Editorial: No place for bullies on the internet

The internet has been a great revelation for many reasons - TV on demand, internet banking, checking weather forecasts and catching up with friends.

But perhaps the greatest advantage is giving us a laugh.

From funny email forwards to hilarious clips on You Tube, we have all had a good chuckle thanks to being online.

The latest craze, known as memes, is another extension.

In recent weeks, Rotorua has followed a worldwide trend with Facebook memes pages springing up.

Memes are photographs of something recognisable, such as from movies clips, which have been captioned with something funny about that particular area.

Memes really took off in New Zealand during the Rugby World Cup when captioned photographs of Piri Weepu went viral.

There is already a Rotorua memes page and students at most high schools in the area have started them also.

But some of the schools' pages have taken jokes too far - prompting a warning from principals.

John Paul College principal Patrick Walsh, who is the New Zealand Secondary Schools Principals' Association president, said some memes pages attacked students and teachers at the schools. Mr Walsh went as far to say such bullying was "hate crimes".

Since our story went to print on Saturday, most of the pages now have disclaimers that state the memes are not intended to be offensive. They say they will no longer post images that are offensive.

Thank goodness for that. One of the schools' pages that was taken down before The Daily Post article went to print had some pretty nasty stuff written about teachers and other schools.

Most teachers work around the clock for our kids. They don't deserve to be targeted online.

Likewise, students don't deserve to be subjected to yet another tactic to make them feel worthless. Kids can be so cruel and such bullying can have a profound effect on people's lives in years to come.

So let's have a laugh but let's also be mindful of people's feelings.