Hey, everyone! It saddens me to say that I’ve been seeing quite a lot of trolling here on the forums lately and thought I would notify you. In one example, someone posted something and then made two fake accounts to support them as well as making fake edits of posts including my own.
In others and the same one, people are claiming art as their own and even insulting it. This honestly sickens me. I can’t understand why people would take time out of their own days to spread negativity.
I just want everyone to be aware of this so that immediate action can be taken and you don’t fall for anyone’s tricks.
They clearly have no life, or at least not one that’s fullfilling to them. So they come here, make fake accounts, and try to stir up drama and negativity because they are immature and don’t have the courage to say all these hateful things with their real names attached to it. They’re bullying, pathetic and ridiculous.
To anyone being trolled: Do NOT react. They thrive on seeing that what they’ve said to you affects you. If you ignore, report and refuse to be affected, they will get bored and move on to someone else. And if everyone stops reacting to them, they’ll get bored.
No problem. I am hugely against cyber-bullying. People who hide behind their screens and actively try to make someone else feel bad is a coward. Too many young people are taking their lives because of crap like this and the sooner people stop reacting to what these keyboard wielding losers say, the sooner they will leave people alone.
It’s absolutely horrible. It’s so easy for people to just throw around insults on the internet, that can affect people really strongly. What may just seem like a word, can hit hard for someone who spent hours making something that they feel really passionate about. It can be crushing.
“Trolls” like these, are just bullies who claim not to be because it’s “not in real life” - even though it can be just as damaging to a person.
Exactly! In a recent post where I noticed you were simply pointing out someone trolling and stealing someone’s art, they decided to troll both you and me.
These people sit behind screens and think that there are no repercussions to their actions when there are.
Trust me, I’ve had my fair share of trolls who have nothing better to do with their lives other than put other people down, and when you confront them they claim “its just the truth” like no tf it’s not. How is calling someone elses art trash the truth? Since when? They’re all cowards who think hurting people will be easily gotten away with because they sit behind a computer while their empathy clearly runs on a Dell Windows XP system.
Again, like @ColeCatalyst said, if you see a troll DO NOT REACT. Why do you think they’re even here? It’s your reactions and your emotions that they use against you. Just flag, report, and go on with your day while taking what they said as a grain of salt. Eventually they’ll get bored and realize that we literally have no place for people like them because the more you talk to them, the more you’re welcoming them to respond.
I agree. My brother was on discord and some random creep PMed him and told him all these vile things (he’s 10) like
“go kill yourself”, “your worthless”, “i’m going to come to your house and kill you” “i’ll murder you in your sleep” while sending him innapropriate things.
My brother had no idea who it even was, so he blocked him and he came back and PMed him on ANOTHER account. Sending more disgusting messages to him. It freaked my brother out so he came to me. I blocked that dude for him, and he UNBLOCKED himself, and texted my brother “why did you block me?”
He then proceeded to send inappropriate images, and he told my brother “I have your IP address” (which he didn’t but it was very creepy considering he unblocked himself I wouldn’t hold it against him) and no matter how many times we blocked that dude, he just unblocked himself. I’ve never heard of anyone being able to unblock themself, so I thought to myself maybe we’re dealing with more than just some random creep. This eventually led to my brother deleting his account because he felt it was the only way to stop the man from messaging him. That night I slept in fear, and had a panic attack.
Trolls think it’s hilarious to do this disgusting game with people, but it really messes with you when they are extreme. They target people who are younger and overall sensitive because they know their words will get through to them. It’s not funny. It costs people their lives and some have to retreat their safe place in order to geniunely feel safe. When you violate someone’s safe place you are no longer a “troll” you’re a disgusting human being that lacks empathy and the ability to understand others.
I am so sorry that that happened to your brother. He was only ten? It can honestly be terrifying for younger audiences and older ones to go through that kind of cyber bullying and trauma.
About the unblocking thing, you need to have some serious hacking skills to be able to do that. I hope that man has been locked in jail.
Thank you. It’s been quite a while since it’s happened, but I still remember it quite fondly. He came out of nowhere too, which is what’s weird. It wouldn’t even let me or my brother report the account, and it didn’t really matter bc he could just make another one.
Thankfully, it hasn’t happened again, and I hope it stays that way. Some people are real creeps who like to prey on little kids.
It’s honestly unacceptable. I remember when I first downloaded snapchat at the age of 13someone requested to friend me and I accepted, thinking it was someone I knew with the same name. They then sent me extremely explicit photos and continued to spam and threaten me. At first I wasn’t able to block them, similar to your brother’s situation, but eventually I found a way.
