Internet Harassment

[DocRobot_K-176]

I read this in the paper today...

http://www.chicagotribune.com/services/newspaper/printedition/saturday/chi-suicidenov17,0,2946138.story?coll=cs-home-headlines

A bizarre and cruel Internet hoax that ended with the suicide of a 13-year-old girl has bitterly divided a western St. Louis suburb, provoked a firestorm in the blogosphere and raised troubling questions about how to police traffic on popular social networking sites such as MySpace.com...

...Cyber-bullying -- the Internet equivalent of schoolyard bullying -- has gained momentum as adolescents and teens have become Internet savvy. Polls have shown that at least one-third of youngsters reported they had been intimidated or harassed one or more times over the Net. Schools across the nation are now asking that students sign pledges to not send harassing e-mails to other students.

The involvement of adults in the Meier case breaks new ground, said Parry Aftab, an Internet attorney and executive director of Wiredsafety.org, a cyber safety organization.

"When adults act like children there are criminal consequences," Aftab said. "The Internet should not be used as a weapon..."

...The Meier suicide occurred in October 2006, but it did not become widely known until last Sunday when the Suburban Journals newspapers, which cover the St. Louis suburbs, published a lengthy article detailing the hoax involving a fictitious 16-year-old boy named Josh Evans, who contacted Megan on MySpace.com.

Their communication lasted six weeks, according to the Journal article, and ended with a string of disturbing messages from Josh and postings that read Megan was "fat" and "a slut."

The story reported Ron Meier, Megan's father, saying the final posting on the MySpace account read "The world would be a better place without you."

Late on the afternoon of Oct. 16, 2006, Ron and Tina Meier discovered Megan had hanged herself in her closet. Megan, who died the following day, was a few weeks shy of her 14th birthday...

Although stuff like this happens very infrequently, when stories like this surface, it is a reminder that we are on the front lines of fighting a war against people who feel better about themselves by destroying and permanently scarring other people's feelings. I think it is terrible that someone would go to great lengths to do this to someone else. What a monster.

 

[Water Pokémon Master]

People go on the internet to harass people because they can't do it in real life. Some of the idiots that use to bully me all the time are little weaklings in real life. They do it because they don't have any power or attention in real life. When there is a computer screen between you and another person, you don't feel like anything can happen to you, so people bully others.

 

[Kevin Garrett]

That is pathetic. I can't believe someone would go to such length to insult another person. On the other half of the spectrum, things like this are a lesson to everyone that comments online should not be taken seriously. I don't condone what he did, but comments like that should be taken lightly. Step away from your computer and see what really matters.

 

[Water Pokémon Master]

Much easier said than done.

 

[Arzamo]

Meh. That girl was probably emo or something. The PokéBeach community at least doesn't have this kind of stuff. There's lots of n00b-flaming on Smogon, though. You never see anyone commit suicide because they saw anything on Smogon, so this was a one-time incident. Maybe it's just stuff like MySpace.

 

[Kevin Garrett]

The PokéBeach community at least doesn't have this kind of stuff.

You would be surprised. I've seen a lot of stuff that people can get upset about. Almost half of my edits have said, "Please show respect to your fellow members."

 

[Togeshroob]

That's actually pretty sad...

People aren't satisfied with their own lives, so they go and harass other people who they think are "lower" than them (we're all human, we're all the same, whether we have "problems", or any other thing like that. It's ridiculus to make fun of someone becuase of something like that, whether it be what something we like, don't like, do, don't do, have, don't have, or any other reason out there) When they can't do it in person, they go to doing it over the internet.... And drive people to the point of, sometimes, like this news story said, even killing themselves.... What a sad, sad thing.


EDIT:

Meh. That girl was probably emo or something.

Yeah, and, why do you think people become emo? It's not like they're born emo. Yes, one of the major reasons people come to hate life, and things like that, is because they are never treated nicely, never loved, etc. It's a really sad deal. :/

 

[cool]

Wow i feel so sorry for megan. The internet is now turning into a bomb sometimes it is safe and sometimes its a weapon. Why would someone ever bother to do evil thing this deeply disturbs me I hear about these storys all the time and its starting to get out of hand. I really hope the internet can turn into a 100% safe tool sooner or later in life.

