Internet Bullying - Trolls.

I wrote in a blog some time ago about the film director Alan Smithee – who doesn't exist.

It's a name film directors use when they don't want their name attached to the film they have directed mostly because someone has messed with the film and, in the opinion of the director, ruined it; but let's face it sometimes they improve it.

The directors are really saying they don't want their name associated with the film and by doing so they create publicity and they don't achieve the anonymous state they profess to desire.

They are not and never will be anonymous.

Now my pal Jim, who writes a blog that you can click on to at the top of this page, has trouble with an anonymous troll who writes comments on his blog all the time.

This must be a bit worrying but I know Jim and I know he can handle it; the fact that he edits his comments and doesn't publish any more of the comments from the anonymous troll tells you more about the anonymous troll than it does about Jim.

In Britain, lately, trolls have been threatening female members of parliament; one in particular because she was campaigning for Jane Austin to appear on the ten pound (£) note.

She has been threatened with rape, bombs and other kinds of violence but, as in the case of Jim, she can handle it.

Last week a young girl committed suicide because she suffered the same kind of abuse and it's obvious that she couldn't handle it; she's not the first and she won't be the last.

I heard of it happening in America before we came back here.

There is no answer to it really; I have noticed that YouTube have been asking for real names lately but that will never work.

These people are usually weedy little pieces of garbage who live in a little room at their parent house.

I saw a documentary on TV once where a man was being threatened over the phone in his apartment; the guy on the other end of the phone was say 'I'll be up to kill you, soon. I got a gun.'

When the police found the man they knocked his door down and he was in his apartment, surrounded by old pizza boxes and he was about five feet four and weighed about 90 pounds wringing wet - ' don't hit me, don't hit me' he cried. If only that girl knew the type of person that was threatening her.

On the IMDb, which is the Internet Movie Data Base, there are loads of trolls. If you go on to the Star Wars page and leave a comment saying 'Star Wars is crap' you will be spotted straight away as a troll.

Now where did this word troll come from; we all know the song I’m a Troll fol-de-rol, I’m a Troll fol-de-rol, I’m a Troll fol-de-rol and I’ll eat you up for supper from Billy Goats Gruff, but this word troll comes from the fishing term and the activity of trolling; it's when you have your rod in the water trying to pick something up.

It's strange that the other bad Internet activity has a fishing connotation – phishing; that's when people send you an email asking for your password.

Another con trick these days is when someone gets that password from you, signs in to your email and sends an email to everybody in your address book saying that they (pretending to be you) are in Venice and they have lost their wallet – can you send money etc.

If I run out of money in some far away place with a strange sounding name I will not send any of my pals an email; if I'm in trouble I'll call you.