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Trolls.  They only exist in fairytales, don't they?  Trip trap trip trap go the three Billy Goats Gruff over the Troll's bridge.  The youngest goat is allowed to pass by saying that his middle brother is bigger and more tasty.  The middle brother is allowed to pass by saying that his older brother is biggest and yummiest.  And what does the older brother do? Why he tosses the Troll over the side of the bridge with his great big horns and watches him smash on the rocks below, making the bridge safe forever.

If only it were as easy to get rid of trolls on the internet.  In case you don't know what an internet troll is, here's a basic definition:

"In Internet slang, a troll is someone who posts inflammatory or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum, chat room, or blog, with the primary intent of provoking other users into a desired emotional response."

Internet trolls are clever.  Sometimes they use what seem like reasonable arguments to draw people in.  Often they act 'hurt and wounded'.  Always they have an agenda, whether it be garnering publicity, provoking other people into online fights, or just plain old nastiness.  What they love best is to be fed more material (ie comments) for them to get their sharp, cruel teeth into.  They are vindictive, destructive, and a part of internet life I absolutely abhor.

I have been 'trolled' on this very blog.  I won't say where or when, but it was one of the most upsetting experiences I've ever had - and the worst bit was feeling so totally helpless when it all kicked off.  Luckily we managed to shut it down quite quickly, but not before some damage had been done and feelings badly hurt.  My mistake was to 'feed the troll' by trying to be reasonable, polite and patient with his comments for far too long.  This was a mistake.  I've learned from it.

So why am I writing this post now?  Because in the last month two authors have spoken out about their own experiences of being trolled and cyberbullied.  One is Cassandra Clare, and you can read her account of what happened to her HERE.  If you don't know what cyberbullying is, here's another basic definition:

Cyberbullying is "the use of the Internet and related technologies to harm other people, in a deliberate, repeated, and hostile manner." Cyberbullying methods include "communications that seek to intimidate, control, manipulate, put down, falsely discredit, or humiliate the recipient. The actions are deliberate, repeated, and hostile behavior intended to harm another." I would include "passive-aggressive behaviour" along with "hostile".

The other person who has been trolled and cyberbullied very recently is Debi Gliori.  Her piece about the campaign against her and her newest picture-book, The Tobermory Cat is HERE.

To be honest, both these stories make me angry, mostly because I hate any sort of bullying with a passion.  I'm glad Cassandra and Debi were brave enough to come out and expose their tormentors, though, because too many people are scared to come forward and say something.

This is what bullying does.  It isolates, makes you feel alone and frightened, is a small, insidious whisper in the brain, telling you that no one is on your side, that everyone hates you, and if you tell, everyone will hate you more. Cyberbullying is trolling whipped up into a campaign.  It's much easier to hide behind a keyboard than to physically bully someone.  You can even do it across borders, across continents.

No author should have to suffer it.  No child should have to suffer it (though too many do, and die because of it, as in the recent case of Amanda Todd's suicide).  Not one single human being deserves to be bullied or cyberbullied. Ever. Full stop.

Although I maintain that 'feeding the trolls' is not a good idea (and by 'feeding' I mean engaging with them on a longterm basis), I also believe that we should stand up in public and support, reasonably, politely and firmly, those who have been trolled or cyberbullied.  Many of us have done so in Debi's case.  Nicola Morgan has written an excellent piece on the ins and outs of intellectual property law HERE, and now the Guardian has also picked the story up.

If all of us stand together and keep saying no to each cyberbully and troll as we come across them, then maybe we, like the eldest Billy Goat Gruff, can use our horns to throw them down onto the rocks under the internet bridge and defeat them one by one.  Unfortunately trolls and their cyberbully cousins are very resilient.  I fear it'll be a long job, but I, for one, will keep on trying. I couldn't live with myself otherwise.

Lucy's latest series Greek Beasts and Heroes is out now from Orion Children's Books and her new picture books, Bear's Best Friend, will be published by Bloomsbury in March 2013
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Social Media has been a positive force for youth. It lets them express themselves, helps them overcome social isolation and it gives them the ability to influence the world without the freedom granted by adulthood. There is a darker side to social media as well. The most evident in recent years has been cyber bullying, but it’s not the only issue.

