Monday, 18 July 2011

• Don't Feed the Trolls - How to Address the grey area of Cyber-bullying

  
  

  
  I've been a part of the blogosphere for over a decade now, and I've seen the best in people - and the worst.
  
  One issue that comes up is the issue of trolls and cyberbullying.  These are people that range from the rude comment, to posts that can actually cause distress in others.  Sometimes lighthearted trolls come around to provide entertainment...but in most cases they can do more harm than good.
  
  Trolls feed off of attention.  They want the attention, the recognition...and sometimes that can come at a cost of harm to others.   Some trolls make it a profession to criticize others in a 'why that they can't legally be called a cyber bully' - but from a societal perspective they lack the people skills and common sense to just 'get a long'.
  
  If you feed them - in other words - if you provide a response in any way, they have the attention they desire.
  
  I remember someone discussing with me about promoting a brand.   He stated that sometimes bad publicity is sometimes better than no publicity.   I asked him why that is...and he said because it gets the word out and many times people don't remember what someone did wrong, they just remember the brand.
  
  Now, I mention all this to provide a hypothetical situation...so I'll submit this to you...
  
  Say you have several people who are well recognized in a particular field.  How can you obtain recognition within this group?  Association.   Either you can work with these group of people - or promote their interests in a positive (or negative) way.
  
  A person with authority on the subject will most likely have a website, a facebook fan page, a twitter account, etc... and they will be doing what they do best... work hard at promoting what they are trying to share.   If this person has a great high page ranking website - then word from that site or accounts will carry significant weight onto whomever they mention (either via search engine rankings...or to their audience).
  
  Now a troll will want attention from this person.  So what they may do is 'friend' that person, 'subscribe' to them.  Then they will look into the details of that person and/or organization...and provide a level of criticism in both comments and blog posts on their site.   These criticisms made can be rather negative and construed as defacing by a majority of readers.  However, everything that is stated can't be directly proved as libel or slander...and no threats are created/made...so no legal efforts can be pursued.  In short, by most legal standards (and I'm no lawyer) there is nothing to very little that can be done to shut down a site.
  
  So, what can one do?  Stop feeding the trolls.  This makes them a pariah.  If the troll were a tapeworm, feeding off of whatever the host target gave it, then starving it kills it off.
  
  As a parent one must praise good behavior, and find a way to discipline bad behavior.  So it is in the internet realm.
  
  With trolls the discipline is usually ignoring them and not promoting what they do.  Either they will have to change for the better - or for the worst.  If for the better, then great.  If for the worst, the level of trolling would possibly increase to a point where legal matters could be made.
  
  So, if you're having challenges with drama - then stop contributing to it.  It not only helps your sanity, it will also help deter the trolls.
  
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  What are your tips for dealing with trolls/cyber bullies?
  
  
  
  
  

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