[Kapura]

I have been on webforums since I was a wee lad and I've spent much of that time as a dyed in the wool troll. I "get" trolling. I understand the psychology that drives people to troll. I've been trolled myself. But there is a difference between calling somebody 'and idoit' and the sorts of harassment that is still all too common today.

Don't think I don't understand how it happens. I went to /v/ at the height of gamergate. I've seen doxxings before too. But as I've become an adult it has become a deeply disturbing part of a culture I once cherished as my own.

But if nobody speaks up, if nobody is there to raise the counterpoint and make a frustrated social outcast think about what he's doing, change will come too slowly for me to be fine just sitting by and letting it happen.

I don't want to diminish what you've had to deal with either. I don't think it's somehow more OK. But I don't think that anybody should have to deal with bullshit based on their cultural history or who they are, regardless of how it's presented. If you had written that post about he shit you've had to deal with being black in a primarily white field, I would still be here, as disgusted and as eager to see a change.

Is this a problem which applies exclusively to the tech industry? No. But I refuse to accept that it's just part of living in the internet age. I truly believe that if we can make people understand just how not-ok this sort of thing is, we have a shot at correcting these sorts of behaviours for the next digital generation.