Stuff like this is quite possibly the single hardest to defeat argument that the governments of the world could create to bring a big police presence to the Internet and regulate the hell out of everything. A bunch of nasty, pornographic and violent comments about an innocent blogger. While I think her fearfulness is, quite frankly, approaching the point of hyperbole (get a gun and learn how to use it, if you're that scared!), it does illustrate how fear and danger can be created online in a way that has offline consequences. That's part of the problem. It's all on display, and you have no idea whether these guys are serious. Only the law of averages is on your side. Still, there are so many people who just throw crap like that out there, that she shouldn't worry. The odds are not against her that these guys want anything more than to make her cower in her house, which is what she seems to be doing.
The simple solution that would work is to become a good shooter, and let it be known that she will terminate anyone who comes after her with extreme prejudice. There is nothing that has been shown to be better than that at getting people with violent inclinations to behave like civilized human beings.
Related Entries:
The best solution is to just not give out your email address in the first place. A lot of folks will say things in an email that they would not say in a public forum. And have a comments system that lets you ban people. Do that, and you seriously reduce the chance of getting vile or threatening comments.
And, by all means, use an alias! Remember: it's paranoia only until you get that first death threat.
I agree. I think it's also important to let them know that you are ready, able and willing to kill them like dogs if they even show up at your door. Let's just say that any man who had his better half treated like that, and then had the perp show up at the door would be derelict if he didn't put the perp in a state that rendered him irreparably incapable of acting on any such threats.
I've had people try to post some bad comments here before, but I police my comments. My comment policy is very simple.
Um, did this stuff just come out of the blue?
Did she antagonize them first? Or did they just decide to harass her?
It is my understanding that she did not antagonize them first, but even if she had, that doesn't justify some of the things that they did. Did you see some of the pictures and read some of what they wrote?
People who do that are COWARDS. They are safe in the relative anonymity of the internet. You don't have to back up your pie hole. It's much the same in the trucking industry with the cb radio. If someone challenges you, and you say "ok, pull off at the next exit", they suddenly have somewhere else to be.
Hehe. They pretty much always have a good reason for why they won't have time to walk the walk, Billiam. The funny thing about the Internet, though, is that it doesn't actually afford anywhere near the amount of anonymity in practice that they often assume that it does!
She seems surprised the world is an evil place. And the thing about bullies is that they usually back down when confronted. They are indeed cowards. And if they don't, be prepared to ensure the safety of your family.
That's true, Mike. Yet, I wonder, how many really are aware of that?
I don't think it really matters. You know what might be really helpful with all of this crap? Have some hacker (cracker, if you prefer) grab the troll's information and then take it all the way through to them personally. You know, some hacker/husband hunt the guy down and show up at his door with a baseball bat and a copy of Emily Posts' writings on etiquette, presenting an interesting dichotomy for the troll.
"I do not want to be part of a culture--the Blogosphere--where this is considered acceptable."
Boy I have much to add, pssst, email me and we'll talk ;)
Are you propositioning me, Wonder Woman? :-P
I wasn't saying I agreed with their junk, but was just curious how it started.
I like the baseball bat and Emily Post idea. Probably more than I should.