Ask.fm death of Hannah Smith

[thisisben]

I think i've posted this in the wrong place and there might have been another discussion on this but I thought that I will go ahead anyway.

I don't know if you have heard but many people who live in the UK will have. A girl called Hannah Smith who lived in my county of Leicestershire in England was heavily cyberbullied over the question and answer site on Ask.fm she was only 14 years old and the she received many death threats from trolls in which she decided she couldn't take it anymore and she was found hanged in her bedroom. Ask.fm is a question and answer site which is very popular with teenagers but also with internet trolls because you can post anonymously. Her family wants to shut Ask.fm down , do you agree with this?

[Ethan15]

I could see why they would want to shut it down. I think if you take the anonymous off of there a lot less death threats will come through. Mainly because police would take action.

[Sugaree]

I feel sorry for the girl, but people need to stop taking things said on the internet so seriously. If I had a dollar for every time I was called a name or insulted via the internet, I'd be rich by now. Yet I never took it to heart. Granted, it is easier for some to just take it and move on than it is for others; but I still feel sorry for her.

The thing about the internet is that no one is going to really be a friend. They can just turn on you as easily as they can in real life. That being said, shutting down Ask.fm isn't the answer. If you want to shut down Ask.fm, then you have to shut down Formspring. If you're going to shut Formspring down, you have to shut Tumblr down. And then you can just move on to every other social networking site because the ability of degenerates to use them will only escalate.

[britishboy]

no, its sad but she should have closed her q&a page down herself and the family will want that but theyre not thinking straight, they have lost a daughter!

[Harry Smith]

I don't have much sympathy for her, why would you join something that lets people ask anonymous questions, it's a perfect place for people to be vile towards you without any risks.

[teen.jpg]

She could've ignored it. It's the fucking internet, you get hate every 10 seconds. But nobody reads the Terms and Agreement, so they go into things blindly.

I feel sympathy for her family, but that's such a stupid decision to make. And this is why adults think teens are stupid.

[Walter Powers]

No, that's like shutting VT down.

[EternalSadness]

I'm sure if she was older she would've ignored it, but we don't know the facts. A girl that age will probably take it more personally, and we don't know how much of a bad thing that ask.fm was to her. She already had suicidal thoughts, and she may have known the bullies in real life, which is something that I think nobody knows right now, unless a news story has come out. The comments on ask.fm probably just pushed her over the edge, I know abuse isn't good but there was probably a lot more going on than that, and even if it was completely bullying, it probably would've been going on for a while.

[thisisben]

no, its sad but she should have closed her q&a page down herself and the family will want that but theyre not thinking straight, they have lost a daughter!

i agree with you there! a friend of mine got loads of hate and she just shut it down! ... she was the one who chose to keep it and carried on using the site.

I don't have much sympathy for her, why would you join something that lets people ask anonymous questions, it's a perfect place for people to be vile towards you without any risks.

that is true ... she should of closed it down really! like most people i know

She could've ignored it. It's the fucking internet, you get hate every 10 seconds. But nobody reads the Terms and Agreement, so they go into things blindly.

I feel sympathy for her family, but that's such a stupid decision to make. And this is why adults think teens are stupid.

yes it's true on my twitter i often get hate but try to ignore it!! ... obviously it isnt fair on her family but can understand why they are angry.


-merged multiple posts. -Emerald Dream

[Azunite]

It is no different than banning automobiles just because they are the prime cause of motor accidents.

[Human]

Ask.Fm is a great website, I have received hate before but there is nothing stopping you not answering it or deleting it. Not only that, but you can delete your accounts and my friends who get a lot of hate delete their ask.fm account, it's no hassle to, you just click a button.

No, it shouldn't be shut down. Teenagers need to take more responsibility about what they do on the internet and how it will affect them.

[Grand Admiral Thrawn]

This is terrible, but you can't really blame it all on the Internet. People should stop taking shit like that too seriously, everyone has haters online, everyone gets hate speech - it's not a big deal.

If a person commits suicide, I'll bet there's more to it than a few haters on the Internet.

[thisisben]

This is terrible, but you can't really blame it all on the Internet. People should stop taking shit like that too seriously, everyone has haters online, everyone gets hate speech - it's not a big deal.

