Comments on: Social Media Stalking? Plurkers Have Got Your Back!

By: Leigh Durst

Leigh Durst — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 20:47:54 +0000

Hi Tashfeen,
I’m sorry, I can’t get you the link because it was a private plurk. I need to respect the privacy of those involved for obvious reasons.
Best,
Leigh

By: tashfeen

tashfeen — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 19:15:41 +0000

Hey could you share the link? I’m just curious, wondering how I never noticed the plurk in question (I’m fairly active on Plurk). You can private plurk me (“tashfeen”) or email me if you want.

By: Paul Acosta

Paul Acosta — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 22:06:07 +0000

I definitely agree with your sentiment of proudness about the power we enjoy as an online community. I think it all depends on how careful you need to be when subscribing or sharing your personal details online. I mean, almost everyone nowadays is either on cable or DSL lines and it don’t take that much to pinpoint your exact location (or at least plot your usual destinations) at any given time. It all brings back memories of watching the news at 10PM and seeing a report on “Safe online? Think again”. We need to become more educated (and careful) on the level of trust we put on the web to prevent for this to happen to us. Safest way? Just like we were all taught during sex ed class: abstinence. Don’t get online (caveat: you’ll miss a lot). Thanks for sharing this story!

By: Leigh Duncan-Durst

Leigh Duncan-Durst — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 19:13:09 +0000

Ann – Trolls among us is an incredible article that everyone should read.
All – thanks so much for the comments. As an update:
- I don’t know if the woman being harassed got Plurk involved. Since I heard about this from “Helper” and not “Freaked Out” I have limited information.
- I do know that the backlash IMMEDIATELY put an end to her harassment. I got that update on Plurk today.
IMHO, we do need to recognize the incredible power we have as an online community – but we also need to be responsible about our use of that power so that it doesn’t become abuse.

By: John Whiteside

John Whiteside — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 18:51:24 +0000

Remember “Dog Poop Girl,” who got caught on camera not picking up her dog’s poop on a train in Korea? Very bad behavior on her part, but the resulting backlash against her was WAY out of proportion – she wound up having to quit her job because of the public ridicule.
And as much as I disapprove of people not cleaning up after their pets, the cyber-vigilante aspect of that was really disturbing.

By: Ann Handley

Ann Handley — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 18:17:44 +0000

So this isn’t exactly the same thing, but more about the freaky underbelly of social networking, in this preview article from Sunday’s NYTimes magazine:
The Trolls Among Us
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/03/magazine/03trolls-t.html?partner=rssyahoo

By: CK

CK — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 17:41:18 +0000

Thanks for this post. While these types of stories are the exception (not the rule), they’ll always get the ink…after all, they’re alarming.
Did the harassed person ever get Plurk involved? I’m not sure what Plurk could have done, but I’m curious if she was given any support by Plurk.

By: Richard Millington

Richard Millington — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 16:58:37 +0000

As lame as this sounds, i’m really against this sort of behaviour. What the Plurkers did, harrassing someone with no shred of evidence, is essentially become vigilantes. Which is just wrong.
My other thought is that I agree with you, there is a lot of trust placed in the information we discover from social media. I remember reading about a prank a while ago when an ex-fiance listed her former partner’s house on craigslist with the message “i’m leaving the country, take everything you can find”.
The poor guy came back to find his house nearly empty. When he challenged one of those stealing his stuff, the offender waived a print out of the craigslist advert in his face like it was a legal document.