The disturbing trend of posting
abusive messages online – trolling – is the dark side of social media. But why
do people do it? Here, a troll tries to explain, while her victim gets to bite
back.
They have reduced pop star Chier Lloyd to
tears; comic Matt Lucas was so upset by a joke mocking his deceased ex-husband
that he closed his Twitter account; and, in April, 12 people (at the time of
going to press) were arrested in connection with the naming and abuse on social
media sites of the woman raped by footballer Ched Evans. Internet trolls are
the scourge of the web. Every other day brings a new headline about victims of
the menacing trend – targeted by anonymous people who post malicious messages
online for the sole purpose of creating a stir and causing pain.
Confessions
of an internet troll
“The worst thing was a death threat against
my mum,” said Cher, after revealing she has been trolled on Twitter, Facebook
and YouTube. “I think it’s worse to be bullied online than in person. You can’t
see them, and you think: ‘They’re getting a lick out of this and I’m sat here
crying.’”
Trolls thrive on anonymity, but those who
have been unmasked have suffered the consequences either of being ostracized
or, in some cases, convicted and sent to prison.
In 2008, US graduate student Jane set off a
firestorm when she posted a series of pictures on a forum at
somethingawful.com. She’d attended an annual feminist science-fiction
convention. Disappointed with the issues discussed, she uploaded pictures she’d
secretly taken of fellow attendees, covering their faces with Tipp-Ex and
scribbling a smile on each one. Using an alias, she vented about everything
from obese “fat-acceptance” feminists (women who celebrate their size) to a
transgender female-to-male.
In our exclusive interviews, Jane explains
why she regrets her actions, while one of her victims reveals how the hurtful
comments affected her life.
The troll’s story
Jane, 29
Four years on, I still get panicky whenever
I think of the backlash following my post. It was never supposed to blow up
like it did. It was never supposed to blow up like it did. It was meant to be a
snarky thread on a political comedy message board that a few people read. I
didn’t expect more than a dozen people to see it.
In hindsight, I wasn’t thinking ahead when
I posted the photos online. I was frustrated with the convention and was trying
to illustrate a point. I thought I was protecting the identities of the people
pictured by hiding their faces and not revealing their surnames, but I was
wrong.
As a feminist who loves science fiction,
I’ve always looked forward to the conference. Usually, there are panels about a
variety of things, like education and the developing world. But that year, I
was frustrated with the debates and the people, especially the fat activists. I
think fat activism is a health issue, not a feminist issue. I was angry that
the women present were saying the doctors weren’t on their side. I’m against
the idea that medical science is anti-women and that’s why I vented. At the
time, I was also annoyed that there was a transgender person who hadn’t done
anything to transition, and wanted to use the women’s toilet. At some point, I
decided to secretly take photos with my mobile phone. That night, I posted them
online, with sarcastic comments. I guess I was trying to be funny to impress
the readers on the board. I never expected to be identified.
Website:
somethingawful.com
Somehow my comments got a lot of attention
after being posted on the social media news site reddit.com. The day after the
conference, my email account was full of abusive messages from anonymous people
threatening me. They told me they knew where I worked, said they were going to
contact my supervisor, get me fired from my job and kicked out of university.
Unfortunately, I didn’t cover my tracks very well when I posted the photos. I
used a handle I’d been using on various websites for ten years. It didn’t take
long for people to figure out my identity.
I was terrified. There were threats of
violence and I feared for my safety. I took a few days off work, but when I
returned, it was clear that someone had tampered with my desk. They had gone
through my things and left a note saying I should watch what I was doing.
Scared, I went home and didn’t return to the campus lab where I work for a few
more days.
As the frenzy worsened, I contacted the
police, but was told they couldn’t do anything unless the threats were
specific. But for me, the threats were real, even if not always violent. One
blogger led a campaign to ‘Google bomb’ me – to do lots of searches linking my
name to the negative stories, so they’d be the top results if people searched
for me.
The whole incident spiraled. Some members of
the message board identified the people in my original post, went into their
Flickr accounts and tool their photos, defacing them and posting them online
with even more insulting comments.
I wanted it to stop. I begged
somethingawful.com to take the thread down, which they did. I wrote an online
apology, but soon deleted it because I wanted the whole thing to go away. It
did blow over in about ten days, but I was still sacred. I had panic attacks,
stopped eating, couldn’t sleep.
I’ve managed to keep this from my family
but, although they worried about my safety, my friends who knew were
disappointed by what I wrote.
Four years later, I’m afraid the
controversy will always follow me. I’ve nearly finished my PhD and I’m applying
for jobs. I’m worried about what potential employers might read about me
online.
I don’t know Eileen [one of her targets,
interviewed opposite], and I don’t want anything bad to happen to her. She’s a
victim too, not just me. What I said was limited to the post, which was:
‘Ha-ha, [you’re] fat’. Other people said rotten things about her afterwards,
too, and wouldn’t drop it.
I’m not hateful. I’m a good person who
wants to move on. It’s scary what something I wrote in frustration one night
has the potential to ruin my career. My advice to trolls is to be careful what
you put online, because it will always be out there.
