“While anti-cyber bullying websites are common in Australia, he was shocked to find out that Singapore equivelant exists, despite cyber bullying being on an uptrend.”

Got typing error of not? Did you read through many times and check properly or not?

You know what Gilbert? Yo-Yo’s and skateboards have been known to be very dangerous like perhaps merry go rounds and even ferris wheels; lets not talk about bullying thats small stuff; we are talking life and limb here; have you ever wondered Gilbert why no reasonable person in their right mind has ever considered banning all these things?

Maybe we should all go around wrapped in cotton wool and crash helmets? Or maybe we should consider turning the ECP and PIE into a giant particle accelerator to compete with CERN; because driving kills on average a couple of hundred people every year in Singapore.

We already have enough traffic cones in Singapore; I dont think we need another mini me version of the nanny state to retard the development of our kids; they just need to be left alone Gilbert, it’s hard enough for kiddies with inconsiderate politicians making visits to their schools just so they can score political brownie points; pls try to take this constructively Gilbert. I mean well. Really, I worry for kids. I do.

SD

Hi thanks for pointing out the error :-) It’s been amended.

Will you bloody hell leave Gilbert alone? Just because you and your sorry band of Brotherhood don’t like some of Gilbert’s writings doesn’t mean you can start denigrating his work and his person.

And pls try to take this constructively. I mean well.

#4

Get used to it buddy.

Let them go on with their little games of mock Star Wars: Revenge of the Geeks.

No wonder people might want to bully you or your children.

“I want to represent those that do not have the time or talent to voice out their concerns,” he said, referring to his love of writing.”

represent no talent …

I abhor any bully as well as arrogance… don’t stop your nobel cause just because of wrong choice of vocabulary.

that brotherhood thing is all just one sad person trolling around for attention and some loving. it’s all SD with multiple identities LOL

gilbert, keep up the good work. but maybe in ur writings check for errors.

Well done Gilbert. You have done fine. Please don’t get discouraged.

We know what is going on.

I agree with “Nobel but Condescending,” may I ask a few questions here, as I happen to be a working mother who is also a legal counsel.

(1) What is the age grouping you are referring too (I went over to your site. I could find it). This is very important. I dont wish to sound alarmist but why wasnt this specified?

(2) How does this compliment the current penal code?

I dont believe this is a good idea. As a mother I believe children should learn to manage conflict and the best way to do that is to give them the lattitude.

I also hope Darkness will write about this.

Why is there even a need to work with the police, MICA and IDA?

I am very concerned. Is this another trojan horse like ABS?

I think cyberbullying is not as bad as real-life bullying in schools. This goes out to all parents out there who have had to protect their children from being taunted or beaten in primary schools, while other parents may still not be aware if their child is being actually a school bully or a target.

Good Morning all,

Thank you for your nefarious comments about me and the Brotherhood. It is gratifying to know that all of you are so keen to allow us get under your skin with my insidious remarks regarding Gilbert and everyone who try to sound positive in this obviously gloomy environment. We the Brotherhood have nothing but contempt for all of you as your intellectual propensity is ridiculously low, even by Singapore’s relatively low standards. Don’t even bother to engage us as you will find your pitiful overtures returned with distaste.

Even though I am just a lowly liaison officer, I can, on behalf of the Brotherhood, declare war against anyone who crosses our path. Our brethen of Lazarus, observer (SG-HK) and Patriot will take any of you on. You are either with us, or against us.

Like the invading aliens of “Independence Day”, we are here to suck up the resources of any portal before moving to the next available one. You have been forewarned.

SD (The Internet Liaison officer of the Brotherhood)

12 doesn’t sound like the real liaison.they r killing him bc this is importaantfor them to control our net.

And to think you guys can even comment on cyberbullying. When will TOC stop all you guys from bullying sd?

Can’t take the heat, stay out of the kitchen!

Who did the bullying first? Gilbert or that contemptible self righteous narcissist known as Singaporedaddy? One look from the history of this site and you know that Gilbert’s comments and articles have always been derided by Singaporedaddy in any shape or form. If Singaporedaddy is so damn untouchable, tell him to write an article of substance here in TOC to let the rest of us savage him, like how he savage Gilbert.

And while you’re at it with Singaporedaddy, you can also tell the Brotherhood to pack their bags and go somewhere else.

