Actually, I think it is socially acceptable to contact people's parents when their kids do something bad. Like, that already happens and is normal. It's just not common (yet?) on the internet, possibly in part because older generations are generally less wired in as well as the anonymity clouding the issue of just who is attacking you.ForumSafari said:
People are already 'swatting' strangers. They're already being assholes any way they can. 'Telling the parents' isn't opening up that avenue for them, like it was some sacred manner of attack they would have otherwise avoided. Heck, some people are already hacking stranger's facebooks and twitter and stalking/abusing them and their friends and family.
This is the same logic that says 'there shouldn't be internet because there are idiots who will use it to make bombs/attack people'. Idiots and bad people will always do stupid and bad things. We can only either a) remove everything from everyone to prevent its abuse by the few or b) punish the few when they behave badly. Ignoring the bad behaviour just allows it free reign and poisons the experience of others.
I think serial abusers especially should absolutely be pulled up for their behaviour by any means possible. It's not 'escalating', it's self defence and the following of consequences for bad behaviour.
For those who just post one random insult or threat before moving on... although I do hope karma causes them to slam their hands in a door somewhere, I don't think it's worth the time and effort to hunt those guys down and report them, be it to parents or officials.
I would support a 'name and shame' website somewhere, where evidence and/or links to abuse can be found connected to a searchable database of names so that if people (prospective partners, friends, family, officials) want to, they can actually check whether JoEBoY77xF47 is the kind of person to make revolting threats. People still have their anonymity, to a degree, yet also have a lingering repercussion of their bad behaviour. (It's really not much more than a google search would do, just all together in one place and cross-referenced.)
I know some people will reflexively say that's a terrible idea on account of people falsifying bad reports (especially for screenshots) but there could be a requirement for links as well, or a grading system for how 'trustworthy' certain types of reports are based on how they might be falsified or even a wiki-style system where people who are found to have falsified are blocked and any new members have their posts moderated for a time, or something. People with an account could also log in to vote 'I witnessed this', as a further effort to minimise abuse of the system.
Probably other people have already said this, but there are laws against this. And, true, some countries might not have those laws protecting them, in which case it might be in some person's best interest to disengage from attackers, report them and re-engage on the internet under a different name. However, I would argue that the kind of people who would try to get someone fired based on lies or stolen personal information don't need the excuse of having faced some repercussions for their actions. They're already that kind of person and the risk is already there.
'Standing up for yourself is escalating things' is just another way of blaming the victim.