There have been three recent rape allegations connected the service Skout. In response, the company has decided to suspend the teen branch of their service. Teens who are avid users of the service are moving against the shutdown. The teens believe that the shutdown won’t help anything. Teens will simply lie about their age and use the adult service, and they correctly assert that their creeps on Facebook too.

Facebook is choosing to take a different path. They acknowledge the fact that minors will use their site regardless. In fact, 38% of minors using Facebook are under the required age of registration, 13. So Facebook  is working to create a version for their site for minors. It is a version that gives them unique privacy setting and controls. You can find more on that, and why people feel Facebook isn’t doing it out of pure altruism here.

Many of those creeps use the same method that they did on Skout on Facebook and other sites. Child Predators who target teens and children using Social Media frequently lie about their age in their profiles, and they use pictures of themselves or others as teens as profile pictures. They don’t just say their teens in a chat room, they build profiles around a teenage identity. They earn the trust of teens. They set up a meeting, and then they commit their crime.

This has happened many times. It has happed across the county. It happened on Long Island where I live in January. It is not that difficult to imagine happening, but it is difficult to dream up an effective solution overnight.  The solutions being proposed right now include restricting teen access, creating an automated system the scours the net for child porn and prostitution, and new laws governing access/possible capabilities of social media. The effectiveness of this shotgun will likely save some, but the implementation must be closely watched. There is a fine line between protecting teens and silencing them.

The bottom line is banning teens from Social Media won’t help. Predators, rapists and molesters have and will always exist. Facebook may even help bring them to justice, or it could at very least provide people an avenue for closure. What does help? Have the conversations daily, and whenever possible. They may get sick of hearing it from you, but that is okay. We can’t eliminate pedophelia, as much as we want to. But maybe we can empower teens to protect themselves.

 

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The people have spoken, and we’re excited to see many of our favorite acts and programs (among the 2012 People’s Choice Award nominees! “Harry Potter” leads the way with nine nods, and Katy Perry and “Glee” are also top contenders. In... Read the rest of this post

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Today we bring you another installment of the latest youth research available for sale or download. Remember if your company has comprehensive research for sale that focuses on youth between the ages of 8 and 24, email us to be included in the next... Read the rest of this post

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During the Children’s Advertising Review Unit conference earlier this month, we had the pleasure of meeting some of Wired Safety’s Teenangels and Tweenangels. They’re students who have been specially trained about online activity and the risks... Read the rest of this post

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Today’s post comes from Youth Advisory Board member Emily Smucker, who, like nearly everyone her age, knows someone who’s been involved in some digital drama. The problem, ranging from name calling to full-blown cyberbullying, has been getting a... Read the rest of this post

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Maybe it should be called Google++++ (considering the fledgling social network managed to post a whopping 1269% increase in traffic over the previous week. What drove the huge leap? The network is now open to everyone and no longer requires invites.... Read the rest of this post

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Facebook’s latest announcement was rumored as a music service (but it has the potential to revolutionize media in general. The new apps will allow users to see what TV shows, songs, movies, news, and games their friends are using through... Read the rest of this post

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Moshi Monsters are everywhere from the children’s online community to the pages of the best-selling magazine (and now they’re entering the music business with the launch of the label Moshi Music. After the company’s success with its... Read the rest of this post

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Tablets are everywhere these days (but unfortunately HP couldn’t handle all the competition. Despite their huge marketing push with stars like Lea Michele and Russell Brand behind them — literally! — HP discontinued the device after less than... Read the rest of this post

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Due to the incredible response to Angus Stevenson's morning post, we've decided to share a little bit more about the brand new Concise Oxford English Dictionary, which is celebrating its 100th birthday. This fully updated 12th edition contains more than 240,000

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Cyberbullying is a reality for kids growing up today, and for the victims, it’s hard to turn off. As Internet savvy as teens are, so are bullies who can make their lives hell. But fortunately, teen media companies are getting involved, sharing the... Read the rest of this post

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When Jack White (said he was starting up a mobile record store, this wasn’t quite what we imagined. The Third Man Standing van will make its debut at SXSW and then begin traversing the country, announcing its stops on Twitter. Along with vinyl... Read the rest of this post

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I’ve been invited to participate in a panel discussion on the topic of Cyberbullying: What Every Parent Should Know.

