well actually you can be anonymous if you have a FBook account but not with your real name, as some do. Also, people can message you even if you’re not friends but it’s in your ‘other’ folder in messages.
Sandy said that she had had anonymous messages on Facebook and I was interested to know if that was possible. I’d always thought that Facebook was pretty straightforward as everyone has to be known to their real friends and whenever somebody commented or sent a message that their identity was published as well so it was impossible to be anonymous. I couldn’t see how somebody could do anything using a false identity either. Perhaps I’m being naïeve.
It could have been a pseudonym as you can sign up as such, but not anonymous.
If Melania Trump becomes First Lady she has announced a crusade against Cyber Bullying…sorted!..
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I’m not really sure how you can police it! And what is light criticism from someone can be taken as bullying by the recipient. Most internet fora have a code of conduct to which you must agree before joining and most have a button to report inappropriate posts. Having a campaign against cyber bullying is all very well but have they thought through the practicalities?
Have they thought through their credibility for the role?!
Melania has her husband as a role model. He could never be accused of bullying surely? What could possibly go wrong?..
Seriously though, annonymity is the only way to avoid cyber bullying, but how many of us want to give up social media?
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Social media without accountability is a whole world of pain! There is a thread about pseudonyms on AI somewhere, t’s so much work to police.
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By anonymity I meant that you can choose not to use social media. Apparently, in the dim and distant past people used to phone each other, write, and even speak! It worked quite well.
I just don’t see a way to stop the kind of thing you’ve experienced or the threats that you’ve highlighted in a similar thread.
I really don’t know what makes these idiots tick. Sadly, these kind of people think everybody’s fair game from a distance.
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Facebook say their members must give provable real names, but FB is full of very obviously fake names, usually of people who have no information on their profile if you click to look who they are that’s posted something inflammatory. It’s also full of children who shouldn’t have accounts but do, and don’t know how to secure their personal information. And there are many, many people who have been bullied via Facebook, often by former partners or spouses, stalkers and paedophiles, who have tried to set up a pseudo-identity to avoid the attacks, but Facebook say they insist on real information and as a result there are cases where people have been got back at almost immediately, occasionally with catastrophic results. You also have schools, football team organisers, sports centres, activity organisers of all sorts, FB ‘friends’ and many more posting pictures with names of this week’s star pupil / footy player etc. ready to be collected and targeted by dangerous people.
How does anyone expect to reconcile all these conflicting situations? Most people on Facebook do not secure their personal information and are wide open to having their personal information collected and added to a profile, for good or evil. I am aware of some bullies / flamers who have been got back at by aggreived people who have worked out exactly who they are, who there ‘friends’ are, where they are, etc. through not protecting their own infomration and had direct action taken against them - some would say ‘serves them right’, maybe (?) but just adds to the war.
For SFN, I think insisting on real names, photos and some limited profile info is a good thing and should reduce extremes, but if it’s going to be done at all it has to be done equally for everyone, and posts should not be allowed from people who won’t conform, imo, especially after reminders and direct requests.
Chris’s point, effectively that the only way to avoid the disadvantages that come with using social media is to stay off it is valid but now impossible practically to achieve for a huge section of the population. It has become too easy to shout out outrageous statements against others and the present state of UK and US politics has contributed massively, and not taking liars and cheats to task makes that behaviour permissable for everyone else.
Didn’t say I had the answer, and clearly I don’t, but hopefully it will help to think about the problem a bit more deeply - if anyone wants to. Many people just take a view that ‘It’s too hard to fix, so why try?’
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There is unfortunately a cyber bully on this forum which is one reason I refrain from posting anything these days.
If you have a problem you simply need to flag the post and then the admin team can deal with it. Hope this helps!
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Oh I must first say …i didn’t know it was you guys ( James and Catherine), who are responsible for starting and managing this online forum - Thank you…what i have gleaned so far from contributors has been great, in many different subjects that i have read so far. In regards to this topic subject; ( yep i know it’s a bit late)… With this “cyber bully” thing; I think it speaks more of the person issuing it, than even the subject at hand. They usually cannot see wood for trees, they may / or may not have a dislike for things you comment on or write…which becomes personal. Or they have their own nemesis and dealing with things, and some subject trigger emotions within them, to which they comment on… being rational, and ability to ut yourself into someone elses shoes, is sometimes a gift…but it can be taught 
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