Hiding Behind A Screen? 5 Reasons & 5 Facts About Cyberbullying & Internet Trolling

[gagTake]

Photo Source: site-build-it-scam.com

While on GAG and other sites it is not hard to see that a few members are trolls. The question is WHY? Why spend your time trolling a site when you could do something more constructive with that time?

Similarly, cyberbullying is very popular in this digital age, but it is unpopular with the victims.

Below are a few facts and reasons why people cyberbully and troll:

Facts:

1. Hiding Behing A Screen

Photo Source: stopbullying.gov

Interestingly, a significant number of trolls and cyberbullies who do not participate in confrontation face-to-face engage in confrontation online. Bullying is easier to get away with online than in person.

2. 50 Percent

Photo Source: keitercpa.com

Over 50% of kids admit someone has said something mean and/or hurtful to them online.
Source: www.isafe.org

3. Girls vs. Boys

Photo Source: activerain.trulia.com

Females are TWICE as likely as males to be victims and perpetrators of cyber bullying.
Source: www.pa-fsa.org/

4. What REALLY is a troll?

Found on standthewall.blogspot.com

There is no real purpose behind a troll's comments except to upset everyone else involved. Trolls will lie, exaggerate, and offend to get a response.
Source: psychologytoday.com

5. The Personality

Photo Source: filmingcops.com

Researchers have found that Internet trolls tend to have personality traits related to sadism, psychopathy and "Machiavellianism" – a term used by psychologists to describe a person's tendency to deceive and manipulate others for personal gain. Sadism was the strongest out of all three traits
Source: livescience.com

The reasons behind cyberbullying and trolling can run the gamut: anger, revenge, longing to fit in, etc.

Reasons:

1. Boredom

Photo Source: teacherspayteachers.com

Trolls and cyberbullies might seek attention or need excitement in their lives via online drama.

2. Power

Photo Source: 10steps.sg

Trolling and cyberbullying can be a result of longing for power. Trolls and cyberbullies us the internet to relieve aggression and ostracizing behavior.

3. Anonymity

Photo Source: wickedfunnypictures.com

Trolls and cyberbullies believe they won't get caught with the anonymity and security of the internet.

4. Revenge & Retaliation

Photo Source: blog.soundidea.co.za

"Bully-Victims," victims of bullying and trolling retaliate online and try to justify their actions because they, too, have been antagonized or offended on the net.

5. Lack Empathy or Compassion

Photo Source: livingwellspendingless.com

Most people who troll or cyberbully don't think it's a big deal! Some trolls or cyberbullies feel like it's a joke or a game!

What are your opinions on trolling and cyberbullying? Have you ever been a victim of trolling or cyberbullying? What do you do about it? What do you think we should do about it?

[ObscuredBeyond]

I've found that most of the ones that go after me like to claim I'm some kind of "dumb" or "untalented," usually by attacking my most popular submissions. Yet, they spend less time on the particulars of the work than they do on coming up with personal attacks aimed directly at me and others I get along with. Which leads me to believe that ideology may be their real motive.

The works themselves are fine. Not always masterpieces, but not terrible. But the ideology offends the troll. Maybe they argued the ideology straight with me one time, and I won the argument.

So what's their issue, besides ideology? Jealousy, power, and revenge.

Tactics I've noticed with them:

- Mobbing. Based around ideology. They all believe contrary to what I do, but are tired of losing in debate. So they go full-tilt ad hominem. And they always travel in groups. They know I can take on one or two attackers. But if I don't have reinforcements and they bring a whole lynch mob, I'll get overwhelmed.

- Downvoting. Regardless what triggers them initially, they will launch a campaign to sabotage everything else related to me in some way, to convince everyone that it's shit, just because I made it, regardless the actual quality.

- Stalking. They can't just attack on one site. They follow me everywhere.

- Friend sabotage. You find out quickly who your real friends are, by how quickly the enemy can use lies and rumors to turn them against you.

A hallmark of someone making a real difference is they will have a lot of friends, and almost as many enemies. The cyber kind, however, crow in their anonymity to do what would get them locked up if they did a real-life equivalent.

- Sockpuppetting / astroturfing. Oftentimes, it will be one or two douchebags. But they will use countless aliases to appear a larger crowd than they really are.

Yes, these f*s are truly miserable lowlifes who often make zero positive contributions to any place, ever. Yet, they get a real thrill out of taking cheap shots at others. It gives them the illusion of having real power.

They are lucky that I can't trace their IPs back to their street addresses, or they'd think twice about being such complete assholes. Never start a war with someone who didn't provoke you in any way. Especially not when they know where you live.

I and several of my friends have been targeted by cyberbullies/stalkers. When you stand for something, assholes are drawn to that. It's like gravity pulling them in.

[ObscuredBeyond]

AmIRight is filled with these types. Which is why I've decided never to use that site anymore. They're worse than 4Chan and YouTube. Making entire song parodies revolving around toilet functions is a-ok.

Submitting a pastiche that combines "Cell Block Tango" with "Safety Dance" and "Istanbul (not Constantinople)," however, makes you a target for relentless abuse.

And the "no respect until you have over 100 successful submissions" thing is utterly asinine too.

[Anonymous]

I trolled on the internet when I was a teenager. I would make insulting posts about how much 'ugly' people sucked, and I couldn't stand them. I used to do that on teen forums. I did it because in school I got bullied almost everyday for being an ugly girl. People pulled pranks on me at school for it. I got asked out on fake dates.

When I made those trolling posts it was releasing some of the anger I had, and I also saw people defending 'ugly' people. It made me so happy to see people talking about what a bitch I was for saying things like that about people. It was very wrong for me to do it, and I've always regretted it. At the time I didn't think about the fact that those posts could be hurting someone who also got bullied for their looks. It's something I don't talk about too often.

