Have you ever been bullied on the internet?

[Dancing Fire]

This happened to me a long time ago and I was shocked by the flock mentality that happened when I was cyber bullied. One person made a comment about my infertility issues, which I was knee deep in at the time, and I guess to someone who wasn’t going through what I was it seemed like a funny comment so everyone started trying to one-up that commentor by saying even worse and more vile things. It amazed me to what lengths they went to do put me down. I had to leave the group (obviously) but months later I would go back just to see what happened to the topic and it was still being brought up. It was like beating someone to death and coming back to piss on their body. At least that’s how it felt to me.

athenaworth
Sorry to hear that.. those women are crazy!

 

[Tacori E-ring]

I have felt personally attacked before. I think sometimes people get a false sense of intimacy and maybe feel "permission" to judge. I also think people are braver behind a screen name.

 

[Karl_K]

well one did nearly drive me insane....
The old-timers will know exactly who I am talking about.

 

[LAJennifer]

HH, I think that poster has been gone for a couple years now. Ugh, that person harassed a lot of people.

I've only had to deal with one person overstepping boundaries online, and they made it very personal and tried to hurt me and my family. We've never allowed that person to intimidate us and never will. Anger and disgust? Yes. Harassed? Yes. Feeling bullied or threatened? Absolutely not.

I recall that situation and I think the same thing happened to a few others. Scary.

There's a book called The Sociopath Next Door. Very scary, indeed.

I read that book and immediately recognized my brother's ex-wife. Frightening.

 

[NOYFB]

Yes, I was on a forum with a group of people that also interacted socially "in real life" - sort of an alumni group from my college. A group of girls went "mean girl" on me and started spreading lies about me, calling me a slut, and a lot of other weird stuff. It was hurtful because I had been a part of this group and was suddenly being ostracized and was truly afraid they would sabotage my job. I grew out of that group, quit posting on that forum, and actually had an out-of-the-blue apology a few years later from the girl who had started it all. I am Facebook "friends" with a few of these girls now, enjoy their posts, and wish them well, but I still remember being hurt by the situation.
.

Wow. The same thing happened to me. It was on a chit chat message board that I had been a member of for many years. I had met quite a few of the ladies IRL during GTGs in Vegas and had really clicked with one particular woman who lived in LA, so we made plans for me to visit her, since I had never been to S. Cal. I had already booked my flight and we were discussing having a BBQ at her house since I was going to be staying there (her invitation). Word spread to some of the other ladies about my visit and they all started inviting themselves, and suddenly, my one on one visit turned into a full blown GTG, where everyone was booking hotel rooms, about an hour away from where my "friend" lived. She didn't want to travel an hour each way every day (it was a weekend visit) so the expectation was that I would be staying in a hotel as well. I hadn't intended on spending that much money and was very upset that what started out as my trip turned into a GTG and my feelings weren't even considered. My "friend" went along with what everyone else wanted, and I decided not to go as a result. My flight was non-refundable, so I was out about $400. The other ladies accused me of a lot of awful things (skipping out on paying for a hotel, having a "crush" on my friend, etc, ) and I was ostracized on that board and forced to leave.

8 years later I got a random FB apology from the girl I was supposed to visit, apologizing profusely for how she treated me. Because of my privacy settings, I didn't get the message until 4 months after she sent it (it was in my "other" folder, which I never check). She stated that she had wanted to apologize to me for quite some time but couldn't remember how to spell my name. Since I'm not searchable on FB, she had spent quite some time trying different versions of my last name and finally found me by finding DH first. I realized that she had put quite a bit of effort into contacting me and making the apology, which I appreciated, so I forgave her and we are now FB friends. She's also not friends with any of those "mean" girls anymore.

 

[random_thought]

Yes and it was awful. When I was pregnant with C, I joined a site for moms who are all due at the same time. This migrated to facebook where anything simple was taken out of context. Everyone ganged up on each other. I would open my facebook to multiple pm attacks from all kinds of people. I was especially worried because some of them had my address (we did a christmas exchange) and I also received horrible text messages on my phone all day. It got to the point where I had to just leave the group and my facebook block list now has at least 30 people on it from that group. THIRTY.

 

[canuk-gal]

HI:

The rare occasion I've posted items for sale on a popular site, I've had suggestions that my products are fakes. Or rude responses as to the stated price. People went out to their way to reply in a derogative way. Upsetting and offensive.

cheers--Sharon

 

[Begonia]

No, but last year I was bullied and harassed by a female supervisor at work. My mental health seriously declined. I took it forward to the company and was treated very poorly (almost bullying in itself). It was a very dark year, shudder.

 

[bling_dream19]

No, but last year I was bullied and harassed by a female supervisor at work. My mental health seriously declined. I took it forward to the company and was treated very poorly (almost bullying in itself). It was a very dark year, shudder.

Oh gosh I'm so sorry, you didn't deserve that.
I hope you are feeling better.

 

[LJsapphire]

In my early 20s I was "bullied" online by a group of people. I knew them online but we had an interest in common and sometimes I met people IRL.
Someone must've decided they didn't like me and their friends joined in. It was just words online, saying stuff about me that wasn't true. When I met new people they often commented that I "wasn't like that IRL". They said things like that I was arrogant, and tried to comment on my appearance and put me down. Sometimes people would message me in support and said I handled it well. It wasn't very nice.

 

[redwood66]

Bullied no. Are there offensive jerks on the internet? Of course but like the saying goes - what they think of me is none of my business. And it says more about them than it does about me.

 

[seaurchin]

Oh yes, many of the online forums I've been on through the years have definitely had junior high style bully groups, who go around and gang up on new members. Sometimes I was a target of this hazing and other times I just witnessed it.

I think those who engage in it tend to not have much in their real lives. They feel safe because they are part of a group and anonymous. They are drawn to feeling like they are part of the popular crowd for a change, who rates high enough socially to even be able to pick on others. It's beyond stupid.

 

[Begonia]

Oh gosh I'm so sorry, you didn't deserve that.
I hope you are feeling better.

Thank you bling_dream ((()))

 

[jordyonbass]

For some reason I have never been targeted like that online, people did it IRL when I was at school and I've had issues previously with managers in jobs. Nowadays I'm far too strong willed to cop bullying, I had a manager try to do it to me more recently at a job and I literally marched into his office covered in mud and told him to say what he wanted to my face since I was right there. He literally sunk into his chair

 

[Tekate]

LOL. Bullying me??? no way Jose. I would smack the heck out of ANYONE who ever ever ever tried to bully me. I am not the type of person anyone would EVER bully.. I must say sadly that I am assertive, agressive, forthright and I take no crap from anyone. So just try bullying me. ha.

I'm being bullied everyday by the crazy liberals...

 

[doberman]

I call it the attack of the keyboard warriors. I left one site because of it and it amuses me to see that it's basically a ghost town now with just the site admin and her 3 cronies talking to each other.

People who engage in this sort of bullying are usually scared to death of real human interaction. You can be sure they'd never say this kind of thing to your face.

 

[Diamond_Hawk]

I call it the attack of the keyboard warriors"

Nice!

 

[lyra]

Oh, people have *tried*, lol. Successfully, not so much. I'm a Taurus. We hold our ground.