Gemami,
maybe they see SD to be the Bully, and is bullying him back in return?

OH MY GOD…..DECLARE WAR……WOW….so powderful english and such maturity…yawnz

Gilbert has posted his picture. Dare you match his deed and action?

Or are you someone who has a BIG MOUTH but small marbles? Or are you hiding under Singaporemommy’s skirt?

Well, tell your man to show himself!

“Or are you someone who has a BIG MOUTH but small marbles? Or are you hiding under Singaporemommy’s skirt?”

You may well prove Singaporedaddy right.

After doing this, will any marbles still exist or they will disappear into thin air not to be traced again.

And do you dare to reveal yourself ? Or perhaps you may also have a BIG MOUTH together with skrunken marbles.

Well TOC; get the picture?

Good riddance!

TOC, I hope you don’t start the bullying by disallowing my comments.

After doing this, will any marbles still exist or they will disappear into thin air not to be traced again.

So what? One less self righteous ninny would do this place a lot of good. And give Gilbert some peace as well. Let the Brotherhood burn in hades.

Over twenty comments and only two (#9 doubt & #11 Peanuts) have commented on the article. The rest; all bullies jumping at the chance to batter one who commented bluntly on the article.

If these people have points to make, please make them. If not, you will be comfirming to yourself that you are nothing more than the bully that Gilbert is speaking of.

Why? Can’t stand the sight of people rallying behind Gilbert? Doesn’t this tell you something? For far too long, a lot of people have been quietly enduring the antics of your man, and sooner or later, your man is going to reap what he has sown. If your man can take cheap potshots at Gilbert, he can equally be taken as a target by others too.

Hi #27) To,

I have given a reply that directly answered your comments even before you made them. Unfortunately, it went into moderation.

You commented: “Why? Can’t stand the sight of people rallying behind Gilbert? “.

Tell me why should I feel this way? Take a look here; post #15.

Has anyone of you voted for Gilbert as the best consultant? Why didn’t you? So you see, you guys have intentionally missed the point just the same manner you chose to ignore the article; and Gilbert; to go after the comments of SD.

What else can I say?

Good afternoon all,

Pls remain calm. We cannot be effective, if we reply to these post; that is their strategy to distract us all from the important and to replace it with nonsense that all amounts to side dishes.

What we may have here is a group of people who seek to control the internet and let me tell you all another thing: they are ALL desperate and running scared – so let us be clear, we are dealing with people who have probably used up all their chances; they are down to their last bullet; this is very much the Alamo; that I believe explains their desperation and why they have no compunction in character assasinating me .

You all need to understand, so far ALL their plans have turned to mud; as the net is really inhabited by very clever and street smart people such as all of you; so it does NOT surprise me they are resorting to zombie mob strategy; and you really need to ask why has TOC allowed this? This I will leave to you. Nonetheless there is only ONE person behind all these multiple post. So fear not.

I need to return back to my conference call, but bfr I do so. I will post 10 reasons some time this evening; why I believe this is a lousy plan that has absolutely nothing to do with protecting kids and everything to do with a hidden agenda to control the social narrative in the internet; it is designed with two purposes in mind; to bring those who may choose to speak the truth to ACCOUNT and to PUNISH them using the force of social reprimand i.e it is nothing more than a cheap attempt to rob us all of ALL of elemental online rights.

Do NOT be surprised my friends; if in these few days you may suddenly even come across an article in the MSM discussing the formation of a vigilante org to protect kids or another anon bashing vignette; my feel is this is concerted effort and these people are now angry as their plans have been scuttled by us.

Since I do NOT have time; I have also asked Darkness and others to write in detail about why this is not a good plan and it will do even less to protect the interest of kids; this will be posted in our channel partner sites.

As for those who are faking my identity; it is a well known fact, that BP ONLY transmits all brotherhood post using a secured single line IP; this is common knowledge to EVERY admin in the net; you will have to ask Andrew why he has seen fit to allow such post that is CLEARLY designed to even impersonate and misrepresent me. In my entire history in TOC, I have only used this secure line and it is well know to him. As I have metioned previously, we do NOT understand their policy for moderation. So again I leave this all to your kind judgement.

