2K Community Director Details Years of Abuse from Public

2K Community Director Corey Andress detailed years of anonymous threats he's received in response to reports of racial abuse sent to English soccer players.

[aaronaton]

Online 'Abuse' is here to stay, its not great but there is nothing we can do about it. There has been alot of talk here in the UK over the past few days to make any kind of abuse an hate crime which can be criminally charged.
I reckon in the future you will have people in prison for literally calling someone a 'retard' online.
At the end of the day, when i was in school in the 90's. The teachers used to make us recite:
"Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me"

[GhostofHorizon]

It is a complicated issue. I don't think anyone deserves to be sent death threats or have their kids followed around and be threatened.

There are some things that should simply be unacceptable.

While I can agree with the sticks and stones phrase to a degree, I would say mental health awareness has grown since the 90s and in a lot of cases it's the people that are making these threats that need this type of help.

[yardank]

I think it goes too far when people are flying to your home town, taking pictures of your car, or sending pics of your kids in a toilet with human shit on it. Stalking is never ok.

[Tacoboto]

"Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me"

And maybe this phrase shouldn't be instilled into young impressionable people.

It's not *your* fault for being a jerk as a kid, it's the kid you're bullying for not getting over it. These people are just upset gamers, the devs should just mute their DMs. Absolving people from the words they say removes their accountability for what those words are and look at the grand consequence of that. Those shitty kids turn into shitty adults, or maybe those bullied kids turn into jaded adults because being that certain kind of shitty is encouraged and free from consequence. Or they develop a victim complex and fall into patterns of abuse because no one ever took them seriously. "It's just words!"

[barom]

You probably didn't read the article. Sure sending hurtful messages is one thing but it's another to be stalking you and sending you pictures of your kids with feces on them, take a flight over to your house just to take pictures of your car and license plate etc.

[aaronaton]

Well the perpetrators sound like they having learning difficulties, so I wouldn't be bothered much to be honest.

[Popsicle]

This probably won't be popular, but I would support use of identification for social media platforms. People who make death threats should not be able to hide under the veil of a fake name. Also, I think there is a lot of people on major platforms who just say things to troll and get a response even if negative. I wonder how many would have made the comments they did towards the UK team if they were not able to hide. Not to mention foreign governments who use social media platforms to sow the seeds of division. Many major social media platforms have become toxic and in my opinion proper identification is a reasonable step for users as it holds them accountable without suppressing their speech.

[Majin-vegeta]

Hey theres this great place called China where you can go for that.

[zahdab]

not sure why its acceptable for people to behave like cave men online in the name of "Freedom of speech" when they would not be able to say the same things in public... freedom of speech does not entail harming and abusing others... there should be certain platforms especially ones that allow you to reach out individuals who are public figures and identifiable in public that limit such "freedom" to be akin ones that applicable in real life.

[Popsicle]

@vegeta - Except it is not like China at all. Using identification so that people may be a little more thoughtful before posting is very different from suppressing speech and sending people to re-education camps when they don't think the way the government thinks they should. My views don't align in any way with communist China or communism in general.

@Tacoboto - I think you are absolutely correct on the first point, and I actually thought about Facebook when writing my post. There are definitely people on Facebook using their real names and spew ridiculous non-sense. However, while Facebook can be toxic, I believe using your real name mitigates some of the less than thoughtful rhetoric that is spewed when compared to platforms like Twitter, etc. that grant complete anonymity. It does not eliminate the problem, but I believe the use of real names would cut down on death threats and other violent rhetoric.

In my opinion, the use of identification through using real names is a better option when compared censoring speech. In my opinion people should be able to say anything they want, but at least they can't hide and will be held accountable to what they say by others. No different than my daily public interactions outside of the internet.

[Tacoboto]

I don't think many or any Western companies would ever go down that route because of the legality around collecting identifying information on minors.

As it is today though, people on Facebook already have no problem spewing violent rhetoric using their real names on public posts by local news stations.

[got_dam]

I miss the 90s. I could get away from shit heads by getting out of school for the day. Now there is no getting away from it.

[Knightofelemia]

Everybody in todays society is just to damn sensitive if you can dish it out and can't deal with it back then online gaming is not for you. Or go into a private party so you can chat or just mute or don't use the mic. The other problem is people online will report you for the dumbest shit. I kill you a couple of times online boom you're reporting me just to troll me and get my account band so you can get your rocks off at the end of the day. And my account is banned for playing legit because you suck at the game and want a smile on your face for falsely reporting me hoping I do get banned. Online gaming has its ups and downs I can deal with annoying adults but kids I just mute the mic or don't even pay attention to them.