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[Voost Kain]

Sam Haberern, 20, was playing Call of Duty on Xbox at his family’s house in Connecticut, and he was on a roll. After several dozen high-scoring rounds, other gamers started to take notice. He began receiving invites from players asking him to play with them. He accepted one and joined in the group’s online conversation through his headset.
“It was great,” said Haberern in an interview with The Washington Post. “I was talking [trash], they were talking [trash],” he said, adding that such antics are typical and understood to be part of the culture.
Then, Haberern said, the tone of the conversation shifted dramatically. The other gamers started asking him whether he had ever testified in court or murdered anyone.
“They said they were from Maryland and that they were going to come and kill me,” he said.

By then it was 3 a.m., and Haberern decided to quit. One of the gamers in the party then sent him a message via Xbox Live. It contained his home address. Next his house phone rang, then his mother’s cellphone. A message appeared on his TV screen from one of the party members — it was asking why he didn’t answer.
“I felt almost unsafe in my own home, which is not a feeling I like to get from playing Xbox Live,” he said.
Haberern contacted Microsoft, which makes Xbox, via its website and reported what happened. Unsatisfied with that process, he then typed a Reddit post, which would go viral, asking what recourse was available to him. The varied and ultimately unsatisfying answers centered on a common theme: There was no good solution.

While game publishers, console makers, online voice-chat applications and even the FBI are aware of these issues and working to confront them, complications stemming from modern technology and gaming practices, freedom of speech concerns, and a lack of chargeable offenses on the legal side make toxic elements a challenge to extinguish.
As a result, and with more and more attention paid to the rapidly growing gaming and esports industry, news cycles are more frequently dotted with incidents like that of Anthony Gene Thomas, 41, of Broward County, Fla., who was arrested on Jan. 20 and faces 22 counts of child pornography, unlawful sex with a minor and other related charges after allegedly using the game Fortnite to solicit sexual encounters with underage players. Authorities in Florida say there may be up to 20 victims, according to local reports.

Vox-owned site the Verge recently compiled multiple accounts of players who claimed to be harassed by others reenacting slavery-era behavior by targeting, rounding up and killing black characters in the massively popular and critically acclaimed game “Red Dead Redemption 2,” which takes place at the start of the 20th century. A November story by NPR also reported that hate groups were actively using video-game chats to recruit new, young members.
Gamers have also overheard real-world criminal activity conducted and captured on voice chats. In November, Daniel Enrique Fabian, 18, of New Port Richey, Fla., was arrested after a fellow gamer overheard Fabian allegedly raping a 15-year-old girl while playing Grand Theft Auto on PlayStation 4. Even though such incidents are not caused by the games themselves, some industry insiders say their status as a tool for bad actors engaging in toxic and criminal behavior online could significantly slow the growth of the video-game industry, much in the same way it did with social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook.

Though some of these tactics might offer hope, game publishers have struggled to decide on broader strategic issues, such as how to balance free speech with ensuring a safe environment, an issue shared by old-guard social networks like Facebook and Twitter.
Carlos Figueiredo, one of the founders of Fair Play Alliance who now works as the director of community trust and safety at Two Hat Security, believes identifying a mechanism to combat toxic elements would be a “rising tide that would benefit everyone” in the video-game industry. He added that he has been encouraged by the amount of collaboration he’s recently seen from software developers on the issue.

“We haven’t been connected for that long, overall,” Figueiredo said, noting that a lack of social consequence was as much of a cause for the persistence of toxicity as anonymity. “We’re still figuring out a lot of things as we go.”
Pachter says it will probably take a company to create a two-factor authentication system that would require gamers to provide multiple forms of identification, such as an email address and cellphone number, as a way to combat toxicity.
“I think it’s going to get worse before it gets better,” he said, expressing surprise at how little impact the 2017 fatal swatting incident of Gaskill had on gaming companies’ efforts to combat toxicity.

So for those that don't want to read the whole thing it's basically talking about how organizations and law enforcement are considering the "show me your papers" approach to online gaming in very slick speech so that they can track and have everyones information. They also want to possibly head toward charging people in crimes for standard online trash talk and completely blowing cyber bullying way out of proportion and considering it some kind of epidemic that needs an immediate solution.

You know, like how in some European countries your words on social media can be taken out of context and you can be charge with fines, jail time or community service based on what a "group" decided is harmful speech. I mean they literally have the statement "balance free speech with online safety" it's clear where their going with this.