 

[Gale]

All this is is showing all the deranged, and psycho people in the world who want nothing then to harrass other people because they're not satisified with their life. Really, though, this shouldn't have happened. I've never been to Myspace, and this may make me never want to go, as for other people.

*Sigh* I feel very sorry for her, and I hope this raises awareness for kids and parent's. This is too bad, and I agree with every post here, especially WPM's. Easier said than done.

 

[AntiKrozz]

Meh. That girl was probably emo or something. The PokéBeach community at least doesn't have this kind of stuff. There's lots of n00b-flaming on Smogon, though. You never see anyone commit suicide because they saw anything on Smogon, so this was a one-time incident. Maybe it's just stuff like MySpace.

i think i get your point Arzamo... in my experience, when a case like this comes up, it wasn´t just one trigger that forced the victim to commit suicide... the whole background should be taken in consideration. what i´m trying to say is, even when things like E-bullying are scenarios that need to be taken care, we should never attribute the outcome only to this, but all the things around the people.

 

[Master of the Six Kings]

Meh. That girl was probably emo or something. The PokéBeach community at least doesn't have this kind of stuff. There's lots of n00b-flaming on Smogon, though. You never see anyone commit suicide because they saw anything on Smogon, so this was a one-time incident. Maybe it's just stuff like MySpace.

And I'm sure you'd feel the same if you knew here. No? You have no idea who she was, what she liked, or what she thought of herself.

Many kids that are on Myspace are extremely lacking self-confidence. They prefer to make cyber friends, so they can say anything about themselves and the other person can't see who they really are. Or rather then go to a friends house, quite simply Myspace them constantly so they don't actually have to face their friends and deal with anything that is wrong with there friend, as they have to much going on themselves.

Internt harassment is the only used by the lowest form of scum, found only in a sick, twisted human heart It's difficult to befriend someone you've never met. But at the same time they can be some of your best friends. I know I value alot of people here whom I've never met, more then many of the people I've met, and hang with.

Still, cases like this can happen even over friendly conversation. Emoticons are rarely enough to convince someone you're kidding. Anyone can stick a on the end of an insult. If you've just had the worst day of your life and someone MSN's you: You're a (whatever) It doesn't do anything for you.

In clsoing, just be as resptful to everyone here as they are to you. This is a one year anavercery to the death of a girl you might not've known. Don't look back next year and say it's the one year annevrserary of your best friends death because they got harrassed by someone via e-mail (or ANY harrasment). It's never just 1 case that causes someone to kill themselves, but it's always 1 thing that causes someone to break./ If she hadn't recieved that message, she could still be alive today. We don't know, and never will.

 

[GODZILLA]

When I first "found" the internet and started playing Netbattle, I got trolled badly. But now that I know about these things, it doen't affect me at all. A way to help 'defend' people against trolls is to have the be subject to this but tell them what it is. In other words, that the person is purposefully trying to screw with you just for the heck of it.

But a less specific way would be to have a guide for the internet containing things such as trolls, spam, flaming, etc.

 

[dmaster]

Nobody can assume anything about her, so don't speculate.

Internet Harassment has always been around, but every time a suicide comes up, everybody starts to get involved. They've done so many news stories and newspaper articles on this, it's almost unescapable to read nothing on this kind of subject. Internet Harassment may have grown a little bit due to suicides, but let's face it, it's always been around since people started using the computer.

Almost nobody can control the amount of Internet Harassment online, but it's do-able if you can live with it. The best advice has already been given; have a lot of self-confidence, get threapy help, got to an anger-management class, etc., but to put it simply if it happens one time and you can't stand it, just don't get online. Tell an adult if you're a young/middle kid, and if you're an adult jsut don't go online.

That particlular news story that you posted DRK, touches me in a way that I thought I couldn't post here ever again. People like that are cowards who use the computer as a weapon and to play with others, like they're your puppets. It's really low, but there's almost nothing we can do to stop things like that enveloping people who go online. I don't know if there are ways to see other people's PMs,(a friend here said WPM and Super-Mods could see them) but if that's not true, there may actually be Internet Harassment here, and most people don't tell other people about it, so we can't assume that either.

Personally, it's a very agitating subject to talk about, for me and other people who I know in real life and on here. I don't ussually have anything to talk about on this subject, but that news story brought me in, so thanks for that post DRK.

dmaster out.

