Bullying and swarming at DU...

[JakeStyle]

The DUmmies have a meta-discussion about their nutcase-nadin problem.

Violet_Crumble (24,699 posts)
 
Bullying and swarming at DU...

Nadin posted something earlier on in this forum that made a reference to it, and being someone who's never been bullied either in real life or online, I have seen it aimed at others at DU. How do other DUers react when they see it happening? Me, I usually look at the swarm and think to myself they're really doing it tough when it comes to impressing people who are onlookers. Do people think it's acceptable and somehow not bullying if the target is someone who's not one of the popular kids? And what advice is best to give someone who's being bullied at DU? I don't use the ignore feature myself, but I'd suggest it as one way to get rid of the buzzing of the swarm, coz engaging them is going to have the same result as poking a nest of bees. I'd also suggest just turning off the computer and walking away for a while. The suggestions put the onus on the person who's being bullied, but I figure if there's no way of controlling a swarm, the wisest thing to do is control yr own experience....

http://sync.democraticunderground.com/124046213

SidDithers
3. I think it's important to quit poking the nest of bees...

by adding a passive / aggressive editorial that's unrelated to the story in the OP.

The "I used to post hard-core news, but now you're only going to get crunchy, man bytes dog" additions to innocuous news items are doing nothing to diffuse the situation. I would argue that it's just waving a red flag in front of a herd of bulls.

But I agree completely with you about the use of ignore. You absolutely cannot be bullied at DU unless you choose to continue reading those "bullying" posts. A couple clicks of the mouse and the problem is gone.

Why that hasn't happened yet is a mystery to me.

pintobean
8. It's hard to play the victim

when one can't see the replies to antagonistic comments.

Codeine
7. Every post that person makes is precisely and carefully calibrated

to elicit the response it receives. It's a game she plays as enthusiastically and loudly as everyone who replies to her.

pecwae
17. Exactly so.

It's a back and forth that is obviously enjoyed by all participants. It's incredibly simple to not see replies by using the functions made for that purpose, but that particular poster refuses to employ them. It's obvious that poster looks forward to the responses and to reply to them. The cry of bullying is unwarranted and childish.

La Lioness Priyanka
42. the thing about DU is that its very often the bullies who cry bullying first

i had a dust up in the lounge several years ago where a group of people used multiple websites to coordinate attacks on me. they were the clever popular (on DU) kids. after a while a lot of them got tombstoned (not necessarily for things they said/did to me but because a lot of them were assholes generally speaking). yet to this day they will claim that i bullied them.

Kali
43. sometimes it can be hard to tell victims from assholes

there are vulnerable people - yes even adults on the intertubes - that really can be harmed by the vicious swarming attacks of hyenas. There are healthy people who can be targets of that behavior as well. And then there are assholes that instigate and claim victimhood. It is very likely there is overlap in all of it as well.

and of course to add to all the difficulty of sorting it out is the mob tendency of humans to flock to a trainwreck or a fight. Chickens do that too, so do a lot of animals.

[SarasotaRepub]

Poor, poor crunchy Nadin. 

[thundley4]

Do people think it's acceptable and somehow not bullying if the target is someone who's not one of the popular kids?

nadin was one of the popular kids, but it was her that turned on her own peer group first.

[miskie]

...And La Lioness Priyanka brings up 'The Big Gay Purge' once again... 

Does she not see the irony ? She is digging up a long-dead issue to complain about others (Mainly Nads) digging up other issues.

[GOBUCKS]

Kali
43. sometimes it can be hard to tell victims from assholes

there are assholes that instigate and claim victimhood. 

DUmmy Kali has just given a perfect description of the whackjob nadin. Bully alert!!

[FreeBorn]

I like things a whole lot better now that Skin's Island has morphed into an archipelago.

In the past the raining tombstones squelched an awful lot of the fun. These days though now that the original cast and crew has been divided by class and the pay-per-view DUmmies have left the poor kids sitting on the beach, the haves and the have nots, the tombstones and other policing have dried right up.

This leaves the DUmmies to run amok unchecked  and is infinitely more amusing.  

[delilahmused]

The lioness...isn't she the one with the filthy house? Was she being bullied by other gays or something?

Cindie

[Ralph Wiggum]

The lioness...isn't she the one with the filthy house? Was she being bullied by other gays or something?

Cindie

Yeah, she lives in an apartment that is about the filthiest I've ever seen.  Yet she seems to revel in posting pictures of it.

I don't recall her being part of the gay wars, but then again I never paid that much attention to that fight.  I thought she was one of those bi-sexuals, but I guess she's a straight-up lesbian.  Hard to keep track of some of the DUmmies without a scorecard.

[Doc Savage]

What is it with those freaks.  Bullies?  On a political discussion board, thin skinned they are.  Are those people acutally adults? 

I don't like your post, I am putting you on ignore.  Sounds like a 5 year old plugging his ears and yelling  LALALALALALALALALALALALALALA!.   

Most of them have to grow a set, accept that not even everyone on DU agrees with each other. 

[Aristotelian]

This leaves the DUmmies to run amok unchecked  and is infinitely more amusing. 

As soon as the processes for DUmp 3 were announced several CCers remarked that it would be like The Lord of the Flies...so it is proving to be.

[Rebel]

...and you wonder why conservatives are always proven to be happier people than progs.

[Airwolf]

Fresh, sweet,crunchy irony.  And they wondery why humans point and laugh at the DUmpmonkies. The sad thing is with all the damage they are causing ,apes may really end up running the damned planet.