 

[VertigoOA]

 

[wzy]

We trusted massive corporations to shephard mankind into a beautiful egalitarian future. Why didn't they? - The Washington Post 2/27/19

 

[DonF]

Then, Haberern said, the tone of the conversation shifted dramatically. The other gamers started asking him whether he had ever testified in court or murdered anyone.
“They said they were from Maryland and that they were going to come and kill me,” he said.
By then it was 3 a.m., and Haberern decided to quit. One of the gamers in the party then sent him a message via Xbox Live. It contained his home address. Next his house phone rang, then his mother’s cellphone. A message appeared on his TV screen from one of the party members — it was asking why he didn’t answer.
“I felt almost unsafe in my own home, which is not a feeling I like to get from playing Xbox Live,” he said.

Oh come on! Thats some b tier movie bullshit! You know its fake. Washington Post...come on!

 

[Geki-D]

One of the gamers in the party then sent him a message via Xbox Live. It contained his home address. Next his house phone rang, then his mother’s cellphone. A message appeared on his TV screen from one of the party members — it was asking why he didn’t answer.

Can anyone actually imagine how this could even be achievable? People you play with on XBL just knowing your address, your home number and even your mother's mobile? I want to give the story the benefit of the doubt, but I literally can't fathom how this could be possible.

Did the WP find this guy on 4Chan?

 

[FranXico]

We trusted massive corporations to shephard mankind into a beautiful egalitarian future. Why didn't they? - The Washington Post 2/27/19

They won't even be allowed to publish that by then...

 

[JareBear: Remastered]

I’m just gonna start having my home address and social security number be my PSN and XBL usernames

That will teach me!

 

[Catphish]

Washington Post.

You'd be better off pulling news from the National Enquirer.

Seriously. WaPo is a shit rag, and is best avoided like gonorrhea.

 

[metalshade]

So for those that don't want to read the whole thing it's basically talking about how organizations and law enforcement are considering the "show me your papers" approach to online gaming in very slick speech so that they can track and have everyones information. They also want to possibly head toward charging people in crimes for standard online trash talk and completely blowing cyber bullying way out of proportion and considering it some kind of epidemic that needs an immediate solution.

You know, like how in some European countries your words on social media can be taken out of context and you can be charge with fines, jail time or community service based on what a "group" decided is harmful speech. I mean they literally have the statement "balance free speech with online safety" it's clear where their going with this.

OR...you know....maybe they want to clamp down on an environment that is truly toxic and harmful, for the good of everyone in said environment.
As for "standard online trash talk", it's dismissive attitudes like that which mean that the victims of such bullying feel like they have nowhere to turn to because nobody will care.
Bullying and insulting is NEVER acceptable behaviour, and the sooner people get introduced to the idea that they are accountable, the better the world will be.
"But muh free speech" is tired and old. Freedom of expression is fine, up until a point where it is harmful to others, and then there need to be consequences for crossing that line. "Joking" about rape, paedophilia, murder and racism are undeniably far past that line.
As someone who has never been a victim of online abuse, I am fine with the idea of tools to protect those that have.

 

[Spukc]

Everyone i play online with is either a nazi or gay.
Game politics 2019

 

[Sqorin Hammerfarf]

It's weird. I feel like there's a lot more toxicity in gaming now than the past, despite all the people telling me how misogynistic and racist gamers have always been. It's almost like it wasn't the gamers themselves who were toxic, but instead the toxicity was brought into gaming from outside by the very people complaining about gamers... That'd be weird, huh?

 

[Lionel Richie]

This is business; no faces, just lines and statistics
From your phone, your Zip Code, to SSI digits
The system break man, child, and women into figures

Mos Def was right 20 years ago.

 

[johntown]

Can anyone actually imagine how this could actually be achievable? People you play with on XBL just knowing your address, your home number and even your mother's mobile? I want to give the story the benefit of the doubt, but I literally can't fathom how this could be possible.

Did the WP find this guy on 4Chan?

This is not impossible. If you have a rare name or post lots of details about yourself publicly that information is very easy to find out. There are also tools to that can capture all IP's addresses that connect to you. From that information you can track the rough location and then use services to find out the rest. Reverse lookup services don't need tons of information and can be surprisingly accurate.

 

[lukilladog]

 

[ShdwDrake]

It's weird. I feel like there's a lot more toxicity in gaming now than the past, despite all the people telling me how misogynistic and racist gamers have always been. It's almost like it wasn't the gamers themselves who were toxic, but instead the toxicity was brought into gaming from outside by the very people complaining about gamers... That'd be weird, huh?