If a person commits suicide, I'll bet there's more to it than a few haters on the Internet.

that is true but on the news in the UK , they are making a huge deal of it from going on about shutting down the ask.fm website more than giving us information about her! she probably got bullied at school etc

[Steven1]

I think the sites alright, as long as it doesn't go to the extreme as it has been. I think that it should be moderated, and things like that should never be allowed to go through to the persons page- perhaps have a set of words that are flagged and the question has to be moderated before being allowed onto the persons page. But I think that it has got out of hand in the recent months, and should be shut down as it has happened a coupe of times before, and will likely happen again.

[Stronk Serb]

The problem is, many teenagers take everything seriously now, so if I was to write something insulting to someone, they would take it seriously. I shut my account because the only questions I got are the insult ones and the generic ones. They should really add a report button or some registration thing.

[jayyy-lmao]

Strangely enough I had come on here with the intention of making a thread about Ask.fm.
But to the point. No. Ask.fm can, like any other site, be used responsibly. Just because certain people chose misuse it does not mean it should be taken from everyone. I know for a fact people who posted as anonymous on Ask.fm can be tracked down via IP address, so the people who did wrong can and will be convicted. So there is no reason to shut down the site. Also, I've noticed that within my own circle of friends, the only people who are bothered and bullied on Ask.fm are the ones who are the centre of drama, always dying for attention. Like, for example, a thirteen year old in my year who had sex. This is widely considered disgraceful in our year, and she is one of the few who gets bullied on Ask.fm, along with a few other popular girls. In this case, the negative experiences do not outweight the positive ones. Shutting down the site would be proving we cannot discipline our people. That would be the weak way out.

[Harry Smith]

Strangely enough I had come on here with the intention of making a thread about Ask.fm.
But to the point. No. Ask.fm can, like any other site, be used responsibly. Just because certain people chose misuse it does not mean it should be taken from everyone. I know for a fact people who posted as anonymous on Ask.fm can be tracked down via IP address, so the people who did wrong can and will be convicted. So there is no reason to shut down the site. Also, I've noticed that within my own circle of friends, the only people who are bothered and bullied on Ask.fm are the ones who are the centre of drama, always dying for attention. Like, for example, a thirteen year old in my year who had sex. This is widely considered disgraceful in our year, and she is one of the few who gets bullied on Ask.fm, along with a few other popular girls. In this case, the negative experiences do not outweight the positive ones. Shutting down the site would be proving we cannot discipline our people. That would be the weak way out.

Do you reckon it's easy to go to Latvia and ask for the Ip adress if your getting bullied, it seems the only way to get from Ask FM is to kill yourself. It doesn't matter if someone has had sex at 13- that doesn't justify bullying them does it?

What's positive about Ask FM? All I've seen it cause in my year is fustration

[jayyy-lmao]

Do you reckon it's easy to go to Latvia and ask for the Ip adress if your getting bullied, it seems the only way to get from Ask FM is to kill yourself. It doesn't matter if someone has had sex at 13- that doesn't justify bullying them does it?

What's positive about Ask FM? All I've seen it cause in my year is fustration

What do you mean? IP addresses can be traced, man. No matter where you are, there are ways and means.
The only way to get off Ask.fm is to delete your account. Which is quite easy, actually.
I don't think that's a reason to be bullied. But the bullies think it.
What's positive? It's a bit of fun. Like playing truth or dare over internet. You can ask people useful questions, and get to know them better if you're scared or nervous. And it often sees bullies getting slamdunked because their victims have so much sass.

[Harry Smith]

What do you mean? IP addresses can be traced, man. No matter where you are, there are ways and means.
The only way to get off Ask.fm is to delete your account. Which is quite easy, actually.
I don't think that's a reason to be bullied. But the bullies think it.
What's positive? It's a bit of fun. Like playing truth or dare over internet. You can ask people useful questions, and get to know them better if you're scared or nervous. And it often sees bullies getting slamdunked because their victims have so much sass.

They can be traced of course, but Ask FM don't give a shit if someone is being bullied- it took someone to die in order for them to release the IP addresses where as websites like Twitter have a much more robust system for reporting abuse.

It's a stalkers paradise, how is it at all like truth or dare? All I've seen is perverts and trolls along with the occasional what's your favourite pet

[Synyster Shadows]

I have received hate before but there is nothing stopping you not answering it or deleting it. Not only that, but you can delete your accounts and my friends who get a lot of hate delete their ask.fm account, it's no hassle to, you just click a button.