 

[shard79]

Thats horrible, cruel, and pathetic on so many levels. The fact that someone would go that far to harrass someone. Their probably weak 40 year olds who live with their mom! But also, turning the subject around, it was the girls fault, too. The fact that she'd be stupid enough to allow someone else to say what they think, are, and feel is just crazy. While internet harrassment is a big problem, you just have to let it not affect you. No matter what they say, its obviously not true.

 

[AuraBird]

it makes me sick to think of how someone would do this.

 

[Miyuki]

That is horrible. I already knew why my parents hate the internet and don't trust it, but now I understand fully. I'm surprised they even let me on forums. About MySpace:
I really think it should be closed or at least shut down for a while so the site owners can look through it. It isn't safe to put personal info of yourself, even if it is private, cuz people can still get through. I agree with what everyone says about the cyber bullying, though; the people have really nothing better to do then to try to make other people's lives bad. They do it at the computer because they think they are safe. The internet is being used as a weapon. I feel very bad about Megan and I hope an end can come to cyber bullying, but I don't think that time will come soon, sadly.

 

[DocRobot_K-176]

That particlular news story that you posted DRK, touches me in a way that I thought I couldn't post here ever again. People like that are cowards who use the computer as a weapon and to play with others, like they're your puppets. It's really low, but there's almost nothing we can do to stop things like that enveloping people who go online. I don't know if there are ways to see other people's PMs,(a friend here said WPM and Super-Mods could see them) but if that's not true, there may actually be Internet Harassment here, and most people don't tell other people about it, so we can't assume that either.

If you take a look at your PM system and read one of your PMs, you will notice there is a place where you can report Private Messages to us. So in that respect, yes, we can monitor what private messages are reported.

People will argue "This is the Internet, deal with it." However, this does not hold grounds. If one person has the right to abuse others, then everybody has the right to abuse others. By that argument, if everybody were to abuse others, then the Internet would not be a safe place to exchange ideas. Therefore, harassment is indefensible, because it is destructive to society and the online community.

 

[Heavenly Spoon]

Now, I'm not going to say I don't think what happened is bad, but people always have to over-react, shutting down sites because of bullying is like closing down schools because of bullying. Would closing down myspace help? No, because there would soon be a similar site where the same things happen. Then why won't we just close down all online communities? Well, it was nice knowing you guys, but obviously seems like the best solution...

As long as there are people who feel better or want to feel better than others, there will be bullying, whether it's IRL or through the Internet, it'll always be there. The least we can do is have these sort of people banned from the community. Also, if you're being bullied, please act rationally and block the person from your e-mail, msn, AIM or whatever, just don't let him/her get to you.

I hate it when people make conclusions based on speculation, Columbine killings were inspired by the game "Doom", so obviously all video games are bad. A girl kills herself because of Internet bullying, so obviously the Internet is evil. Please, guys, think about it, The medium isn't the problem, people are. Of course the medium can help (like guns, which should be banned, but that's because it can kill in the blink of an eye, there's no consideration process, well, enough about guns), but it's never the direct cause, the Internet itself doesn't bully people, and not everyone who uses the Internet is a psycho bully.

Of course Internet bullying is a problem and a terrible something, I just don't want anyone to start generalizing everything.

 

[Lieutenant Houndoom]

Meh. That girl was probably emo or something. The PokéBeach community at least doesn't have this kind of stuff. There's lots of n00b-flaming on Smogon, though. You never see anyone commit suicide because they saw anything on Smogon, so this was a one-time incident. Maybe it's just stuff like MySpace.

...Some guy was banned about 5 times because he flamed me about 4 times on the deck garage then a lengthy arguement in PM in which I pwnted him virtually.

Just because you're hard as nails doesn't mean everyone is. People's mental capabilities have skipped past the "social acceptance" stage, but not everyone has. Some people have still gotten a fragile mental state, which is probably prone to being manipulated.

Nobody's going to kill themselves over an insult to their knowledge, it'll just make them either quit over anger or crave to be better. When it comes to something personal like your body, personality or your way of life, it's not something you can just step away from.

 

[Typhlosion King]

i think everyone here knows about something being judged wrongly. everyone has been told the tcg is stupid because it must be about ash and pikachu noobing it up. the internet is thought of as an evil thing because people can get hurt from it. people can get hurt, but that's life. the internet is not to blame, its stupid morons who have nothing better to do than pick on little girls.