Your talking about how now I can say cracker in voice chat and everyone get tilted or how everyone just used to used the nword and say faggot and when anyone spoke up they where just told to lighten up?

 

[rivv3r]

By then it was 3 a.m., and Haberern decided to quit. One of the gamers in the party then sent him a message via Xbox Live. It contained his home address. Next his house phone rang, then his mother’s cellphone. A message appeared on his TV screen from one of the party members — it was asking why he didn’t answer.

Riiiiiiight.

Your talking about how now I can say cracker in voice chat and everyone get tilted or how everyone just used to used the nword and say faggot and when anyone spoke up they where just told to lighten up?

It's a little weird that you'll type out 'cracker' and 'faggot,' but 'nigger' gets 'the nword.'

 

[llien]

I never played on XBL, exactly how would people I'd play with figure my home address and mom's phone number, pardon my ignorance?

 

[Sqorin Hammerfarf]

As for "standard online trash talk", it's dismissive attitudes like that which mean that the victims of such bullying feel like they have nowhere to turn to because nobody will care.

It is dismissive, because people who can't handle trash talk deserve to be dismissed.

Bullying and insulting is NEVER acceptable behaviour, and the sooner people get introduced to the idea that they are accountable, the better the world will be.

You can't control other people, only yourself. Nobody else is going to grow a pair for you. The world is filled with rotten people and rotten situations and learning how to cope with that is part of growing up. Luckily, dealing with bullies online is much easier because, generally speaking, you are isolated from the worst outcomes of confrontation. And if you aren't isolated, you learn very quickly the pitfalls of oversharing personal information.

"But muh free speech" is tired and old.

It's "ur free speech" too, you dumb idiot. Why do you think your rights are protected when calling for the destruction of the rights of others?

Freedom of expression is fine, up until a point where it is harmful to others, and then there need to be consequences for crossing that line.

At what point do words harm you?

"Joking" about rape, paedophilia, murder and racism are undeniably far past that line.

How many dead, black, gay, sexy babies does it take to change a lightbulb? It depends on how you stack them.

As someone who has never been a victim of online abuse, I am fine with the idea of tools to protect those that have.

As someone who HAS been a victim of online abuse on a level you can't even imagine, shut up.

 

[Geki-D]

This is not impossible. If you have a rare name or post lots of details about yourself publicly that information is very easy to find out. There are also tools to that can capture all IP's addresses that connect to you. From that information you can track the rough location and then use services to find out the rest. Reverse lookup services don't need tons of information and can be surprisingly accurate.

I guess that's possible. Seems like a lot of effort to go through to fuck with some random guy one night. I've tried reverse IP lookups and I've never really came across one that was accurate to the point of giving me a location precise enough to get any useful info out of it. They were free ones however, but these guys paying to mess with a random gamer doesn't seem likely to me.

I'd be more on the 'he's just really careless with what he puts online' angle.

 

[NickFire]

A newspaper that promotes hate complaining that people are mean.

 

[TacosNSalsa]

How the hell does someone get sooo much info about somebody by just playing with them for a few hours??

 

[Barakov]

Kinda weird that newspapers have more fiction in them than your local library.

 

[jshackles]

I never played on XBL, exactly how would people I'd play with figure my home address and mom's phone number, pardon my ignorance?

If your username is the same across multiple services, and you've got publicly identifiable information attached to that username anywhere online, you're wide open to this sort of attack. Usually happens if, for example, if someone lists their public email address with their same username on the website of their business or in a work directory.

It definitely falls under "dude was sloppy with his digital hygiene".

 

[Sqorin Hammerfarf]

Kinda weird that newspapers have more fiction in them than your local library.

What's really weird is that we've got a culture war between gamers and journalists, and journalists are the mustache twirling bad guys! We're just like, "leave my murder simulators and anime titties alone" while the journalists are tying damsels to train tracks while whining about how nobody is nice to anybody anymore.

 

[Geki-D]

If your username is the same across multiple services, and you've got publicly identifiable information attached to that username anywhere online, you're wide open to this sort of attack. Usually happens if, for example, if someone lists their public email address with their same username on the website of their business or in a work directory.

It definitely falls under "dude was sloppy with his digital hygiene".

Yeah, now that I think about it, this comes to mind:


Though most "social experiments" on TY tend to be fake and staged so take it how you will.

 

[ShdwDrake]

Riiiiiiight.



