Even though Megan's situation was different in that she suffered from depression, that did not give anyone the right to make a mockery of her. To allow such a thing is about the same thing as shooting someone in the back.
I have become a victim of this as well on YouTube, which is why I took myself out of the equation that would have eventually lead to an offline confrontation. I know that's not the sound way to handle things, but I don't like having my personal life torn to shreds by an individual wearing a ski mask who smokes weed all the time. I would have thought an outcry from the community to stop this sort of thing would come to pass, but that cry is a mere whimper.
No one on YouTube cares enough about YouTube's content so long as they get their own hits and somehow make it to partner. Anything else falls in line with the motto of a rather childish statement: "If you don't like, don't watch." That would be simple if it was just textual comments.
Actual videos being made is a different story.
I'd like to hear from those who are on YouTube and currently have issues with the bullying aspect that is creeping up on the site. I'd also like to hear from former YouTube users just to see if some of the reasons they left involved the very things I speak of. There is probably nothing anyone can do about Internet bullying, but it is real and must be talked about.
Meanwhile, I am doing the best thing by staying off the site and letting Mr. Ski Mask have his way. Perhaps someone else will cut him down to size. Someone, hopefully, who is involved in law enforcement.
Article comments
1 - Matthew T. Sussman
So YouTube needs to change their entire way of handling negative comments because of something that happened on MySpace?
2 - Matthew Milam
The point I was trying to make was that people need to give a damn about cyberbullying -- on Myspace and on YouTube.
But what happened on Myspace could easily and does happen on YouTube?
3 - Matthew T. Sussman
Well, perhaps. But you paint this grandiose theoretical about kids getting comments on their videos that are menacing, and e-mails of the same nature. Then you throw in the real story of an Internet relationship gone awry on MySpace. Your supposition doesn't match reality, at all.
They're completely different things, filed under the general umbrella of "mean people on the Internet" and should be treated as such. As for preventative measures, they should begin with the mother and father. Not the private Web entity.
4 - Matthew Milam
Did you read the article about Megan Meier that I linked to?
5 - Matthew Milam
If read the article, you will see that there are no measures in place to get criminal charges against individuals who target people like Megan
6 - Matthew T. Sussman
No, I didn't read that article, but I read your article, which makes no mention of a call to implement a system criminal penalties. Just the vague concept of "fighting" it. Let's try and keep to one subject at a time here.
Has it ever been a crime for a school bully to make fun of kids in class?
7 - Ianfelter
Matt... you can't rely on anyone to have your back. You're somebody who has to fight is own battles. (Like me.) Stand against the people you're having trouble with, or block/ignore them.
You've got to stop deleting your accounts. You doing that makes you look like a runner. You've as much right to blog on YT as anyone else. That's all I got to say.
8 - Doug Hunter
I hate restrictions on the internet. Why let a 1 in 100,000,000 experience between one bad apple and one mentally disturbed kid destroy the open forum billions of people on the planet?
Here's the answer to your problem?: better parenting (by the parents of course, not the government)
9 - Milla Valkeasuo
Welcome to the internet age where everything is possible.. yes, online bullies suck.
10 - Stephen
I was on Youtube and I got a fair share of abuse as well as a lot of support from other users, but the abuse I got was abuse from, for example, people who hate the Irish, hate users for liking wrestling, and in most cases, Liverpool and Chelsea fans making fun of me because I support Manchester United (such as making fun of the 1958 Munich air disaster), but when my account got suspended for alleged "copyright infringement" i decided not to go back to Youtube and go to Myspace and Dailymotion, especially because these haters on youtube were so determined to get my account deleted, that they filed false copyright infringement notices to Youtube to get my videos taken down when I own them.