As for the rest of you; kindly remain calm and do NOT reply to them; as when they lose; all they will say is you are trying to bully them; as I mentioned, these people are running scared and desperate otherwise why resort to calling me all sorts of names including suggesting that I may be suffering from some mental deficit (does that strategy sound familiar?); it seems, they are prepared to go ANY lengths this time to ensure their plan comes into effect.

All will be revealed in good time; meanwhile please remain calm; the first rule of war is to choose the time and place; if we can all do this; the rest will take care of itself.

Now if you all excuse me; I really need to go back to my conference call and resume my negotiations with the german govt.

Meanwhile I remain yours

The real liaison officer of the brotherhood

SD

VR: 0982134-SD

What you must all ask yourself is this; what better way to justify measures against cyber bullying; than by deliberately allowing to happen here and now?

No my friends; this is NOT the time to play into their hands; that is what they want us all to do; to condemn them. But we should instead UNDERSTAND their motivations for doing all this. Then it becomes crystal clear. There is NO mystery there.

When you ALL speak out against what they are doing; you are ineffect INDIRECTLY supporting the setting up of this Spanish inquisition which they are trying so desperately to do in the name of protecting against cyber bullying.

A wise man will remain calm as he is always sees the design and NOT the act; the latter is a distraction very much in a way a pick pocket bumps into you bfr he lifts your wallet; if you dont REACT, he cannot WIN.

You all notice so many post; and NOT a single one even attempting to explain the merits of creating this Spanish Inquistion: why I wonder is real gold so afraid of fire?

SD

If all this doesnt even bother me a bit; then why should anyone else be bothered.

No life is not so simple that you press a few buttons and I will just come out of the box and do my song and dance.

As I said, once I have finished my conference call. I will sit down and calmly list down 10 good reasons why this anti bullying committee is bs.

Life is that simple.

SD

I am just an occasional reader in toc. But even I cant help wondering to myself what happened to Andrew Loh’s famous moderation policy that he keeps harping on about. All I can say is this incident reflects poorly on toc after publishing this

http://theonlinecitizen.com/2009/01/a-note-about-moderation-on-toc/

as it creates the impression;

(a) There are two systems. One that only favors those attacking the brotherhood.
(b) The brotherhood doesnt deserve the same treatment as others here.
(c) The moderator has every right to take sides including tilting the playing field to suit whoever and whatever purpose.

Or maybe what SD said here is right.

“What you must all ask yourself is this; what better way to justify measures against cyber bullying; than by deliberately allowing to happen here and now?”

I dont wish to go into those areas. I am just very disturbed. This incident leaves a bitter taste in my mouth.

I came here originally to ask Gilbert Goh the following questions.

(i) “While anti-cyber bullying websites are common in Australia, he was shocked to find out that no Singapore equivalent exists, despite cyber bullying being on an uptrend.” Can you please anecdotal evidence to show this. I am not trying to say you are generalizing, but where did you get that sort of information to even suggest such a trend?

(ii) As Miss Doubt mentioned in entry 9 @ 7.27 am. Why is there no cut off age? I doubt mind if this whole idea is protect kids lets say below the ages of 9 or 12. But you dont seem to be saying that Gilbert. Infact, I have the distinct impression this may even apply to cases how some netizens have reacted negatively to SHT.

Tell me Gilbert is SHT bullied according to your definition?

(iii) Why create another safeguard when we already have the penal code? Tell me by whose authority are you acting under? I know the courts has the authority to ask a telco for info etc, as it is empowered by the constitution under a parliamentary mandate. But where does your org get your legitimacy from.

Another thing you keep mentioning the case in Australia. What you dont seem to mention however was this idea was mooted in Tasmania for nearly 16 times and every time the state legislature shot the idea down.

Its ver sad this discussion degenerated into 20 or so post of mud slinging. Its even sadder to see it happen in toc. I dont want to come here anymore. And please dont you dare delete this.

Please come back to all of us Gilbert. Many thanks

Another thing Tan Kin Lian. I am withdrawing my support for you here. You saw all this gerrymangering happening to sd and it all happened here in full view of every single person. Yet you did nothing to say. This is not fair. The poor liasion officer has as usual got to fight with one hand tied around his back once again. He has to be hunted down like an animal. And he is not even given the decency to a fair crack. If it suits toc. The rules are changed in his adversaries favor. If it doesnt suit toc, they stay. And now he even has to put up with people impersonating him here along with calling him a crazy madman. Go on do what you do. I have a brain. I can think. I can decide. And you know what? I dont believe you anymore.

