Another suicide linked to Ask.fm, what are ye opinions on this?

freshpopcorn

A teenage girl in the UK has committed suicide and ask.fm is being blamed as the cause because the girl was bullied on it for a couple of weeks. Do you think it should be shut down?

I am a guy in my early twenties and when I was 12/13 bebo was all the rage. A lot of bullying went on back in the mid 2000's. Fake profiles were created messages/pictures were shared on them that would have made people very upset. A lot of things went on but nothing bad never happened in my area. Most people I know moved onto facebook then and this was when every had a camera phone so pictures were shared more frequently. I witnessed cases of when embarrassing pictures of certain people being shared and you could see it effected some people a lot more than others I am talking about both guys/girls.
I found when the people pretended they didn't care the picture used just be forgotten about in know time. I found when people engaged with the bullies begging them to remove a picture/post that was when thing escalated.

I know these suicides can be traced back to ask.fm but a lot of suicides happen because of normal traditional bullying in school as well. You can just trace this back to a source whilst with normal bullying it it harder to do so.
People are constantly telling people to delete/block people who are bothering them on these sites and report it and talk about it to someone.

So, what are ye views on this?
Do ye think ask.fm should be shut down?

http://www.irishmirror.ie/news/world-news/askfm-linked-another-teen-suicide-2129788

Meirleach

I think parents should be watching what their children are getting up to online. Shut down ask.fm and it'll just happen elsewhere.

DipStick McSwindler

This post has been deleted.

Nodin

Another suicide because of Ask.fm,

Presuming a lot there, aren't we?

pharmaton

people are assholes, especially people on the internet. (in real life those tiny people would have the skin kicked off them before they ever got close enough to think they can bully another human)

BeerWolf

And what was so hard to just NOT go to Ask.fm ?

Kids these days...

123balltv

Kids learn how to talk to people face to face.

D.Q

people who decide to set up an ask.fm profile know what they are getting into. I saw some of my friends had them a while ago, but I never bothered, because of the fact that I didn't want to give people an anonymous platform to abuse me.

I genuinely don't understand the appeal of those sites. What is the best possible outcome?

that said, i don't think it should be shut down, each to their own, I just don't particularly understand it.

Henlars67

Ask.FM isn't the problem. People are.

My name is URL

How can they be so sure that it's linked to Ask.fm? The family themselves say that she showed no signs of torment etc, so they're just assuming that her suicide was brought on by bullying. Can people not just be depressed these days?... something else always needs to be blamed it seems.

Tangatagamadda Chaddabinga Bonga Bungo

Meirleach wrote: »

I think parents should be watching what their children are getting up to online. Shut down ask.fm and it'll just happen elsewhere.

I hear this rationale put out as an explanation a lot when these sad types of things happen. The thing is though, and it is rarely acknowledged, is that parents of teenagers and older children alive now didn't grow up with the internet. I know you can say they should know, but many don't or learn too slowly to know what this is about. Facebook/Youtube/Ask.fm or even boards aren't even a generation old.

Basically, legislation, policing and parenting need to grow up with the internet to help prevent this type of thing happening.

SEPT 23 1989

The bullying is only a front for the powers that be to clamp down on free speech on the net

meoklmrk91

If ask fm gets shutdown then another site with the exact same purpose, it's not going to change anything or fix the issue which is that there are many ****ty people in the world who do ****ty things. I don't have an ask fm nor will I ever, giving people an anonymous platform in which to say whatever they want, of course people are going to abuse that.

Nemeses

Shut down a website because some users are abusing it?
I'm sure in the conditions of use it goes against the likes of that carry on.

I feel sorry for the person that committed suicide because of this, however I'm sure if someone looked into it more, the underlying cause is not ask.fm but maybe the indiviual themselves, other contributing factors.

Who knows what was running through a persons mind at that time.

hoodwinked

im in the its not all about askfm and more in the parents should be supervising internet access camp,


but to be fair i find teenagers don't realise you can't always believe what you read on the internet, they take things so seriously at that age hence the issues with sites like that,


i don't take anything said to me on here seriously as i know we all either: are taking the piss, being trolled, arguing for the hell of it, making **** up for thanks whoring, or just venting current emotions on a topic and mostly not actually meaning it....and many many more.


either way i'm not going through the above and more for every post, so i just continue on my day as normal without giving it a second thought, if i'm asked a question ill answer it,

try having a teenager to take that kind of view and you'll find a teenager with an old head on young shoulders. most of them dwell on every little thing said about them, and take it seriously.

