Online Moderation is the Elf on the Shelf For many families with small children, the Elf on the Shelf is a Christmas tradition. Based on the 1994 book and toy by Carol Aebersold and her daughter Chanda Bell, during the Christmas season, the Elf is sent by Santa to watch over children during the day. […]
Recently I was the featured guest on Patrick O’Keefe’s “Community Signal” weekly podcast, where we discussed my career as a community manager for over 25 years (17 of them with many of the same clients and members of the Mzinga moderation team), how to use law enforcement agencies to keep clients and their customers safe, […]
Reddit CEO is Late to the Party: Realizes Trolling Isn’t Cool Last month, Reddit CEO Steve Huffman, frustrated with the bullying and personal attacks taking place in the The_Donald subreddit group, decided to use a tactic that had been successful in the past: trolling the trolls. Initially believing that meeting them on their level would […]
Boston Police to Begin Monitoring Social Media Content for Terrorist Threats The Boston Police Department (BPD) announced recently that it will be purchasing software that will allow it to scan content in blogs, forums, websites, and comment areas such as Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter. The software will send alerts to law enforcement officials when content […]
Use of Encrypted Software Thwarts Anti-Bullying Efforts What can a cyberbullying victim do when they are told by both police and school officials that there is nothing they can do to help them because the bully’s account is untraceable? A CNN article says that is what 18-year-old Brandy Vela of Texas City, Texas was told […]
Is the Prevalence of Internet Shaming Causing it to Lose Potency? The author of a recent Scientific American article speculates that Internet shaming (personal attacks that go viral) has reached a crescendo and because there is so much of it, the impacts are becoming less severe. To illustrate, David Pogue cites the case of Adam […]
University Athletes Suspended For Posting Offensive and Racist Texts Two recent cases highlight the need for increased monitoring of messages posted to social media sites by University students. The most recent took place at Columbia University, where members of the school’s wrestling team, over a two year period, posted lewd and racists messages to the […]
Prince Harry Asks Internet Trolls and Tabloids to Lay Off His Girlfriend Last week, British tabloids, particularly The Sun and Daily Mail, angered Prince Harry enough to issue a public statement about their treatment of his relationship with U.S. actress Meghan Markle. On November 8, the Kensington Palace Communications Secretary, on behalf of Prince Harry, […]
When It Comes to Bullying, Some Safety Nets Have Gaping Holes As much as we try to protect kids from the effects of bullying, some still fall through the safety nets we place underneath them. The latest illustration is Bethany Thompson, an 11-year-old cancer survivor from Ohio. At the age of 3, doctors discovered that […]
Facebook Removes Swedish Cancer Society Breast Exam Images As reported in The Guardian last week, Facebook removed a video posted by The Swedish Cancer Society which illustrated how to perform breast exams. Facebook said the video, which used concentric pink and red circles for breasts, was offensive and violated their rule which states that an […]
