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Articles on Trolling

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Having a Twitter account is not an obligation to engage with anyone seeking to troll. Eirik Solheim/Flickr

Why I block trolls on Twitter

My first column last week was quickly trolled by a small group of mostly UK-based vaping activists. Of 49 comments posted, 17 were removed by The Conversation’s moderator before the comments were closed…
We should help protect those who protect us from abuse online. Shutterstock/hitmanphoto

‘Haters gonna hate’ is no consolation for online moderators

When trolls strike in website comment sections and across social media, we tend to look to curtail the perpetrators and help their targets. But what of the moderators – the often nameless and invisible…
Rape and death threats on Twitter? Not on. Lara604/Flickr

Abuse of women on Twitter: no quick fix, but that’s no excuse

The Women, Action and the Media (WAM) activist group announced on Friday a collaboration with Twitter to address online harassment of women, which it claims has “reached crisis levels”. The group, concerned…
The abuse unleashed online can be devastating at times. Flickr/Spyros Papaspyropoulos

Five ways to fight online abuse with good manners

Online and social media’s capacity to enable anyone to communicate their ideas and views is much celebrated. So why do so many people feel nervous about getting involved with online debate? Too often…
Trial by media? John Stillwell/PA Wire

Should McCann Twitter abuser have been doorstepped on TV?

Brenda Leyland, a 63-year old woman from Leicestershire who had been accused of publishing a stream of internet abuse about the family of missing child Madeleine McCann, has been found dead in a hotel…
If you debate with trolls you soon learn some of their tactics. Flickr/Kenny Louie

What I learned from debating science with trolls

I often like to discuss science online and I’m also rather partial to topics that promote lively discussion, such as climate change, crime statistics and (perhaps surprisingly) the big bang. This inevitably…
Google changes its policy on usernames. Flickr/Robert Occhialini

Any name will do from now on says Google – why the change?

Google has announced a surprising end to its controversial “Real Name” policy with a contrite post on Google+, telling users that there are “no more restrictions” on the names people can use. This is a…
The federal government’s cyber-safety discussion paper is primarily concerned with protecting children online. But does it show an understanding of online and offline cultures? AAP/Dan Peled

Cyber-safety’: what are we actually talking about?

The rise of social media tools and accessories has allowed us to be “always on” and “always connected”. The impact of this technological change is primarily social, and so far our communities have not…
John Nimmo has been given eight weeks in prison for online abuse. Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire/Press Association Images

Court sends the right message in sentencing Criado-Perez trolls

Two people have been jailed for making threats and sending abusive messages on Twitter to Caroline Criado-Perez, the feminist campaigner who sought to have a woman put on a British bank note. Isabella…
Caroline Criado Perez has spoken out about her experiences with trolls. Canadian Pacific

Trolling stays with you, long after the abuse

As someone who researches online behaviours such as trolling, cyberbullying, and cyberstalking, I have, from time to time, ended up on the receiving end of abusive online behaviour myself. Out of a wide…
I can haz online anonymous? Probs not, depending on your lingo. striatic

The linguistic clues that reveal your true Twitter identity

Twitter is awash with trolls, spammers and misanthropes, all keen to ruin your day with a mean-spirited message or even a threat that can cause you genuine fear. It seems all too easy to set up an account…
British journalist Caroline Criado-Perez (far right) has been the latest victim of vitriolic online abuse. EPA/Bloomberg

Fighting back against gender hate, one tweet at a time

Germaine Greer once wrote that women have no idea how much men hate them. Thanks to the internet, now we do. - @PennyRed Since the 1990s, some social commentators have declared that we live in a post-feminist…
Know your enemy: trolls come in many shapes and sizes. Dunechaser

Minor irritant or real threat? Time to decide what a troll is

Somewhere around 2010, the concept of trolling arrived in the national consciousness with a flurry of news stories: the hateful tweet Tom Daley received about his father during the Olympics; the defacement…
“It seems patent trolls are here to stay, but that might not be the case for much longer.” K.G.Hawes

Podcasts are patented – or so say the patent trolls

Can podcasting be patented? If you are an instigator of what’s being referred to as the SHIELD Act – introduced into US Congress last month – the answer would seem to be no. If you represent a US company…
Saying “trolling is bad” does little to solve the problem. femenart.nl

Trollwatch: the internet needs ethical standards

Writing for Edge in 2007, Professor Martin Rees – then President of the Royal Society and ongoing Astronomer Royal – quipped: “The global village will have its village idiots.” Rees, of course, was referring…

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