Reindeer

I think you're more likely to find the suicide was linked to depression.

The Backwards Man

You can argue about the rights and wrongs of blaming a website til the cows come home if you want, but anything that facilitates the anonymous abuse of others with practical impunity has no place in any society.

It never ceases to amaze me the lengths that people will go to defend what they call free speech.

gcgirl

Reindeer wrote: »

I think you're more likely to find the suicide was linked to depression.

Not always

BeerWolf

Reindeer wrote: »

I think you're more likely to find the suicide was linked to depression.

Gee, really?!

That's like saying breathing is linked to staying alive... :pac:

BadCharlie

You get kids who take the abuse to heart, and others who will shrug it off. All people are differint.
I find it very sad that people go around saying to other people on the net to go kill them selfs.

I have kids my self, and would be very tech savy. But i also belive your child if they want to use these sites they will find a way and a means to do so without my knowing. For example use friends/school computer or friends phone ect... Its very very hard to keep an eye on your child at all times. And they are very very resoursfull. We were all kids onces & im sure we have done or did things our mums and dads did not know about.

123balltv

I was badly bullied during my school years only relief was going home closing
my front door I know in my heart if the internet was around in my day I
would have tried to end my life kids nowadays are getting bullied 24/7

hoodwinked

123balltv wrote: »

I was badly bullied during my school years only relief was going home closing
my front door I know in my heart if the internet was around in my day I
would have tried to end my life kids nowadays are getting bullied 24/7

but only because now when they get home they close that front door, go up to their room and go on their laptops/phones/tablets,

people thought i was crazy giving my 3 year old an ipod, but i locked it down completely so all she can use is her game apps, her downloaded tv programs, and her music (we do a lot of long car journeys where she'd take mine and she would download apps and stuff so we bought it because we could lock it down)


it took us not even two hours to make sure she needed a password (which only we know) to access any other material or change any settings,

and its now a safe learning tool, its taught her how to spell words i couldn't spell at 4!

BeerWolf

123balltv wrote: »

I was badly bullied during my school years only relief was going home closing
my front door I know in my heart if the internet was around in my day I
would have tried to end my life kids nowadays are getting bullied 24/7

There's a difference between being bullied in person, and a device/website you can easily choose to ignore or avoid...

Jester252

Closing down ask.fm will reduce the number of case of internet bullying is the same logic as taking the syringe from a junkie will stop them taking drugs.

nocoverart

WTF is Ask.fm? I think I'm getting old.

caustic 1

Yes there is bullying on ask.fm I have seen it for myself, but I do not blame the website, the solution stay away from the site. Why would you continue to go on a site where there is someone saying bad stuff about you. If you got hit in the face everytime you walked by a certain spot surely you would avoid going there.

BeerWolf

nocoverart wrote: »

WTF is Ask.fm? I think I'm getting old.

Some social site with it's main feature being to question someone anonymously - key feature that's the issue of all this bullying.

In other words, it's a site for people just asking to be harassed...

Potatoeman

The Backwards Man wrote: »

You can argue about the rights and wrongs of blaming a website til the cows come home if you want, but anything that facilitates the anonymous abuse of others with practical impunity has no place in any society.

It never ceases to amaze me the lengths that people will go to defend what they call free speech.

You can contact the mods and get things pulled on most sites as they dont want the hassle. Shutting down whole sites because of a few idiots is just dumb.

hoodwinked

nocoverart wrote: »

WTF is Ask.fm? I think I'm getting old.

its a site where you make a post asking a question like:


"why do you like me?"

and the users can respond anonymously, hence the tendency of people to say things like "i don't like you you are ugly and a bitch"

hatrickpatrick

I use ask.fm and so do a lot of my friends, and we're all mature enough to understand that the internet is not serious business and that taking anything personally when it's written online is futile and ridiculous - we have great fun on Ask and love using it, why should we be deprived of something just because others can't handle it? I hae to sound insensitive but this really is one of those if you can't stand the heat get out of the kitchen issues - don't close down the kitchen so nobody else can get their dinner there!

This along with the recent porn filter and other attempts by governments to crack down on free speech is a symptom of a wider issue - parents wanting society to do their job for them. Simple as.

hatrickpatrick

hoodwinked wrote: »

its a site where you make a post asking a question like:


"why do you like me?"

and the users can respond anonymously, hence the tendency of people to say things like "i don't like you you are ugly and a bitch"

It's actually the opposite, the questions are asked anonymously and answered by the named user, so on my ask.fm question people ask questions anonymously, knowing that it's me, and I answer them without knowing who's asking.