Teenager found hanged after trolls bombard her with online abuse

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In my time on xbox live KYS (kill yourself) has become a known abbreviation as it is really that common. The girl obviously had other issues as just being told by some people online to kill yourself isn't enough to actually do it.

It's sad when anybody commits suicide, but blaming ask.fm or the internet isn't right.
Parents should monitor what their children are doing and take an interest in their lives more.

Reply 21

sorafdfs

I imagine she was being bullied in real life too, seeing as the comments imply it was a person/people she knew sending the abuse. Kids very rarely tell their parents they are being bullied. I don't see calls for schools to be shut down. There is just this cringey new trend for kids to think they're celebrities by having twitter and 'ASK ME ANYTHING' accounts and such.

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 22

niceguy95

Why is suicide the answer for these cases, what's that going to solve, more pain for the family?

I can't really sympathise whom take their lives instead of walking away.

Reply 23

theone2498

Just don't log on, it's not that hard. I don't know how this can force suicide. I would love to feel the sympathy you do, but I only feel a bit.

The fathers really stupid blaming ask.fm.

Reply 24

Jdizzle15

It's a tragedy but no matter what you do bad things will happen, they always will no matter what. The attitude of shutting down the site and blame game these days is stupid and ridiculous. People get bullied in school as well, should children be kept in silence at lunch times to prevent anyone saying anything mean to anyone?

Reply 25

Maid Marian

Why did she keep going on the website if she was getting abuse from it? :lolwut:

The internet is what you make of it.

Reply 26

danny111

Original post by Aoide

While it is certainly a tragedy, the calls to close down or limit online communications is stupid. Whether online or face to face people will say horrible things to each other and simply isolating people isn't the answer, you wouldn't order everyone to stay inside to prevent bullying. Neither is it the fault of the people who set up these sites, allowing people to communicate in any way has risks and it is up to the users to act responsibly. I'm not sure what the solution is but I don't think it's what her father is suggesting.

But it's anonymous on the internet...

Reply 27

TheKingOfTSR

"You think you want to die, but in reality you just want to be saved."
:frown:

The words of a suicider. :mad:

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 28

ChildishHambino

Original post by SoftPunch

Everyone reacts differently...not everyone thinks like you would, have you know.
Sometimes those abuses can have such impact that you'd think it's all real, and all those abuses are not there for no reason, it's true she is ugly, it's true she is stupid, it's true she no longer belongs here. Her mind may have worked that way.
Life doesn't come with instructions.

Even some adults can't take it! It's not as easy to just let go of abuses, and keep your head high and walk away. Yes, it can be really distressing, and people seem confident as hell as here, yet wouldn't be said for 90% of TSR users in real life

but what's so attractive about abuse that makes you come back for more?

Reply 29

aranexus

Original post by Jabberwox

At the risk of sounding incredibly insensitive, surely there must've been some other mental health problems at work here for the poor girl to take her own life. I imagine that the horrific comments triggered the suicide, but I doubt they would be the main underlying cause for it (I could be wrong though, and I know exactly how horrible internet trolls can be).

It's such a shame that people can be so wicked online, just because they know they can get away with it. I don't understand why her parents didn't take action and block those websites, or why the girl did not come away from them/block the users who were giving her grief?

R.I.P x

Yes, but it's the straw that broke the camel's back; along with 20/20 hindsight where things are only overt once events have converged.

Reply 30

SoftPunch

Original post by ChildishHambino

but what's so attractive about abuse that makes you come back for more?

Because you start to believe them? you feel closed in, not wanting to go out, but listen to the 'truth'?!

Reply 31

Zenomorph

Original post by Martyn*

I did leave eventually. But the abuse was completely out of control. The worst abuse I got was on a gay forum called -xxxxxxbox, I cannot remember the exact name now. But the abuse was chronic at times. If you held a different view to things, you got lambasted, and the language was shocking, but I suppose a straight person would call this simply "bitching". The on-line gay community is very cruel indeed. Another gay website called OutintheUk was also very cruel, although not as cruel as the previous one.

Ah, well that's different and I find it to be true.

So now we all know what is going on. We are being set up, one law for gays and a different one for us. You can only imagine what they have in store for us if they manage to manipulate their own kind into positions of power. It ain't no conspirarcy it just a continuation of the experience you had but en mass !

Yet you give back 1 iota of what they dish out and they cry @ oh oh discrimination. Cowards

beware the new perversion about to be visted on us - RESIST and fight back !

Reply 32

Opts

I think the problem is the anonymity of posts and interactions. The feature allows insecure individuals to hide themselves in these circumstances to throw mindless and targeted abuse at an individual. Of course, like on these forums - when used properly - it can add discretion, but to many of these online trolls it just gives them an aura of invincibility.

That said, the victim chooses to use these sites, and at all times has the right to withdraw and not to look at messages - so I wonder what compels them to keep looking at the reams of abuse if they are unable to cope with the emotions it provokes.

Reply 33

MrTechnical

Just incase it hasn't been mentioned, The police have made recent arrests on people bombarding twitter activists with Rape and Death threats, the police can do things to a certain extent, but you get problems when it comes to fake accounts etc.

The fact "trolls" do this is frankly pathetic, im certain the police are already looking at who has been bullying them and where it has come from as many websites store Ip addresses, but this girl should have just left the site when it started and websites should find a way to pick up on "trolls" faster :3

Reply 34

Tabzqt

Can we start differentiating between trolls and "cyberbullies" please?

Reply 35

MrTechnical

I know the difference, I just stated with trolls to save confusion, You can blame the news and magazines for this, they still get Ak47's and M4's mixed up :unimpressed:

Reply 36

Dhibla

R.I.P and all that, but was she too sad to log out?

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 37

MrTechnical

This is a very new thing, maybe we don't know every side of the story yet... :3

Reply 38

xDave-

Original post by ChildishHambino

why didnt she just close her account down?

Exactly what I was thinking.

Reply 39

Ripper-Roo

This is sad that she took her life, if she opened up and told somebody she could be alive still. RIP.

However, it's not ask.fm's fault. They're providing a service and it's up to the person to sign up if they're aware of the consequences that people will post spiteful comments anonymously. She could have left the site.

For most people anonymous posting sites (like Formspring too) are just a bit of fun and it's a shame bullies use it as a medium to abuse people.