After reading trough the ''My apology to link and toast'' thread I noticed how much Lennins Beard got bullied. This situation also makes it more interesting because the classic statement of internet bullying is: Internet bullying doesn't exist because you can just block/ignore the person who bullies you. The difference here is that this is a forum and if you still want to stay active on it, it's pretty hard to avoid people. You could clearly see that Lennins Beard wanted to stay on the forum but because no one was defending him and everyone (even moderators) kind off pushed him out. Of course it's pretty obvious that he was hated by the whole forum, but you still have to remember that he is human and probably did like this forum pretty much. Also interesting is that moderators didn't intervene until pretty late (could just be that it escalated to fast into something serious). Enough about Lennins Beard what I want is you to post in the thread of what you think in general about internet bullying. (Also if you want to read what I thought was a clear example of internet bullying. http://josefvstalin.com/threads/my-apology-to-link-and-toast.7109/ If you disagree and this wasn't bullying then post.)
If he liked it so much, he would've stayed. And only a maniac or a masochist would start a thread apologising to their 'bullies'. I can't say I hated Lennin's Beard, I was more-or-less 'indifferent'. This is something all the people who read so much into every single post should consider, then maybe they won't make a spectacle/target of themselves when they start posting about how 'everyone hates me' and such bollocks.
It would be all fine and dandy to discuss Lennins Beard but I want this thread to be about internet bullying and if you talk about Lennins Beard you should use him as an example of something. I do not want this derailing into a thread about Lennins Beard and I know this forum is good at missing the point of a thread.
Bullshit, its not bullying unless you let it get to you, which makes you a weak person.lennins beard couldn't find an identity and when he did he was so self conscious about it he ruined it for himself I admit toast and link pushed him abit to far, but he let it get to himself, now I know that under stress people don't react rationally but bullying Especially cyberbullying can be easily dealt with and ignoted.
But it can still hurt your self-confidence and sense of worth, if you are affected by that sort of thing. I understand that at first most things start off as just joking around, but at the point when you realise your actions/words are genuinally affecting somebody emotionally, you should understand that and leave them alone. Some people are more sensitive to these things than others (what you would call 'weak') and people must understand and respect that.
Well you know, there is a convenient button that allows you to "ignore" other users. It basically doesn't show the posts of those users. So it isn't very difficult to avoid users.
I know that, but try ignoring someone really active in a small forum without missing out half of the stuff. I don't really think humans work that way, there are probably very few who would ignore someone on a forum.
Lennin's Beard was never bullied, and you weren't even here when he was active to see that. Sadly, Toast is banned, and less sadly, Lennin left, but I can confirm that he was just being retarded and melodramatic.
Well it depends from what eyes you see the actions from. You can be very biased having been involved in the whole drama. I see it in another way, maybe you are right and there where never any bullying. But can you ever believe yourself when you are involved (can we ever really believe ourselves) what you need is facts. Facts is sadly hard to find on the subject.
The thing with Lennin's Beard, was that he was apparently very overly sensitive about the whole thing, and wanted Toast and my approval very much, but I never actually expected him to react the way he did. Even with the apology, I shrugged it off as a joke, which it mostly is, I'm sure, but he was still somewhat serious, as he left the forums shortly afterwards when he was unable to gain our approval. It seems that this forum was a far more important form of social interaction for him than it should have been. I get the feeling he didn't get out much.
A very interesting point. Yes I can see this as a very general problem with people who actually becomes bullied. Shyness and low self esteem is actually something most agree has to be improved slowly or it might hurt more than intended.
Lennin's Beard wasn't shy at all. He was brazen, almost to the point of creepiness sometimes. For example, in that thread you posted in the OP, where he asked Ler is he had a girlfriend.
Well I can guess he was shy in real social life. I have read an article about overly shy people often finding shelter on the internet at forums and other social sites. They are also often seen as overly clingy/creepy on the sites for being a bit to active and trying to almost ''stalk'' popular people on said site. It is also something that is a trait of autism that is a neural sickness witch makes it extremely hard to socialize in normal ways.