I am boycotting this article. I dont know what I can do as one person. But I will write directly to darkness. You will all see. This is not over

Dear gbh,

I am glad someone else finally stands up for the bashing sd has been undergoing. I now have a partner to fight the same cause alongside me. Thanks for stepping forward for justice.

Most people will not come forward as the liaison has told many of us it is a trap. And they should not even come here as the believe there are people just culling for ips and they may be accused for bullying. Besides he made his point very clear at 28) Singaporedaddy on February 9th, 2009 1.44 pm . For me I cannot tahan so I took the risk, as I had enuf of this! Day in and day out it happens, when things dont go their way, they tilt the field, cut short the goal post and cut off his legs.

“Most people will not come forward as the liaison has told many of us it is a trap.”

And why do you think that TOC is allowing the article of Gilbert to appear and also allowing Singaporedaddy to have his share of comments.

gbh,

I have been contemplating leaving TOC for good because it seems everytime sd gives a comment, we get a whole bunch of anti-sd replies that totally ignores the subject matter of the articles.

Even as SD tries to give us his views, we are constantly distracted by these stupid and irritating pot-shots.

I do not know if TOC will release this comment but apparently it has targeted my and bullied me to no end today, by disallowing most of my comments. I am glad they have another to deal with. Thanks again for speaking up.

And yes, I feel so bullied today, by none other than the host of this article. Talk about cyberbullying. Using moderation to bully.

Wow! What happened?

Liverpool vs Manchester City, Anfield, Sun 22 Feb 2009

SD If all this doesnt even bother me a bit; then why should anyone else be bothered..

No SD, it’s not only about you being bullied. If it can happen to you, it can happen to anyone. This is why we are making so much noise over the bullying you are getting from these empty airheads.

Coming back to this article of Cyber Bullying; on one hand the suggestion of collaboration may sounds logical (depending on locale and the behavioral pattern of residence), however, if view from the point of freedom of expression, this may prove to be a strangle hold to restrict freedom of view exchanges in the cyber space.

In any civilized and true democratic world where one is allowed to speak their mind, you can expect and have to expect a variation of tenure. It is an environment created where independence thinking of an individual is strongly encouraged and advocated. However, having said, there are always will be and there are parents who are overly protective of their kids for well intended reasons that only parents knew best.

The same can be equated to Cyber Space discourse. It is indeed the responsibility of each and every individual who wishes to engage themselves in Cyber Space. The choice is there for you to make. You are in absolute control of the button. But having restrictions or suggesting government forces to help monitoring to engage depletes the purpose of genuine discourse (however coarse, irrelevancies, and or relevancies the views may be put forth). The bottom line is that does this form of assistance or will this form of assistance program (as suggested by the article) stop the cyber bullying? I doubt it will. At most, it may have a deterring effect. But then the discourse may become superficial.
I believe if parents who are worried that their kids may become victims of the cyber space, they should do it at their own accord to disallow their kids to have access (wherever possible within their control). But please think it through thoroughly before you take this action (especially in this 21st century where technology advancement had all but making internet access limited). You may end up depriving your kids from learning the art of being independent thinkers and learning to resolve real life issues that otherwise non existence in the school text. In today’s civilized world (particularly if you are living in a metropolis) where information dissemination is in a fly, Children and or Younger people are indeed a curious and inquisitive lot. That is what kids are supposed to be anyway. This is parts and parcels of the growing up experience. The more you fence up, the more they will attempt to cross the line of picket fence. Contrary, a dose of candid sharing on issues happening in this twisted world and broader communication channel with lesser or no intimidation (you know the “don’t talk back authoritative hostility” that so often frown by kids) may prove to be the best defense you can equip your kids with. The more exposure one gets; the better in one’s self esteem and confidence building they are in standing on their own. Without a benefit of a doubt, some will be slow learners but they will learn given time and space. We after-all are human with variation in all things abstract. There is no amount of restrictions or rules that will help stop Cyber Bullying, just like no amount of rules or laws will stop crime.

