And to help them, the 'Daily Mail' has published a report by Melissa Porter (apparently someone on 'Countryfile'. No. Me neither...) about her awful experiences with Social Services:
Despite the original case being closed in her favour, social services were back within days, this time with allegations she had beaten her beloved boy.
‘I felt violated, humiliated and dirty,’ says Melissa, clearly still disturbed by the memory.
‘To have my fridge checked because someone had accused me of starving him. It was the most humiliating and shocking experience.
‘And at one stage I really thought my son could be taken from me.’
What Melissa didn’t know was that social services were practically sure there was no truth in it. However, they had no choice but to investigate the allegations. All because Melissa, 40, had been increasingly targeted for Twitter abuse.
‘Trolls’ – those who publish insults and allegations on Twitter, Facebook and elsewhere online – were intent on ruining Melissa’s life by fabricating wild accusations against her.Yes indeed. Savour that, for a moment. The 'Mail' is asking us to believe, simultaneously, that you can starve and abuse a child to death in this country without a peep out of social services, yet mention it on Twitter and they are breaking down your door quicker than you can say 'Stormtroopers'...
No matter how unlikely this should strike everyone, Melissa plugs on, gamely:
Melissa says that, however awful, all that has happened has led her to take stock.
‘Commercially, Twitter is fabulous,’ she says. ‘I use it for information-gathering and it’s a great resource, but it’s also a public platform with a social responsibility.
‘They have millions of users, but only several dozen people looking out for these trolls, and that’s not enough.
‘We need the police to pay these trolls a visit and there need to be consequences. I don’t know what – maybe they should be put on a happiness course? They must be spending their afternoons with morbid thoughts so they can’t be terribly happy.
‘What I have learnt from all this is that cyber-bullying can happen to anybody, but everybody can rise above it. This experience has made me stronger, more discerning and a better person. In no way is this a victory for the trolls.’Apart from when they read this tale of woe. Because, as readers are quick to pick up:
Matt, London, United Kingdom
...the day police/social services start knocking on the door of anybody accused of crimes by some anonymous entity over the internet will be the day these cowards have won! They are reveling in this!No doubt they are. But these lies and accusations can just as easily be made to the authorities without the need for Twitter. Indeed, what's more likely, that Social Services monitor Twitter 24/7/365, or that following an acrimonious divorce, anonymous phone calls or letters are sent?
And, if so, why is no-one demanding that British Telecom listen in on all our calls or the Royal Mail start opening all our letters?
For the civility...
6 comments:
I reckon this twitter clampdown is a good thing as it will probably end the custom of "anything goes" on social media, in the past bloggers/twatters have said anything they like about anyone or anything with no fear of answering for it in the real world, unfortunatley the history of such abuse/illegal/trolling blah blah will be there for decades and may come back to bite the authors on their arses.Infact this is happening now when employers search for online activity, there really is no hiding place online.
Internet investigators will replace references and shorten lists for interviews and give their own C.V.
twitteres have you been twats...delete your accounts now
From the Leftictionary: Twitter, a verb.
I twitter,
You troll,
They cyber-bully,
We raise awareness through social media.
"maybe they should be put on a happiness course? "
?? ..I ... just .... just ...
There no words, no words ..
You know, when I was a lad we had saying, it went like this;
"Sticks & stones may break my bones .... but words will never hurt me"
They are nothing more than words! Unpleasant and silly, yes ... but that's all. I've been sent unpleasant words from peeps on the internet before, but I've never felt threatened for gods sake.
I've just read on our local rag's website (The Upper Buggersdale Observer) that a local Mumsnet type is saying she's now in fear of being threatened via the Social Media for her anti-porn campaigning, so the outrage bandwagon has obviously made it this far North after all!
I'm beginning to wonder how much this all really has to do with trolling and how much it actually has to do with heaps of free national publicity for themselves and their pet causes.
A "Happiness Course"????
WTF? I read the post, I can see the issue.. but the mindset of this woman is such that I am thinking that not only do social services need to take her kid away, but she needs to be sterilized, along with the father, and maybe the kid too just to remove such utter uselessness from the gene pool.
I'm beginning to wonder how much this all really has to do with trolling and how much it actually has to do with heaps of free national publicity for themselves and their pet causes.
Enter... Stella Creasy MP
Butting into someone else's fracas, sending inflammatory messages over Twitter and then running crying to the media when the trolls reply. Except, it's obvious that was the plan all along.
"...as it will probably end the custom of "anything goes" on social media, in the past bloggers/twatters have said anything they like about anyone or anything with no fear of answering for it in the real world..."
Not true. The laws of libel cover the Internet. And always have.
"From the Leftictionary: Twitter, a verb."
Heh! Spot on!
"You know, when I was a lad we had saying, it went like this;
"Sticks & stones may break my bones .... but words will never hurt me""
And when you were a lad, it was a lot harder to 'unfollow' people!;)
"Enter... Stella Creasy MP"
I believe the expected rejoinder is 'Not even with yours, chum!'.. ;)
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