There’s a number of people out there in the midst of social media who persistently thrive on attacking others personally or currying favour with others to reinforce their ‘stalking’ or ‘trolling’ as it has now become known. Every website has a duty at least to inform their readers and supporters of these situations, we do after all employ social media to promote our content, and many readers connected to Swansea Independent do so as well.

This includes our charity partners, the brain tumour charity, and not even that has stopped some people directing extreme hate towards this website, more on that later.

The majority of us manage to ignore the type of person who continually troll other people via social media, initially in the early days of this website as an example we did not, we responded, argued and the whole matter just got a lot worse. By feeding these people with responses ( by giving them air ) it seemed we were endorsing their behaviour. Nowadays we just thank them for the links to the site when the usual suspects appear, and of course for the thousands of views they facilitate. Unless of course their conduct is criminal, which in some cases it has been.

However, with that context understood there is a more alarming and very concerning factor to the persistent behaviour of those who not content with their lives feel they need to attack others from the safety of their own homes. For many it is now a daily mission to target and put hate upon individuals and businesses.

And this is a recognised mental health condition which is threatening social media users of all ages.

Professionals employed in this field call it the ‘digital age of vulnerability’. According to the Pew Research Centre, 69% of adults and 81% of teens in the USA and UK use social media. This puts a large amount of the population at an increased risk of feeling anxious, depressed, or ill over their social media use. And the effects on those who persistently harass others and look for responses as a result are even worse. We all know people who sit in front of social media with no real purpose every day. They as much as anyone know what they are doing is really not that good for them.

The Kings University relate the mental health impact of people who continually use social media as “People who pursue individuals about any publication or topic and then look deeper into that person and their lives” The situation becomes a real mental health issue when they spend more than an hour of a twenty four day stalking, prompting or provoking hate on social media. That means slowly moving a topic on the internet to a personal campaign of hate or stalking utilising social media. Kings state ‘People who allow this behaviour (stalking) to impact on their lives every day lose all social context. Their single minded approach to seeking reward from others agreeing with them is now considered psychopathic behaviour when that behaviour continues for a period of time. They also see no connection with their behaviour and the effect on their family. People who know them read the online posts connected to the stalker and the knock on effect can be dramatic. And the perpetrator won’t even see it or acknowledge it.

When challenged the perpetrators will almost always deny the allegation or state ‘ You just have me confused with someone else’ That according to psychologists Swar & Hameed is the go to response in any allegation of psychopathic behaviour relating to social media abuse. Interestingly, this website and numerous others who have been on the receiving end of such abuse have many communications either direct from the perpetrator, or screen shots of their behaviour, and can quite honestly agree.

That’s exactly what the response is.

The real point here is if you recognise this behaviour in yourself or in someone you know then you really should be doing something about it as the repercussions can be life changing. Not least prison sentences, retaliation outside of the law and even loss of life. It’s quite astonishing. Perpetrating the crime initially is never anything more than being mischievous or malicious, but it can end far differently. Suicide is more common now than ever before and we don’t just mean the victims of these social media attacks. Even the instigators when the adrenaline wears off and they see less and a less responses to their hate start to feel inadequate. The very state they were clearly in when they commenced their campaigns of hate ( inadequacy) is often the end result as well.

One individual despite his denials has sent sixteen emails to Swansea City FC citing all manner of things against this website, despite the forums he frequents containing demeaning statements towards women and homophonic content. He is also responsible for some of the most incredible allegations to fansnetwork as well. Again all of which he denies, but of course we don’t make those allegations without physical proof. A concerted, continuous course of action over twenty months.

Let’s refer back to the professionals. Putnam tells us that ‘conceptualised social capital as comprising of two dimensions, ‘bridging and bonding’, considering the different norms and networks in which they occur.’ People who use social media positively will obviously gain massively from their involvement. But the gathering of ‘social media capital’ is the key here. Bridging and bonding positively is a huge marker. But it also is the driver for behaviour that causes harassment and distress, which in turn feeds the tormentor even more unless they are kept in check. That’s why it’s important when we recognise these features in peoples lives that we know - there has to be an intervention.