I have one clarification to make. I just want to set the record straight that I do not belong to any association whatsoever. I am just an independent ordinary old man working and living overseas who happens to stumble into TOC some 9 months ago and thought it was a genuine site for alternative views on matters that concerned us all lesser mortals. Well, I must said that a good majority of them are worthy of attention for commenting. I am indeed trying my best to be as impartial towards matter as I could when commenting in TOC. I do not and have no wishes to jump on the wagon to further fuel provocative and antagonistic postings; that either has little or no relation to the merits of article in discourse.

Good afternoon all,

I must reiterate my advice again to everyone here under the strongest possible; please calm down. This goes out especially to do gooders like Miss gbh and Gemani who believe they may be doing us a great favor when they are actually doing us all a greater disservice. What is the point GBH of writing 10 page complain letters to Darkness and even threatening him that if he doesn’t do this or that, you will be forced to do this or that – you are not helping the situation. You are merely exacerbating it by throwing emotion into this equation.

Let me share with you this; the post of liaison officer is one that I take immense pride in; I do not fear conflict; instead experience here and elsewhere has demonstrated time and again; it can be managed constructively to produce good in ways and means which we never ever thought possible. If TOC wants to flip flop and change the rules of the game; its fine by me; this is your home, if you want to put a teapot on your head – then its good to go.

My friends, I have two choices here; one I whine all day like some the world-owes-me-a -living 2.2 million minister who can never ever seem to prosper online and wait like some damsel for the day which will never come. Or alternatively, I grit my teeth and say, this is as good as it get and just jump in and pull my rip cord to make the best of the situation.

I have chosen to do the latter; that’s to say; I choose to trust my training. I think if anyone wants to help me constructively; then let us ALL apply our intelligence to ask the type of question that Miss Doubt once asked in 9) doubt on February 9th, 2009 7.27 am . I believe her attitude can teach us many things; cool headedness and intellect will always go further than meaningless rants and howls. If some of you can direct yourself in such a manner to ask Gilbert to account; then I say; you are really adding real value to the knowledge quotient here. If not then sorry, you are no good. And I dont even care how well intentioned you are. Are we all clear?

Bear in mind, if we FAIL for ANY reason to direct our minds gainfully and productively to the immediate issues here; it is not us who suffer; but those who are least able to protect and think independently – our children.

Do you understand what is at stake now? So if you want to play around here like gbh, just go. I will do it myself.

Please think – I apologize, today happens to be a really busy day at work; otherwise I will take this bull by the horn and bring it down.

SD

So if you want to play around here like gbh, just go. I will do it myself.

Well, well, well, see what your devotion has brought yourself?

This one is sticky not like the others. He is from the order of purple. They are always hard to bring down, but it can be done. I have seen it before. We need Lazarus and his twenty scholars to finish him off, if they split up we can all corner him. What are the rest of you waiting for?????????????? Why have you all stopped?????????

Its just a myth! A myth. I tell you all!

Bingo!… give a man enough rope and he will (fill in the blanks). I knew you losers started all this; you even got those goal post artist to help you didnt you? I tell you what, I am feeling generous; I am going to give you all an opportunity to avail yourselves; yes, you can bag me; you can; I’ve even give you all a head start; get your best people to mount a defense for Gilberts kiddy spanish inquisition. Make sure they’re are the best. You have 24 hours (if you want more time, just tell me, you have it); you can even stake out the ground first. How’s dat? Come the hour; I’ve just bag you all into a nice happy doggy bag as I always do and I will even deliver you all to gilbert where you can all complain to him how I once bullied you? Yes, I will scissor across every SINGLE argument and leave a trail of ribbons – you have 24 hours Mr X. Go. I accept the duel.

SD

And let me tell everyone another thing here, today neither Andrew loy or any of the editorial team in TOC can say anything about impartiality ANYMORE; its finished. You can get interviewed in the ST, but from today onwards everyone is going to read it with a pinch of salt and that will be that whether you choose to admit or not. In one sweep today when they decided to change the rules of the game, its gone, it was in this one incident that the bough gave way. Let me tell you another thing; I never expected ANY fairness from this people; never once, all I ever expected here in TOC is to be treated with contempt and with scorpions and whips. Despite all this, we have not only survived but we have prospered.

