You know that old advice about dealing with trolls by ignoring them, instead of feeding them the attention they want?
Former Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling doesn’t, apparently.
Instead, this is his strategy in the first inning of a game called mess with my daughter and I’ll knock you clear out of the ballpark: naming and shaming on his blog.
This is how it started: last week, Schilling – a professional ball player for 22 years – proudly tweeted his congratulations to his daughter, 17-year-old Gabby Schilling, who’d been accepted to Salve Regina University, where she’ll play softball.
Congrats to Gabby Schilling who will pitch for the Salve Regina Seahawks next year!!
A variety of responses came in.
The first batch were predictable, with responses like “Can’t wait to date her!”
Then came some schoolboy nastiness, and it spiraled down from there – with mentions of rape and other vulgar acts, in one of those one-upmanship troll contests that are so miserably common on Twitter.
The contest also sprawled into personal tweets, texts and email to “more than one party,” Schilling says.
A father’s vengeance when his daughter is threatened is a mighty thing.
The protective father in this case had, within 1 hour, tracked down the names and schools of the antagonists, as well as the sports and playing positions of 7 trolling athletes.
Schilling told the NY Daily News that so far, he’s aware of nine trolls who’ve been fired or kicked off athletic teams because of his having published their tweets – “and we’re not done.”
He went into detail about two of the worst, including their names and backgrounds.
One of them, identified by Schilling as a recent graduate of Montclair (New Jersey) State University, was fired by the Yankees as a part-time ticket seller on Monday after the team learned of his posts.
Schilling identified another troll as a Brookdale Community College student.
Avis McMillon, a spokeswoman for the New Jersey school, told the newspaper that the student has been summarily suspended:
The student has been summarily suspended and will be scheduled for a conduct hearing where further disciplinary action will be taken.
Both the trolls’ Twitter accounts have been deactivated, and their tweets have been deleted.
Schilling has no sympathy for them, even after the trolls turned apologetic:
I found it rather funny at how quickly tone changed when I heard via email from a few athletes who’d been suspended by their coaches. Gone was the tough guy tweeter, replaced by the 'I’m so sorry' apology used by those only sorry because they got caught.
A mistake is tweeting once and saying 'damn, I'm an idiot' and taking it down. These guys? They're making conscious choices to cyberbully an amazing and beautiful young woman on the internet, that none of them know by the way, because they don't like her dad or they somehow think saying words you can teach a 5 year old is tough?
Predictably enough, some of the trolls’ friends told Schilling to “lighten up”, given that their buddies were “just joking.”
Why, they asked, would Schilling say things that might “ruin someone’s life”?
Schilling’s response was apt, and it was chilling: he listed links to news articles about dozens of cyberbullying-prompted suicides, including that of 12-year-old Rebecca Ann Sedwick, 15-year-old Amanda Todd and many other teens who were taunted on Ask.fm.
He also reminded the trolls – and everyone else who uses the internet – just what happens when you say or do something online:
What these kids are failing to realize, what this generation fails to realize is this; Everything they’ve just said and done? That is out there now, forever. It can, and in some cases will, follow them for the rest of their lives.
Schilling told CBS News that he’s been contacted by the FBI and two local police departments, and is discussing filing possible criminal charges.
Images of troll and sad face courtesy of Shutterstock.
Kurt Schilling
There are trolls and then there are nasty minded vermin. I think that Curt should be applauded for taking the action that he did. The old Usenet thing about don’t feed the troll really does not apply to his response. Some times the best way to deal with a “troll” (bully) is to drive a figurative stake through their virtual heart.
Well done, Curt.
Jim
I applaud Curt for taking action, hopefully coaches, officials, and authorities did not react so quickly because of his celebrity and fame. Any form of bullying should be dealt with swiftly and harshly, a lesson which should be universal and learned in childhood.
Rick
Live by the sword, die by the sword!
Well done, Curt.
Now some of these trolls are getting the attention they deserve.
Lisa
Bravo, Mr. Schilling… Bravo!
