Cyberbullying can happen to anyone, at any time, and for any reason. As a blogger, you can be a victim of cyberbullying too. How can you can discourage or stop it on sites or services online that you use? Well, hopefully I will cover that today.
Cyberbullying, according to Wikipedia is:
the use of the Internet and related technologies to harm other people, in a deliberate, repeated, and hostile manner.
Tips for discouraging cyberbully behavior on your site or blog
Moderate comments. Whether you allow automatic approval of comments or carefully moderate each comment before approving, you do need to moderate. One person can turn into more if they see that you really do not care. You should be paying attention to comments anyway, so this is really your first line of being able to stop a cyberbully incident.
Establish a Terms of Service or User Policy. Make sure to add that inappropriate or harassing comments will be immediately removed.
Be aware of your local, state, federal, or countries laws on cyberbullying. In some cases, when the incident is extreme, you may be able to report such activities to law enforcement agencies to handle.
Do not reply back to cyberbullies. They want attention. They will argue against you for the sake of arguing. They will say whatever they want, even if it is not the truth. By not replying (whether by emailing through your site or through your comments, you are not fueling their fun.
Tips for discouraging cyberbully behavior on other websites
Be active about reporting cyberbully incidents. Not every site has a lot of moderators and frankly, the more active, the more chances of something happening, even arguing. The sooner the report, the sooner the incident is ended.
If the site you use does not have a user policy against cyberbullying, contact the site and urge them to adopt a plan against it.
Do not reply to cyberbullies in forums or any type of social network site. As said earlier, it only proves to escalate the problem and better to leave it alone.
Overall, use your common sense when approaching a cyberbully situation. As said earlier in this article, it does not matter your age, gender, race, social status, financial status, religious preferences, or sexual preferences, or your opinion in general, there are always people out there looking to start trouble. It is up to you on how you react.
Have you been cyberbullied? How have you stopped it? Any advice to others?
I've found the best way to minimize cyberbullying is to have a policy on my blog, and to delete all comments that seek to demean other persons or attack them in any fashion. Great tips, thanks for sharing.
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I think that's the best counter measure to stop cyberbullying at least in your own blog. Social networks should also take a look at this standpoint too and formulate a way to lessen these immature acts.
I have been cyber bullied many times. I fought back to stop them but I ended up being frustrated and in rage. It didn't happen on my blog but on social networking sites. My suggestion to all the readers of this blog is that whenever you are bullied, don't ever ever reply. Second, report it immediately to the support@website.com whatever. There IP or account might get banned. And they can no longer bully again.
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You are right that anyone can be victim so people who are using the web must be vigilant. To minimize cyberbullying in blogs, having policies and comment moderation is a must. For social networking sites, you should keep all your posts and info private as much as possible and share it only to the people you trust.
One of the best things to do to stop cyber bullying is to ignore them. This will serve as a warning to them. However, some people just don't care. So if they do not stop in doing inappropriate actions, suspend their accounts.
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I believe that I can stop it in my own little way just by ignoring them. And yes, as a whole, policies can make it possible to stop…
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You can't stop them just by ignoring, even policies actually don't. You could actually stop them If you reported them. And once they got caught, they will be in jail. That will be the lesson for them.
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I've never actually been cyber bullied but I can often feel hostility in the comment section of places like YouTube. I simply don't respond as it'd be an absolute waste of time. I see all too many arguments going on in un-moderated places online and it's a shame, only if these guys spent their time and effort doing something productive
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I do two things when it comes to cyber bullying – report and ignore.
When it comes to Facebook, I'm not lazy at all when it comes to reporting offensive and abusive profiles and groups. I consider it my duty in a way.
I agree, disregarding whatever they say is the key to stop them. If anyone suspects that cyberbully is happening, escalating it to the admins should be very effective so that their annoying acts will be stopped at once. And their names will be recorded.
I encountered several cyber bullying a couple of times in social networks. I never retaliated. I just say a few words to make them think if they can benefit from their acts. Just don't let them get into your skin coz that's there goal – to piss off people 🙂
Bullying is never good so we have to stop it…
Yeah, I would say ignoring the bully is the best thing to do. Why get into an argument with someone you never met?
Cyber bullying is never good for people emotionally…They have to be stopped and I think this post is very helpful…Thanks for sharing this…
Hi…This is alarming and this should be shared to majority of the people…
We have to definitely stop them!!
Talking about is really good. It is worth reading. Thanks for posting !……………
Good content and useful also, I have never faced this till now but if it will happen then i am ready for that.
Cyber bullying is never good to people so we have to definitely top them…
I experience several cyberbullying a number of times. Before I don’t moderate comments on my blog but since I experience bullying I heavily moderate it. Also just like you I don’t reply with brutal comments since it do me no good. Thanks for sharing Nile.