: You're gay.
Person 2: No I'm not.
Person 1: STFU JEW
Person 2: What? I'm not a Jew.
Person 3: IT'S OVER NINE THOUSAAAAAAAAAAAND

There's no point arguing with these fuckwits because nothing's going to be achieved. Real bullying goes something like this:

Person 1: Hey guys, can I play?
Person 2: No.
Person 1: Why?
Person 2: Because you're gay and we had sex with your mother.
Person 3: Also you have no friends.
Person 1 usually either starts a fist fight or goes and tells the teacher.

You don't usually see this happening with adults, because adults are usually mature enough not to discriminate and usually mature enough not to say things like "your mum lolol" or "ur gay". Okay, we have exceptions, but it seems cyber-bullying is just children degrading other children verbally in the guise of adults. The final verdict? Cyber-bullies aren't cyber bullies, they're 12 year olds.

 

[Hey Joe]

Isn't the internet just one giant playground?

Except with porn?

 

[Surggical_Scar]

Playgrounds and porn? Ah, a flashback to my school days.

As to Cyber Bullying, I tend to get pretty vicious at times, but I back down and can change my opinion of people if they stop annoying me.

 

[Jack Sheehan]

The internet is a privilege and not a right, if you cant take the hordes of arseholes out there then get off the internet and, i don't know, read a book or something? You hear these people say, oh well my life has been ruined by cyber bullying and you think, well why not log out? Or stop posting on your myspace or bebo or whatever?

Ordinary bullying is a serious problem, it's my firm belief that the vast majority o people have been bullied at one time or another, but as for 'cyber bullying'? It's a lovely subject for a tabloid newspaper to wax lyrical about but other than that i think its just stupidity.