Tricia L.

I joined Disqus soon after it was launched to comment on articles published by various media. A political activist living away from my own country, it offered me the opportunity to opine and interact with others. As a communicator, I was impressed. When the media sources I visited stopped using the platform, a frequent participant set up a dedicated Channel so we could continue our political/current events discussions. When right met left sparks would fly. The banter was enjoyable, for a while. Sadly, the Channel owner did not moderate any of the excessive bullying which reared its head. Rational commenters began to leave and find other Channels. I persisted as I had met some good people with whom I enjoyed discussion. Another commenter who shared that he was disabled and had cancer was mocked and ridiculed and wished dead by a couple of posters. No moderation took place. The poster has since passed away. For myself, a political adversary believed me to be someone else entirely and so ensued the most egregious bullying. Nothing was done. Another poster took on the bullying as well and complaints to the moderator and to Disqus yielded nothing so I left. There are some good channels which are moderated, but having been bullied once, one isn't keen to have it continue. A new poster joined in and has virtually threatened me. Also, lies and slanderous conjecture littered the Channel. Even when not posting, the lies continued. There is absolutely nothing one can do. It appears that Disqus encourages cyberbullying because that builds audience. So, I changed my ID and followed other channels to keep away from the bullying and the threats. But a stalker found me even so. I have now stopped posting. The 'reporting' system is useless. Nothing is done. When Channel moderators appear to be conducting a 'social experiment' and do nothing, one is helpless. Disqus 'blocking' is useless. It is not a complete 'block' such as FB and Twitter offer. It only stops you seeing that commenters posts but it doesnt stop them from seeing yours and discussing you with others. There is no way unethical moderators can be reported.

So, until Disqus takes some action against the hideous cyberbullying by hideous trolls, the platform fails to deliver that which I believe was its original objective. Its nerdy clever but just not efficient in any way.