Anonymity
Anonymity is when someone makes threatening comments to you, but is able to hide who they are. This means that it can be hard for you to figure out who sent you a threatening message or email.
Anonymity is a big issue in terms of cyberbullying. When a website was set up to humiliate Greg Frawley (check out the messages on the mobile phone – on the desk in the office), the police were unable to find the people responsible, as they had set up the website anonymously.
If someone is sending you threatening text messages on your mobile phone, unless you recognise the phone number it is sent from, you're unlikely to know who sent you the message. Or they may use someone else's phone to send you the message. These are examples of anonymity, where the bully’s identity remains hidden.
Pseudonyms
A pseudonym or alias is like a nickname. Bullies may call themselves a different name when they are online, to when they are offline. They do this to keep their real identity a secret from you.
When you use instant messaging services like MSN Messenger or Yahoo Messenger, you are known to others online by a nickname that you have chosen. This is an example of a pseudonym.
Bullies can use this same feature to change their name to something that you wouldn’t expect.
Similarly, bullies may change their name to something offensive, like the example on the right.
Flaming
Flaming is an intense argument, that normally takes place in chat rooms, over instant messages or email.
These bullies use capital letters, images and symbols to add emotion to their argument.
This is a real life example from People magazine: "I was instant messaging my best friend, and we had an argument over a guy…The next day she printed the conversation and handed it to a group of girls, but she'd changed it. It read like I had said all these really mean things [about them all] that I never said, and they believed her."
Look how the results of that flame worked out. Never send a reply to a bully whilst you are angry. Wait a period of time, to cool down, before you reply, if you even have to reply at all.
Masquerading
Masquerading is an elaborate form of cyberbullying where the bully pretends to be someone who they aren’t.
They might create fake email addresses or instant messaging names or they might use someone else’s email or mobile phone to bully you. This would make it appear as if the threats have been sent by someone else, again keeping the bully’s identity hidden.
Some people will tell you that you would give them your password if you were a ‘real’ friend. Do not give out your password to anyone.
A 13-year-old girl gave her password to her best friend. After they had a fight, the ex-friend used the girl's screen name to enter an adult chat room and gave out the girl's phone number. A man from the chat room called the girl's home – but was luckily intercepted by the mother.
Cyberstalking
Normally messages are sent through personal communications, such as email or text messages.
Victims start to believe that the cyberstalking may escalate to real stalking.
Outing
Outing is the public display or forwarding of personal communications such as text messages, emails or instant messaging.
Many bullies print out instant messaging conversations, often containing personal or sexual information, and show them around to other people.
Even reading out the saved messages on a person's mobile phone is a form of outing. It can cause real psychological damage to the people involved, if the message is private information.
Harassment
Harassment involves bullies sending offensive messages targeted at an individual or group.Bullies often send repeated messages, or at odd times of the day and night.
Some bullies even post their messages to a public forum - where everyone can see their threats - like a chat room or a bulletin board.
How would you feel if someone sent you a message that said, "I'm going to kill you"?
If it only happened once, you would probably ignore it.
But what would you do if you received the same message, on the hour, every hour, for a day...Exclusion
In many cases, teenagers who don't have mobile phone are excluded from the group of teenagers who do.
Girls have been found to be more likely to exclude others, boys tend to threaten with physical violence.
An 11-year-old American, Natalie recalled in an newspaper interview how every girl in a class but one was invited to a recent sleepover. The girls at the party went on the Internet that night and taunted the one who had been left out.