As for the govt, my advice to them is to ruin us all financially and reputationally; and NOT to delay in this task, that is all I have to say; but one thing will remain remarkably true; you would have made us everything, you wished you could be -the brotherhood and after my bones have turned into dust, another will yet take my place so very gladly.

You have lost even before you have begun.

Something to think about, tmr Mr X we will fight here and it will be decided.

SD

SD

We dont mind having a debate. I have only managed to get 15. The rest are not avaliable.

If we win, you leave toc for good. Agreed Another thing, we want assurances Darkness will not suddenly appear.

Deal? 3 minutes each reply / 60 minutes in all. Time penalties apply.

Gilbert please help us. Tmr at 9.00 here. If we do this right, we will finally get rid of him for good.

“This is an active ingredient for cyberbully (or to pretend to be victim).” Now do you all see what I mean when I say the idea of cyberbullying can be extended, stretched and even overeach into the happy domain that we all take for granted? I want you all to consider this.

I dont post using multiple nicks. I am not gemani. I am not even SD in 12) Singaporedaddy on February 9th, 2009 9.04 am – I have always conducted my diplomatic mission here with integrity; you have to go and ask Andrew Loh why he considered it opportune to derogate from what he took so much pain and effort to explain here.

#lobo

Singaporedaddy aka Darkness watever brotherhood is a sad sad person. give that bear a big hug :)

Indeed, for someone who draws 20K per month minus stock options. He certainly has very strange hobbies :) Thats one thing, I can seem to understand abt him. Why doesnt he join YPAP and make peace with Lazarus and frens? I am sure they dont want to kill him, all they want to do is show him the beauty of their world:) Otherwise why do the keep hunting them down ;)

Why are some of you so incredibly stubborn? That you even feel the need to do everything only your way? Why cant it be our way for just once. Darkness likes to wear his bicycle helmet loop sided like a fedora. Harphoon likes to ride in pyjamas top. SD rides with only one glove and the other in his back pocket. Why? Sad thats sad. We just want to be frens :)

And me

With regards to the topic at hand, I’m not exactly sure what Gilbert’s aim is. I mean, the website (still in development, it seems) strives to provide advice and support for cyberbully victims. There seems to be aims to collaborate with MOE to bring the message across, but this means quite significant manpower and resources (the same goes to providing counselling support.

Perhaps what would be a more suitable aim is to work together with existing organisations that help victims of bullying. The website can be a convenient point for information, help and contact for counsellors, while the counsellors themselves will be experienced personnel from those organisations.

Just a few loose thoughts regarding this. Nonetheless, it is a noble undertaking by Gilbert.

To be honest, I often find it puzzling to read comments that asks TOC to stop moderating comments it deems unnecessarily provocative. I’ve been moderated before as well, and could understand that it sucks. However, do understand that at the end of the day, this blog belongs to the person who starts it. Why can’t we just respect his right to direct the tone of discussions as he deem fit? Why insinuate TOC is a cyberbully when you bring your conflicts into the website, that has little to do with the article and grumble that TOC is being unfair when moderation is being exercised? When has TOC ever claimed to be impartial? Aren’t these your own expectations as to how TOC should be run?

The solution to all these is just to set up an alternate site like SD wars or something and all those who wanna debate can go there. All it takes is five minutes of your time.

And lastly, even if someone disagrees with the article or the views held by person in the article, is there a need to be so disdainfully condescending towards the person? Why can’t we take the tone used by Observer (#41) and some others here, which is to disagree agree-ably?

Dear gemami,

As your cyberspace friend, I would advices you to keep your cool. Why get so irate and sulk over this ‘cyberspace bullying’ hypothesis (that is my personal view)? Even if someone suggest to put the “bullies” if any (depending on an individual’s perception) in a straight jacket, that is not going to stop this form of behavior.

We are matured and civilized adults and we can make the choice to either continue to participate and state our views regardless or just side line ourselves. Whether how a site administrator chose to moderate its readers or posters, the rights is theirs. As readers and posters, we can suggest but ultimately it is the host of the site that makes the final call. I think that is at least much more civil as compared to raw brawl that will not only ruin your day, if you let it gets to you too often, it does have a possible knock on effect on your otherwise pristine perceptions and thoughts. There are more important things in live to deal with other than engaging oneself in a cyberspace discourse. We came here to share our perspectives but should not let it rule your life and thoughts. Virtual is imaginary and that is a clear distinction.