It's a little weird that you'll type out 'cracker' and 'faggot,' but 'nigger' gets 'the nword.'

Not wierd. Everyone knows the nword is nigger. The Cword is cunt and the fword is fuck. With how many different people are on this forum (?????) I just thought it would be easier to read.

 

[metalshade]

As someone who HAS been a victim of online abuse on a level you can't even imagine, shut up.

Seeing as how that is the only point you made that bears any semblance of being worthy of response, this is my response.
I am sorry you ever had to suffer things such as discussed in this thread. As someone who has suffered these things, I am surprised and saddened by your unwillingness to consider protecting others from those things.
I realise your confrontational response may be an affected defence on your part, and hold no ill-will to you.
I also realise you may be insulted by my pity, in which case,

You can't control other people, only yourself.

 

[Voost Kain]

OR...you know....maybe they want to clamp down on an environment that is truly toxic and harmful, for the good of everyone in said environment.
As for "standard online trash talk", it's dismissive attitudes like that which mean that the victims of such bullying feel like they have nowhere to turn to because nobody will care.

You can't say I'm dismissive, while you dismiss these "stories" being overblown and then having people that don't understand the industry start generalizing en mass. These articles don't try helping individual people they use individual peoples suffering to create some sort of fake epidemic to try and move some agenda.

 

[metalshade]

You can't say I'm dismissive, while you dismiss these "stories" being overblown and then having people that don't understand the industry start generalizing en mass. These articles don't try helping individual people they use individual peoples suffering to create some sort of fake epidemic to try and move some agenda.

I did none of the above.
I am fully cognisant of the fact that newspapers often dramatise things to get more eyes.
What I do take umbridge with is when people dismiss the actual problems that are highlighted, regardless of the medium.

 

[danielberg]

When establishment media whores like wapo finally die i will laugh and drink until i pass out all while creating throw away twitter accounts mocking them.
Boy i cannot wait.

 

[Ballthyrm]

People are horrible to each other. Who gets to define what's toxic behavior ?

Asking developers to change public behavior is dangerous,
We have seen it with Facebook and google, letting corporation decide who get to say what they want is doing more harm than good.

I don't want devs spending time playing internet cops, that's not their jobs.
The sooner we accept that it's the people who are horrible and that the game aren't responsible the sooner we can address the real problems.

I think it is probably best to let people be people and just give them the tools to police one another.
Mute buttons, blocking of other player, etc.

If people could stop playing in the oppression Olympics that would be great.
Hey, here, everyone get a gold medal. Consider yourself thoroughly oppressed.

 

[ShdwDrake]

People are horrible to each other. Who gets to define what's toxic behavior ?

Asking developers to change public behavior is dangerous,
We have seen it with Facebook and google, letting corporation decide who get to say what they want is doing more harm than good.

I don't want devs spending time playing internet cops, that's not their jobs.
The sooner we accept that it's the people who are horrible and that the game aren't responsible the sooner we can address the real problems.

I think it is probably best to let people be people and just give them the tools to police one another.
Mute buttons, blocking of other player, etc.

If people could stop playing in the oppression Olympics that would be great.
Hey, here, everyone get a gold medal. Consider yourself thoroughly oppressed.

Easier access to healthcare and therapy could be a solution but sadly America is very against social services and very for corporations.

 

[DeepEnigma]

Good ole WaPo doing their due diligence as puppets of the establishment. More control, control, control.

 

[#Phonepunk#]

“Wah wah wah why can’t I play my game where I competitively shoot people without any trash talk”

I wonder if these journalists ever played sports before or ever felt a rush of adrenaline in a competitive space that wasn’t typing snarky Tweets

 

[{insert code here}]

Free speech doesn't apply to these online platforms. They're private spaces that we sign up for under terms of the providers so, they can and should limit how we communicate with each other to help prevent shit like the Fortnite story. That is just all kinds of fucked up. I don't know how you solve it but they shouldn't just do nothing and hide behind the free speech banner. Free speech doesn't apply here.

 

[stickkidsam]

Seeing as how that is the only point you made that bears any semblance of being worthy of response, this is my response.
I am sorry you ever had to suffer things such as discussed in this thread. As someone who has suffered these things, I am surprised and saddened by your unwillingness to consider protecting others from those things.
I realise your confrontational response may be an affected defence on your part, and hold no ill-will to you.
I also realise you may be insulted by my pity, in which case,

So your response when faced with the attitude of someone who actually experienced online abuse is to just double down on your own view, not even attempting to address any of their points., dismissing them as not even being worth replying to. Wow. What respect you have for those who have been subject to such things.

