Outed Internet Troll Dead

[hc4361]

I was shocked to read the orginal report of this woman trolling the McCanns and am doubly shocked by this news report

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2781377/BREAKING-NEWS-Internet-troll-targeted-McCanns-dead-hotel-room-days-fleeing-home.html

I cannot begin to understand what motivates some seemingly 'decent' people to become internet trolls but it seems the shame is too much to bear in this case.

[andy-hughes]

ludwig - I and I am sure many others, have pondered the reason why the Madelaine McCann case captured the media and public imaginations to the extent it did, and still does.

For Sky to single out one individual expressing admittedly unpleasant views, and making a national media issue out of her does seem escessive, and I would suggest that it does not happen to anyone else in these circumstances, unless connected with the McCanns, and it does beggar the questions - why her, and why them?

[anotheoldgit]

andy-hughes

/// it does beggar the questions - why her, and why them? ///

I think you have already answered your question Andy.

Because the Madelaine McCann case captured the media and public imaginations to the extent it did, and still does.

[Ellipsis]

> not even directed at them, sp1814

My understanding is that she used a hashtag (mccanns) to make it clear that her comments were directed at them.

She was confronted by a reporter who put to her she had posted messages attacking the McCann family, to which she replied: "I'm entitled to do that."

Why would the reporter think she was attacking the McCanns if it wasn't obvious from her tweets? And why would she have replied as she did if it wasn't true?

Although there's a lot we don't know (like why she killed herself) I think we have to take it that she was directing her comments at the McCann family.

[Nodger]

I don't really ant to offer an opinion on the overall case, but I will say this: The only time I see Sky News is when I go on coffee break from work every morning (at 11:00, to the pub across the road for about half an hour, or twenty minutes if the boss is reading).

On whatever day it was last week that Sky were trailing ahead to their special report on the McCann trolls I saw film footage of this one woman being doorstepped approximately six times in the 30 (20) minute period I was watching. This was interspersed with a montage of the vile tweets that had been posted - though it wasn't clear if she was responsible for any of those in particular. The television was muted, but I was left in no doubt what was going on, and it looked to me like hounding. On a continuous loop. And it didn't look pretty.

[chaptazbru2]

What she did wasn't pretty either Nodger. She hid (so she thought) behind a cloak of anonymity and when she was outed she couldn't cope. To me, she was a coward !

[Retrochic]

She is also someones mother, her son is devastated, and more than likely was suffering from some sort of mental illness. The Press are totally responsible for this death and something needs to be done.

[anneasquith]

I don't condone what this lady said or didn't say. but I do feel a bit sorry for her.

[chaptazbru2]

Sorry, she's responsible for her own death - shouldn't have done it !

[andy-hughes]

Retrochic - "The Press are totally responsible for this death and something needs to be done."

That is somewhat of a sweeping statement since nothing has been revealed about the reasons for this poor woman's death.

It may well be that the Press had some effect on her state of mind - we may never know - but no suicide is carried out in an isolation of circumstances, it's always more complicated than that.

[andy-hughes]

chaptazbru2 - "Sorry, she's responsible for her own death - shouldn't have done it !"

Why do you apologise for your viewpoint - don't you really support it?

[chaptazbru2]

Not apologising for it, it's just a saying !!!!

[Retrochic]

andy for your hypothesis to work we have to assume she was suicidal before she was outed by the Press. She may very well have been a bit 'unbalanced' but I suggest the public humiliation pushed her over the edge, therefore in my opinion, making the press responsible.

[Retrochic]

Lets face it, Sky news jumped on this case because anything with 'McCann' in the title sells papers. the sad thing is the McCanns were not aware of the venom this woman was writing about them, so who was she actually 'bullying'?

[Zacs-Master]

//She may very well have been a bit 'unbalanced'//. I think her tweets prove that.

[andy-hughes]

Retrcochic - "andy for your hypothesis to work we have to assume she was suicidal before she was outed by the Press."

On the contrary - we don't have to assume anything. Not based on scant news coverage, and no official evidence being available. Assumptions are highly dangerous in a lot of cases - this is just one of them.

"She may very well have been a bit 'unbalanced' but I suggest the public humiliation pushed her over the edge, therefore in my opinion, making the press responsible."

You can suggest it by all means, but that is not what you did.

You stated that the Press are, quote 'totally responsible' which is considserablly more than either an assumption, or a suggestion.

Isn't it?

[Retrochic]

No Andy it means I'm replying in a language that is not my langue maternelle whilst trying to multi-task ;-)

[andy-hughes]

Retrochic - thanks for clarifying.

Please accept my aplogies for my pedantic approach - I hold anyone who lives and works with a language other than their own with the utmost admiration.

I envy you, since whatever your native langaue may be, I would probably struggle yo communicate 'yes' and indeed 'no' correctly!

[Retrochic]

Thats ok Andy, my first language is Old French (Quebecois) . I was educated in Canada and the UK but sometimes the subtle nuances of the English Language evade me, especially when I'm not concentrating :-)

[sp1814]

Has anyone pointed out that she posted 4,000 tweets about the McCanns in the 11 months leading up to her death?

That's an average of 12 a day...every single day...for nearly a year.

Hmmm

[-Talbot-]

I haven't seen any of the tweets but if she was slating them for leaving their kids alone, thus putting them in danger...... I for one would find it difficult to disagree.