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Flaming/Trolling/Cyber Harassment

Whatever you want to call it or what other names you may have heard it, it's all the same; someone hiding behind a keyboard.

They're every where you're on the internet, whether it's a random stranger or even a friend you've made in chat.

I can't recall how many times I've left my favorite chat sites (Kongregate, Gaia) because of people trolling me while I'm merely trying to pass away the hours and relax after a stressful day.

Honestly, this was purely inevitable. Though some may disagree, harassment is always going to be in at least one facet of our lives. For me, it happens to be in my technology, or at least my interactions on the internet.

I want to shoot the jerks who cause people to cause people to kill themselves because they decided it'd be fun to harass someone over the internet. I've heard some people say that the person just took it too hard; that's not always the case.

Not everyone knows how to deal with this situation when it happens and I really wish social networking sites, chat sites, and other interactive sites would work something out to where they could inform people about this behavior and better prepare themselves against it. That's just a hope, though.

The biggest advice I have is that you should never say something to encourage the person flaming/trolling/harassing you to say even more. Sure, I have to learn this lesson time and time again, but after a while, it finally sticks that you might as well just stop talking, leave, or start a conversation on a different topic. Something, at least, to shift attention.

Part of me thinks that one of the biggest reasons that this happens is because of the overt amount of young children on the internet. Don't get me wrong, not everyone younger than fifteen is immature, but I don't think a person should be able to start using social networking sites til at least fifteen. It helps prevent the amount of trolling because honestly, when you were fourteen or younger, weren't you easier to pick on because you retaliated and kept fighting?

I have nothing against people younger than me accessing the internet and I know it's reality; everyone gets bullied at some point in their lifetime; I just don't think it's fair that something that people enjoy doing gets turned into a sort of, "gee, hope I don't get trolled today," sort of thing.

The biggest thing that bothers me about this are the people doing it. In all reality, they're some no life loser hiding behind a keyboard with nothing better to do than make someone feel as miserable as they do, if not worse. The keyboard doesn't make you any bigger or any better just because you can be mean and offensive; it makes you look immature, stupid, and lifeless.

I'm pretty sure that karma comes back and bites us all; at least that's what I believe.

The only thing I hope is that when people read this, they're not just going to pass it off as something they think they already know; I want people to acknowledge that it's something that should not be tolerated. If I see someone getting trolled in rally, idk about you, but I feel like I need to say something. Sure, I sit back because I'm honestly afraid of taking on the fire, but one of my biggest weaknesses is feeling like I have to be a hero for the weak (or those I assume to be). stressed

Honestly, if I could, I'd devote part of my time going around and informing people my age and younger about people who hide behind their keyboards, waiting for a victim to get a rise out of. Like said earlier, it's just a hope, but someday it could be a reality.

I hope that anybody and everybody who reads this thinks about the next time they go to join chat and see if they've been trolled. I hope that anybody who reads this who has harassed someone over the internet thinks twice about what they're doing and what effects they may have on the other person because from what I've heard on the news, it gets old hearing about people being pushed so far to the limit that they either sacrifice their own life or the lives of others.

This is in no way meant to make anyone feel guilty or that they have to be a hero if they see someone being harassed in chat; it's a way for me to try and reach out to other people like me who feel it's time someone says something.

Trolling can mean any number of things. In the forums it seems to represent those people who post a story that is obviously untrue, or someone who constantly has a different story about their life...