help dealing with harassment

[Breakbeat]

Only thing that will save you is developing a thick skin and refusing to play their game.

IMO this is really bad advice. "Thick skin" is a ridiculous concept. Some people are sensitive to things, and some people are not. Telling sensitive people to become less sensitive is nonsense. We are what we are; being less sensitive or having "thick skin" isn't in any way better than being sensitive or, for a lack of a better term, having "thin skin." Sensitive and unsensitive people are equals. One doesn't need to change into the other at all, and as humans we should already grasp the concept that people are drastically different from person to person.

All of the skin thicknesses are equally valuable human traits. Sensitive "thin-skinned" folks shouldn't be made to feel that they're defective.

Troll them until they stop, the fire with fire strategy.

Absolutely not. Two wrongs don't make a right. You don't fight hate and anger by perpetuating hate and anger. You fight it by dealing with it head-on, maturely, with a level head. If the other person doesn't get it in the end, you move on.

Do unto others as you'd have done unto yourself.

If that's too tedious, surround yourself with those who have a forceful persona and develop a bubble. Safety lies in co-operative numbers. You won't find that in the complacent incompetence of SE.

Developing a bubble or living in an echo-chamber isn't healthy at all. No one is correct 100% of the time. You need to expose yourself to other opinions and behaviors in order to develop a normal persona yourself. Any authority on mental health or therapist or psychiatrist or even just a regular doctor will tell you this.

"Safety in cooperative numbers," sounds like some military stuff to me. This ain't a battlefield. This is playing a game with random humans, and no one should need a "gang" to protect them from experiences here. If you feel you need a "gang", you're straight up doing it wrong.

...

The behaviors I'm arguing against are ones that actually perpetuate this nonsensical hate that leads to a 200-person block list:

- Gangs to protect you.
- If they hit you, hit 'em back.
- People that cannot handle vitriol are "lesser people" and should change.

Nah, drop kick all that nonsense off the nearest pier. None of it is conducive to having a positive experience. None of it is conducive to being a better human IRL.