Police to get tough on internet trolls.

[Russ]

"Misplaced" lol

---------- Post added at 07:05 ---------- Previous post was at 07:00 ----------

Originally Posted by RichardCoulter

Obsessive behaviour and misplaced resentment are also traits of those suffering from various conditions, including Aspergers syndrome.

If you come across this it has to be borne in mind that their distorted view of reality is completely genuine. Because they have poor social skills they are likely to be deliberately or unknowingly offensive. All I can advise is to think of it as their learning difficulty saying inappropriate & offensive things to you and not themselves.

In my experience punishment or tit for tat responses will not work and is only likely to make the situation worse.

This is relevant to the Online Safety Bill in the sense that, at first glance, they appear to be trolls who relish making unpleasent comments, to people. This can be viewed as bullying if one particular individual becomes a subject of their obsessive behaviour.

The Online Safety Bill won't be perfect. Some parts will be found to be over zealous, whilst others may need to be amended to give stronger powers.

Those who cannot help their inappropriate behaviour due to mental illness or disability do need to be stopped, but I think that the Act should contain measures to help and support them with only punitive measures being used as a last resort.

How about delusion of grandeur and making yourself a self-appointed expert on subjects you know little or nothing about? Are they traits of it too? How about if you then accuse others of discrimination and/or bullying supposedly based on the condition when you get challenged or disbelieved about it?

[RichardCoulter]

I have experience of one of your conditions because I have a family member and a friend who have Aspergers too.

I believe that it is incumbent on others to learn about these things so that they can understand the situation of others.

I am currently living with people who are suffering from things like dementia or who have had stroke.

If our various issues ever get us down, it's always worth remembering that there is always someone worse off than ourselves.

---------- Post added at 09:41 ---------- Previous post was at 09:23 ----------

Originally Posted by OLD BOY

So I can get away with anything if I identify as disabled.

Good game this, isn’t it? This is not going to work.

Disabilities must be taken into account because some people aren't aware of what they are doing or don't realise how their behaviour impacts others.

For example, because the NHS is now in such a mess? a lot of people are now getting frustrated and are taking it out on frontline staff because they are in pain, frightened etc. Many GP surgeries are now adopting a zero tolerance policy towards inappropriate behaviour.

However, it wouldn't be appropriate to punish someone with Tourettes Syndromw for going in and shouting and/or using bad language.

Are you suggesting that they should be punished for suffering from an affect of their condition?

If so, I disagree. Someone with Aspergers cannot help how they think and the resulting resentment, sarcasm, rudeness etc comes about because of their misconceived ideas and genuinely held beliefs. They are not being unpleasent on purpose. It is down to the affects of a severe, life long & incurable learning disability.

They need and deserve our help & support rather than punishment and i'm keen that the Online Safety Bill is sensitive to their needs.

How this is achieved is above my pay scale!

[joglynne]

Been thinking through the options that may have to be used to allow a forum such as ours survive this Bill, and, taking Richard's suggestions into account.

Some people have to wait years to get an official diagnosis, how would that effect rulings on perceved transgressions. Guilty untill proved innocent?

Will all our posts have to be vetted before posting is approved? Or maybe we would all have to inform the owners of any medically confirmed conditions so that they could be taken into account in order to excuse any one who appears to relish making condescending and unpleasent personal comments? Would there need to be some form of moderator's decision added to such posts that are then allowed to be viewed?

Maybe members could be required to list any relevant conditions in their signatures to explain why their posts are acceptable. ...I am sure none of use would ever wish to have this imposed I know I wouldn't.

IMHO What ever solution is chosen there would be a detrimental effect on the flow on any discussions/debates.

[RichardCoulter]

Originally Posted by joglynne

Been thinking through the options that may have to be used to allow a forum such as ours survive this Bill, and, taking Richard's suggestions into account.

Some people have to wait years to get an official diagnosis, how would that effect rulings on perceved transgressions. Guilty untill proved innocent?

Will all our posts have to be vetted before posting is approved? Or maybe we would all have to inform the owners of any medically confirmed conditions so that they could be taken into account in order to excuse any one who appears to relish making condescending and unpleasent personal comments? Would there need to be some form of moderator's decision added to such posts that are then allowed to be viewed?

Maybe members could be required to list any relevant conditions in their signatures to explain why their posts are acceptable. ...I am sure none of use would ever wish to have this imposed I know I wouldn't.

IMHO What ever solution is chosen there would be a detrimental effect on the flow on any discussions/debates.

You make some very important points and raise some very relevant questions.

Whatever is done will have to comply with other regulations such as GDPR, the Equalities Act etc.

Some time back, an excellent point was made about a situation where a forum pre-approved all comments before publication in order to comply with the various requirements.

