Have you ever been trolled/cyber bullied?

[blacktape]

Have any of you ever been cyber-bullied or trolled to a point that went over a line? If so, was it bad? I have and I might share the details at some point, but I'm curious to hear others' stories first.

-blacktape

 

[Onder]

Did someone make you sad? That's so so terrible I'm crying it's so horrible.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

Yes, especially when I was young and innocent and just looking for an escape from my miserable and lonely homeschooled adolescence. That changed after a few months, however. Someone registered an account named 'not_Hamburgerßoy' and went around posting on all the subforums of this particularly large gaming forum, talking about how awesome I was, with the obvious intent of getting people to hate me. I literally cried about it and made threads asking for reasons why everyone seemed to hate me no matter where I went. Then I changed my password to something random, logged out, and left to never be seen again (until two days later when I created a new account containing anagrams and clues that I was HamburgerBoy, for the few that truly cared). That was possibly the second most emotionally deadening experience in my life, and I rapidly developed a resistance against trolling after that.

My first case of being an asshole was probably on NationStates when I was 12 years old, and I took pride in the accusations of me being an angry 50 year old man (in fact, I'd even brag about it to my parents and they'd compliment me for being so mature for my age). After I was banned people started coming out telling me that they wanted it to be permanent, and that I had actually made them cry in real life. I have no idea what I did to be that offensive (unless it was the story I made up about dying of cancer), but whatever it was, it was enough that a decade later someone still cared enough to register an account pretending to be me.

I would never ever troll on this forum, however.

 

[Nephilim96]

I would never ever troll on this forum, however.

pfffffffft

 

[Krow]

Hi I'm twelve and what's this?

 

[damnromulans]

I tried to join ratings communities on Livejournal and they said I was ugly.

Now I'm just ok and I don't give a fuck

 

[Tonka Time]

All the time. Everyone makes fun of me and I spend most of my days sitting in a corner crying. I got trolled so bad one time I ran home crying. I was crying so hard. I was crying so hard. I was so hard.

 

[UltimateApathy]

I still cry that EffigyForgotten got banned, I love watching drunken kid trolls.

 

[blacktape]

Actually, it was a serious question because you know, that shit really happens to people. I kind of wish people would put their troll hats away for a minute and stop thinking that threads like this are somehow trolling, or require trolling as a response.

 

[UltimateApathy]

Actually, it was a serious question because you know, that shit really happens to people. I kind of wish people would put their troll hats away for a minute and stop thinking that threads like this are somehow trolling, or require trolling as a response.

If you think that anything that anyone says to you on the Internet is trolling so bad that it "crosses a line," then you should realize that nothing that complete strangers say to you in cyberspace actually really matters, there shouldn't be any "lines" that can crossed and thus "hurt your feelings," or whatever. You're either too sensitive, or new to the Internet.

 

[Matt]

If you're a functioning adult on the internet, grow some bulls or gtfo

 

[Funerary_Doom]

^ Pretty much.

I don't remember being trolled or bullied to the point I got really mad during my Internet forum years. Never got too personal with most of them and the ones that I did I would talk to them outside the forum and such. However, I never really did anything risqué to get trolled or bullied... I actually use to go on forums and talk a lot to the users and many of them thought I was a guy and I never corrected them. Might be weird but I took pride in that, but also didn't really share who I truly was so that sucked.

I do have some positive stories to share.

I was touched one time to the point of tears. i use to be registered on the forum on postsecretcommunity in high school and I was really bummed I didn't get accepted to my first college of choice and I guess depression oozed in my comment that someone replied with this really long and uplifting comment and it made me happy and I still have it saved.

Also I have a close friend I met on an anime forums and I've been friends with him for about 11 years now.

 

[blacktape]

^ Pretty much.

I don't remember being trolled or bullied to the point I got really mad during my Internet forum years. Never got too personal with most of them and the ones that I did I would talk to them outside the forum and such. However, I never really did anything risqué to get trolled or bullied... I actually use to go on forums and talk a lot to the users and many of them thought I was a guy and I never corrected them. Might be weird but I took pride in that, but also didn't really share who I truly was so that sucked.

I do have some positive stories to share.

I was touched one time to the point of tears. i use to be registered on the forum on postsecretcommunity in high school and I was really bummed I didn't get accepted to my first college of choice and I guess depression oozed in my comment that someone replied with this really long and uplifting comment and it made me happy and I still have it saved.

