CindyH in NC Posted February 14, 2017 Share Posted February 14, 2017 (edited) My daughter's roommate at college is a terrific young lady. They have become fast friends, and I am so glad they have each other at college. Her roommate is a talented, crafty, well-spoken young woman. She is fun and bubbly and tries to spread happiness which I appreciate. She attempted to find collaborators for her blog and put up some flyers at school to see if some other students wanted to share ideas, etc. After that she has been inundated with hateful, mean, and even threatening Anonymous posts in her comments section. She has removed some of the most offensive. Cyberbullying has happened to her in the past - I suppose some of that is expected online, but that doesn’t make it alright and she is really hurting right now. My daughter is worried about her roomie and really just wants her to feel some love. You know how it is for freshman away at school. My dd asked if I might post this to the hive to see if others might share the blog with their high schoolers or college students. Parents are welcome, too. There is some (mostly mild) bad language, talk of mental health issues, and references to friends and co-writers who are LGBT, so if any of that is offensive or triggering you or your teen/young adult might want to skip it. This is a link to a recent post to high school seniors. It is a thoughtful, sweet message. There are also craft ideas, recipes, reviews, etc. on her blog. A few positive messages - even anonymous - would really brighten this young lady's day. Thanks for taking time to read and consider this favor. https://onlyfunthings.blogspot.com/2017/02/dear-high-school-seniors.html Cindy PS I'm going to cross post this on the High School and College board for now. I'm not as comfortable putting this on the Chat board. Thanks. PPS We know a family who lost a son to suicide last year while away at college his freshman year. Part of the reason was horrible online bullying that his best friends and family didn't even know about until it was too late. So heartbreaking. Edited February 14, 2017 by CindyH in NC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeremmy Posted February 14, 2017 Share Posted February 14, 2017 The tone makes me think it's just 1 person constantly posting. Sad that someone is wasting their time trying to troll this girl :-/ Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastian (a lady) Posted February 14, 2017 Share Posted February 14, 2017 Wow there really were some mean comments on there. It seems like she has some people who are pretty unhappy with her and are willing to spend time on the blog just to make sure she knows it. It would limit the comments from nice people too, but she might have to block anonymous comments. Trolls might be more hesitant to post if they know their name will be on the comment. She might also consider a step where she approves comments before they post. She would still have to skim them, but it would keep them off her blog. I left a couple notes about posts I liked. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quark Posted February 14, 2017 Share Posted February 14, 2017 Will post something uplifting soon. Will also ask DS to comment. I am sure he would love to read her blog. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CindyH in NC Posted February 14, 2017 Author Share Posted February 14, 2017 Will post something uplifting soon. Will also ask DS to comment. I am sure he would love to read her blog. Thank you, that would be terrific. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CindyH in NC Posted February 14, 2017 Author Share Posted February 14, 2017 Wow there really were some mean comments on there. It seems like she has some people who are pretty unhappy with her and are willing to spend time on the blog just to make sure she knows it. It would limit the comments from nice people too, but she might have to block anonymous comments. Trolls might be more hesitant to post if they know their name will be on the comment. She might also consider a step where she approves comments before they post. She would still have to skim them, but it would keep them off her blog. I left a couple notes about posts I liked. Thank you so much. She will appreciate it. I will pass these ideas along, also. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CindyH in NC Posted February 14, 2017 Author Share Posted February 14, 2017 The tone makes me think it's just 1 person constantly posting. Sad that someone is wasting their time trying to troll this girl :-/ Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk I think you are probably right about it being mostly one or two people. My dd shared a little more about the situation, but I don't feel comfortable sharing any more without her roomie's permission. I agree that it is sad. The anonymous poster/s certainly don't sound happy or healthy, and I hope they are able to get help. Thanks for taking time to look. Cindy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foxbridgeacademy Posted February 15, 2017 Share Posted February 15, 2017 We're all good with; bad language, open discussion of mental illness and DD is LGBTQ so I sent her a link, thanks! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amira Posted February 15, 2017 Share Posted February 15, 2017 Thanks for posting this. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daijobu Posted February 15, 2017 Share Posted February 15, 2017 Tell her to turn off the comments NOW. Or make it so that only approved comments get posted. Many news sites do this. “If I was painting a picture of a site we were gonna have, and then at the end I said, ‘Oh, by the way, at the bottom of all our articles we’re going to prominently let any pseudonymous avatar do and say whatever they want with no moderation’ ... you would think that was a crazy idea,†said Ben Frumin, editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. Also, Say Goodbye to the Loudest Drunk in NPRs comments section. “I would regularly go into the comments to interact (or try to interact) with readers. I incentivized and deputized regular commenters to keep order,†he wrote in a column that extolled NPR’s decision. “Then I gave up. Because none of the tactics or strategies we tried ever had any real impact on the quality of the dialogue happening on The Fix. No matter what the original post was about, a handful of the loudest — or most committed — voices in the room hijacked the comments thread to push their own agendas.†2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CindyH in NC Posted February 15, 2017 Author Share Posted February 15, 2017 Tell her to turn off the comments NOW. Or make it so that only approved comments get posted. Many news sites do this. “If I was painting a picture of a site we were gonna have, and then at the end I said, ‘Oh, by the way, at the bottom of all our articles we’re going to prominently let any pseudonymous avatar do and say whatever they want with no moderation’ ... you would think that was a crazy idea,†said Ben Frumin, editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. Also, Say Goodbye to the Loudest Drunk in NPRs comments section. “I would regularly go into the comments to interact (or try to interact) with readers. I incentivized and deputized regular commenters to keep order,†he wrote in a column that extolled NPR’s decision. “Then I gave up. Because none of the tactics or strategies we tried ever had any real impact on the quality of the dialogue happening on The Fix. No matter what the original post was about, a handful of the loudest — or most committed — voices in the room hijacked the comments thread to push their own agendas.†Thanks. I will pass this on. I think turning them off would be best also. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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