Red lines

Some things people call trolling are not trolling.

Stalking, doxxing, swatting and organised harassment campaigns are a different category of act. Treating them as the far end of a spectrum that starts at flamebait is how serious harm gets minimised — and it is how people end up applying advice that was never written for their situation.

The advice on the rest of Don't Feed the Trolls does not apply to anything on this page.

• Doxxing

  Publishing someone's private identifying information — address, workplace, phone number, family — to expose them to harm from strangers.

• Harassment campaigns

  Sustained, organised targeting of one person by many, where the objective is not to win an argument but to make continuing unbearable.

• Stalking

  A pattern of unwanted attention, contact or monitoring by a specific person, sustained over time, that makes you afraid or distressed.

• Swatting

  A false report of a serious crime in progress, made so that armed officers are sent to someone's home.

This site is educational and is not a crisis service. Organisations that are.