This is an interesting question, as most of the people here, who are answering this question, seem to be over the age of 16. I am 30 myself, and feel the same way you all do, if someone is annoying me, I leave the webpage, or /ignore, or click the block button. If the bully tracks me down on other sites too, I just keep blocking them…
However, I would like to point out that the reason “online bullying” is becoming such a huge problem is because for a teen, or youth, /ignore, just isn’t good enough. I have a very close friend who is 17 and has lived her entire life online. We have talked about this problem many times before. She has tried to explain to me that you can’t just “ignore them,” and now, after spending so much time with her, I can understand that. For some people, you can’t just walk away from it.
I think more needs to be done, somehow, to show the older generation that online bullying isn’t something you just walk away from.
Just like I wasn’t able to walk away from my real-life bullies in middle school or high school, kids today can’t walk away from online bullies.
My friend sort of explained it like this; having an online bully that won’t go away, especially one in a community you enjoy (like Reddit), then being told, “just leave or ignore them,” is like saying, “just don’t go to the mall anymore,” or “stop going outside cause your neighbor hates you.” You can’t do that, you don’t WANT to do that. Leaving a community online is no different then leaving a real life one.
Imagine if someone on this site started trolling and bullying you… Would you really want to stop coming here?