MANY people who opened our paper yesterday would not have heard of “trolling” before – and yet, as the sad death of Natasha MacBryde goes to show, it can have devastating effects.

Trolling can be used to describe those who write mean comments on tribute websites, but it also encompasses people who go online to write spiteful or vindictive comments in order to simply get a reaction.

Sadly, both these things happened to Natasha, the 15-year-old RGS Worcester pupil who committed suicide in February.

She took her own life the same day she received an anonymous message on social networking site Formspring, calling her a “******* slut hiding under all your make up”.

It went on: “You think you’re pretty and all the girls love you.

“Newsflash. It’s called acting.

“I’m telling you for your own good start being nicer to people or you will lose everyone, mark my words.”

The inquest heard how a number of factors – including a fall-out with her friends and her parent’s separation –- had contributed to Natasha’s decision to end her life.

But her parents said they believed the post on Formspring was a “significant contributor” to the events of Sunday, February 13.

Formspring has already been linked to a number of suicides in the US – including Alexis Pilkington, a 17-year-old who died in March after receiving spiteful messages.

Peter Bradley, deputy director of anti-bullying charity Kidscape, said: “Historically, those who were bullied at school would find solace at home.

“Now there is no place where young people can escape the taunts and threats of the bullies.”

A survey by Kidscape earlier this year revealed more than 47 per cent of 11 to 18-year-olds behave differently online, typing messages that they would not say to someone’s face.

Fellow anti-bullying charity Beatbullying’s deputy chief director Richard Piggin said: “There is far too much disparity between what you can do and say in real life and what you can do and say online.

“If you went to work and someone threatened and harassed you, you would know there would be protection for you.

“Online, we have not yet caught up with this.”

• If you are a victim of bullying online, visit kidscape.org.uk, youth2youth.co.uk or cybermentors.org.uk

Murray Kelso - WN Digital Editor

Trolling - posting deliberately controversial comments on websites to provoke a reaction – is as old as the web itself.

But trolling, to be vague about it, is more often than not entirely subjective.

One person’s harmless fun or honestly-held opinion is another’s provocation – it all depends on your morals, beliefs, previous experiences and even your mood at the time you read the comment in question.

There is no doubt, to the majority of right-minded people, that mocking the death of a young girl is out-and-out trolling, and that kind of thing is totally inexcusable.

But what about, say, someone who insists that man didn’t land on the moon in ‘69 and constantly sticks to his guns despite overwhelming opposition? I’ve seen it happen before with this exact subject. And I’ve seen those people vehemently labelled ‘trolls’ because other website posters convince themselves that the conspiracy theorist is deliberately being obtuse, whether he is or not.

Nevertheless, the very nature of the web invites the cruel, spineless trolls, as seen in Natasha’s case, because of the ease by which people can remain anonymous and the perceived impunity it gives them. They’re thankfully rare here on worcesternews.co.uk – and are dealt with decisively when they do appear – but trolls are everywhere on the web and there’s just no realistic way to stop them.

The best advice is to totally ignore them and they’ll go away if they don’t get the attention they crave: don’t feed the trolls.