....and let us help stem out internet bullying!

I'll take a little breather from my usual stuff this time, and write on something more serious that needs to be highlighted.

I'm writing about internet bullying, and those hidden cowardly bullies who stop at nothing when they have a victim.

I'm writing this as a caution to all my readers as I recently, personally, witnessed incessant bullying of a few bloggers at an online blog cum forum where the moderators did nothing to stop the torment. I stepped in to give those bullies a piece of my mind, as the following passages.....

...........Internet bullying is a form of personal attack which employs the repeated use of internet technology; including blogs, chat rooms, and online forums to deliberately belittle, harass, pressure, threaten, intimidate or insult others.

Unlike physical bullying, where the victim can walk away, technology now allows for continuous harassment, from any distance. In a developing or developed country, almost everyone known and unknown to each other is connected through the internet.

Internet bullying takes the concept of school-yard bullying to a much higher level. An internet bully uses insulting, crude, or offensive language to tarnish the personal status of his victims, just to make himself feel good and superior. The bully lures his victim into a trap to lambast and humiliate him, thus re-affirming his territorial tuft and polishing his ego.

While internet bullying is often done by children who have increasing access to these technologies, it is by no means confined to children. It amazes me to find the older folks, supposedly mature and educated - engage in such arrogant acts.

                

As internet bullying can have a negative or even destructive emotional effect on victims, ranging from hurt feelings to intense anger, one must have the courage to respond appropriately when bullied – but don’t draw yourself down to the bullies’ level. Face the bully in style - report, tell him off!....online. Stand up to all those diatribes we read and witness here at this forum every day quickly. Speak your mind.

Don’t tolerate internet bullying or become an accomplice. Worst still, don't allow yourself be bullied and tormented and still keep it to yourself.

I have been in this blog community just about 2 weeks or so. For my blog this week, I want to share with you the few common types of internet bullying that all of us should digress from:

1. Flaming - It is an online fight, continuously posting blogs that are deliberately hostile, insulting, mean, angry, vulgar or insulting, to one person or several in an online forum or blog.

2. Denigrating - When the bully intentionally publishes cruel and insulting rumours about a person to intentionally damage the victim's reputation or friendship, or to teach him a lesson.

3. Bashing – Mean, hateful and malicious responses to those who infuriate the informal and self-proclaimed “moderators”

4. Trickery - When a bully purposely tricks another blogger into flaming and then attempt to engage him into a bullies’ “home-ground” to be trashed.

5. Exclusion - An indirect bullying method to intentionally exclude someone from his community. The opposite is Inclusion, where a group conspires to bully others whom they dislike and are not in their group.

6. Harassment - When the bully repeatedly insinuates by posting insulting, hurtful, rude, and demeaning questions and comments/messages aimed at his victim.

7. Opinion Polling - Ask readers to talk on specific questions, often very hurtful and demeaning, such as "Who is the chicken here in this forum" or "Who do you love to hate?"

8. Grieving – It involves chronically causing grief to other members of an online community or intentionally disrupting the immersion of another player in their game play.

9. I hope this is not happening here, and never will - Impersonation – It is what it means literally; and the bullying starts when postings are executed, supposedly from the victim or by posting material online to irreparably harm the victim.................

Internet bullying is now very rampant, I can see it in facebook, tweets and online blogs/forums, sometimes victims just keep quiet. This is not good for it can only get worse!

If we include sms texts, mms, then it is cyber-bullying at a grand scale! Do your part to stop this bullying that hurts more than this------>

Read this...................

It will be of interest for you to read http://www.stopcyberbullying.org/ about this topic that is affecting children. Our children are even more vulnerable to this bullying.