They're not particularly nice: they might respect their elders (which is immensely satisfying to smug elders), but they will go after each other with a wonderful blend of hatred and conviction one rarely sees outside of politics or ideological clashes. They're mean as rabid dogs: and in a culture which is arrogant enough to blame them while simultaneously encouraging them, it doesn't seem like there are a lot of people who really care. Society loves stories like these. They appeal to baser natures: outrage, righteousness, fury, voyeurs. They are easy to explain: evil kids, internet anonymity, lack of empathy, etc... The story needed to be told, but it was without reservation a story which was disgusting. Nothing about it seemed right, and looking into it was looking into the abyss of the internet and pretending to know what the fuck. Experts ran their mouths about how parents could prevent kids from falling into a similar trap. Punishments were devised. The police were all over it.
Truth of the matter is that such a thing will inevitably happen again, and something worse will undoubtedly happen if the law tries to get more deeply involved, pushing the criminal verges of cyber-harassment further underground where less idiotic and more dangerous people will continue in impunity. The internet is the last frontier of group psychology, and the denizens are very suspicious of lawmakers. There are many reasons for this, many of them despicable, but that's the way it is.
When I was a teenager cyber-bullying was nigh-impossible, because you could block people on MSN Messenger when they bothered you and few people were poser enough to use Myspace. The Digital Age was in its infancy: cameraphones were shitty and rare; cyber-bullying happened, but it wasn't a big deal because people lived offline. You simply weren't tethered and beholden to a 24/7, identity-bound life on the internet unless you were a nerd. Hints of a darker future were around, but those hints are in any past. Generally I bode my time until my personality had settled enough that I wasn't an insufferable shit, and then things started to look up. Towards the end of my tenure as a teenager high school was something that I had taken a positive leave from, and so distant it didn't always seem like a miserable prison anymore. In an even more distant past, as a veritable child, I logged into chats and started trouble for the hell of it on slow nights. Lots of us did, and following generations continued the tradition until...
Internet culture is filled with trolling. Often it is done with in a lighthearted spirit, and anyone who gets offended or falls for it is considered an idiot, ridiculed, and forgotten. 'Griefing', an online-game version of trolling, is almost a respectable pastime, and some 'griefs' have become legendary in their own right. Generally, when you see a troll on the internet, you are dealing with children, teenagers, or the mentally unfit. Sometimes they are amusing. Their antisocial stance would be interesting if it were self-aware and purposeful, but as a provocative measure it has few peers. Trolls are determined and capable of things many adults would balk at, such as trolling public facebook memorials about the recently deceased. Long story short: keep it private, or (I hate to be the one to say it) keep off the internet altogether because that shit is trashy, full stop.
When one is very bereaved, it can seem like the whole world should acknowledge and respect it. However, the whole world is conditioned to think of grief (&sorrow, &despair, prior to mental illness) as a sort of shameful, contagious illness, not conducive to the desired, ruthless levels of efficiency and professionalism. On the internet, even this callous facade is generous. "I'm sad because nobody likes me..." = "Nobody likes you because you're a slut/virgin/faggot/loser/n00b..."; "I'm depressed." = "Stop seeking attention and get help. Nobody cares." The internet is the last place any lonely person should go if they want to get better, and it should strike nobody as surprising that lonely people go to the internet to die.
It gets worse the younger you and your audience are, but certain rules hold true regardless (as in the society of reality). Peer pressure is how many sectors of the internet arrange themselves and function. Should your cyber-social cachet be devalued in any way, you face intense backlash and unpopularity as the internet hivemind tears you a new one. "Congratulations, you fucking faggot retard, you are fucking retarded." There are numerous places where prevailing attitudes influence moderation, or where moderation simply doesn't exist. Generally the attitude is medieval middle-American. You can visit these places and learn about the depths of online behavior, or you can do the healthy thing and keep your distance. Reddit used to be a charming example of the depths of online culture, and it might still be. Other places to consider are Cracked.com and CollegeHumor, but really: the sky's the limit.