Also I have a close friend I met on an anime forums and I've been friends with him for about 11 years now.

If you can be moved to the point of tears at something nice that someone said to you, and make a good friend of many years with someone, then feelings, on the other end of the spectrum, can get hurt and something said to someone at a bad time could hurt a person in ways that far surpasses the act of "growing a pair of balls," just like what gets said can lift someone's spirits.

It's attitudes like "if you take anything on the internet seriously then there's something wrong with you" that do a few things:

a) perpetuates the bullying by giving those with the desire to do so the excuse 'it's just the internet' as though people behind the screens somehow lose their humanity once behind a keyboard

b) that people don't put any emotional stock in what they say on the internet to various people in the first place, as though what is said is somehow empty, without merit, and without themselves contributing to it, or not even themselves when they write it. They are somehow drones who don't mean what they say, as though everyone is an actor behind a computer screen. That is not the case.

c) allows those who are actually serious about what they say, either good, or bad, and the bad to continue to do so unchecked because everyone will 'stand around' as it were and allow it to continue because 'it's just the internet,' and actual bad people who do actual bad things get away with it in front of peoples' faces because 'no one takes people seriously on the internet.' So real bullying takes place, and there is a such thing as 'crossing the line' on the internet, and if you can't understand how that could be possible, then you're the one who's new to the internet because that's naive at best.

I remember a time, during the mid to late 90's when the internet was at its best in terms of people talking and communicating and exchanging ideas with one another. The word 'trolling' wasn't even a part of internet vocabulary and people actually spoke to one another like people. The internet has changed since the year 2000 or so, and more cyber-bullying goes on these days than ever 15 years ago.

In case you're wondering, there is a troll group who haven't disclosed themselves yet, who have taken it upon themselves to troll me, and tell others to troll me, spread rumors, and have otherwise targeted me for reasons I'm not entirely sure of. But there are actual troll gangs, internet shills, cliques, whatever you want to call them that work in groups to target specific people, to bully them off of websites or ensure a poor user experience. I was recently trolled by a site administrator and her 'crewe' in a way that I don't even want to talk about, but it was bad. They give those under the umbrella of those who share the common interest that the website about a really bad name. I don't even think the person/people who run the site are even who they say they are, but I digress, if you think that serious bullying doesn't happen on the internet I ask that you kindly remove your head from your asshole.

 

[Onder]

If you decide go to the internet and start discussing things with random people, you have to realize that the internet is totally open and there can be anyone. Just as there's a lot of shitty people you can meet outside if you go to random places of the world. However, you should also bare in mind the difference between being told a bad thing by some retard and getting gangraped on the bus (those things happen irl).

You may say I'm "hiding behind a keyboard" or saying "it's just the internet" but I just realize that I wouldn't go share my opinions to a gang of armed gypsies outside.

And just so you know, you can always just leave the forums.

(BTW, if someone actually threatens you or blackmails you, you should talk to cops or something instead of complaining to another group of random individuals.)

 

[UltimateApathy]

Well, obviously a line gets crossed if racist or other slurs are used, but those kind of people usually get banned on any decent forum. There's also no reason you should take offense at anything they say, they're just assholes. However, if a site administrator him/herself trolls you, then that's pretty annoying for sure, but nothing to cry about, just find another website.

 

[Funerary_Doom]

@blacktape:

I get it, but honestly, I pick and choose what to take seriously and what not to. Someone making a thoughtful post (compliment or complaint) is clear to see than someone obviously saying shit to troll others and to make everyone else upset.

I do agree that trolls have ruined the Internet experience, at least with forums, but there are other formats where I've seen a lot of positive internet life such as YT channels (depending on the channel), tumblr/blogs, and social media networking (FB, instagram etc). These areas have trolls too but overall it seems like the number of people who actually want to discuss ideas or learn new things outweigh the trolls. Also, I think the ways of people discussing ideas or learning new things via the internet has really changed. People seem to not really want to read too much text. They would rather watch a YT video, look at a picture etc…

Do people get bullied on the internet? Of course. However, I personally can't pay much attention to people whose sole purpose is to attack other users. And honestly a good forum that sees that happening to a user who frequents said forum would complain about it to admin until the harasser is banned. If the forum does not do this (ban the troll at the very least), I think you should just leave. Sometimes you need to protect yourself and your dignity. Why subject yourself to harassment with literally no authority to oversee it? Not worth it at all as there are other formats you can use to discuss your interests without the bullshit.