By doing this they are effectively endorsing what is said and could become liable for action to be taken against them for doing so should a subsequent complaint be made.

[Sirius]

Originally Posted by RichardCoulter

Obsessive behaviour and misplaced resentment are also traits of those suffering from various conditions, including Aspergers syndrome.

If you come across this it has to be borne in mind that their distorted view of reality is completely genuine. Because they have poor social skills they are likely to be deliberately or unknowingly offensive. All I can advise is to think of it as their learning difficulty saying inappropriate & offensive things to you and not themselves.

In my experience punishment or tit for tat responses will not work and is only likely to make the situation worse.

This is relevant to the Online Safety Bill in the sense that, at first glance, they appear to be trolls who relish making unpleasent comments, to people. This can be viewed as bullying if one particular individual becomes a subject of their obsessive behaviour.

The Online Safety Bill won't be perfect. Some parts will be found to be over zealous, whilst others may need to be amended to give stronger powers.

Those who cannot help their inappropriate behaviour due to mental illness or disability do need to be stopped, but I think that the Act should contain measures to help and support them with only punitive measures being used as a last resort.

The Online Safety Bill won't be perfect it will be a disaster. My opinion is that it will give to much power to those who like to be offended on behalf of those who are not offended but the offended think they should have been.

Originally Posted by Sirius

The Online Safety Bill won't be perfect it will be a disaster. My opinion is that it will give to much power to those who like to be offended on behalf of those who are not offended but the offended think they should have been.

[OLD BOY]

Originally Posted by RichardCoulter

I have experience of one of your conditions because I have a family member and a friend who have Aspergers too.

I believe that it is incumbent on others to learn about these things so that they can understand the situation of others.

I am currently living with people who are suffering from things like dementia or who have had stroke.

If our various issues ever get us down, it's always worth remembering that there is always someone worse off than ourselves.

---------- Post added at 09:41 ---------- Previous post was at 09:23 ----------



Disabilities must be taken into account because some people aren't aware of what they are doing or don't realise how their behaviour impacts others.

For example, because the NHS is now in such a mess? a lot of people are now getting frustrated and are taking it out on frontline staff because they are in pain, frightened etc. Many GP surgeries are now adopting a zero tolerance policy towards inappropriate behaviour.

However, it wouldn't be appropriate to punish someone with Tourettes Syndromw for going in and shouting and/or using bad language.

Are you suggesting that they should be punished for suffering from an affect of their condition?

If so, I disagree. Someone with Aspergers cannot help how they think and the resulting resentment, sarcasm, rudeness etc comes about because of their misconceived ideas and genuinely held beliefs. They are not being unpleasent on purpose. It is down to the affects of a severe, life long & incurable learning disability.

They need and deserve our help & support rather than punishment and i'm keen that the Online Safety Bill is sensitive to their needs.

How this is achieved is above my pay scale!

You missed my point, Richard. The problem is that you are suggesting that people who have a relevant disability can say what they like whereas the rest of us can’t. Where’s the equality in that?

This law will play havoc with forums and the right to free speech and I am appalled that this government is contemplating it at all.

[heero_yuy]

I think the result will be that anybody on a forum who thinks they've been offended will get banned PDQ.

[Russ]

Originally Posted by RichardCoulter

I have experience of one of your conditions because I have a family member and a friend who have Aspergers too.

So you finally admit that you have ZERO experience of the condition, whereas you just know someone who has.

Thank you. It’s only taken you about 6 years to finally admit it.

[pip08456]

All Richard is doing by posting how things will happen (in his opinion) is proving exactly how the proposed bill will not work!

The Online Safety bill will not only be a disaster but also unworkable and unenforceable.

Referring to heero's comment that is easy done in a change to the T's & C's of use of the forum. Then they'll be whingeing about the forums they can't use becaused themselves to be excluded from membership.

Depending on how it's worded those who could be offended won't be allowed to join. I look forward to the court cases that will arise and waste so much or public money on a flawed cause. I doubt Richard would bother about that though due to his agenda.

[RichardCoulter]

The Government is today expected to announce measures to protect children from the harmful effects of pornography.

[jfman]

Can’t wait to read this.

[1andrew1]

If the UK's rules are out of kilter of the rest of Europe, it will be interesting to see how organisations react.

Will they come up with UK-specific websites, ignore the legislation or just exit the country? What might be affordable for Meta and Google may not be affordable for Wikipedia or Duck Duck Go.

[OLD BOY]

This legislation will put the owners of social media sites in an impossible position. This is basically an attack on free speech because it will lead to sites closing down and moderators being ultra-cautious of allowing even mildly controversial subjects to be discussed.

And of course, it won’t end there. Why can so many people not see this?

[jfman]

It’s certainly in incoherent policy from a “small c” conservative perspective. Increased regulation that can only appeal to curtain twitchers.