@MiyakoMiyu
This is exactly why my children aren’t allowed to have social media or any online forums until they are at least 16. Hopefully, when they reach that age, I will have drilled it into their heads that people behind screens that bully are just pathetic and that nothing they say about themselves or anyone else is true. And to come to me if anyone has started bullying them online or in person. I’m not a ‘mama bear’- I’m a momma llama- mess with my kids I will kick you in the face. Period.
Exactly. I don’t care if they want to watch YouTube (with child restrictions on) but my kids are NOT using social media, especially Insta, Discord, Twitter, Snap, or ANY of that until they’re grown enough to understand that not everybody is kind, and they definitely wouldn’t hesistate to tell you to commit. Seriously, I don’t give two flying f*cks if little Timmy’s mom lets him use twitter at the age of 7, my kids are NOT. It’s so toxic. And I already know my kids are going to complain that I don’t let them do anything, but if only they knew how toxic it can be on there (not to mention the goldmine for pedos & creeps) then they would understand. Until then, my kids are gonna stay KIDS. They’re going to play outside, go to the park, go to school, color, do kids stuff bc social media is just not it.
I can say thanks to social media, I’m always comparing myself to other people. It’s literally the worst place to go to have a toxic mentality, and you don’t even realize you have one until you do. You have third graders cussing, and comparing themselves to models. Like seriously…? I’d be damned if my kids were bullied or bullied other kids. There’s no way in hell I’d let them have social media that young. It’s extremely damaging.
My ten year old is mad that I wouldn’t let him start a youtube channel. Nope, anything with a ‘comments’ section- not until they’re 16. They can watch videos with me sitting with them- but they do not have private internet usage. I prefer them to go outside and use their imagination rather than have their faces glued to computer and TV screens. We have family tv time and if he needs to do research online for school, I help him. ( Not only so that he isn’t straying to any websites he shouldn’t be on- but also, as an adult, I can find more reputable websites for research than wikipedia )
I can not understand allowing impressionable 10yr+ children to navigate the internet by themselves with no supervision. My controlling their access is not me being “too strict” or “not trusting my children”- It’s because I know the toxicity of people hiding behind their screens and the way social media can manipulate their views on themselves and others. I won’t allow someone else to shape my children’s ideas about the world, themselves or others. That’s my job.
i agree with everyone’s posts. I wont let my kids go on social media unless they learn maturity and accept the world isn’t kind unfortunately. Alas, comparison and just plain bullies exists. As for trolls, I wonder why they feel the need to make other people upset like- bro, why you gotta be hating on people? what did they do to you?
it disgusts me that even during a pandemic, natural disasters, and other horrible things, there are still people out there who want to send nudes to some 11 year child who just wants to play a game/talk to friends. I used to wonder when I was younger why it took so long for my parents to let me have instagram and youtube, but now i learned why and im grateful my parents took their time to teach me all they can understand about cyberbullies.
i just wonder, are they really that sick to be spending their time hurting other people? because honestly? forget them.
I agree with both @Youngbl00d & @ColeCatalyst. However, we also have to consider that just because you’re 16 it doesn’t make you mature. What makes you mature is how you view the world regardless of age, because there are some adults who bully little children and are clearly immature. You’d have to teach your son at a young age about this stuff, without exposing him to it. Do this especially at a young age, because little kids are more impressionable and prone to learning things easier than those at an older age which would be more difficult due to defiance. I definitely agree though, and you’re doing a good job at parenting! There are some parents who really don’t care about what their sons/daughters use, and this usually leads to other kids thinking they can get away with bullying of their own account.
You can probably teach him things about internet safety and cyberbullying, just so he knows how to react when he encounters one. That’s the thing, you want to protect him but don’t close his mind off from the dangers, otherwise when it happens he won’t know how to react and it could end badly.
We do. We are a very open family. If he has questions, we answer with age appropriate answers. One very big thing that we try to teach our children is that honesty is a virtue. We don’t lie to them, not even white lies because how can we expect them to be honest with us if we are lying to them.
I would rather give my children proper information and advice that’s appropriate for their age and maturity. We had the “why I don’t want you to be alone on the internet talk” which at this age meant explaining that there are people who prey on young children’s vulnerabilities and emotions; that it’s not something we want him exposed to until he is old enough and mature enough to make informed decisions and understand that what they say and do affects themselves as well as others.
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