How to fight online abuse?
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Seems like some interesting advice in this article on phys.org article about handling trolls
.http://phys.org/news/2014-10-ways-online-abuse-good-manners.html
Five tips for handling incivility
So what is to be done? While there are many common types of incivility, authors and commenters need not surrender to them. Here are five ways to say no, politely, to online incivility.
1. Take responsibility for a good quality conversation
Online environments can be polluted like any other, and dumping insults on fellow humans can only result in a degraded public culture.
Think first, type later.
2. Remember the human being behind the screen
Authors bleed when cut by cruel words, but uncivil commenters may think they’re just “gaming”. Recognise that the pleasure rush of the snide put-down has a human cost.
3. Apply the in-person test
If as original author or commenter you would not say to someone’s face what you would happily post, you probably having nothing worthwhile to say.
Even Queen Elizabeth famously got trolled when she sent her first tweet. But as the Palace later pointed out, for every rude remark there were many more positive responses.
4. Take pity on trolls: they’re often unhappy people
Instead of fretting too much about comments from uncivil, anonymous people, read up on some of the many cases where they have been exposed. Some are funny, such as the case of the boxer who tracked down his troll and won a grovelling public apology.
There are also many cases where seemingly ordinary people have taken their frustrations out on others online, without considering the harm they could do to others or themselves.
Examples include the 2012 exposure of “the biggest troll on the web”. He turned out to be a middle-aged man from Texas who begged not to be unmasked and subsequently lost his job over online behaviour including posting “jailbait” images of underage girls.
There was also a tragic case of a church-going Englishwoman in her 60s, Brenda Leyland, who had obsessively attacked missing girl Madeleine McCann’s parents using an anonymous Twitter account @Sweepyface. Leyland recently committed suicide after her real identity was revealed.
5. Don’t be cowed by cowards
Online bullies, especially those who hide behind pseudonyms and avatars, have all the courage of the playground legends who never pick a fight that they might lose. Your persistence in not giving up your right to join online debates means that they picked on the wrong person.
Online incivility and its ugliest side, trolling, are seen by some as the norm rather than as aberrant. But it often has consequences.
Calling out online incivility for what it is and insisting on basic standards of respect for others does not impede robust debate â€" it’s vital for sustaining it.
