Ailsa created a safe place
IF YOU’D TOLD ME A YEAR AGO THAT I WOULD BE AN ACTIVE ANTI CYBER BULLYING CAMPAIGNER, I WOULD NEVER HAVE BELIEVED YOU.
I’m Ailsa, a fashion student & stylist from the Highlands of Scotland. I joined the Rooster Teeth online community in August last year to chat to like-minded fans of the popular internet and YouTube content creator. I immersed myself in the community: setting up a fashion blog, organised fan meet ups in Scotland and also helped other community members with their projects.
My time in the community didn’t always go by smoothly though; I experienced a lot of negativity on the site. At first, I wasn’t sure how to deal with it, but thanks to the support of my friends and family I learned to ignore it, however I saw many people who were similarly affected. Many of them didn’t have a positive support network to pull them out of the downward emotional spiral so commonly associated with cyber bullying.
No social networking site seemed safe, as I saw more and more community members upset because of regular negative experiences. That’s when I decided to start up The Rooster Teeth Safe Room.
The Rooster Teeth Safe Room was created to be a safe haven for RT community members who had experienced cyber bullying on any social networking site. In the Safe Room, we share our experiences and advise the community on exactly what to do if they think they are being cyber-bullied.
The group was an instant success. More and more community members came forward to tell their stories and pledged their support to others. Groups came forward telling users of their strict no bullying policies and even Rooster Teeth’s staff showed their support. As the group grew in scope and size, I decided I needed backup!
Being a gamer, I had heard of the collaboration of Cybersmile with the mobile game: High School Story. I researched further and knew if anyone could help me with The Rooster Teeth Safe Room, it was Cybersmile. Thanks to their support, I have been able to help so many community members and have also cemented the Safe Room’s presence on the site.
To help me write this, I asked the community themselves what they would tell the world about The Rooster Teeth Safe Room. Here’s a selection of the responses:
“The safe room has helped me by providing an environment where I can speak my mind and not be ridiculed or judged. The members of the safe room show understanding and offer support, which, for someone who suffers from cyber bullying is one of the best feelings in the world.”– Rooster Teeth Community Member – @Spoderman22
“1. For me, it’s helped not so much because “This is very helpful for me with dealing with bullying, I can use this for future use.” It is though, very useful. But for me, it’s helped me rekindle my belief that people do care, people never did care about my depression & suicidal thoughts, I just dealt with it on my own. Because of that I never believed that people did care, even though it is different from the safe room. The safe room is more for the bullying aspect but seeing the stuff you’ve done for this really does make me feel better about it & makes me realize that people do care & I thank you for that, from the bottom of my heart.
2. It’s important because it gives a place for people to be safe, talk about their problems with bullying, abuse etc. & that’s the main part, people feel safe here & not scared to talk about it.
3. I think we should promote it to show that the internet can be a safe place, with good people on it & that not everyone is a horrible person who wishes awful things upon people.” – Rooster Teeth Community Member – Anonymous
“Everyone needs a safe place to go, and this is a great example. The Safe Room lets a person be who they want to be, and surrounds them with loving people looking for the same thing.” – Rooster Teeth Community Member – @Eric
“We should promote the Safe Room to let everyone who has either been cyber bullied or has cyber bullied someone before because it lets those that have been cyber bullied to see that there is somewhere on the internet that is safe from the horrors of cyber bullying. It also allows those that have been a cyber-bully to see what people who have been cyber bullied are handling it and hopefully it shows them how even though they may think it’s no big deal, they can see the after effects and how the victims handle it.” – Rooster Teeth Community Member – @DreadedMonky
“It should be promoted because having a place like the safe room is so important to, not just the RT community, but any online community. Cyber bullying is everywhere on the internet. And having a safe haven is extremely important for anyone who feels scared or alone because of it.” – Rooster Teeth Community Member – @sneedse
“We need to promote it for all the people around the world so that people that have been bullied can speak out in a safe environment so that they know that people do care and that they are not alone. It’s important that we save these kids so that they don’t have to live with the harassment of some person behind a computer screen. Everyone should be able to get on the internet and feel comfortable and not feel horrible because of bullying.” – Rooster Teeth Community Member – @Joel_K
“I think the safe room is a great thing in the community because it’s a refuge for all of those who have been hurt or are scared online in large communities” – Rooster Teeth Community Member – @Gearangel14
Rooster Teeth themselves were also kind enough to say:
“We are very happy to see The Rooster Teeth Safe Room group pop up on our website. As a company we are very much against cyber bullying and want to see our community be one where people can not only enjoy a wonderful experience, but also feel safe. We want our community to know that if they ever have a problem, they can contact Forum Moderators, Site Admins, and Staff for help, and look for additional guidance and support in the wonderful group Ailsa created!“ – Caleb Denecour, Community Manager of Achievement Hunter at Rooster Teeth Productions
So that’s our story. All that’s really left to say is thank you so much to Cybersmile for all your help and support. With Cybersmile’s help I will continue to maintain this safe place for community members who might need help, advice or just someone to talk to.
IF YOU ARE READING THIS, COME SAY HI! WE WOULD LOVE TO CHAT AND ALWAYS WELCOME NEW MEMBERS. COME READ OUR STORIES, SHARE YOURS, MEET NEW PEOPLE AND RELAX KNOWING YOU’RE IN A SAFE PLACE. IF NOT, HAVE A CHAT WITH SOMEONE FROM CYBERSMILE. I KNOW FROM EXPERIENCE THAT THEY ARE FRIENDLY, HELPFUL AND SUPPORTIVE.
You are not alone. You don’t have to deal with cyberbullying by yourself.
Link to The Rooster Teeth Safe Room – http://roosterteeth.com/groups/profile.php?id=17795
Follow me on Twitter #Imacybersmiler – @GamersScotland