Zo毛 Quinn has lived much of her life online since she was a teenager 鈥� making friends and enemies, working and playing. But in 2014, when she found herself at the centre of the storm of hatred known as Gamergate, nothing could have prepared her for the experience. Her life capsized and she nearly sank beneath the waves of abuse.
But thanks to the support of a few friends, she survived to tell the tale. She now runs the , which offers support to others targeted by online abuse, sharing the advice and know-how she once needed so badly herself. Based on her new book, , here are Quinn鈥檚 top tips for coping with online abuse, maintaining good digital hygiene and being a better all-round online citizen.
DO ensure your online accounts are secure. You鈥檝e probably heard this a hundred times. It鈥檚 still worth saying again. Pick a long, unique and memorable password for each site you sign up to. Use a password manager 鈥� a software tool that acts like a key ring for your logins 鈥� so you don鈥檛 have to remember them all. Use multifactor authentication where possible: this is where you get sent a one-off PIN to use as well as your password when logging on to a website.
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DO purge your online presence. Delete accounts you don鈥檛 use anymore, opt out of any data-sharing agreements in websites鈥� terms, make sure your privacy settings on social media are locked down and turn off geotagging on your photos. Google your name, phone number and home address to see if you鈥檙e happy with what other people can easily find out about you.
DO use automated tools to block unwanted messages if you find yourself the target of abuse. Twitter has tools like Block Chain, which blocks all followers of a particular user 鈥� useful if your abusers have a ringleader. Email clients have filters that should help you keep unwanted emails out of your inbox. Turn your privacy settings on social media all the way up to build a temporary wall.
DO bag and tag evidence if you choose to report the abuse to the website controllers or the police. Take screenshots that show the full URL and timestamp them. 顿翱狈鈥橳 feel you absolutely have to do this: it is time-consuming and upsetting.
DO remember that the abuse isn鈥檛 your fault. Even if you did what you are accused of, nobody deserves to be harassed.
DO have a distraction to hand that can keep you from obsessing over what鈥檚 happening online. Sometimes it鈥檚 just a matter of waiting the abuse out.
顿翱狈鈥橳 try to help someone document their abuse without checking that is what they want. Giving someone a heads-up by forwarding a hurtful screenshot is unhelpful when that person has decided to ignore their abusers.
顿翱狈鈥橳 try to show support by naming someone who is being abused. Publicly announcing that you think everyone attacking Jonny is a jerk just shines the spotlight on Jonny, bringing him to the attention of even more potential abusers.
顿翱狈鈥橳 share outrageous or salacious stories on social media without doing your homework. Check the website the story comes from 鈥� does the story still look legit? DO delete your post if you later find out the story is fake and post a statement saying the story was made up. DO share posts that debunk fake stories 鈥� fake news is often much more clickable than the truth, so the truth can do with a boost.
