Cyber-bullying leads to teen's suicide

[Vector]

http://www.bigapplesoccer.com/sections/youth2.php?article_id=22992

I found out about this story via Facebook. A friend of mine joined a group named "Saddest School Day Ever 3/22/10 R.I.P♥." Earlier that day, a kid I went to high school with died in a car accident at 20 years old(RIP Joey), so naturally I clicked on the page to see what it was all about.

Turns out, this girl from a few towns away named Alexis Pilkington, had commit suicide believed to be linked to abuse on a website called www.formspring.me, which allows people to anonymously ask questions/submit comments. Varying reports have been coming out thus far, but kids who go to the high school(the girl's friends) have said that the girl hung herself.

It's very sad that the girl killed herself. She was an attractive, talented and athletic 17-year-old who was a skilled soccer player, but the damage done by anonymous websites was apparently irreperable and led her to end her own life.


This story is sad enough on its own, but here's where it gets really ugly.

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=108147572544795&ref=nf&v=info#!/pages/Saddest-School-Day-Ever-32210-RIP3/111230478892717?v=wall

The assholes over at /b/ on 4chan got wind of the group on Facebook, started making fake accounts and posting offensive pictures and comments. Some of the shit on that page really makes me want to throw up. You guys could see it for yourselves...but it's fucking disgusting what some people will do from behind the anonymity of the internet. I'm absolutely appalled.

I'm actually really torn up by this whole thing. I couldn't imagine being that girl's family, or friends of the girl in that group seeing what those fuckin' morons are posting. It's a human life that's gone, and these fucking fat, greasy 4chan losers are turning it into a big joke.

[YamiYumes]

Well, honestly, what did you expect? 4chan makes everything into a joke. This is no more or less disgusting than some of the other things they've done in the past.

Although, sometime similar to this has happened before. I can't recall the girl's name, but a friend of hers that she'd recently had a falling out with, told her mother about the fight...Said mother decides to make a myspace page and pretend that she was a good looking guy and gain the other girl's trust.

Said facade goes on for a while until finally the 'boy' she had grown to have feelings for and trust did a total 180, calling her a fat cow and saying the world would have been better without her. The girl hung herself.

It's sad, yes, but...to be surprised that 4chan of all places would make a joke out of it? Anyone who 'becomes an hero' are pretty much a laughing stock by default. Is it right? Well, no. But again, not surprising unfortunately. There's no point in being appalled as that's the exact reaction the trolls are looking for.

Rather like the Westboro Baptist Church, really.

[Canas Renvall]

Gotta agree with Yumes here, this is sick and wrong, but nothing 4chan hasn't done before.

Also, Yumes, it's "a total 180." If they did a 360, they'd be right back where they started.

[VirusPunk]

How come there aren't tougher laws against Internet users/sites? Sites like 4chan and Encyclopedia Dramatica are perfect examples of the stupidity of the Internet. Some of the stuff is humorous but alot of the stuff they do goes too far.. Like that article about "Porsche Girl" just makes me sick. A beautiful girl who dies in a car crash such as that is made into a mockery, to top it off pictures of her decapitated body is sent to her family and posted on the Internet for the world to see. Just imagine what the family members are going through losing their loved ones, then having to deal with idiots who make jokes about them online.

[Vector]

You know, I don't care if "they" have done worse stuff because I've never seen anything like this in my life and neither have the kids in that group. They just lost a friend and a classmate because of the same stupid shit that's going on, and they have no idea what kind of no-life losers they're dealing with. Reading each enraged comment from those kids was really tough, because I'd be reacting the same way if I knew this girl.

I rarely go to 4chan. Sometimes I go there for .gifs(the non-porn ones) or some hi-res wallpapers, but I never go to /b/ or any of the other stupid shit that these people with no lives love to do in their neverending free time. I really can't stand the internet sometimes. Poetic justice would be to have these fucking assholes beaten to death, begging for mercy as they choked on their own teeth and blood.

[Karui]

I agree with everything said. I had a friend who shot themselves recently and it was terrible, seeing the parents and friends tore up like they were. These waste of a sad excuse for humans need to die in the utmost painful way after watching a loved one die just so they know what it's like to lose someone because of another's stupidity. They better be glad I don't know them. That's all I can say. Now I'm pissed off...

[Vector]

It seems like the sickening pictures and most of the wall posts have been deleted, finally.

[Ray]

Sometimes, trollng from /b/ can be funny. Like, really funny.

This just seems like one of those times where everything is absolutely wrong. They went too far. Like, way.

