Comments on: Answer A Reader Question: Twitter Bullies

By: Jamie Flinchbaugh

Jamie Flinchbaugh — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 22:48:28 +0000

While that doesn’t belong on twitter, it doesn’t mean that you have to get involved in this all the time. It’s a public conversation. If you want to be part of a public conversation, you’re going to take some lumps (unless you have nothing to say). That’s part of the process. If this really affects someone emotionally, then they really should probably get off and participate in different conversations.

That being said, reply and state that it’s an invalid point. Make your case. Don’t get caught up in it. Bullies thrive on attention. That makes making their statements public draw them in more. And continuing a back and forth gets them going. Make your case, then move on.

That’s my stance.

By: Kathy

Kathy — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 17:29:41 +0000

I have a tacky problem that I would really like some help. This person actually got his gang to follow me and start passing sacarstic remarks on twitter. I manage to fend them all off and now he uses friends of his friends to do the same on twitter. Listing me on names that is insulting. I have been studying the situation and I doubt unfollow / blocking may work as I think it might trigger a massive unfollow which will look bad on me. My tweets have been pretty good that I have attracted some high profile tweepies to follow and list me as A-list / FF. The person is someone who doesn’t like me shine and more importantly hates my country. This person is ironically an intellectual and he created a scene where he leaves his hands clean and have others to do the insult and bullying. What shall I do? Should I change profile and block them all? It seems such a waste of effort.

By: Charity

Charity — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 15:00:47 +0000

I’ve got a bully. She’s terrible. She took 1 tweet and turned it into an attack. I forwarded everything to her employer and either she quit or was fired but the attacks got worse. I don’t respond. The police and an attorney are involved now to make her stop… not sure if she knows that yet. She’s crossed the line into criminal behavior.

Her emails are the worst: death to me and my children. She now emails me at work, which is easy to block through the server. She’s created fake email accounts using my own name + profanity. She is insane. Her tweets demonstrate this very effectively.

As a victim of a bully: please DM your friends and offer your support. They appreciate it. And block the offender (even if you aren’t following) because they can still see the victims followers and make contact. Even protected updates and changing your name don’t help, so please support the victim (the one NOT responding is the victim) and block those that bully their way through life and Twitter.

By: Paul

Paul — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 14:13:58 +0000

I look at it this way:
Out of every 100 people you meet there are two you would like to make your best friend and two you never want to see again.

Making a conscience effort by your group to ignore them works in a lot of cases. If they can’t get recognition for their childish behavior they will eventually move on and look somewhere else.

By: featureBlend

featureBlend — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 07:54:30 +0000

I’ve witnessed a bunch of bullish attitudes towards people whom i follow. Its kinda sad that peeps want to take there negative attitudes on twitter. Thankfully that has never happened to me, but if it did I would take a stand – in a positive way No sense in fighting fire with fire.

Personally i don’t like to un-follow or block people on twitter, its just not my style. Point I’m trying to make is even if someone is being weird or obnoxious with you don’t give them the power to get under your skin, and thats all they are trying to do

I don’t know about you guys, but being a jerk is out the door. Be nice, caring and share with others and most likely that VIBE will spread through the network and you will be rewarded.

Thanks for the post, good that ya’ll brought this out. Much like yourselves I totally think real world situations are great topics for discussions. Great blog and thoughts everyone!

By: teksquisite

teksquisite — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 02:53:41 +0000

I just blogged about this at my site!
http://www.teksquisite.com/blog/?p=623
HTWH,
Cheers,
/Bev

By: Traffic Blogger

Traffic Blogger — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 02:19:24 +0000

I can only imagine the weird things that happen because of twitter in the next few years. Always been craigslist murders, weird stuff on MySpace, all the only stories about chat room people meeting each other.

By: Dependble Computer Guys

Dependble Computer Guys — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 23:20:12 +0000

As with anyone that subjects themselves to public opinion, there are always those looking to pick a fight. Do not let it interrupt your day.

By: PAS

PAS — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 22:03:50 +0000

Oddly enough, a Twitter ‘bully’ just took aim at one of my responses about a news story where 7 dogs died when they spent the night in an open van in the midwest (w/six fans running–they overheated and all but one died.) I commented that crucifying the handler involved and insisting that she should have brought the dogs inside was judgemental and we didn’t have enough information for that opinion–just received several hot responses from a dog trainer in the UK who clearly feels her way is the only way.
I’ve been around the ‘net since 1991. And I’ve been a dog-trainer since 1981.
The problem with bullies is that often their behavior is self-reinforcing.
As a trainer, I try not to reinforce (feed) behavior that I want to stop…and I have no problem telling someone when his comments are too judgmental, too personal, bullying, etc.
But if things get really out of hand, I just un-follow. Life’s too short to engage in battles of wits with the unarmed, especially when they’re limited to 140 characters.

By: Pam

Pam — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 21:18:25 +0000

The only problem I have with others ignoring bullies and ignoring others suffering is the same problem I would have with someone ignoring it going on in the school yard or on the street. In today’s society it seems so often easier to not become involved, become self involved and just turn the other cheek. By ignoring this behaviour do we not in fact perpetuate it? By ignoring it are we not in fact actually part of the problem? It is probably part of my professional background to be an advocate for women, to stand up for social injustice which means if I see something going on I must make a stand for the person on the receiving end. Yes, it does get me into trouble sometimes and yes I have been barrated in a public forum for stating my beliefs and yes it hurts what hurts even more was that I knew there had to be people out there who read it yet did nothing.
There was a case, in real world not virtual world, which represents what I think on the subject. A number of years ago in Liverpool there was a toddler who was encouraged by two young boys to leave his mum in a shopping centre. Those boys tormented, bullied the toddler to death. Many people on the street saw that boy being bullied as he was being walked along the street but many people didn’t step in and question what was going on they turned the other cheek, believing that it didn’t concern them and concerned about how it would look if they intervened. This is an extreme case but i believe passionately that on even a small level bullying is unacceptable and can lead to ugly consequences it is time to take a stand, have some strength to say this behaviour in whatever form is unacceptable.