re: blind faith

• Blind Faith by Tony C., 1/1/98
  
  

Tony, I understand your frustration in dealing with online harassment. I've been the target of it myself,and have seen it happen to others. As a wizard at the TPI Palace sites, I've also seen how extremely hard it is for the "people in charge" to control harassment. Unless an official is sitting there in the room observing what is said, it's almost impossible to verify harassment from second-hand reports. Some users play all sorts of head-games with guides/officials on duty - and claim harassment even when there isn't any. It makes it all the more difficult to help people who have been in your situation and indeed are being harassed.

An interesting sociological/political question is, "Who is in charge?" There are literally thousands of rooms/spaces on the internet where people are chatting at any given moment. Whose job is it to manage those interactions? The people who own the server? Or are they just providing a "space" for people to do their own thing.

Some people argue that each chat room/site is its own community with its own norms and culture. Unfortunately, in some of those communities the norm is for people to harass each other. I choose to avoid those groups and instead seek out groups that are friendly.

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