I've actually been trolled and bullied online since then, and I tell myself it's karma for the things I did as a teen.

[ObscuredBeyond]

Trolling and bullying is one thing. I've been stalked and vandalized.

About the worst I ever did was role play cartoon characters in a chat room and in one conversation, and had a truck fall on top of someone randomly (it was all fake). I role played once as a head louse, once as a wannabe pimp who was really bad at it, once as an orangutan, and once as a hybrid of Jar Jar and Gollum. All fun and games. That was 2003.

I never made it my goal to personally destroy another and trash their entire life's work, to form lynch mobs on them, nor to go after their friends and family. Yet, I've frequently been targeted for those things my entire life. In grade school, they even took it as far as real-world assault and battery. Coming home from school with bruised shins was quite common.

[Anonymous]

90% of the keyboard warriors will follow their own. If one person says something negative, they will follow because they are ill informed as the other guy and won't see both sides of the facts and only what is told to them and told them to believe, they won't fact check what is told to them by a certain news organization because they listen to it on AM radio as well. So when both sides are telling them something wrong, it must be true to them because they can't form an opinion on their own without reading the facts. Keyboard Courage!

[OpalLi]

Internet is a scary and dangerous place now. It makes sense to use ip protection 'cause hackers can attack your account and steal privacy data. I use free vpn service and anonymizer, found here
. There are many cyber-crimes happening on the Internet and no one wants to be their next victim.

[menina]

Good take. It's simple and informative.
Something weird happened to me on Facebook. To this day I can't find a logical explanation to what happened to me. Sometimes I wonder why me, who was behind that profile and why he/she/whoever did that to me. I can't find answers...

Those people have nothing better do to do. They're sick.

[JustinCaseUDontKnow]

Thank you for sharing this, i am very happy after reading this
I will continue to use it for future reference if need to do so.:)))

[peachblossomluck]

The trolls all seem to be miserable people who try to exploit any weakness. Their personal lives have to be pretty empty.

[ObscuredBeyond]

Exactly. And when they form entire mobs and act like stereotypical high school mean girls, it demonstrates the extreme emptiness of their lives. Getting together to destroy whomever they perceive is vulnerable becomes the only joy they find in life, which is quite sad.

In the case of me and AmIRight, they knew I had some talent, following, and popularity. But I wasn't like them. So they decided to get behind the fact that I wasn't talented *enough*, wasn't popular *enough*, and that one song I submitted didn't do well.

And that became their launchpad to destroy not only me, but everything else I ever made that did do well. Including attacking works on other sites, for extra assholishness.

Human cockroaches, they are.

[peachblossomluck]

@ObscuredBeyond You have to remember they are sick in the head too. What normal, well-adjusted person would do that?

[ObscuredBeyond]

Exactly. And that's why I mentioned on DeviantArt that I wasn't going to be submitting anything to AmIRight again in the future. Because the AmIRight "mean girl" natives are psychotic. My DA followers seem to agree.

Of course, then they went trashing me further on AmIRight for daring to tell the world what they were doing. So they know they're sick in the head, but they don't care.

I'm just surprised that I seem to be such a magnet to so many sickos. I run into them everywhere, not just on that site.

[peachblossomluck]

@ObscuredBeyond I do have one sicko who absolutely hates me on one site but she hates all of my friends too. We have all tried to be nice too and she went out of her way to do and say mean things to and about us, trying to hurt us. She's a psycho.

[ObscuredBeyond]

Believe me, I found out the hard way once how full of psychos the web is. During the Kate Hunt trial, the FreeKaters were acting batsh*t crazy everywhere, attacking anything and everything that even remotely smacked of opposing or questioning their agenda. I started a group centered around examining evidence being used in the trial - including the blackmail letters Kate was sending to the other girl on the iPad that clearly demonstrated Kate to be of an unsound mind, and that "love' had nothing to do with anything. Also, about the time she randomly beat the snot out of a gal at a beach like a complete savage for God knows what reason.

The FreeKaters got so rabid, pro-pedo, and stalkerish, that for everyone's safety; I had to shut down that Facebook group before it had even been up a full 24 hours. Months later, they were continuing to send me hate mail.

[YourFutureEx]

Good informative take. I've never been cyber bullied.

[ObscuredBeyond]

Avoid using 4Chan or AmIRight for any reason. You WILL be bullied there. Those sites are hell holes.

[YourFutureEx]

@ObscuredBeyond That was very old opinion.
*edits*
I've been bullied (literally, verbally harassed) a lot on GAG xD

[phanindra554]

Nice take
I hope that this will helpfull att least a single person

[Anonymous]

I always try to get along, but if someone is being a total pr*** I will call them out on it, which guarantees a response.

[Opinion Owner]

Let me clarify: If someone is being misogynistic, racist, homophobic, etc. I'll call them out on it. not if they are disagreeing with my opinion- if they really are a jerk. And usually when you do that they respond, which starts an argument. I don't mind getting into arguments but cyberbullying is stupid, and I don't see myself ever doing that

[ObscuredBeyond]

In my case, they resort to downvote mobs, vandalizing my works, insulting my intelligence, and attacking my friends. Both on the main site and other places. Which is basically stalking. They rarely get into discussing race, gender, or sexual preferences. They prefer to aim more directly at undermining self-worth.

It's not about cheap shots at how you were born or what you like. It's about making you feel hopeless, helpless, and worthless, at any cost. I think some of those I've dealt with may even be demon-possessed, based on the content of their posts.