The mental state of the instigators in this series of what is now perceived as a ‘crime’ is concerning. When we openly discuss this we must of course openly illustrate our own circumstances. Unfortunately we have had to inform the police on two occasions regards stalking of individuals connected to this website. One has been officially warned by South Wales Police and the information on this individuals behaviour continues to be collected and evidenced. Any further behaviour of this sort will result in an arrest. That’s how sad it can get. The other has received two informal ‘cease and desist’ notifications and despite this he continues with his attacks on individuals connected to this site. And that has gone on for two years. This is unfortunately now the subject of a report to the same police force who inform us to collect the information, behaviour and ongoing content for a potential criminal prosecution. We have had to employ a company to do this for us due to the amount of abuse and harassment this individual continues to promote. The bonus here is this company bi weekly package the information in to an evidential trail for the police. It saves us a lot of time.

So why do we take this seriously ? After all it’s just banter ?

That’s a great question. And banter is fine. But in the two cases illustrated above around twelve other social media users who have been added to the criminal file have been encouraged to also promote hate on Twitter. Obviously they are totally unaware of the effect they can have on individuals when they jump on to provocative posts. As most sensible people know a conviction or even a caution for harassment via social media is not only embarrassing to the individual it will If convicted in court almost certainly lead to a prison sentences. Especially when the conduct of the offender is over a long period of time. In law that is now a ‘course of conduct over a period of time that is considered by the normal person in the street as excessive’ As we have seen in recent times one tweet can lead to eight months imprisonment.

That can lead to a loss of employment, income and in the case of two younger people openly seeking employment on Twitter some very difficult times. In this case their posts from months ago will not go away. Even when they manufacture alleged communications that were never sent to them to justify themselves. Fortunately Twitter got on this quickly and have supplied information to disprove these claims. It’s a knock on effect nobody wants on their CV. And still we extend a hand of friendship to all of these people. And that remains.

The involvement of the police seems excessive. We decided to report these matters because the owner of this website received malicious communications including photographs of his family being threatened on social media after one in individual took it upon himself to not only publish their photographs, but to threaten them physically. We also received private messages sent by this individual that were passed on to us. They asking for more information on his family. That was the catalyst for saying enough is enough. Not directly connected to this person a picture of a coffin was also received with the site owners daughters name on it, inspired by the initial abuse and others jumping on it, and obviously taking matters too far. The owners daughter has terminal cancer and this website has partnered with the brain tumour charity to raise awareness and funds - but still the abuse continued, and all because the websites reporting on transfer matters didn’t fit the agenda of some very aggressive people on social media.

So, what would you do ?

It’s not just the counter belief that a ‘football report’ is wrong that’s the issue. We can discuss that as adults. It’s the way that person deals with their responses and the build up of hate this year has been appalling. And that was promoted as well by a website that hides behind a members only feature on Twitter. When we reached eighteen provocative posts they too were included in our report to the police. They are equally as blameworthy by continuing their campaign as the instigator. And this despite our requests to stop. These have since been removed but some still remain so it was vital we ensured they would not continue to get away with promoting hate. At any level.

So, please if anyone you know behaves in this way try and explain to them the effect on their targets but also try and seek some intervention for them. They are clearly suffering from some form of extreme mental illness that needs addressing and it could well save them from a world of pain if it becomes official. There’s no way any individual or business should continue to have themselves exposed for the gratification of others far less able or adequate to do anything other than continue the persistent hatred.

Everyone has a duty to deal with these individuals when they see them moving towards a course of criminal conduct that could ruin their lives. It’s obvious really, but many don’t see it. And that tells us a lot.

Swansea Independent continues to strive to be a community website for followers of the biggest game in the world, and despite the attempts of a few people we will continue to do so. If you want to contact us personally for advice or just to talk please email Swansea.independent1@gmail.com After all we all support the same team.

As many are aware we have two forums that offer a freedom of expression which are moderated. At times posters are banned for posting what is clearly outside of the posting boundaries of this website. And this continues to be the case. Any post that is racist, homophobic or promoting hate is removed as soon as it comes to our attention. And if necessary reported to the police. That’s managing online hate and dealing with it. That’s what we do. The harassment referenced in this topic and the continued hate it promotes is not in anyway connected to that. We deal with it whenever it crops up, which is rarely. We are referencing targeted harassment of individuals and the effects of it on people you may know, or even yourself. Don’t get confused in a world of justification. This is a serious subject which we have had personal experience of, and it shouldn’t be taken lightly.

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