The experts have a lot to say. Anonymity is responsible. It's the media's fault. Kids are getting away with too much! Bad parenting! Lax governments. Culture of exhibitionism and objectification! Let's blame pedophiles, everyone despises them anyhow! Truthfully, it's a combination of a lot of factors. It is easy to be disrespectful while anonymous, but then again lots of anonymous users are mature, perfectly well-behaved, and simply dislike the idea of an internet where you are as unfree as in real life. Identity is enough of a joke without mandatory identity honesty on user comment boards. The idea of having an internet passport is laughable, outdated, and repressive. User comment boards are a stupid joke that we should not deprive ourselves of in these times.
Trolls shouldn't be held criminally responsible for every little thing the world doesn't understand about their cretinous society. That's as stupid as blaming sharks for biting humans. Bullying and cyber-bullying, while reprehensible, teach the critical life skill of growing a thicker skin and not feeding the chimpanzees – because chimpanzees seem like fun until a troop of them show up and eat your face, rip your arm out of its socket, and shit in your living room. Everyone should be treated with a modicum of respect, but this doesn't happen because prevailing socio-cultural beliefs and practices ignore the idea of respect entirely. People in real life are treated with exactly the disregard and spite that one can find on the internet, and problems with either will not be solved until respectfulness is a standard part of society. Trolling is kind of awesome in that it indicts itself and the culture that spawns it. It is insufferable, also immutable, and moreover it is glaringly transparent and honest about itself – until you take it seriously.
The more we sweep under the rug, the stupider we look when things are found out to be dirty and depraved. The best thing to do is to wisen up and get over ourselves. Experts who aren't trolls should be disregarded as hand-wavers and reactionaries. If trolls and their ilk didn't exist, lots of perverts and trolls wouldn't get exposed. It's a vicious cycle. The necessary evil is that the innocent get harmed, because it is their tears which sustain trolls. Nobody should die because of the internet, but how much of the blame lies with the consumer? Nobody can help themselves these days. There is a lack of self-control, self-awareness and common sense that is getting worse and worse, as more time is spent on the internet. Well, to hell with the reformers, then, as they're either just as bad or completely outside of the issue and irrelevant.
She wasn't old enough to have a good sense of any of this. Amanda Todd (RIP), bless her, should've been told explicitly by the apps and programs she used that posting nude photos of herself was A) Illegal; and B) Stupid; and C) Please Log Off and Be Alone and Think, with proviso D) That You Talk to Your Family About This. It's a sexist/ageist/ableist thing to say, but the internet (and modern culture) is way sexist to the point where it's a necessary thing to say. Sexist as fuck, I repeat, because kids and even adults don't know better when they're exposed to media sexism their whole life. Male and female, they internalize it and it makes them even more stubborn and arrogant, with stupid perverse ideas. Preventive measures almost always come too late, in any case, and as a band-aid fix they do a disservice to all the victims of cyberbullying and bullying, trolls notwithstanding.
Whenever the internet is in danger of becoming a hugbox* where scowling, disagreement, and harsh language are illegal or 'discouraged', I get itchy. Law enforcement on the internet is as necessary an evil as trolls, but freedom of speech doesn't need policing – it doesn't make sense to waste anyone's time making the internet less free. It gets ugly, but we're better than to indulge it, and if we aren't we deserve to be mocked, exposed, and punished. For the most part, anonymous groups are doing a better job of it than law enforcement, and are (ostensibly) beholden to less private enterprise and government interference. Also, anonymous groups don't tend to imprison people or rob them of their lives, or follow procedural law. Things are complex as ever, and I am not an expert. I just wanted to run my mouth. Troll pollution is a byproduct of the internet, just like how driving a car gives all babies a bit of cancer. There is no innocence in it. None.
There are much more important things for law enforcement to spy on than a 13-year old spewing hateful words he doesn't understand at people he doesn't know because he doesn't know better and is afraid and unwilling to go outside.
(* the hatebox model of the internet is just as bad, but slightly more honest)
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