Sending texts and tweeting before thinking it through .

I find I have to be very careful on Facebook, since something I intended to be a private message appeared on my page. Fortunately, the recipient realised my mistake and I was able to delete it before any damage was done.
I don't use twitter as there is not enough room to express yourself properly.

As if the poor kid isn't beating himself up enough already. One bad dive and it's all over. However, he still has the individual event. Good luck to him for that.

I have seen some outrageous texts and Facebook entries that have caused rows - usually sent very late at night and fuelled by alcohol. The most recent was one an old school friend of my daughter placed on her husband's FB page, pretending to be him, in which 'he' apologised to his wife or being a lying cheating scumbag, sleepng with her 'friend' and two other women, stealing money from her, and running up gambling debts. All the women were named. It stayed on there for half an hour and gathered lots of shocked comments before he cottoned on and closed his account down. She kicked him out and changed the locks.

Not sure that it is a good idea for young athletes to engage in this - I'm sure the encouragement is good - but there will inevitably be some envious and malicious people who will take advantage of this open access.
The other side of the coin is that sportsmen like Daley are a "brand" - they are marketing themselves - and that that twitter and FB are part of that - so maybe it is the risk they take. As long as the unwanted messages are not illegal (e.g. racist abuse)

I do agree people should stop and think before they post something on either a networking site or Twitter. I don't actually use Facebook or Twitter (although I am a member of several forums) but I know people who do and they tell me sometimes things have been posted which has upset them.

I always read something through several times before I either post or text. Something that sounds funny or clever in your head could be taken a different way when written down.

I have head about they troll who is targeting Tom Daley and I hope whoever it is receives something similar from others on Twitter so he/she has a taste of their own medicine.

Serves him right. The brother of the boyfriend of one of my gds was somehow able to access her page and announced that she was pregnant, which was entirely untrue. She (and her mother) were very upset but apparently it was 'just a bit of fun'. (The boyfriend is something of an idiot too and supported his 17-year old brother).

The police are investigating and the person behind the nasty remark has apologised to Daley.

Two local teachers have had to resign because someone took cut and pasted two conversations they'd had on facebook. They then posted these fabrications all over the school fence and parents were understandably in uproar because it appeared that the teachers had been saying foul things about children. No one at the time realised/listened to the teachers and so much trust was lost that the teachers felt obliged to leave.

What pleasure do people derive from doing this it amazes me and can only think that these people must live such very boring lives.Good luck to the lovely Tom Daley on his next part in the competition.

I am constantly surprised by some of the things that are written on networking sites and blogs. The people who write such things must be really nasty people. They comment on things they can't possibly know about and are just speculating. Their remarks can be very vicious and cruel and nearly always untrue.

I read the comments page in the Daily Mail sometimes and the only conclusion I can draw from some of the comments is that there are a lot of stupid, nasty people of the world.

They have arrested the Tweeter, apparently, a 17 year old boy.

No one should criticise any athlete's performance unless they've spent a huge chunk of their lives getting up at stupid o'clock to go training before school/work then repeating the training in the evening after school/work.

Like all bullies and idiots, they hide behind anonymity. I am glad the police are taking such comments seriously and finding, naming and eventually shaming such people. They can't do it all the tIme though, can they.

Best to not bother with Twitter maybe?.

Blimey! whilst I thoroughly abhore what the silly young man tweeted to Daley -- what happened to the freedom of speech? The police are getting beyond themselves and need a quiet word of caution.

To be fair, whitewave, there was a lot of public outrage and the police were obviously under pressure to do something. The tweeter has apparently been let off with a caution.

Was it really necessary for the police to "swoop" on his house at 2.45 am? Where did they think he was going to go?

Perhaps they thought it was appropriate to 'swoop' on a 'tweeter'?
(Sorry...)

Much better if he had been totally ignored. People need a sense of proportion, comments such as those sent to Daley are everyday occurances sent between young bullies and those being bullied and Daley should have been advised not to have allowed open house on his various sites, or at least have been told not to respond to such comments.

Apparently the police get thousands of reports from members of the public regarding Twitter and Facebook postings.

I bet most people don't get that much attention given to them.

I think, with all the tweeting the athletes are going in for, they must expect to come up against some' rum 'uns'.

They are calling it the "Social media Olympics".

Well then.

Freedom of speech is fine but not threats to life or downright slander. I understand he threatened to drown Daley, which is probably laughable.

The problem is this has become a world of senseless acts of violence and I wonder how we would all feel if it was us on the receiving end. Sadly celebrity status, politicians, journalists etc., have to deal with such happenings on a regular basis but there are times when they must wonder just how serious a nutter is actually following them. Think about Jill Dando for just one example.

It is true to say the police cannot deal with the numbers of complaints but the first time they ignore a complaint and someone is harmed the press and public demand heads to roll. They can't win on this one.

How does it get stopped? It probably won't. Why, because the only thing to do is make everyone put their name to their tweet but then Twitter and the like would not be viable because it works by allowing anonymity giving the idiots and malicious bullies the chance to be the cowards they are.

The judge presiding over the case where a chap threatened to blow up an airport dismissed the case as just someone letting off steam and warned the police to get a grip - I couldn't agree more - people express their frustration and anxiety in so many ways - not necessarily the way we would think it wise or balanced. But we cannot conduct our policing of the web etc on the basis that there is a nutter out there who will do serious harm or just insult someone - of course there is , there always has been - nothing will stop that however many arrests the police make. We should guard our freedom of speech with pride and care.

vampirequeen I think it is perfectly reasonable to criticise an athlete's performance without having trained in his/her sport to Olympic standard, although I do think one should have a working knowledge of the discipline. What is not acceptable is to be abusive about his/her performance, regardless of how highly trained (or not) the abuser may be.