Kat Lay reported July 29 in the Times on the power of naming and shaming Twitter trolls:
'"The classical historian Mary Beard silenced an online abuser today by naming and shaming him on Twitter.
Ms Beard, who had been on BBC Radio 2 to discuss rape threats and other abuse on Twitter, retweeted an explicit message from Oliver Rawlings in which he referred to Ms Beard’s genitals and age.
After other users expressed their outrage, with one user offering to supply Ms Beard with Mr Rawling’s mother’s address, he took the message down and apologised.
He wrote: “I sincerely apologise for my trolling. I was wrong and very rude. Hope this can be forgotten and forgiven.”
He later added: “I feel this had been a good lesson for me. Thanks 4 showing me the error of my ways.”
His original tweet was apparently in response to Ms Beard’s description of abuse she had previously received on the site. She told presenter Jeremy Vine she had been “bombarded” with messages “commenting on the size, the smell, the capacity of my vagina. It was unbelievable.”
The don said exposing ’trolls’ was the best tactic. Talking to a fellow user about her decision to highlight the abuse, she tweeted: “It is a tough call. I have increasingly opted for name and shame."'
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