Sincerely,

Observer (SG-HK)

Dear Observer (SG-HK),

I thank you for bringing sense back to this senseless head of mine. It does happen from time to time when passion takes over the senses.

I admit I got carried away mainly because the article is about cyber-bullying and I thought it apt to make others see the bullying playing out before our eyes.

I regret that I too became a player in this game of bullying, by bullying TOC. It was just tit-for-tat, nothing else. I am now calm and I realise the futility of such behaviour.

Thanks Observer, and Joshua too, for your kind words, even though I feel I do not deserve them.

i do not understand the battle here so no point taking sides.

however, i must commend gilbert for making an effort to help victims of cyber-bullies. at least he started with good intentions.

as for singaporedaddy, i understand the points made and I feel that they are indeed valid concerns. sheltering the kids from the world out there does not help them, in any sense, in coping with it one day. in fact, it will do more harm than good. perhaps we really need to look at educating kids to not take the internet so seriously.

would like to comment on the issue at hand-

I think it’s great that Gilbert has set up this initiative; I know of a couple of teenage girls who have been victims of this and were completely helpless about how to counter the cyberbullies.

Cyberbully victims are very much like victims in the real world, they are often socially withdrawn and quiet in nature, and do not have the outspoken, proactive personality required to discourage bullies. This is also why they were bullied in the first place. (Hanish & Guerra, 2004)

While the notion of allowing adolescents to deal with conflicts on their own is a good one, it is misguided, in my opinion. Since it is precisely those who are unable to stand up for themselves that are picked on, it is all the more important for these kids to be empowered with tools such as from Gilbert’s website. This is not the case of adults stepping in to deal with the problems on behalf of the teen, but rather educating them about how to counter the bullying.

That being said, however, I have visited the site myself and found it rather cumbersome. It contains links to various articles about how to spot cyberbullies, how to challenge them etc., but the articles themselves are not easy for your average teen in sg to understand. A suggestion would be to distill these articles into teen-speak, complete with 1-2-3 steps, etc.

Also, teens are usually not inclined to listen to talks conducted by MOE during their school assemblies. Instead, such sessions are usually a good time to nap :p. I’d like to suggest that teen ambassadors be appointed instead; teens who genuinely advocate the cause to spread the word around, put it on their blogs, etc. This would be a better way to engage them; otherwise they might think it’s just another boring, plain website run by a boring, plain adult. :P (No offence, Gilbert!)

Has anyone given any thought to the whole idea what happens when kids go out into the real world and they face a real bully> who do they call? Is there a hotline where I can call and someone can come and pack off my boss who has been bullying me? Get real! The brotherhud guy is right. I dont agree with what they say sometimes, but I see where they are coming from. The important thing is both gilbert and them are united on one point. The all have the interest of kids in mind. Its just a great pity this whole moderation issue crunched and destroyed everything. This could have been a great dialogue.

#59:
I think the issue should be examined from two perspectives. One: the perspective of the kid being bullied and Two: the bully. I think a great point is made in that kids should learn to fend for themselves. However, as #58 has pointed out, there are some kids that are just unable to do so. To ask them to suddenly change their personality and fend off the bullies would be impossible.

Nevertheless, Gilbert’s website can provide advice on “fending off” cyber bullies, but it doesn’t have to do it for the kids. Ultimately, the kids will still have to stand up for themselves no matter what. That is reality. Gilbert’s site doesn’t offer to “pack off” the bully like what #58 suggested, but to offer ideas on how bullying can be dealt with. Ultimately, it is the person that has to make the move.

I’ll agree with #59’s suggestions. The site could be improved further to appeal to teenagers. The use of youth ambassadors will certainly be of great help. I still remember the assembly talks i used to attend. Somehow I always feel sleepy during these talks. Roadshows held during recess would be a great idea. But of course, what Gilbert can do is talk to teachers and principals to educate them on helping their students with cyberbullying. That might be his role.

Oh, and from the perspective of handling the bully, the site can be useful in finding out who the person is and dealing with him/her appropriately. It’s a form of dealing out justice, so to speak.

Why do people cyber bully? I just do not understand thier aim! What do they gain anyway? Even Miley Cyrus and Lindsay Lohan are being cyber bullied! This issue causes a lot of deaths!