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In the second of our articles promoting good manners online in the run-up to April Fool’s Day, we take a look at how to avoid being a fool online by taking responsibility for your own actions – and reporting the bad behaviour of others.
Nobody owns or runs the internet as such. But everyone who uses the web or has a website bears a little bit of responsibility for making the experience the best it can be, for everyone’s benefit. Whether it’s simple good manners or sticking within the law of the land, the things we do online are there more or less forever. And they can come back to haunt us!
Just like real life, you find bad eggs online. Luckily the hackers and virus makers, trolls and cyberbullies, liars and thieves, stalkers, spammers, phishers and fraudsters are in the minority. The online world mirrors the real world, with the same proportion of good and bad things happening virtually and in reality. Think of the internet as a microcosm of the human condition and you get the picture: the good, the bad and the ugly!*
Branded a baddie forever
If you do something illegal, unwise or downright silly on the web, it can haunt you for years to come. On a personal level it makes a lot of sense to rein it in and help make the internet a better place instead of causing harm. The same goes if you’re doing business online. And part of that shared responsibility involves playing the man in the white hat, reporting nasty stuff before it causes damage, hurt or disaster.
Speaking out does everyone good
Peer pressure is powerful stuff when you’re young. But when you report cyberbullies and trolls, you help make life better for everyone. It’s fair to assume that most bullies do it because they’re unhappy, whether it’s through loneliness or fear, a lack of confidence or because it feels safer to attack someone else than risk being attacked themselves. Reporting attacks helps everyone, including the attackers themselves.
How to report the bad stuff
If you come across something inappropriate, make the internet a more positive place and don’t let others get away with bad manners by taking responsibility for reporting them. Don’t wait for someone else to do it – report the bad stuff straight away. This list is your first stop if you want to find out how and where to report nasties:
Hotmail (Renamed outlook.com)
•*Visit the Microsoft community forum
•*Call Hotmail customer service telephone support: 0843 479 9816
Gmail
•*Visit Google’s Gmail support or find out how to secure your Gmail account
•*Contact Google or report safety and privacy issues
Yahoo mail (renamed Sky Yahoo mail from April 2013)
•*Visit Yahoo help
•*Yahoo customer service telephone support: 0871 909 0581
•*Submit a support request to Twitter Support
•*Visit Facebook Help
•*Email [email protected] to report abuse and [email protected] to resurrect blocked accounts
YouTube
•*Visit YouTube help
•*Visit Instagram help
•*Go to Pinterest support
•*Visit the Reddit tech support forum or their tech support wiki, which is full of useful stuff.
Myspace
•*Visit Myspace support
Bebo
•*Visit Bebo help
•*Here’s some useful information about Bebo safety and security and you can contact them by email.
Tumblr
•*Visit Tumblr support
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