Coping with cyberbullying

I feel so hurt because I had said thank you for creating a video and misspell the person name and several trolls began harassing me and calling me name. I feel really hurt by this because I had ask you them to stop.

Oh, Buffy, I hate that you are dealing with this. Cyberbullying is the reason I have almost no social media presence. I came to PC quite frankly to save my life. It worked. You guys and gals are my strength. But I do almost nothing else that could be considered social media for just this reason.

There are so many people out there who hide behind anonymous usernames and think that gives them the right to behave in ways they would never in real life. This is what I mean when I say I don't endorse virtually any social media. I think it can often do more harm than good. Just my take.

I have a hobby and there is a quite popular site for folks that share that interest. Massive base of members. I have been on it for quite awhile and I actually amassed the third largest post count on the site. Tens and tens of thousands. Whatever. I contributed a fair bit, if I do say so myself. Recently, the person running the site censored a thread I started because the response to that thread would have made his sponsors angry (this site has tons of ads). So, after more than 200 views, there were miraculously zero responses to this thread on a very hot topic. How about that!!

I did not PM the owner. I did not raise a ruckus. I have principles and one of them is that my country was founded on free speech. Polite and appropriate, but free expression for all. I stopped posting. I PM'd my buddy, who has the most posts. Told him I was done. Deleted everything on my profile. Changed my avatar to a burning black hole. Changed my signature quote to: The best amendment is the first amendment. I logged out and that was that. Forever. 50,000 posts--goodbye!!! Poof!

I guess what I am saying, Buffy, is that sometimes our experiences steer us in a new and different direction. I don't know about your involvement in things like facebook and Insta-whatever and Snap-whoever. But if you feel you are being bullied, maybe it is time to take another look at what you can control. There are jerks on the internet, we know this. You and I cannot, unfortunately, control that. What we can control is our participation in some of these things. Maybe it's time for you to reevaluate what you really want to do with respect to all that.

Sending you positive vibes and support. It sucks. But maybe taking some action will help empower you. I often find that when I feel most vulnerable and helpless, action can get me out of it. And then, you might feel like you have more control. All the best--

Thank you for your kind words and support..

Hugs to you Buffy - for all its positive points the internet can be downright cruel sometimes- or rather there are those who use the internet for cruelty. Why? Who knows.

It's good you shared your feelings here and hope that the positive responses will help you feel the world is a friendlier place after all.

Hugs to you Buffy. I agree, although the internet has many positive points there are some who use it for cruelty. I cannot understand why.

hugs

Last year I start being threaten and by early this year they retaliated against me and made false report against me and tried to banned me from YouTube.

I wish that I knew. I.start having high anxiety that cause me to have physical health problem.

If you are by nature a kind and trusting person it can be very confusing and hurtful to experience this kind of behaviour.

Maybe it is better for your health to stay away from the online places you were bullied? No online stuff is worth your mental and physical health.

Stay safe!

@bpcyclist

cyber bullying is why I left social media in the first place so can understand why you don't have it.

basically I was in a discussion on Facebook about natural disasters, and someone came back with the line



hurt me so much I never even went back on the site. have no idea why they said it, unpopular views, I guess. but still..

@Buffy01

someone thought I was thick because I couldn't spell burmingham (I can now, but back then I spelt it with an I)

one word. perfectionists

and you get those people who moan about the diffrent uses of too being used incorrectly as well

people are so brave behind the screens

the likelyhood of meeting that person is basically 0, so they use that to their advantage and say what ever they feel they need to

but I wonder how many people would be so bold if they met their victim

Very true :I

And we are left to “cope” with the aftermath of their cruelty.

I am a kind and trusting person because I have a lot of compassion for people. I agree that I have to stay off of self help video or at least don't post because of cyberbullies. I had to delete my YouTube account because of the harassment wen my playlist was attack and it was suggested that I either be harmed or I harm myself.

I believe you because multiple people on YouTube had left message telling me I should have take my life and even giving me some ideas on how to do it when all I did was post an opinion on my view of a YouTube video because I show compassion some did defend me or they were two face person, spread lies about me, made false report and mobbed me, called me names, threaten to call the police on me. They claim they had my IP address and had my home address. After I change my gmail account I was called more names and I end up having to delete my comment all I did was thank the person for the video.

I became very depressed. I start having high anxiety attack. I became terrified of everyone.

I'm learning about that because that what happen to me recently and when I ask why are they on my comment? I'm told I need to be a bigger person and not cry victim when I was called narcissist.

I always wondered that myself. I wonder what they would do if the police were to show up on their doorstep and they found themselves charges with cyberbullying

There should be better coping skills for victims.

One thing I would like to say.

You mention bullies as plural and 'they' but often it can be literally one person with multiple accounts trying to look like more people - they call it 'sock puppets'. I don't know if that thought may be helpful to you in recovering from your experience.

I discovered that when one of the trolls had reached out to me and admitted that she has used multiple account to bully me and had agree to delete her comment if I deleted mine when she realized how many people start harassing me and the stress she cause her sister after she read her comment to me. I had asked what I had done to her and she said I didn't do anything to her she just didn't like my comment so she start harassing me.

There's a lot of talk about cyber bullying with regard to children and teens (which is very important), but I never hear much about bullying adults. A year ago I had a breakdown because I was being harassed and bullied on a Facebook group. It was one of the most awful experiences of my life. There weren't any resources to turn to for help.

I'm very sorry that you've been victimized in such a cruel way. No one should experience cyber bullying.

I know because I been looking for help. I am adult who bully by teenager who suffer from a mental illness .

I also agree nobody should experience cyberbullying. Some of the bullies are extremely cruel and malicious. It can, and does, literally make people sick. (yes, its happened to me )

When there are no resources available to turn to for help it worsens an already sick and wrong situation.

Sometimes the best (and only) option is to ''delete'' account and run from the bullies. They are jerks, frankly.

An image that comes to my mind is that of the so-called 'Wizard of oz' hiding behind a curtain, not so powerful or brave in reality as he wanted people to believe. That is the epitome of an internet bully to me.

I agree. I had to delete my YouTube account because of the harassment that start last year.

That sum it up with one troll who admitted they were like this in real life must have no one to hang out with