No, it shouldn't be shut down. Teenagers need to take more responsibility about what they do on the internet and how it will affect them.

I agree with you. People should read the terms, agreements, privacy policies, and all of those documents. They're put up for a reason. I don't know about you guys, but I knew what I was getting into when I registered here. I have a picture of myself only now because I now feel safer around here. I would never think of registering for a site and immediately put a picture, if ever, unless I knew who'd be able to see it. But yes, Connor, I agree that teens need to take more responsibility on the 'net, and in real life in general, no matter how tough it might be, at this stage in our lives. The internet's a rough place.

[jayyy-lmao]

They can be traced of course, but Ask FM don't give a shit if someone is being bullied- it took someone to die in order for them to release the IP addresses where as websites like Twitter have a much more robust system for reporting abuse.

Well here, in Ireland, if you report serious cyberbullying to teachers they contact the authorities and trace the IP.

[Harry Smith]

Well here, in Ireland, if you report serious cyberbullying to teachers they contact the authorities and trace the IP.

The problem is that the police won't devote the time to tracing the IP because it requires going to ASK FM a company which doesn't follow British law meaning it has no legal obligation to hand it over

[dontfiguremeout]

Sad as it is, if you are being cyber bullied there is only one thing you can do, delete it and stop using your computer. With cyber bullying it's so much easier to shut away bullies unlike in person. So I think it's okay to keep the site open, I just think that it needs to be talked about all over the world if you are cyber bullied then you need to stop using the computer because it's only going to hurt you more.

[jayyy-lmao]

Sad as it is, if you are being cyber bullied there is only one thing you can do, delete it and stop using your computer. With cyber bullying it's so much easier to shut away bullies unlike in person. So I think it's okay to keep the site open, I just think that it needs to be talked about all over the world if you are cyber bullied then you need to stop using the computer because it's only going to hurt you more.

Preach, man. He's right. It's easy to shut off the bullies. You just have to be willing.

[thisisben]

yeah well unfortunately with the news , they are mostly taking a shot at the website more than her death ... and the owners of ask.fm are apparently in hiding over the events.

[pieman10]

1. I wish that the media would stop labelling anyone that bullies someone else as a troll!
Seriously, a troll is someone that partakes in making light fun by making statments or arguments that will inflame a debate or flamewar.
Real trolls operate in plain sight, yet your not supposed to think they are trolls, this is the fun part.

2. According to ask.fm 98% of postings came from her IP, so her or her family were responsible for them.

3. She could have turned the bloody thing off, blocked the bullies or reported it.
Those options were in place, but wernt used.

SHE WAS ATTENTION SEEKING

4. Her dad needs to stop blaming ask.fm and needs to start looking at him and his family.

[Cygnus]

You know there is an option to let only non-anonymous people ask you questions.

[Luminous]

At first all I saw was Hannah and Dead and I thought this was some joke petition that you guys all wanted me dead

I think it's horrible, all cyberbullying is. But for some reason kids don't realize that you shouldn't take everything you read on the internet to heart. I wouldn't support taking the site down. It can be loads of fun!

[Yolo98]

Education is the answer. You cannot police the internet, its impossible. Children need to be educated in schools about the dangers of such sites like ask.fm.

[DerBear]

I think Ask.fm needs to be shut down simply because it's caused a ton more cyber bullying.

[Turbo]

Well I've heard people saying the site needs shutting down but that's just a defeatist idea. I mean why not target the cause of the problem instead, the bullies? Many people enjoy the site and by taking it down would just mean the bullies go to another site, where the same thing would happen again, and again etc etc.

[pieman10]

I think Ask.fm needs to be shut down simply because it's caused a ton more cyber bullying.

The one thing you need to remember about the internet, you cannot block or shut down anything as long as someone wants to keep you from blocking or shutting it down.

Just look at the pirate bay...

[teen.jpg]

I think Ask.fm needs to be shut down simply because it's caused a ton more cyber bullying.

Actually, the cause of the problem is the people on the site. If we listened to that, then the whole internet would be shut down. You can send hate and bully anyone literally anywhere online, look at Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, hell probably even VT.

But don't blame the website.

Education is the answer. You cannot police the internet, its impossible. Children need to be educated in schools about the dangers of such sites like ask.fm.

We are. But honestly it's up to the kid how he handles the information. Not every decision a kid makes is based on what people teach them, you know.