[Mr. Ashford]

These are people with too much time on their hands and a twisted sense of humor. Personally, I love 4chan. Not /b/, because they're a bunch of immature fucktards, but the rest of it is pretty good. It perplexes me as to how people can find this funny, although I suppose if you weren't considering the feelings of the girls friends and family, it would be absolutely hilarious. [/sarcasm]

It gets to a point where you just can't take the internet seriously. I know I don't, most of the time. Definitely not one of the funnier thing's /b/ has done.

[Gradon]

4chan were the ones, who infact, found out about www.formspring.me to troll.
I've seen topics all over there about how they should troll <insert random person> on formspring and it's unlikely, but I wouldn't be surprised if they were the ones who trolled her in the first place.

/b/ is the biggest joke going, they can be funny, but thats like 1% of the time; they think they can rule round the internet by posting the sickest shit ever, just because it doesn't make them hurl they're the 'tough guys' of the internet, they go through life on 4chan laughing at deaths and posting absolutely DISGUSTING shit, laughing away, but in reality, it wouldn't be that easy.

The place is full of 'tough guys' who portray themselves on the internet as being the masterminds for causing alot of shit with people for no reason, the big tough people, the internet 'bully', you could call it?
However, off the computer, they're one of the people society would NEVER accept, and society would kick their ass if they knew who these shitless 'anonymous' people are.
An alias can hide who people are, but going round thinking you're the shit is PATHETIC when in reality, the world shits on you.

TL;DR: 4channers are 'internet tough guys' coz they can look at the most disgusting shit ever and not be phased and are pathetic for this so.

Very sorry to hear about this girl.

[kiedistidus]

Its really awful that a young girl killed herself but to be honest I think there must of been more going on in her personal life than cyber bullying.The difference with cyber bullying to actual bullying is you have control as to how much abuse you allow yourself to be exposed to,you could always just avoid sites that are prone to bullying.
The reason I think this girl must of had more problems than cyber bullying in her life is how often stories like suicide or violence involving young people are blamed on video games,movies or the internet, nothing is ever really mentioned about the childs personal life,parents or upbringing and to be honest if someone hurts themselves or others due to watching a movie or playing a game than they must of had mental problems to begin with.
Its really sad things like this happen and that there are people in the world who get their kicks from bullying but I'm a little tired of games,movies and the internet taking the rap for it.

I agree with everything said. I had a friend who shot themselves recently and it was terrible, seeing the parents and friends tore up like they were. These waste of a sad excuse for humans need to die in the utmost painful way after watching a loved one die just so they know what it's like to lose someone because of another's stupidity. They better be glad I don't know them. That's all I can say. Now I'm pissed off...

Yeah that makes sense punish these people by killing their families who have nothing to do with it,isnt that a major contradiction to the point your trying to get across.... great logic please dont pursue a career in law or politics.

[Karui]

Don't get me fucking started.

[nemesiswontdie]

You wont like him when he's angry.

[Canas Renvall]

Don't get me fucking started.

Well, he has a point. I'd love nothing more than to make these guys suffer, don't get me wrong, but chances are their family has nothing to do with it.

And death would be too kind for them. Personally, I'd strip them down naked on a nice summer day, tie them down to the ground, cover them in honey... and watch with glee as the insects ate them alive little by little.

However, their family has nothing to do with it. I'm sure the only family they know about is the mother whose basement they live in. But yeah, I wouldn't let them die. From a torture standpoint, it would just be too easy.

@nemesis: Be nice.

[Gideon Quinn]

Unfortunately, that's how the beast communicates. The /b/ board on 4chan frequently organises 'raids' such as this regularly and this isn't the first, last or most upsetting to come from it. I'm not trying to justify this kind of behaviour, but getting upset over their trolling is definitely giving them reason to persist. It's a shame the admin of this group isn't attending to this mess, because all the needless uproar could all be avoided if the negative comments were deleted in a timely fashion.

Anyway, I think it is unfair to blame 4chan or /b/ as an overall entity for every piece of trolling that appears on the internet. There are occasional disturbing moments such as the afformentioned group, yes - but oftentimes, their targets are debatably much more deserving. It's entertaining to see 'Anonymous' unify against hate speech figures such as Hal Turner or dangerous brainwashing cults like Scientology. There has also been instances of /b/ tracking down paedophiles and people who have committed cruelty to animals and having them arrested and sentenced for their crimes. It's a double edged sword, really - And blaming the entire board will not help.

Anyway, what kind of 'laws' could possibly be put in place to prevent this from occuring again? I don't think it's possible. Americans seem to take their First Amendment of free speech very seriously and the vandalous behaviour of those who abused the Facebook group dedicated to the memory of a poor girl who committed suicide will do nothing to push a potential form of internet dictation and/or regulation from any Government in the Western world.

Meh. Maybe i'm just too emotionally detached but i literally feel nothing when reading the Facebook group. Is this bad?