One such other case….The case of Nikki Catsouras, is a classic example of disgusting, hateful activity against innocent victims, while our lawmakers excuse themselves from enacting laws to prevent this.

The excuse lawmakers use to let themselves off the hook stem from the growth of the Internet and how fast it’s changing. This is a sham.

Chat rooms, message boards, instant messengers and email have been in existence for far over a decade now. While the software used to transmit messages changes slightly, the basic essence of using the Internet to send a message is largely the same. Is a decade or two long enough to establish some basic decency laws in regards to Internet usage?

I’ve posted the Nikki Catsouras story along with many details about the Megan Meier case so the inactivity out of our lawmakers towards these types of cases can be clearly seen.

Those who are interested in learning about cases like Megan’s and Nikki’s case are encouraged to drop by and comment on them. I have a couple of polls set up as well. Danny Vice would like to hear your point of view.

Public awareness of the problem and discussions about possible solutions are the best way to pressure elected officials into action instead of excuse making.

I invite you to come by and share your opinion.

Danny Vice
http://weeklyvice.blogspot.com

I wondered, would they treat the women in their lives this same way in the real world? How they feel if someone said these things to their sisters or moms?

Though this is the first such attack on me, I’ve seen it before and it makes me sad each time. Keyboard courage is painful lesson for many.

Kids say horrible things to my kids to their face at school. It’s my responsibility to teach them that it’s the other kids who have a problem – usually jealousy.

I can’t say that I would support legislation over the matter. First Amendment is free speech – whether we like that speech or not. And there are other options to handle these types of things.

Additionally, suicide is a very complicated issue that stems from deep depression. Many girls are flamed and don’t commit suicide.

What I’m ultimately saying – is that there are no pat answers or solutions to what has happened.

I moderate comments on my blog specifically to keep off any nasty comments or attacks on others which can sometimes flare up when discussing deaf issues. I’ve seen some terrible comments left on blogs that directly attact others in the deaf community– it saddens me that people can be downright mean.

I still believe good people can run the trolls into hiding if we show no fear and confront the problem head-on. There is no need to be afraid of these morons. What they write are just words on a screen. Besides, I found out there are some positive returns for taking them on.

Thank you for taking up this cause and writing such a wonderful article.

It’s so sad that a child had to go through this form of bullying. And based on some things I’ve read regarding parents and sports..this doesn’t surprise me at all.

Sites like yours will continue to give good advice and make us more aware of the atrocities we otherwise may not have known about. I’ll offer my site whenever possible where it can help spread the word.

I’m so sorry for the family of the little girl..there are no words for their grief..my prayers for their strength.

See you in a week.

Dorothy from grammology
call gram..

http://www.grammology.com

if I’m not suppose to give my url please let me know..?

Actually, I can hardly believe that there are still webmasters who don’t moderate comments made on their blogs and forums. At very least the Akismet plugin should be installed on Wordpress blogs.

My forum has 3 moderators and they work hard to make sure members abide with my #1 rule which is BE NICE. We don’t tolerate any abuse of or by members whatsoever and anyone caught acting otherwise is tossed out on their ear.

As for kids… we need to teach them to be equally resistant to abuse. Personal attacks, verbal or otherwise are always unacceptable… period.

Thank you Wendy, for writing about this so honestly. I appreciate you and your efforts. I don’t know the answer. I think self-policing is the best way, but I’d like my efforts to have some teeth in them, meaning if someone is going too far or crossing the line, I can inflict a bit more pain on them than just deleting their drivel and hate.

Maybe the best thing would be to teach the Megans of the world (and ourselves) that the trolls don’t matter, and that by paying attention to them, we only make them stronger. Maybe this will help us keep the trolls in the dark places – where they belong.

One feature I want to set up on my site is voting on comments. Then low ranking comments are automatically bounced down or off the site. However I want to try and train users to only use it to moderate people who spam or speak evilly.. not just for people they disagree with but who make good arguments. I’m still trying to figure out if that’s possible or if people will still vote down views they don’t like even when said nicely.

I’ve gotten quite a few negative comments. I deal with it then move on.

It’s obvious that these anonymous commenters and people like those in the story have serious problems.

O.K., O.K. I’ve gotten myself all worked up here. This topic never fails to get me all into a tizzy. What the hell is wrong with using a little common sense and good manners? I also wonder if the ability to say whatever you want online is going to eventually creep into our social constructs outside of the internet. Once we get desensitized to bashing other people or always airing our ugliest opinions online, will we start to feel comfortable doing it other places? I suspect many people have already made that leap . . . Have you watched any reality t.v. lately?

Thanks for this post. I am so saddened to hear what a grown person would do to a young girl like Megan Meier. I’m tearing up, actually. I wish things like that didn’t happen.

And as for the rest of the post – it needed to be said. People have become vicious and negative online and it’s very damaging. I don’t want to throw away the baby with the bathwater, but sometimes I don’t even want to mess with Digg or Facebook or other social media for those very reasons.

And I’ve only received one mean comment, and it was on my personal blog that I don’t promote or advertise in any way. The comment was filthy and rude, and I just deleted it and that was that. That doesn’t stop them from doing it elsewhere, though…I don’t know if there’s a solution.

Sorry to be so verbose, but it’s a topic I’ve been thinking a lot about lately. Thanks again for this post.

Stopping that kind of behavior online is difficult for the same basic reason that it happens. You’re pretty much anonymous online. Makes it easy to say all kinds of hateful things. After all, no worry that it’s going to get you into a physical fight or likely have any other consequences.