George Kreutzjans
Well done, Curt Schilling!!! You are the man. His actions inspire me as a father. I hope those young knuckleheads learn their lesson…(but they probably won’t.) They can only blame themselves for their asinine behavior. I hope their mothers are proud.
Anonymous
Funny you should say that you hope their mothers are proud. What about their fathers?
Stevie Oneder
They were harassing a woman. That’s why…
chilifries
You don’t think their fathers had more to do with their attitudes toward women than their mothers? Ok…
nilbud
You obviously were abandoned.
Anonymous
That’s the spirit! Hold trolls accountable for the stuff they post. Anonymity doesn’t exist on the internet. You can always be found. To the trolls of the world, have some self respect. And to those attacked by them, stand up for yourself. Track them down, call them out, and hold them accountable.
Celeste
This is the most fabulous thing I’ve read all day! Curt Schilling is an amazing person and I wish Gabby the absolute best in her new school!
Mark
I love the line, “replaced by the ‘I’m so sorry’ apology used by those only sorry because they got caught.” – that is exactly right.
I am curious how he got their real information so fast though
Andrew Ludgate
Step 1: look at the twitter handles
Step 2: look at what else they’ve tweeted
That’s usually enough. For people who tweet regularly, it’s extremely difficult to hide who they really are, unless they are always 100% vigilant in hiding their real activities and identity.
Reader
Curt Schilling did the right thing. The perps need to be named, shamed, and punished.
Riley
Id guess he probabaly took 20 minutes or so reading over their twitter pages until they gave away enough personal details for him to find their FB page, and their real names.
It is remarkable how much people give away about themselves in 144 characters. A few photos of a sports game, cheering on a team, excitement about a new job, linking a picture on their fb to their twitter.
People are notoriously oblivious of how much they give out.
Michael Petrie
Loved this example of “social investigations,” great job Curt!!! What used to take hours of manual research is now done in seconds. And this is just one reason why we analyze an individuals social media history. So cyber bullies beware.
orangemike
I’m glad the trolls are paying for what they did.
Now if only somebody could be bothered to do the same to some of the GamerGate cyberbullies with THEIR death threats, rape fantasies, doxxing, etc. But of course, the victims of the GamerGaters are not the daughters of Republican sports heroes.
Scott McCain
I would have more respect for Curt if he did this for everyone’s daughter, not just his own. Why did it take someone making is preciously little daughter cry for him to realize that there is a problem and to take action? He was obviously aware of other cases in the past since he linked in response to the trolls (kids) telling him to chill out. If he doesn’t want to really fight the trolls then this is just a case of vigilante justice since it hit close to home. Besides, these guys were not true trolls and were probably just a bunch of stupid kids with nothing better to do. Real trolls are expert sock puppeteers and won’t be doxed so easily.
Richard Jacobsen
Just out of curiousity; what have you personally done for victims of bullying lately? I can’t recall seeing your name in regards to standing up and protecting victims, but I might have missed it. I don’t blame you though, I haven’t done anything myself.
Anonymous
Because taking a stand against bullying must start SOMEWHERE. So what if it took a threat against his daughter to engage him? He was motivated and, more importantly, he took swift, public, LEGAL action against the villains, and now is using his own high profile to further combat the problem. That is how things get done. All the well-meaning hand-wringing about how bad a problem is doesn’t necessarily bring about a solution.
Carlo
Also from this article we’ve learned how to track these trolls down.
unclesmedley
I would have more respect for Curt if he cured cancer and achieved world peace.
Seriously: What a ridiculous post. Schilling was literally “minding his own business.” And I suspect that whatever level of respect or esteem that you or any other random chat-thread remora might bestow upon him is, quite appropriately, a matter of profound indifference to him.
ejhonda
I’m no Curt Schilling fan, but I have new-found respect for him for this. Go get ’em, Curt. Perhaps he should pursue this as a career. Twitter might be looking to hire him as they seem to have found religion recently in the anti-troll arena.
Dark
People hide behind the internet thinking that it gives them the god given right to be abusive but when they get caught and called on their actions, they say
“It was just a joke man!”
Sorry but its time we stop thinking it’s okay and take responsibility for our actions. Just like the criminals need to be held responsible for their actions!
plasma
What a horrible reflection of the world in this comment section and this entire article.
