...I just read every post in this thread and am still not done picking up my jaw off the floor. Let me begin my saying this:

STICKS N STONES MAY BREAK MY BONES BUT WORDS WILL NEVER HURT ME

Why hasn't anyone brought this up yet? What did your parents teach you in school?

Let me also quote the most relevant post in this thread:

Quote Originally Posted by Huginn View Post
Bullying is a hot topic issue right now, and all of you who have been watching oprah instead of working have had your sensitivity overcharged. You think that any behavior you do not like is "bullying" and you think that it somehow needs to have repercussions that far exceed the crime. The popular anti-bullying campaigns and programs that are distributed in the public schools of the United States actually increase the rate of so called bullying, mainly by glorifying the victim.

The situation is not that someone is being physically harmed, the situation is that they have been pandered to all of their lives and told that they are a special snowflake. now someone tells them that they do not want to help them or be friends, or there is competition for limited resources and the knee-jerk reaction is to call that person a bully, garner support by closed mindedness and non though processes because once you call someone a bully, you have painted a scarlet letter upon them and all of your like minded people who will not think about the situation will automatically join you in your chorus, effectively making you the bully. it is the tyranny of the weak.
Huginn has maintained an unwavering sense of reason throughout all of his posts in this thread, I suggest anyone having conflicts with this issue reread them in their entirety.

As nice as it would be for SE to intervene and sanction everyone and anyone for stepping out of line this is a technical impossibility. I must admit, I am a firm believer in standing up for yourself, especially online where there are no risks of physical retaliation. If you depend on others to defend you when you feel your are being wronged then how will you survive once you are on your own?

I fully understand that the problem extends beyond mere blacklisting. I for one had my reputation slandered at the release of Ifrit Hard because I did not know the fight well enough and caused a few wipes. I was refused parties because one person told his linkshell how much I "sucked". Eventually, I realized that I wouldn't lag if I turned my graphics settings down to the point where I couldn't read my own characters name. I never had problems with Ifrit again, got all my weapons, and redeemed myself.

Did I blacklist the player? Yes. Did that prevent him from slandering my reputation? No. Did that bother me? Yes. What did I do? I got angry and told me linkshell so. Members of that linkshell knew said player and probably said something to him about it. More importantly venting in my linkshell brought about the solution: someone suggested that I turn my graphics down. Just a few weeks later no one even remembered my mistakes.

So what do I reccommend against emotional trauma caused by malicious verbiage? Talking amongst your friends. If someone you know decides to believe some slanderous rumor about yourself over your own words then I suggest you question whether or not they truly are your friends.Above all Persevere. Become a better player than them and you wil be recognized as such.

I would also like to differentiate between online bullying and real life bullying. Real life bullying often has to do with discrimination against a persons physical attributes and causes physical pain along side psychological pain in part due to the realization that people will hurt you for something as petty as being a red head or wearing glasses. Online bullying encurs no physical pain and the psychological pain is beyond that of discrimination. My personal opinion is that online bullying is an example of humanitie's ability to single out an individual and intentional grief them based on no reason nor logic. This thought alone is frightening because it opens the door to senseless violence and thus you are forced to recognize the depth of the cruelty which only humans are capable of. It's a very very sad and heartwrenching realization.