#I KNOW DONT FEED THE TROLLS BUT THESE PEOPLE ARENT TROLLING THESE ARE THEIR GENUINE OPINIONS ATTACHED TO PROFILES WITH THEIR FULL GOVERNMEN

[writterings]

i gotta stop using instagram. i keep almost suicide-baiting bigots in comment sections and delete the words one by one but still get the urge to straight up be like "kill yourself" in response to them saying super bigoted shit about nex benedict

[felismiscellaneous]

Casonverse Expo

ok so after you see this you Cannot save it. the whole thing about the casonverse is that its solely “oral” and memory based. i cannot write down “rules” to it or anything. this post Will be lost to time and youll just have to deal with that

ok so. we begin. our story. w/ an explanation on how ectobiology has been going on earth c. basically, every once in a while to increase genetic diversity, a babeh between two of the original founders is created randomly, and said founders get to decide if they want to adopt that babeh or not.

now its been a very very long time on earth c and all of these bitches are immortal. yep. every single one. even the non godtiers, they get an immortality boon for winning the game. you know whats also a boon? all of the players getting revived. yep. every single one. because this is my au and i can do what i want.

anyways as i was saying basically at some point a babeh between john and karkat is made and this time theyre like “yeah ok well adopt this one” SO. they be goin there. and the ONE TIME they decide this is the right time the baby is fuckin BROKE. the internal organs of trolls and humans dont mesh very well when the genes are combined in the ectomachine, and this baby is basically just dying very slowly. this baby isssss Casey! well, shes not named that by her parents, but well just call her Casey for now.

john and karkat do their fuckin best to keep this thing alive but her tiny baby body is completely dysfunctional. and doesnt last very long. This is Traumatizing for Everyone Involved. anyways!! a pretty long time after that we have Cason and Jones. they were spawned at the same time. Jones is rose and kanayas horrible ectospawn, and Cason happens to be another equally horrible spawn between john and karkat! they decide to adopt this one, and fortunately it lives. This was Their First Mistake.

but before we get into Cason, lets get into Jones. Jones is,,,, very socially awkward. in fact, she often comes off as creepy to everyone else. this makes her very clingy towards her mothers, who arent That terrible at parenting. theyve got quirks, but theyre good for her. Jones doesnt really have any friends, except this Totally Cool and Not at All Dangerous cult she gets dragged into! this is the second secret shes ever kept from her mothers. the first is that shes the one who keeps bringing snails into the house. Jones likes snails, but shes not good at taking care of them. she just keeps bringing them into the house and feeding them her snack. her snack is rat poison. snails like and digest rat poison safely. snails! she likes them.

ALSO APPARENTLY SHE CAN SEE GHOSTS???? yeah lets get into that. see, Casey becomes a Regular Ghost after she dies. not a dream ghost, just a plain ol ghost. and anyways, shes around the same age as everyone else if not a year older due to Ghost Rules now, and Cason is the only one that seems to be able to see her. and then theres Jones. Jones is absolutely stunning to Casey and yes she falls so hard in dokis. but Jones is trying to ignore the fact that she can see ghosts. it makes her feel like even more of an outcast. ooooo drama! anyways those two have their own background plot going on about fighting eldritch gods or something idk.

LETS GET BACK TO CASON. see. Cason. is The Worst. like, genuinely. ever since he was a kiddo, he was a completely spoiled brat from day one, and spent his childhood Looking Down on People for multiple reasons. for one, hes the son of TWO FUCKING FOUNDERS AND RAISED BY THEM, two he got away with EVERYTHING, and three i think its just in his nature. Cason prides himself in being knowledgeable and better than everyone else, but he is not like Other Egomaniacs((tm.))

Cason doesnt necessarily care about being liked, even if he WAS a great manipulator, or being the best at Everything. he couldnt care less about sports or popularity. all he wants, is Control. just like hes had since day one. This is Terrible for Everyone Involved.

but most terrible for anyone, is Tippie Piyjon. Tippie is terezi and nepetas ectospawn, which, really started it all. now, terezi and nepeta are not horrible people, or even necessarily horrible parents, but theyre just not suited for it. Tippie raised herself on romance novels and the like, especially after being sortve taken in as a goddaughter by karkat almost immediately after she was born. and, because of this, she got to meet Cason very early on. there was hardly ever a day where the two werent around eachother, whether they liked it or not. in school, at their own house, wherever. now, being around Cason of all people all the time, meant you knew exactly how he operated.

and well, Tippie figured that, maybe, if she was just good enough, she could change him. and Cason used that to his full advantage. the two became moirails, which was Fucked Up for Everyone Involved, and grew ever closer. now Cason, being Cason, was Extremely Emotionally Abusive to Tippie. she had to do what he asked, whatever it was, even if it wasnt morally right, she had to stay by his side, she couldnt cry in front of his parents, she had to get good grades so he wouldnt look bad, so many damn things she had to do. even if he never once laid a finger on her, her mental health was, slowly but surely, chiseled down.

every attempt at defying him was met with such coldness, or hed act more warm towards her, so surely she was doing something right and had to keep going. just had to be good enough. hell get better eventually. Cason earns the title of #1 Gaslighter Extraordinare. the only place she found any solace away from him was grubscouts, which she joined on her own terms when she was very young, and at the time was a camp counselor even! this lasted. for so many years.

