Lachie Neale has had enough

[Bunk Moreland]

I completely understand what you're saying but is that not just a defeatist attitude? "Oh well the bad guys can't be stopped, so go into hiding".

Admittedly it is difficult to stop online abuse in all forms, fully aware but there has to be a way to start fighting back. My view is less about Neale & AFL players copping abuse and more the power that the abusers have online that needs to be quelled. I think in Neale's case it's just a case of 1 too many, obviously he sees this stuff mosts weeks and for whatever reason something pushed him over the edge yesterday.

Government ID's to use social media etc. are the conversations that need to be had. Would these people be as willing to make racial abuse comments to Willie Rioli if it could be linked back to them and potentially say cost them their job if their employers were notified?

These are the conversations that need to be had moving forward in this awful world.

Perhaps defeatist, I would say realistic.

Changing human nature is almost impossible. Practically impossible.

Government IDs online are hugely problematic. People will not cop being spied on.

By far the easiest and most effective solution is for athletes and others not to engage. Pay somebody to run your public account if you must make money from it. Otherwise lock it all up and keep it totally private for you and those close to you.

I liken it to me walking down a busy street with a wad of $50k in my hand, totally visible. Yeah, it’d be nice if I could without a worry in the world. But human nature dictates that somebody is going to try to roll me for the cash.

Give some people the opportunity to anonymously attack somebody who they perceive as their enemy or as someone who has slighted them or done them wrong… some people are going to do it.

You’re gonna be working for centuries on major societal and mass psychological change if you think you can change that.

 

[Xtreme]

None of this makes sense. You’re making excuses for people acting out in an abusive way because players show emotion or aren’t robotic in their behaviours. You’re saying they should be mocked for it. Copping some flack on the ground, ok, but getting abused on SM to the extent that a player is calling it out is really overstepping the mark.

There's an easy solution if players can't handle the negative connotations, log off .
You can't have it both ways though, no more pot shotting anyone in any industry regardless if you believe in their decisions (politicians especially!).

 

[dogs105]

Social media sites used to have at least some sort of assistance to remove these things and block users.

Now it's all freeze peach...

This is why Bigfooty is the best site on the internet!

 

[Gone Critical]

The popular answer is that the response to wrong speech is more speech.

But this assumes a level playing field. Anonymous wave of keyboard warriors vs one person, their spouses, kids even, is not some open exchange in the marketplace of ideas.

It's petty and spiteful personal attacks that can and do cause harm. All because some poor petal didn't make their multi this weekend.

What's the answer then? If you can't talk to people relatively reasonably, you probably shouldn't be on the platform. Pause your account for the day. Plan ahead of time to put your phone away if your bets don't look like paying off. Stop gambling if you can't control yourself. Stop drinking if you can't control yourself. Stop watching sports if you can't control yourself after a bad result.

t_94 please take this advice.

To me this is giving the lowest common denominator an out for their action. We are approaching it from the wrong angle.

Ist premise, as Bunk Moreland correctly identifies, this is part of human behaviour. You may influence a few who stoop this low to change but reality is that most of the group will be energised by their sick trolling eliciting a response. That will never change for those wedded to this behaviour. Social media has only encouraged them.

Its terrible but thats life. We are not going to get the laudable result of changing this behaviour. Thats unrealistic.

If I was the one helping players deal with this I would plan, both in discussions with players themselves, and in a wider media campaign, to portray these people for what they are. Either they are miserable human beings, locked in a basement so to speak, or they live under a guise of some respectability but if any average person could hear them speak the garbage they spew they would be disgusted.

We need to paint a picture of the troll poster as a lamentable human being, who if they did this in real life would be castigated. The players should be told to imagine them this way and not give their abuse oxygen. In fact the aim should be to paint a picture of these people as pathetic and to be seen as weak. In the same way as anyone behaving this way outside the keyboard would be. Dont let them think their remarks carry any weight at all. Consign them to the patheticness they deserve.

