|
|  |
|
|
|
| |
| Mar 30, 2007 11:05 pm |
|
re: re: Stop Cyberbullying Day Tomorrow |
John Stephen Veitch
| |
Hi everyone,
Online people can say and will say whatever they like. Realistically NOBODY and NO GOVERNMENT can stop them saying whatever they like.
The Cluetrain Manifesto made that quite clear.
http://www.ate.co.nz/open/shortcluetrain.html
Back in the days of Usenet the forums were plagued by people who liked to start flames. They didn't kill Usenet, in fact they helped to keep it real. Usenet was killed by people who wanted to use it as an advertising platform. There were too few protections built into this primitive platform to protect it.
Today, cyberbullies are mostly just seeking publicity. Deny them publicity. Moderate the forums where they appear. Allow their comments only when they have a sound argument made in a moderate way. Otherwise, delete their mail, give them no recognition. Now of course they DO have a proper response to silencing. They can start their own Blog, web site, or forum.
We've seen this in New Zealand recently. The Dept for Child Youth and Family in NZ, is responsible for removing children from homes. and issuing protection orders which usually exclude fathers from the home. The family Court here is also under attack from fathers who say the court discriminates against them because they are male. There are no legitimate public ways for these people to register their complaints in the Child Youth and Family web site for instance. So several blogs carry the message. (Sadly there are often threats against staff members and against judges of the Family Court, in these blogs.)
Not unexpectedly, the government departments involved don't know what to do about it. They foolishly look to the law. "Ban them", they have tried to do that. Several blogs have been closed, but more and more open in response. The basic message of the Cluetrain Manifesto isn't understood.
I'd expect Bloggers to be more aware of the uses and the limits of their online reputations. There is a good deal of SAFETY in being open. Other people respect that. The person who hides behind a veil has a more difficult case to demonstrate credibility.
There are two responses to threats that should work.
ONE: Expose the threat, talk about it and invite the person making the threat to clarify why such extreme action is reasonable. If there is a genuine case to answer you have to be able to deal with it.
TWO: Deny any publicity, silence the threat. This is likely to lead to alternative efforts to get the message out if the person involved has a genuine case to make.
John
John Stephen Veitch
Adapt to Experience - http://www.ate.co.nz/
Innovation Network - http://veech-network.ryze.com/
Google me.Private Reply to John Stephen Veitch (new win) |
|
| |
|
