20% of humanity, due to lousy parenting, are jerks and assholes. 20% of humanity, due to exceptional parenting, are well adjusted and healthy. Most of us are the 60% average, some good some bad. Most of these differences become evident by grade one. Emily must have met a lot of crazies by the time she started…

First thing to consider when dealing with so-called "jerks" and "crazies": You most likely are one, or have been one, for someone else.

I enjoyed his discomfiture very much.

Do you remember how unfair he thought it all was and how he brought up his ill wife as some sort of pity card? The guy spent years terrorizing others with his posts and causing real life consequences for many, yet somehow thought he was the victim in all of this.

I remember reading the comments of an article once (don't remember what or where), and a troll came out of character to make a rare sincere comment about the topic at hand. He/she admitted that they were a medical student, and trolled people on the internet to "relax."

This was a brilliant move, even if it doesn't lead to real results. It increases pressure on troll folk to keep their attacks minimized— hopefully not also generating too much growth in the public "underground" of troll organizing in our familiar villain spaces 4chan and reddit.

Do you remember this Gawker story from a couple of years ago? It was fascinating.

It would be really interesting to develop accurate profiles of typical trolls: age, background, education, income, gender.

really cool of him to straight up admit his failure. excited for their future changes. i don't know how they're doing it now. do they have a whole department to look at reported users? i interned at a social networking site and had to go through profiles and delete inappropriate content. it was fun at times,…

This is my world:

I really hate when people comment about my weight, even when they mean it as a compliment. I had a really unpleasant period last year where I really wasn't eating a lot because money was really tight, and the result was I was losing weight. People at work would come up to me and gush about how I was losing weight and…

Oh really? I had no idea. Actually that does make me feel better. As someone who avoids shopping because of said reminders that my body is somehow bad, I've never learned these things. But I do remember this experience from nearly 2 years ago, and now feel a bit better, so thanks for that. Though of course I should…

I don't know if it makes you feel better, but vintage sizes sound bigger. A present day 6 may well have been a 12 and maybe she thought you knew your vintage size??? I'm sorry that happened though.

Thanks for sharing this. Depression is so hard to talk about, I can't even honestly say I have it to my partner of 4 years. For me too, it causes me to eat less...I think it's a "I don't even deserve to eat this" sort of thing. And people told me I looked great. I'm also pale naturally and was even paler from never…

I hear a lot of chicks in this thread talking about how strength training, 3 hour-a-day yoga regimens, and pilates have helped their body image. Sure, I bet it's helped them like their bodies more, but if someone came up to me and told me they were "leisurely" working out 3 hours everyday, I would immediately assume…

I'm so sorry you have had those experiences! And still are. It's interesting how it changes with location. I'm from the midwest where people are a *tiny* bit more relaxed about body standards, but I went to San Francisco last summer and walked into a vintage shop and the woman immediately said "oh I've got the…

I almost feel embarrassed by how facile my comment is but I wanted to share- I'm an Anthropologist, and so I often have protracted stays away from 'civilisation'. A few years ago, I was doing fieldwork on a remote Melanesian island. No electricity, too remote for even radio signal etc. No large mirrors and definitely…

I am 5'8 and up until my late 20's, I had the great fortune of a fast metabolism. I could eat whatever, whenever and was always pretty thin. I would "exercise" sporadically up until about 28, when I took up running because I realized I actually enjoyed it. But never a lot of running, 3 miles a few times a week. It…

So perfectly put.

Your opening paragraphs really resonated with me. I feel ashamed for not being thin, then I feel ashamed that I want to lose weight. I feel like if I say, "I don't want to look like this," then I'm somehow implying that anyone bigger than me should want to change even though I don't believe that. I feel like I look…