loquasagacious
NCAP Mooderator
- Joined
- Aug 3, 2004
- Messages
- 3,636
- Gender
- Undisclosed
- HSC
- 2004
As far as the interent being anonymous or not anonymous I would like to make a point regarding 'offline' contact between members. I think it is important to differentiate in the direction of the contact eg it a different game if members are known to each other offline and then online to if they meet online and then become known to each other offline through say meat-ups, common universities etc.
In the case of bullying following someone from their offline life to their online one I think this is quite bad as it creates an overall situation of bullying in every situation that a person socialises in which could have clear negative ramifications on the individual under attack.
Similarily it would also be way out of line to take the e-harrassment of someone offline and start stalking them. However if members participate online in fake bullying bonding behaviour then there is no reason for this to desist if they meet offline.
My point however is that when the direction of contact is online and then offline the individual being bullied has made a decision to frequent NS, continue to frequent it despite being bullied and then made a decision to attend a meat up in full knowledge they may well be bullied.
Also whilst I agree with the idea that our e-personas are intrinsically linked to our 'real' ones and that attacks on either affect the other as they both stem from our base personalities and self-image. Having said this though we must recognise that the internet is not bound by the same social norms as the real world.
Because of the anonymity, the larger numbers involved and also our difficulty in determining emotions of others without their body language and facial expression to draw on creates an environment where we say things that we may not otherwise say. However far from this being a devisive factor I believe it to be a uniting one - we are all bound by these restrictions of the medium and so all act accordingly. Our e-friends are made under these paradigms not those of the offline world.
Basically my point is that on the internet for completely reasonable reasons we act in ways that differ from real life, I think we all understand this or if we dont that we should. We have to accept that we may be attacked however also that this doesnt matter.
Also I think we need to look at what we define as bullying eg the debates of NCAP could be considered to verge on a kind of elitist bullying at times when some young nutters post complete crap and are then shot down by older members - including mods.
And I agree with stas the existing measures are enough, if someone feels they are being bullied they can report the post, directly contact a mod or even post in the swanky contact the mods forum.
In the case of bullying following someone from their offline life to their online one I think this is quite bad as it creates an overall situation of bullying in every situation that a person socialises in which could have clear negative ramifications on the individual under attack.
Similarily it would also be way out of line to take the e-harrassment of someone offline and start stalking them. However if members participate online in fake bullying bonding behaviour then there is no reason for this to desist if they meet offline.
My point however is that when the direction of contact is online and then offline the individual being bullied has made a decision to frequent NS, continue to frequent it despite being bullied and then made a decision to attend a meat up in full knowledge they may well be bullied.
Also whilst I agree with the idea that our e-personas are intrinsically linked to our 'real' ones and that attacks on either affect the other as they both stem from our base personalities and self-image. Having said this though we must recognise that the internet is not bound by the same social norms as the real world.
Because of the anonymity, the larger numbers involved and also our difficulty in determining emotions of others without their body language and facial expression to draw on creates an environment where we say things that we may not otherwise say. However far from this being a devisive factor I believe it to be a uniting one - we are all bound by these restrictions of the medium and so all act accordingly. Our e-friends are made under these paradigms not those of the offline world.
Basically my point is that on the internet for completely reasonable reasons we act in ways that differ from real life, I think we all understand this or if we dont that we should. We have to accept that we may be attacked however also that this doesnt matter.
Also I think we need to look at what we define as bullying eg the debates of NCAP could be considered to verge on a kind of elitist bullying at times when some young nutters post complete crap and are then shot down by older members - including mods.
And I agree with stas the existing measures are enough, if someone feels they are being bullied they can report the post, directly contact a mod or even post in the swanky contact the mods forum.