I am so angry.

gwraig.annwn@gmail.com — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 16:36:42 GMT

I am angry about this article.

Angry and completely astonished. What kind of a mother gets back at an ex-friend of her daughter's by pretending to be a boy on the internet and saying nasty things about her? Can't she just straightforwardly say nasty things about her? I admit when I read what the girl's parents did I grinned, but it's still kind of stupid. I can't imagine that smashing somebody's foosball table did anything to ease the pain of having lost their daughter.

It's absurd that there are no laws against this. It reminds me of something I recently noticed about LJ's harassment policy (I don't know if IJ's is different and I don't have the time or inclination to go look it up)--in order to get someone in trouble for harassment, they have to be using the harassee's real name or other personal information. Personal information doesn't include their LJ name. So if they make a community specifically to talk about how much they hate you, or a journal just to post and comment about how much you suck... you still can't really do anything about that.

The internet is, in fact, serious business. Because there are real people on either end of the computer connection. (Well, unless you're talking to SmarterChild.) And even though they may be pretending to be something they're not, it doesn't mean one person can do something to another person and not expect any repercussions for it. At least, that shouldn't be the case.

If this same woman was an actress with access to sophisticated costuming and makeup materials, and she dressed and acted as a teenage boy in order to harass this young girl, wouldn't that be illegal? The internet just makes it easier.

Also, sorry, New York Times, but that's not a "hoax." That's an extremely nasty practical joke. A hoax is passive. A hoax is when Edgar Allan Poe puts a story about a flying machine in the newspaper. A hoax is when somebody sends out an email saying that some important file on your computer is a virus and you need to delete it. In addition, the OED definition of "hoax" includes the word "amusing or mischievous." There was nothing amusing or mischievous in this--neither in the intent nor the result. It was a nasty, vengeful act in which a grown woman deliberately tricked a thirteen-year-old girl.

I may be especially angry about this because I remember being thirteen, depressed, and having an online boyfriend who turned out to not be what he seemed. (I don't know if he was really a fourteen-year-old boy; I may never know.)

Clare-Dragonfly

I am so angry.