Jermelle wrote:But the only issue is that my friends on KGS have told me (via. FaceBook) that they plan on harassing me until I crack again. This is the kind of stuff I talk about when I say "KGS trolls" Now I know the admins won't do anything about it this time because they think of it has teasing. But it's not, teasing and harassment are 2 very different things.
Oddly enough, I see my younger self there....
I was bullied at school, when a bit younger than you. The teachers called it teasing, since there was no physical abuse (unlike an earlier episode), and seemed to do nothing about it. They just told me to not let the teasing get to me.
But now, in the light of recent experience, I wonder whether they were well-aware of what was happening and couldn't do anything directly because maybe that would turn me into some sort of "teachers' pet" and so give the teasers more ammunition for their teasing.
Eventually one teacher took me aside and talked to me. She made it clear that it was not my fault I was being teased---young kids tend to do it at random until they hit on a reaction. That's the nature of kids. But it was partially my fault that they were zeroing in on me because of the way I was reacting. I have a short temper and I was tending to start screaming at them, which is very entertaining from their point of view.
So I learned to shrug and walk away (the "whatever" response is not new). I did lose a promising piece of knitting because they were using it to play "piggy-in-the-middle" above my head, but eventually they stopped. One of them even said "you're no fun any more". And maybe it was more difficult for me because this was a boarding school---I couldn't just log out.
So just be polite and walk away. It might take a while, but if you are no longer so entertaining, they'll find someone else to tease (solving their own problems is a different matter).
friends are there for you. I won't name their names but let's just say... they are always willing too help. They are my eyes and ears and mouth of needed
