16 Comments »The Telegraph posted an article earlier this morning stating that “Facebook has been accused of encouraging online bullying.” This is claimed to be a result of the Honesty Box application which enables users to post anonymous messages on each others’ walls. The application has been at the center controversy since its launch with thousands of people receiving hate messages but no way to find out who they received it from.
I asked Dan Peguine, creator of the Honesty Box application to comment on the complaints. He said, “When someone installs Honesty Box it’s their choice. They can choose to add or remove their application any time. It is against our terms of use to use Honesty Box for harassment. Additionally, we let users block people that bother them. We also keep away abusers and spammers by banning users that have been blocked by multiple users. Hence we argue that Honesty Box is safer than sketchy anonymous notes people get in their bags or on their lockers.”
The Telegraph article is clearly one-sided and also attempts to accuse Facebook, not Honesty Box of the problem. The article quotes Richard Rubin who argues on ComfortZone.com that users should be worried about the Honesty Box application. He claims that this app is the cause of cyber bullying. This is clearly different than traditional bullying in that as Dan Peguine points out, users can chose to block users that are blocking them.
What do you think? Is this a case of online bullying? Are these complaints grounded?
By putting the Honesty Box up, they asked for anonymous comments. That’s what they got. There is no problem here. There is only so far that you can go to protect someone from themselves. I’m actually surprised to learn that Honesty Box has as many safeguards as it has.
It also annoys me that we can’t comment on the Telegraph article. All web articles should allow comments, because there’s always another side of the story that journalists miss (or deliberately ignore so as to sensationalise a story). Instead hundreds or thousands of parents will read that article, and not knowing any better they will think that Facebook is condoning online bullying.
Just as a point of fact, Honesty Box doesn’t allow you to leave an anonymous note on someone’s wall. It only allows private, anonymous notes to the user who has installed the application.
Also, the allegations that Honesty Box somehow “causes” cyberbullying are utterly bogus. Cyberbullying was a problem before Honesty Box came along and it will be a problem until people can get children to stop being cruel to one another, no small feat.
Technology doesn’t bully people, people bully people.
@Teresa - I always say exactly that: Honesty Box is a tool, but it’s people’s friends that use it. Blame your friends for being bullies, not the tool.
By putting the Honesty Box up, they asked for anonymous comments. That’s what they got. There is no problem here. There is only so far that you can go to protect someone from themselves. I’m actually surprised to learn that Honesty Box has as many safeguards as it has.
It also annoys me that we can’t comment on the Telegraph article. All web articles should allow comments, because there’s always another side of the story that journalists miss (or deliberately ignore so as to sensationalise a story). Instead hundreds or thousands of parents will read that article, and not knowing any better they will think that Facebook is condoning online bullying.
Just as a point of fact, Honesty Box doesn’t allow you to leave an anonymous note on someone’s wall. It only allows private, anonymous notes to the user who has installed the application.
Also, the allegations that Honesty Box somehow “causes” cyberbullying are utterly bogus. Cyberbullying was a problem before Honesty Box came along and it will be a problem until people can get children to stop being cruel to one another, no small feat.
Technology doesn’t bully people, people bully people.
@Teresa - I always say exactly that: Honesty Box is a tool, but it’s people’s friends that use it. Blame your friends for being bullies, not the tool.
I don’t like this concept, I don’t like cyberbullies, and I certainly don’t like the fact Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook will not own up and accept responsibility.
Maybe you feel the same way too.
I am leading a campaign asking Mark Zuckerberg to remove Honesty Box from his Facebook site.
Please help me by posting your comments on ReallyWorried
I’ll make sure your voice is heard at Facebook HQ.
I don’t like this concept, I don’t like cyberbullies, and I certainly don’t like the fact Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook will not own up and accept responsibility.
Maybe you feel the same way too.
I am leading a campaign asking Mark Zuckerberg to remove Honesty Box from his Facebook site.
Please help me by posting your comments on ReallyWorried
I’ll make sure your voice is heard at Facebook HQ.
If you were to simply remove the application, there would be no problem.
If you were to simply remove the application, there would be no problem.
i have Honesty Box and i enjoy it! i can ask questions about myself and my friends can tell me stuff about me i never would have known! also you can find out who wrote the comment by making them an offer using HB points. and when someone leaves a comment you know if it’s a girl or a guy by the color (pink, or blue). You can also reply to comments. i like this cuz you can talk to the person who said it and maybe even find out who they might be! also with your HB points you can rent avatars. that is fun and i like to get one that is sooo not me (like a spider web) so when i right on peoples Honesty Boxes they won’t know it’s me!
All in all i think Honesty Box is not a bad app and getting it is your choice!
First off, HB does NOT post to others walls. It is it’s own application, that no one but the user can see.
Second, HB can’t be blamed for bullying. These people feel these things, regardless of if there is a way to say them secretively or not. These people are going to say it one way or another, this is just a way to say it with out them knowing. Which has advantages, perhaps it’s a good friend, and you don’t want to be mean enough to tell them they need to shower.
It’s not bullying. And if anyone feels bullied, they can always block people.
I don’t know about you, but I very often get extremely sweet and nice comments on Honesty box that make my day. Maybe you should be a better person, and if you are a good person and someone’s harrassing you, take it gracefully, block them or uninstall the app. It’s not like Honesty box is all evil, or its the app’s fault. People are mean to people. They could send anonymous messages tonnns of other ways then facebook, the only difference is on facebook ur asking for them.
I deleted HB due to hate messages, non-stop, but when I decided to add it back a month or so later, I disovered 20+ messages(all nasty) people had sent to me AFTER I deleted the application?? Some messages were taunting me because I wasn’t replying, when I DELETED it. Shouldn’t people be unable to send me anything one the application is deleted?
yes. i have gotten harrased on face book lots of times by this. it does start bullying and it makes you feel bad about ur self.
I agree, blaming honesty box is like blaming the piece of paper that a mean note is written on.