Its not ideal but ideal wont work. Only solution to me is take oxygen. So dont let them win at all. Make the behaviour pitiable. I cant think of a better way.

 

[Chief]

You may influence a few who stoop this low to change but reality is that most of the group will be energised by their sick trolling eliciting a response.

Possibly, but then you can see the people who are keen on doing it.

 

[Cyclops]

Neale is a humble sensible fella by all accounts, must've been bad abuse for him to respond.

More broadly abuse in the media is directly linked to anonymity. Only idiots like Ricky Nixon get caught using their real names.

Posting stuff on line is publishing, and slowly control (both censorship but also responsibility) is creeping back.

It's happened before. When the printing press was invented it was used to call out the corruption in the Catholic Church, but also to stoke actual witch hunts (complete with pr0n of the devil and his witches).

I imagine early cave painting was pretty unmoderated until Big Ochre stepped in "ban unrealistic mammoth sizes".

Social media can end careers and is useful for revolutions (eg Libya and Syria), so it is being more and more policed by governments and billionaires.

The "golden age" of disgusting child pr0n site 4chan is over, and while Musk tries to keep Twitter edgy he's doing more censorship than ever before.

Players are people, of you like footy why would you abuse players? Anonymity makes psychos bold and let's ordinary people vent their worst thoughts. Consequences make for manners.

 

[Nunez]

God there are some ****ing shit takes in this thread.

Sending degrading messages about players, their children and their families is so clearly not okay. They're human beings, not robots built for nothing but to entertain you.

 

[JHF1870]

View attachment 2286806

He's 100% right, people that send these abusive messages to players are absolute w***ers.

Not sure how you stop it though.

Meta won't do anything about it because it creates engagement ---> $$$

 

[JHF1870]

Yeh true but whatever happened to freedom of speech whether it's right or wrong. Should we get arrested or held accountable if we offend someone or someone's a bully? Common sense we aren't going to all agree and aren't going to all like each other so unless it's a death threat and they mentioned something personal like your address then why even waste time worrying about it.

Free speech whether you like it or not comes with consequences. Society generally dictates what's acceptable or not, and governments enforce it. There are certain things you could say that would have you either arrested, or beaten by vigilantes if severe enough. IF you want to go deeper, the relationships around you are governed by how you act. In the workplace, or in your circles, if you're rude and disrespectful you're going to harm those relationships. The point here is that society as a whole governs how free you are to exercise your right to free speech. If the bulk of people don't like it then expect to alienate yourself from the people around you.

I honestly think everyone needs to be accountable online. The majority of these trolls are hiding behind alternate accounts unlinked from their actual account.

 

[LordLucifer]

Being critical of a player's onfield performances & writing about it is more than acceptable.

Sending a player abusive, threatening or creepy rants directly is not. However, I'm sure there is an element of society who think it is okay to do so because they can do it behind the s0ftcock safety of anonymity.

 

[JHF1870]

Being critical of a player's onfield performances & writing about it is more than acceptable.

Sending a player abusive, threatening or creepy rants directly is not. However, I'm sure there is an element of society who think it is okay to do so because they can do it behind the s0ftcock safety of anonymity.

That's why everyone needs to be accountable. Not sure how that works though. I like a lot of people here on Bigfooty like the anonymity of my posts from football to general politics and social forums. I don't particularly want my opinions shared as I don't tend to air them publicly. There's also privacy issues, and more so for the safety of women who may not want unwanted attention so I'm not sure how you address the issue. The pertinent question is: What is acceptible and what is not. I think we can all agree on certain content but there's always gray areas.

 

[Chief]

Why are you tilted by my words on a screen?

I didn't claim people should not be affected by "words on a screen".

You did.

 

[pico]

cool

 

[TW Sherrin]

Yes it shouldn't happen but neither should domestic violence or murder and they still do.

People can be shit sometimes and nothing will change that.