by Matt Bird

Created on: July 19, 2010

Bad behavior and the Internet are synonymous. There are, now and forever, two things which will just plain go together, and the one is seemingly getting worse as the other grows.

Why? Well, anonymity, mainly. As long as people know they can get away with saying and doing whatever they want without being identified they will continue to do and say as they please. The blanket of protection afforded by a faceless existence emboldens such behavior. More, these rude cutthroats bolster one another, so where one is crude more will probably follow. It's a mounting progression that generally winds up hurting one person, one group, one thing, while increasing the egos of everyone else.

It is, in short, a form of bullying. You cannot handle it like offline bullying, however, as bad behavior online is incredibly difficult to manage. There's no great overarching service which can wag a collective finger at jerks.

That said, there are some steps you can follow to try and limit the scope of these people. Don't expect to cut criticism and ridicule completely out of your online life, however, as it won't happen.

- First, you can simply ignore rude comments and gestures. As simple as that. On the Internet, simply ignoring often WILL drive the perpetrator away. They're looking for some kind of response that will feed their vigor, and if you give them no ammunition they'll probably leave you alone after one volley. No fun attacking someone who can't attack back, after all.

- Second, you can try to bring an administrative force down upon the person. Say you're being bullied on a message board and you want it to stop. If you can provide enough proof that the person is targeting you it's usually rather easy to get a moderator or an administrator to issue first a warning or two and perhaps even a ban in the behavior persists.

- Third, if it's strictly e-mail based and you can't get the person to stop, you can deactivate or abandon your account and get a new e-mail. Clean and easy, really.

- Fourth, you can give up on the site or activity that proves especially galling to your patience, if the person is often found there. This is unfortunate if you enjoy said activity, though in some cases your sanity may prove more valuable than a bit of fun.

- Fifth, if the person is incredibly bad in their behavior to the point of illegality, you may be able to find out their ISP and have them investigated. ISPs want to limit the trouble caused by their users. This is in extreme cases, of course - mere words should not be enough to force your hand in this area.

There may be some other measures you can take beyond these, but for the most part bad behavior is just a given on the Internet. If you make widespread efforts to change people they'll strike back at you with all the more vigor, as doing so is largely without consequence. Accept that you'll meet some unpleasant souls online and you'll be better off in the long run.

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