Cason is nineteen whenever i depict him, and Tippie is seventeen, but very nearly eighteen. eventually, she cant take it anymore, and snaps at him. usually this doesnt last, and he would manage to calm her down eventually, but shes fucking Tired of it. he hasnt changed. not even a bit. well. Cason cant have that, now can he? the first time he lays a hand on her, he slaps her across the face. Big Mistake. though terrified, Tippie lashes out, and claws Casons left eye out, making a terribly deep gash that would leave him permanently blind in that eye whether or not he got treatment.

this scares the SHIT out of her, and Tippie runs off, for the first time, to her mothers. as she cries, she recounts how terrible everythings been and how she didnt mean it and shes sorry and- theres nothing to apologize for. its very clear, that they shouldve stepped in sooner, shouldve noticed something was wrong. meanwhile, Cason crawls home to his own dads, who are rightfully spooked seeing their son with a horrifically bloody face and a gouged eyeball. they only had a second to try and comfort him, before he snapped at them, showing a bit of his true nature to them for the first time, and also, terezi showing up behind him. after a thorough explanation which was mostly just a few stern, if a little tearful words, Casons parents are completely mortified. karkat quickly kicks him out in an act of raw emotion. no chance to grab clothes, or for john to interject, Cason is left outside, alone, and with absolutely no power left. what will he do?

theres also other characters but theyre like babies so they dont have much characterization and also arent very important to the story. but here they are ig:

owen, jade and daves child. hes like, 3. he likes sticks and playing in mud. hes 3 what more do you want from him

siyren, aradia and feferis kiddo. shes like, 6. she likes ballet, arts and crafts, and being snooty

damien, eridan and solluxs kid. hes 10, likes calling people slurs over xbox, and overcompensating since his parents waited so damn long to adopt him after his slimebirth

killer, who named himself, aradia and sollux kid. hes like 11 or something. he likes being edgy and has the same issue as damien. in fact, all but siyren have this issue

toga bitch, who i have currently yet to name, aradia and eridans kid. shes 12. she likes earth rome and chilling in public fountains. a burgundy whose violetkin

wemon wemon, who is also currently unnamed, feferi and eridans kid. hes 13, the oldest. he likes earth lemon demon and horror special effects

carrie, feferi and solluxs kid. shes like 11, likes dance dance revolution and earth 9s

rosie, calliope and roxys bab, whos a baby. jane is also her mom

ben, tippies far future carapacian bf, who likes boring shit like birdwatching and scrapbooking. malewife supreme. a very soft dude, and just wants to help his gf w/ her trauma and join her grubscout troop on earning badges. just a great, if boring guy

notkonyyl, just as unnamed, a notcanadian oliveblood who enjoys going to the gym, frequenting bars, being cool, flirty, and defending her moirail to the death

notkuprum, haha unnamed, is a human, and the moirail to notkonyyl. he likes things like being annoying, flirting with everyone taller than him ((most people)), the nintendo switch, and defending his moirail to the death

[legenwaitforitdarythoughts]

Predators of the Online Community

Lurking in the dark spaces of the internet, ready to unleash an onslaught of offensive, threatening and antagonistic comments are the predators of the online community - Trolls and Cyber-bullies.

Now as someone who hasn’t been on the receiving end of trolling or cyber-bullying myself, I admit that I was a little naïve about the seriousness of this topic and it wasn’t until undertaking further research that my eyes were opened to how big an issue online harassment is – the statistics are shocking.

I did find it interesting, however, to learn that there are many different types of Trolls as Bryan & Gallucci (2018) explain in their list of ‘10 types of trolls you'll spot in the wild’, and not all of them want to watch the world burn. Rampton 2015, supports this highlighting some of the harmless trolls such as the “grammar natzi’s, know-it-all’s, and those who are genuinely funny”. But it’s number 10 on Bryan & Galluci’s (2018) list the toxic, malicious Trolls that are causing havoc in the online world.

As I delved into academic research on this topic, I found several papers that discussed the motivations and personality traits of Trolls. Craker & March 2016, defined trolling as a form of online bullying and harassment, characterised by deceptive and disruptive behaviour involving “posting inflammatory and malicious comments to deliberately provoke and upset people.” Numerous studies found that individuals engaged in Trolling had strong ‘Dark Tetrad’ characteristics such as trait psychopathy and sadism (Buckels, Trapnell & Paulhus 2014; Craker & March 2016; Lopes & Yu 2017). Further, Coles and West (2016) suggest that anonymity is one of the main facilitating features of malicious actions online because it allows for greater deindividuation and counter-normative behaviours. So, these psychopathic traits coupled with the ability to hide one's identity emboldens the Trolls to say whatever they like, without fear of being caught.

