> By shedding light on the issue, there is at least a hope that the situation can be improved. If nobody talks about this, then there's no way things can get better. On the contrary, silence would probably make things worse, as trolls would learn that they can get away with it.
Are you sure about that? It's not like if you tell a thief that stealing is bad, they won't steal any more. Also, a counter point would be, trolls want attention, and the more we talk about it, the more attention, and hence satisfaction, they get. Of course, talking about it might also bring about changes in law, but in my experience, most of the laws about the internet are really about censorship/control, and only use "harassment"/"child porn"/"piracy"/whatever as a popular excuse.
The situation is improved by telling people that "yes, thieves actually exist and stealing causes real harm". People who have not experienced harassing tend to downplay it à la "Well I haven't seen it happen", "It can't be that bad" etc.
How is it improved? Will the thieves stop stealing if they know it causes real harm? Will the trolls/psychopaths stop harassing if they know it's really that bad? What if that's what they want?
The situation is improved by other people knowing there's a problem. The other people will pay more attention to spot thieves and try to stop them. The point is to make society less welcoming for thieves.
Before thinking about passing anti-online-abuse legislation in all countries (which, like you, I'm not very sure would be effective), we should first agree that online abuse is actually a bad thing, with real negative consequences.
Then, we can figure out what we, as individuals, can do to alleviate the problem, like ceasing any sort of collaboration with a known abuser (just an example; haven't thought it through).
Are you sure about that? It's not like if you tell a thief that stealing is bad, they won't steal any more. Also, a counter point would be, trolls want attention, and the more we talk about it, the more attention, and hence satisfaction, they get. Of course, talking about it might also bring about changes in law, but in my experience, most of the laws about the internet are really about censorship/control, and only use "harassment"/"child porn"/"piracy"/whatever as a popular excuse.