The remedy against speech you don’t like is other speech telling them where to stuff it or the block button, not stalking and life-destroying harassment.
What a disgusting man.
Ravi
You might want to read up on First Amendment law. Not all speech is protected.
Anonymous
Hmm
This article is somehow very one sided and incomplete.
(The cause might be that repeat other articles with
very similiar wording or might be solely based on the
‘facts’ as they are worded/presented on Curt Schilling’s
blog which is surely a totally independent source)
I am a foreigner and Curt Schilling is a no-name for me
and of course vice versa. (I’ll now try to describe how
this story looks for me. Of course that mirrors only my
humble opinion)
Seemingly we have a guy that is bragging about his daughter.
After receiving some comments he doesn’t like even if he ex-
spected them like he says, he ‘threatens’ somebody (oddly he
blacked out whom in the screenshot he provided)
“I have many friends that are in or former special forces…”
He claims then this was only fun but if we would apply his own
standards as they seem to be indicated by that what follows we
surely would have to say that the bullying started with that
comment.
He provides then some screenshots of very distasteful remarks
about that what two guys want to do with his daughter and very
gross wordplays with the name of his former team seemingly the
Red Socks but i can’t find any proof that one of those guys ex-
plicitely says that he wants to rape his daughter. I can’t see
anything in that tweets that would provide proof that they want
to do those gross things against her consent. (He might of course
say that his daughter won’t consent to something like that and
those guys might answer: Ok, then not…)
Seemingly then he ‘stalked’ those guys and posted information
in his blog where they could be found in person (e.g. by his
friends that are in or former special forces or by the internet
mob that he invokes at the end of this post).
Since it is not totally unheard of that people impersonate other
people at the internet, I personally wonder how sure he was at
this point that the tweeters where those people and not some
impersonators that wanted to harm them. (Conclusion: If you want
somebody fired just impersonate him at twitter)
Given that he provides no proof for his findings or documents his
methods, I for myself am not totally sure if I would say that he
acted reasonable.
Now he makes some calls to prove who is the real alpha male and
biggest bully, gets a hotdog seller fired and somebody denied
a higher education whose tweets prove that he sincerely is in
need of one. (Conclusion: Don’t annoy the big guy with the money
and the press at his back)
Vigilantism and lynch mobs — that invokes a picture of the United
states we foreigners remember from western movies. He is reasoning
though that they harrassed his daughter (one would say not directly
since they were tweeting with him — a pretty big guy and his
daughter looks for me like she is able to defend herself if necessary)
and claims that cyberbullying leads to suicides. I’d say that more
people commit suicide because they loose their jobs or their future.
I don’t think that cyberbullying really is the cause for suicides.
One might claim that it is the final trigger and of course people
stay behind that need some anonymous power — or like this proves
maybe not so anonymous — that can be blamed.
But while his daughters success in taking up the cepter and starting
a sports career proves that Curt Schilling might be at least a good
and successful parent it somehow lessens the claim she might be in
danger to be bullied to commit suicide since he surely taught her to
fight. And that other other parents seem to neglect this lesson and
their children, seemingly thinking the internet and peer pressured
social networks can provide that education is for me the real reason
for teenage suicides. And surely explains the lack in education and
manners those tweeters showed.
I hope that Curt Schilling is able to proof that he really lynched
the right guys in case they have the money for legal action claiming
slander if somebody impersonated them on twitter. But they simply
might not have that money (I don’t think you make that much money
selling hotdogs. Which might explain why you don’t need to be 100%
able to provide proof if you have enough money and influence and
expensive lawyers). Hopefully even deleted twitter accounts can be
accessed for forensic reasons, but the NSA should have backups
anyway.
I think that are my 2 cents for the moment. Thanks.
Stoat
For what it’s worth, people have been _JAILED_ in the UK already for tweets like the ones I saw. (Section 127 of the Telecommunications act, malicious threats or other actions likely to cause distress)
Yes, the police there take it that seriously.
Good on Curt for name-and-shame – and I totally agree with him that they’re only sorry they got caught.