Surprised and saddened but not enough to actually give a shit.

Easier access to healthcare and therapy could be a solution but sadly America is very against social services and very for corporations.

America has plenty of social services. It just isn't the foundation of our governmental structure.

 

[manfestival]

I think the Washington Post should try to curb toxicity in it's own publication before attempting to search for solutions for problems outside of their own actual reach.

 

[Wings 嫩翼翻せ]

It's a two-way street at this point. Corporatization of gaming will inevitably lead to the "Show Me Your Papers" approach, or prepare for mass censorship.

 

[Sqorin Hammerfarf]

I am sorry you ever had to suffer things such as discussed in this thread.

I'm not. What doesn't kill you does actually make you stronger, and given how much of the conversation on the internet right now is about harassment, having a first hand experience with it allows me to know how completely full of shit everybody is - Bunch of fucking babies who won't do the (easy, obvious) things they have to in order to protect themselves from harassment, but complain about it like it was destroying their lives. They CHOOSE the harassment. They want it. They crave it. When the harassment stops, they'll intentionally say something inflammatory to start it back up. It's not destroying their lives. It's an addiction. I know. I've been there.

As someone who has suffered these things, I am surprised and saddened by your unwillingness to consider protecting others from those things.

You can not protect people from harassment. You can only give them the tools they need to protect themselves, and the best defense against harassment is not being a pussy.

Also, you never answered my question. At what point do words harm you?

 

[StormCell]

Oh come on! Thats some b tier movie bullshit! You know its fake. Washington Post...come on!

Can anyone actually imagine how this could even be achievable? People you play with on XBL just knowing your address, your home number and even your mother's mobile? I want to give the story the benefit of the doubt, but I literally can't fathom how this could be possible.

Did the WP find this guy on 4Chan?

This is what I'm wondering, too. Played on Xbox Live a bunch back in the day. I never went on any good runs, but I'm sure I made a bunch of people's teams suck really bad. I would've figured on being a much bigger target for bullying and threats... This dude must be trolling WP.

This is not impossible. If you have a rare name or post lots of details about yourself publicly that information is very easy to find out. There are also tools to that can capture all IP's addresses that connect to you. From that information you can track the rough location and then use services to find out the rest. Reverse lookup services don't need tons of information and can be surprisingly accurate.

Also a good point. His FB probably has a lot of publicly viewable. His mom must have her phone # listed somewhere. It's the only part of this that would be believable.

 

[zenspider]

OP's summary is disingenuous. Getting death threats from people who have your address and phone number is serious, and there should be some avenue for law enforcement to do it's job.

Now the article is conflating the serious saftey issues with "safe spaces" as well, but let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater here.

 

[DunDunDunpachi]

"Why doesn't this industry align with my politics?"

 

[metalshade]

So your response when faced with the attitude of someone who actually experienced online abuse is to just double down on your own view, not even attempting to address any of their points., dismissing them as not even being worth replying to. Wow. What respect you have for those who have been subject to such things.

Surprised and saddened but not enough to actually give a shit..

There will always be people in the world that are too closed minded, or too lacking in empathy to understand the feelings of others.
I know this, yet I make an effort to provide an alternative point of view, knowing that it will be completely trampled by those that sorely need it, but may possibly encourage the one or two that hear it.
I do not have unlimited time, or patience however.

I'm not. What doesn't kill you does actually make you stronger, and given how much of the conversation on the internet right now is about harassment, having a first hand experience with it allows me to know how completely full of shit everybody is - Bunch of fucking babies who won't do the (easy, obvious) things they have to in order to protect themselves from harassment, but complain about it like it was destroying their lives. They CHOOSE the harassment. They want it. They crave it. When the harassment stops, they'll intentionally say something inflammatory to start it back up. It's not destroying their lives. It's an addiction. I know. I've been there.


You can not protect people from harassment. You can only give them the tools they need to protect themselves, and the best defense against harassment is not being a pussy.

Also, you never answered my question. At what point do words harm you?

Your view on these things is sad, the solution to harassment is to stem the harassment, not to grow a thicker skin.
Your personal experience with searching out suffering is something I can relate to, 15 years ago I was on a path of self destruction, my wife saved me from that.
My wife is also the answer to the question of at what point words harm you. She internalised all the hate and prejudice she received, started to believe that her wheelchair was her defining feature, that she deserved the pain other people inflicted, the barrage of insults and snide remarks. Her nervous breakdown was complete and devastating, suicidal tendencies and all the other things.
There you go, that's our story.

