Bullied in an Online Forum

[georgewill]

My question involves defamation in the state of: constant picking on me, name calling, calling me mentally ill, making fun of a few conditions that I am diagnosed with, defamation of my home country on numerous threads, in other words cyber bullying. The bullies are all adults.

This is called cyber bullying and it's punished by law in many states as far as I know.

I have been a member on this forum for 2 years, and the bullying started recently, a few members from there are constantly being hateful towards me and bullying me. They have stated false stataments about me, made fun of me on several threads, they attacked my home country and system on numerous occasions, they're constantly picking up on me (whilst all the other users are witnessing this and no one is saying a word), they're saying things "indirectly", trying probably to make me feel worthless and more over there are the secondary bullies in the scheme that now feel guilty about teaming up with the bullies. One of the bully is one of the site leaders, I am a site leader as well, but just wasn't entitled as moderator or amdmin. (so in other words they're abusing "power").

They have constantly been defaming me on numerous threads, I have been neutral and told them to stop.

Now to top it all, they have started making fun of my Lyme Disease (I have a link on my signature on this forum and they all know about Lyme Disease, now two of the member bullies have been humiliating me on the forum about my condition and also calling me delusional and mentally ill on other threads. (this has led me to ask for more help of how to deal with the bullies. (becausse they clearly are bullies and they won't admit it). I do have depression and anxiety and this has got of the charts....... especially when they clearly not even admit it.

I have contacted the site's owner for instance to see how he deals with them, and then I will probably proceed a law suit against all of them if possible and if this complaints fits between any of the US laws. (it is unacceptable to make fun of someone's illness, in my opinion) anywhere be in on the street on in the form of cyberbullying online. (they all think it's a joke and even admitted it on the thread, that such jokes are all across the forum, I'm ok with Jokes but not with constant picking on me, name calling, calling me mentally ill (delusional), making fun of a few conditions that I am diagnosed with, defamation of my home country on numerous threads (directly and indirectly), in other words cyber bullying. The bullies are all adults.
)

Please guys help me out a bit, I am not sure where to go at now, these guys should not be on the forum and they're probably bullying others and harassing them on several other online communities. (I have a particular thread on file where they have been bullying me and constantly not admitting it).

More over here are some of the pics that one of the bullies posts on this forum (which he THINKs are a joke as well)

This picture comes with the motto "While cleaning out my freezer....look what i found!!"

http://tinyurl.com/ccwjtzk

not a joke at all, I find it serious.

Thank a lot guys.

[Mr. Knowitall]

If you're participating in an online community and you don't like the participants, stop participating. It's that simple.

[souperdave]

And if your lending any credence to the "members" posting on that link you provided, then you DEFINITELY need to stay away from there! Besides, if they're berating you for such things as a medical condition you have, they had to find out about that from someone posting about it. Like yourself for example.

Take Mr. K's advice! It's pretty much your only remedy.

[cdwjava]

Laws vary by state, and you did not indicate yours.

You are not required to participate in a public forum. You can choose to walk away. Whether what is being said crosses the line to what is unlawful is very doubtful, but you need to advice on the state you are in.

You will notice that most cyber-bullying and related laws require that you be placed in fear for your personal safety, not that you feel uncomfortable, humiliated or insulted by the posts of others on a site that you do not have to participate in. Your only recourse is likely through the site administrators. If they refuse to act, then you can just walk away if you wish.

[georgewill]

Thank you every one for the straight forward answers, I guess it would be much more simple to walk away.

Some of the people there clearly have serious mental issues, based on their postings.

Thanks for the advice.

I live in Europe, I'm not in the U.S.

[cdwjava]

It can be akin to a feeding frenzy. One or two outspoken and "respected" members of a board dump on someone, then others feel the need to pile it on - possibly seeking acceptance. Whether that was happening or not, who knows. It could just be that your posts brought on a lot of criticism for some reason and it degenerated from substance to ridicule.

The best bet to avoid aggravation is to stay away or ignore it.

[eerelations]

I live in Europe, I'm not in the U.S.

The reason you were asked for your state is that this is a US site that provides information on US law. European law is very very very very very different from US law, so the answers you've received here may not even remotely apply to your situation. You should be posting your issues on a European legal forum.

[LawResearcherMissy]

This picture comes with the motto "While cleaning out my freezer....look what i found!!"

http://tinyurl.com/ccwjtzk

not a joke at all, I find it serious.

Lighten up, Francis.

That image is from a very famous PETA campaign to try to convince people to stop eating meat.