Essentially, from what I can gather, there’s going to be a bunch of experts . . . and me.

The panelists include:

* Lydia Kulbida, Moderator. WTEN-TV news anchor. Mother of two teens.
* Lori Cullen: timesunion.com blogger. Mother of three teens. Founder of Millennial Youth, an independent, youth-run magazine housed at the Times Union
* Sandra Morley: Principal, Bethlehem Central Middle School
* Prof. Stephen Birchak: Educator, lecturer, author of “How to Build a Child’s Character – By Tapping Into Your Own”
* Lt. Joseph Donohue: State Police Computer Crime Unit. Oversees the federal Justice Department’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force
* James Preller: Author of more than 80 children’s books. His most recent novel, ‘Bystander,’ tells the story of bullying from multiple perspectives

FOR MORE DETAILS, AND TO REGISTER (DON’T WORRY, IT’S FREE!), CLICK HERE.

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Facebook rolls out revamped profile pages (to display user info more visually with photos made prominent, top interests showcased as images and more descriptive relationships. In a savvier roll-out than years past, the new layout was announced on... Read the rest of this post

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Today's Ypulse Interview is with Taylor Audette, a college student at the University of Southern California, who decided to launch her own campaign against digital abuse after experiencing harassment online. For the past few months, Say It 2 My Face... Read the rest of this post

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By Dori Hillestad Butler

A few years ago, I wrote The Truth About Truman School, a novel that deals with cyberbullying. In the book, a girl named Lilly Clarke is harassed online—on a website the whole school reads, an anonymous classmate posts photos and accuses her of being gay.

She starts to avoid school, and then one day, she disappears altogether.  The book is also the story of her classmates who witness the bullying and don’t know how to respond.

You may have heard that it’s Bullying Prevention Week—or Month. This year the National Center for Bullying Prevention has expanded the event to cover the whole month of October.

It’s a strangely timely decision, considering all the recent stories about bullying-related tragedies.  Special reports on bullying are appearing on the websites for CNN.com, Cartoon Network and People magazine this week.  Some of the stories will break your heart. You wonder what you can do—if you can do anything at all.

I want to tell you about a school visit I did last spring. I spoke to 4^th and 5^th graders, and after one of my presentations, this girl came up to me. She waited until all the other kids were lining up to go back to their classrooms and I was getting set up for the next presentation. She said, “Can I tell you something?”

I said, “Sure.”

She looked around, then leaned in close and whispered, “I’m being cyberbullied.”

At first I just stood there. I expected her teacher to call her over any second. But when that didn’t happen, I said, “do you want to tell me about it?”

Her eyes filled with tears. Then she said, “my friend is spreading rumors about me. She has a website and she uses it to write mean things about people, just like in your book. Now no one will talk to me. Everyone in this whole school hates me.”

She told me she and that girl had been friends since they were four. Their moms were friends, too. But now because the girls weren’t getting along, neither were the moms.

I ached for this girl.

I wondered whether she had told anyone at school about what was happening. Her teacher? A counselor? She said, “they won’t do anything because my friend’s mom helps at school a lot.”

I found it interesting that this girl kept referring to the other girl as her “friend.” She didn’t sound like much of a friend to me. She sounded like a manipulative little—okay, I probably shouldn’t say that when I’m a guest on my publisher’s blog.

I asked her whether it would be okay if I told her librarian what she’d just told me.

She wiped her eyes and said, “Just forget it. It doesn’t matter. Nobody ever does anything anyway.” Then she ran off to join her class.

I did say something to that librarian. All I could do was describe the girl since I didn’t get her name. But the librarian thought she knew who I was talking about. She said “That girl has quite an imagination. I’m sure she read your book and made up that story just so she’d have something to say to you. I don’t believe any of it is true.”

I was stunned. Those tears weren’t real?

Of course the librarian knows the girl and I don’t. She could be absolutely right.

But what if she was wrong?

It’s hard to believe some kids are bullies, but sometimes it’s hard to know when a kid is a victim, too. Which is all the more reason why it’s important to take bullying seriously—in every instance.

Yes—it would’ve bothered me to find out the girl was playing me. But it would bother me a lot more to see this girl’s picture in the news.

I hope it never comes to that.

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