Cyberharassment

[takara40]

What do the blog operators do about cyberharassment. I was harassed by a poster on a site called gazzfriends.forumotion.com. When I complained to the responsible party nothing was done. I then went to forumotion (they also operate sosblog) and they also did nothing. I have now started my own site. How do all of you that have blogs handle a situation like this? If you allow users to reply then there is always the risk. If you don't the blog is boring. Thoughts anyone?

[Bloggeries]

Ignore them. It's not you it's them. They'll find someone else who will feed whatever it is they are looking for.

[takara40]

Thanks for the advice. I appreciate it.

[Chelle B.]

Definitely ignore them, wholly and completely. It takes their power away. People like that thrive on any little bit of attention they get, whether positive or negative, so you really have to just pretend they don't exist.

If they cross certain lines, however, you can get offline law enforcement authorities involved.

[Bloggeries]

Originally Posted by Chelle B.

Definitely ignore them, wholly and completely. It takes their power away. People like that thrive on any little bit of attention they get, whether positive or negative, so you really have to just pretend they don't exist.

If they cross certain lines, however, you can get offline law enforcement authorities involved.

Great advice and welcome to the forum.

[takara40]

That is what I did. Contacted law enforcement. How do you keep them out in the first place on your own blog?

[Chelle B.]

Great advice and welcome to the forum.

Thank you.

How do you keep them out in the first place on your own blog?

I don't think you can, unless you turn of comments. Or you make your blog private and only invite trusted readers.

What I do to keep down the risk of being harassed is to make sure that if someone posts something in a passive aggressive or outright aggressive way, I delete their comment immediately without responding. If they email me, I block them, again without responding.

On a forum, you have tools to block users, but on your blog you have to be proactive and make sure you realize that it IS your blog, and you have the right to delete comments from anyone you'd like.

You may also want to write up a 'comment policy' on your blog, so that readers know where you stand right away.

[takara40]

That is very good advice Chelle B. I thank you very much. I just don't want to have happen to anyone on my blog what happened to me on the forumotion site. I don't want to turn off comments because the exchanges can be great and lots of fun. Some people are just too funny and give you a hoot to last the day. Some people have very wise things to say and that is important too. I just want to do the best I can and my own experience has taught me something about treating people well. On my blog I also made a spot so that people could share their experiences regarding this issue and where they could post where, who, and the host. One day I hope to have a directory of sites "to beware of".

[The University Kid]

You can IP ban annoying commenters, or keyword / email ban them.

[Chelle B.]

You are welcome, and I do speak from a bit of experience. I run a humor blog, where I poke fun at things that 'offend' others. There are certain lines I won't cross, but I have ruffled a couple of feathers, especially in people that are new and don't realize that it is a humor blog.

I've only had 2 really hateful comments in 8 months of blogging, though. I think I am lucky, really. I did exactly what I advised you to do, deleted and ignored.

Oh, and for a while I added a link to my "complaint department" post, which actually got some very nice feedback because the posts itself was pretty darn funny.

I think if you set the tone of your blog to reflect that you are in charge, both in the way you write and, more importantly, in the way you engage and interact with non-harassing commenters, it makes those who do want to be difficult less likely to say anything because they will only look like the trolls that they are.