A long time ago Susan and Tom joined an art site and soon became the number one digital artist and number one reviewer on the site. This made some members very jealous and angry. Then standard account members were observed giving our art low reviews and ratings as well as the art of others including some of our friends. It sure seemed as though they were targeted because of us. This method, well known in the communities, was frequently a topic in forums, as many artists were impacted. Standard accounts are usually free and often anonymous, providing opportunities for thuggery online.

During the past year we have experienced many different kinds of online interactions. Most were friendly exchanges of opinions and ideas. Some were challenging and thoughtful. A few were downright vulgar and profane. Pretty much what you might expect to experience if you were a new member of a school or business or online community. A cross section of society that includes nice people and people not so nice, populates most artist community web sites.

Our desire to interact and learn about online art communities came from conversations we shared investigating what values and/or benefits do these communities provide to an artist. We joined many around the same time about a year ago. Our participation varied with specific guidelines developed for each site. We could not let anyone know about our study without compromising our research and invalidating our data. This constraint was recently removed as our study is nearing its conclusion.

Susan was involved in most interactions online. We felt that because of my many years of experience online, that I would not be representative of a new member joining and interacting in an online community. Susan had limited experience online and her digital art skills were still developing, which would allow her to present herself as a newbie and her art as emerging. Unknown to us, Susan developed a following and amid some accidentally created controversy, found herself the target of those who used bully style methods to influence the opinions of others. We generalize the approach as “You are wrong, I am right, go ahead, prove me wrong”. It can be as simple a statement as “Your art is crappy” or as convoluted as “You are an intellectual property abuser”. By expressing an opinion, factual or otherwise, the target of the opinion is left to choose whether the effort to explain and prove false the allegation is worth their time and energy.

For nearly a year now, those who targeted her, continue their mission. They advertise and promote their opinions through postings, text narratives associated with images, links to a website all about us, our family, and relatives. Early on, we naively felt that exposing their behaviors and actions would cause them to cease. We have observed them monitoring our internet activities, researching and publishing our account names in public places. In addition to this invasion of our privacy, we had to delete several email accounts due to prodigious amounts of spam which suddenly began but may or may not be related to the thuggery we experienced.

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