What I found most concerning, however, is the psychological and emotional impact trolling and cyber-bullying is having on victims. Young people are especially vulnerable. As Bonanno & Hymel (2013) explain, cyber-bullying contributes to symptoms of depression and suicidal ideation in young people, and they are less likely to report or seek help for cyber-bullying in comparison to other forms of bullying. Sadly, Gannon (2018) refers to cyber-bullying as a “silent killer”. There has been a startling rise in the number of youths and adults taking their own lives due to online-harassment (Lang 2018; Foster 2018; Gannon 2018).

What’s the solution? Although there is a call for governments to enforce stronger penalties for cyber-bullying, regulating it is an almost impossible task. Shutdown one account, they open another. The best approach is to ignore the trolls or as March (2017) suggests, don’t feed the trolls as this ‘reinforces their behaviour’ instead, reward good behaviour to encourage more of it.

References

Bryan, C & Gallucci, N 2018, ‘The 10 types of trolls you'll spot in the wild’, Mashable Australia, 25 October, viewed 14 January 2019, <https://mashable.com/article/types-of-online-trolls/#XbnvUaKqsiqb>.

Bonanno, R.A. & Hymel, S 2013, ‘Cyber Bullying and Internalizing Difficulties: Above and Beyond the Impact of Traditional Forms of Bullying, Journal of Youth and Adolescence, vol. 42, no. 5, pp. 685-97.

Buckels, E.E, Trapnell, P.D & Paulhus, D.L 2014, ‘Trolls just want to have fun’, Personality and Individual Differences, vol. 67, pp. 97-102, viewed 14 January 2019, <http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0191886914000324>.

Cheng, J, Danescu-Niculescu-Mizil, C, Leskovec, J & Bernstein, M 2017, ‘Our experiments taught us why people troll’, The Conversation, 2 March, viewed 14 January 2019, <https://theconversation.com/our-experiments-taught-us-why-people-troll-72798>.

Coles, B.A & West, M 2016, ‘Trolling the trolls: Online forum users constructions of the nature and properties of trolling’, Computers in Human Behavior, vol. 60, pp. 233-244, viewed 14 January 2019,<http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0747563216301285>.

Cracker, N & March, E 2016, ‘The dark side of Facebook®: The Dark Tetrad, negative social potency, and trolling behaviours’, Personality and Individual Differences, vol. 102, pp. 79-84, viewed 14 January 2019,<http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0191886916307930>.

Foster, A 2018, ‘The disturbing new cyber-bullying trend gaining popularity with students’, new.com.au, 17 March, viewed 13 January 2019, <https://www.news.com.au/technology/online/social/the-disturbing-new-cyberbullying-trend-gaining-popularity-with-students/news-story/b03a9e27ef8ef00d4d9195867fc2adfd>.

Gannon, G 2018, ‘Sticks and stones and mobile phones: The horrible truth about cyber bullying and its victims’, now to love, 2 May, viewed 13 January 2019, <https://www.nowtolove.com.au/lifestyle/daily-life/cyberbullying-victims-australia-48007>.

Hughes, L 2017, ‘What Everyone Needs to Know About Cyberbullying’, WebMD, 21 February, viewed 14 January 2019, <https://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/features/what-everyone-needs-to-know-about-cyberbullying>.

Kenna, S 2018, ‘Cyberbullying Rates Have Doubled In The Past Year’, Ten Daily, 9 September, viewed 13 January 2019, <https://tendaily.com.au/news/australia/a180909boy/cyberbullying-rates-have-doubled-in-the-past-year-20180909>.

Lang, K 2018, ‘Cyber trolls aren’t fringe dwellers, they’re us’, Courier Mail, 11 January, viewed 13 January 2019, <https://www.couriermail.com.au/rendezview/cyber-trolls-arent-fringe-dwellers-theyre-us/news-story/da5d19385b2acfdc2e99acb9aa8b217b>.

Lopes, B & Yu, H 2017, ‘Who do you troll and Why: An investigation into the relationship between the Dark Triad Personalities and online trolling behaviours towards popular and less popular Facebook profiles’, Computers in Human Behavior, vol. 77, pp. 69-76, viewed 14 January 2019,<http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0747563217305034>.

March, E 2017, ‘Psychology of internet trolls: They understand what hurts people but simply don't care’, ABC News, 13 July, viewed 14 January 2019, <https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-07-13/trolls-understand-what-hurts-people-but-they-simply-dont-care/8701424>.

Rampton, J 2015, ‘15 Truths About Online Trolls’, Entrepreneur Asia Pacific, 17 February, viewed 14 January 2019, <https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/242924>.

Images

davidgoemaat 2013, ‘[RMX] Please Don't Feed The Trolls’ [image] in [RMX] Please Don't Feed The Trolls, memecenter, viewed 12 January 2019, <https://www.memecenter.com/fun/574340/rmx-please-dont-feed-the-trolls>.    

Tenor 2016, ‘Typing fast GIF’ [gif], in Typing Fast GIF, Tenor, viewed 14 January 2019, <https://tenor.com/view/typing-fast-jim-carrey-gif-5315333>.