 

[lukilladog]

Free speech doesn't apply to these online platforms. They're private spaces that we sign up for under terms of the providers so, they can and should limit how we communicate with each other to help prevent shit like the Fortnite story. That is just all kinds of fucked up. I don't know how you solve it but they shouldn't just do nothing and hide behind the free speech banner. Free speech doesn't apply here.

The law of free speech doesn´t have reach here ATM, but most people sitll value it as an universal human right and will judge corporations in such a basis.

As for the article, it is just propaganda. Of course there are social consequences to people with bad behavior online, they get blocked, banned, segregated, etc. Journalism these days, they don´t care if they are lying.

 

[Daymos]

The same reason why there would be no football without tackling.

 

[lukilladog]

I'm not. What doesn't kill you does actually make you stronger, and given how much of the conversation on the internet right now is about harassment, having a first hand experience with it allows me to know how completely full of shit everybody is - Bunch of fucking babies who won't do the (easy, obvious) things they have to in order to protect themselves from harassment, but complain about it like it was destroying their lives. They CHOOSE the harassment. They want it. They crave it. When the harassment stops, they'll intentionally say something inflammatory to start it back up. It's not destroying their lives. It's an addiction. I know. I've been there.


You can not protect people from harassment. You can only give them the tools they need to protect themselves, and the best defense against harassment is not being a pussy.

Also, you never answered my question. At what point do words harm you?

Spot on, police is no here to protect citizens, much less the silicon valley corps.

 

[{insert code here}]

The law of free speech doesn´t have reach here ATM, but most people sitll value it as an universal human right and will judge corporations in such a basis.

As for the article, it is just propaganda. Of course there is social consequences to people with bad behavior online, they get blocked, banned, segregated, etc. Journalism these days, they don´t care if they are lying.

Don't get me wrong I am a firm supporter of free speech but only with respect to public spaces. I don't like the idea of a govt body telling me what I can and cannot say but in these cases we're are engaging a private platform with it's own pre-defined ToS, so I would welcome govt legislation (if it came to that) limiting speech on these platforms that was designed to protect kids.

 

[Sqorin Hammerfarf]

There will always be people in the world that are too closed minded, or too lacking in empathy to understand the feelings of others.

I have extensive experience with online harassment and you are ignoring this, downplaying my experiences and lessons learned, in order to prop yourself up as some sort of saint, sharing your benevolence with the downtrodden - I'm the closed minded one? I can tell you right now, right here, how to stop all online harassment, instantly and forever, but you won't like the solution (no matter how effective it is) because it won't let you be the hero in your own head.

I know this, yet I make an effort to provide an alternative point of view, knowing that it will be completely trampled by those that sorely need it, but may possibly encourage the one or two that hear it and are encouraged.

You're a real mensch...

 

[stickkidsam]

There will always be people in the world that are too closed minded, or too lacking in empathy to understand the feelings of others.
I know this, yet I make an effort to provide an alternative point of view, knowing that it will be completely trampled by those that sorely need it, but may possibly encourage the one or two that hear it and are encouraged.
I do not have unlimited time, or patience however.

In order to properly give someone an alternative point of view, you need to open the door by showing you understand theirs in the first place. Otherwise you are just showing how closed off YOU are, whether by intent or lack of care. Anyone who you might have potentially helped is getting a half baked picture, because you aren't taking the time to address the opposing view.

I can't tell if you are trying to imply that the people who disagree with your stance on this are just lacking in empathy. I'd like to assume not, but I don't know why you'd bring that up in this case when we are referring to someone who has themselves been through the issue in question.

If you do not have the time to address these points, that is your own shortcoming. Don't go and dismiss their post as being unworthy of response when it is actually you who are not prepared to actually take the time to discuss it.

 

[lukilladog]

Don't get me wrong I am a firm supporter of free speech but only with respect to public spaces. I don't like the idea of a govt body telling me what I can and cannot say but in these cases we're are engaging a private platform with it's own pre-defined ToS, so I would welcome govt legislation (if it came to that) limiting speech on these platforms that was designed to protect kids.

The public square is now online, the govt and corps will have to deal with it, there is now a need for govt intervention or an internet bill of rights. It´s unavoidable, this kind of power cannot will not be left to privates.