World Youth Day

The State Emergency Service and the Rural Fire Service, both staffed by volunteers, are refusing to adopt the policing powers given them for World Youth Day.

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... just when I'm about ready to give up (yet again) on fandom and its childish self-importance, along comes this: someone rather forlornly asks in doctorwho why everyone hates RTD so much. The responses show plenty of self-awareness, humour, playfulness - and quite a bit of affection for Russell. :-)

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Wait, just -

just wait a -

Just wait a cotton-picking minute.

The Who anon meme. fandom_wank. And similar sites where you can personally attack another fan with the protection of anonymity and without consequences (and, often, where they have no way to defend themselves).

Are they cyberbullying?

I was bullied relentlessly through high school, but it always took the form of harassment; the cyberbullying equivalent would be abusive texts, emails, etc. But watching the anti-cyberbullying PSA that angriest just embedded, it struck me that if some twat scribbled a bunch of rumours or abuse about someone on the toilet wall, and all her little mates added something, they'd be doing basically the same thing as those comms do.

I don't want to overstate the parallel. Cyberbullies sometimes set up Web sites which target specific individuals, but that's not exactly the same. The term "cyberbullying" is usually reserved for minors harassing other minors. I can largely (though never totally) avoid the abuse by simply avoiding the comms in question.

Nonetheless, the parallel is extremely disturbing. I thought I had long ago left behind the nightmare that was high school. But I'm a tough old bird now - there must be younger fans who are far more vulnerable to this shit.

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On a much lighter note: The Hamster of Ultimate Happiness. (Not a Top Gear joke.)