Is it harrassment?

[Twinkle]

I'm a regular on the Help Chat Neoboards and I've noticed many innocent people name and shame scammers and warn other what they've been doing to scam others. However, 90% of the replies aren't to thank the creator of the board for the heads up but to say they're reporting them for harrassment.

Is naming and shaming a scammer harrassment? What's your opinion?

[Fishblade_Bluestream]

No. Those who say it is harrassment are just report-happy kids who think they are acting as a police force by condemning every not-quite-perfect post in sight.

[.:Requiem:.]

I don't think I'd go so far as to call it harassment, but at the same time if I came across a scam I would not 'name and shame' the person behind it, Rather, I would describe the actual scam and warn against it.

[Xerophyte]

I believe that when people post the usernames of their "scammers", they could be lying, and therefore ruining the players "reputation" maybe. I agree that they should just describe the scam itself instead of giving out names.

If it's not okay to post a regular players username on the boards, then it shouldn't be okay to post a "scammers" username. We would be having a double standard otherwise.

[Eluthia]

The problem with those boards is that sometimes the accusation is not true. Once I happened upon one where the "scammer" didn't even exist when I did a search for his/her supposed username.

I don't think it's harassment, but I'm skeptical about how helpful or reliable those boards are so I generally pay no attention to them. It's likely a lot more effective to bring down a scammer by reporting him/her to TNT than announcing it on the boards. I don't think anyone should be reported for "name and shame" boards, but I don't see any merit in it either.

[the_mongoose2020]

No, it shouldn't be considered harrasment because sometimes you need more then just 1 person to report someone untill they get frozen. I've got someone who is using explicit language on their screenie page about me and others and yet for more then 3 months after reporting them, nothing.

[everconfused]

Creating a board and puts someone's username is considered to be harrassing that person, whether or not they are a scammer. It's reportable and freezable to name names.

Many times these things are done due to a personal vendetta or grudge. If there is a real scam going on, then the best thing to do is report the person and perhaps post something just letting people know there's something going on.

[sunnysarakl]

No. Those who say it is harrassment are just report-happy kids who think they are acting as a police force by condemning every not-quite-perfect post in sight.

That's true. The scammer deserves shame and embarassment. But I have seen boards where the so-called "scammer" was actually an innocent person. So I see why some people report the people supposedly warning others of a scammer for harrassment.

But like Requiem said, if that happened to me, I'd warn others against the scam, not the user. That person might never do it again, might be frozen. Others will most likely do it. So it's better to warn against the scam.

[hakuryu_86]

I don't see much use in naming the scammer... it's just a psuedonym (sp?) that the person hides behing... naming the scam, of course, is much better as it warns everyone of what actually happens...

Posting names and calling people scammer is reportable, i believe... since most people can't really prove it. It might be just people out to defame you...