Mob Mentality Shames Average People into Infamy

I stumbled onto a series of stories. They are about people whose lives have been altered or ruined by Internet attention. The catalyst for each story's popularity is different. Some of the stories may resonate and seem deeply offensive, others may not resonate. The common denominator (seems to be) that an ordinary (not famous) person/people became infamous for an action that triggered hundreds of thousands of people. Basically lots of people shared stories because they agreed/disliked or felt something after seeing an interpretation of a situation.

These stories make me want to hide from the Internet. The donglegate story and spam bot video (perpetuated by 'academics') are my nightmare. Literally I've had nightmares of that kind of thing.

This article offers an interesting perspective on unwanted viral attention and 'reputation management'.

Is it too easy to believe a fake story/share information online without fact checking? What do you think of these stories and the outspoken outcome?

I hope NEVER to become famous or infamous. This is only one example why.

• The article: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/feb/21/internet-shaming-lindsey-stone-jon-ronson
• So You've Been Publicly Shamed by Jon Ronson: http://amzn.to/20VVLTM