Hateboard.com has been in the news because of the vicious nature of the comments posted on it by young users.
One person on the site, obviously stunned at the puerile and crude nature of most of the posts, commented that it was a long time since he or she had read such "objectionable, repugnant, juvenile ignorance".
Another person declared drily: "i h8 dat txt msgn hs lft so mny ppl vrtlly illitrt."(sic) It is that kind of site, where you will need a translator if you are over 30, but are much better off not being able to understand many of the references, particularly those that relate to the sexual behaviour of southside Dublin teenagers.
To spend more than five minutes on the website would induce in most people a profound state of mourning for what once was the English language, not to mention mourning for such obviously outmoded concepts as kindness.
It is difficult to enter the mind of a young person who believes it is acceptable to declare that another teenager is a "fat minger" who would be better off killing herself. Heaven help any sensitive person who is the subject of some of the more savage attacks.
It is all very well to suggest ignoring them, but it must be profoundly unsettling for teenagers to realise there are people who hate them enough to target them in this way. Nor is it sufficient to write it all off as the modern equivalent of graffiti on a toilet door. Unlike the back of a toilet door, anything written on a website can be accessed by anyone with a computer and an internet account.
Technology has not created bullying, which has been around as long as human beings, but it has amplified its effects by a thousandfold.
Yet I know I am not the only teacher who has been struck by the difference in the commentary about this site where students attacked each other, and the one that preceded it some months ago, ratemyteachers.ie. At the time, I wrote that posting anonymous comments was cowardly and a form of bullying and rather naively expected that there would be some support for that position.
The silence from parents was deafening. Instead, the airwaves were filled with the usual suspects declaring that, since students had so few places to express complaints about teachers, how could teachers object to a website such as ratemyteachers.ie? It seemed to be irrelevant that a significant portion of the posts were personalised, cruel and vindictive.
As for the positive comments, they would have carried more weight if the people concerned had been willing to identify themselves. If certain teachers are the "legends" that their pupils claim they are, would it be so hard for pupils to actually write the teachers in question a note and sign it?
So many boundaries were crossed on ratemyteachers.ie that it is hard to mention them all, given that everything from sexual innuendo to comments on teachers' children were posted.
However, a new low was set by those who rated teachers who are dead and posted horrible and completely inaccurate reports about them.
Bullying is encouraged by a bullying culture. There is a well-documented phenomenon known as the "downward spiral". Bullying usually involves three parties: the bully, the victim and bystanders. The bully often has sidekicks, but there are quite often other witnesses to the victimisation.
At first, the bully watches and waits for opportunities to torment. Then he or she tests the waters, usually by small symbolic acts of bullying, and waits to see what the consequences are. If they are swift and negative, the bullying often ends there.
If, however, there are no consequences, or as often happens, the bully's social standing goes up further, then more serious acts of bullying ensue. It may seem odd to talk of a bully's social standing.
Bullies are often feared and respected, while victims are despised as weak and unable to defend themselves. It is one of the nastier aspects of the herd mentality that bystanders often give tacit assent to bullying. In the case of ratemyteachers.ie (although there were some exceptions) society gave tacit assent to bullying of teachers through anonymous and hurtful commentary.
Why the surprise then, now it has been discovered that the bullies also targeted their own age group? Of course, there are far more factors at play than the fact that ratemyteachers.ie was not roundly condemned.
We have witnessed a change in our culture in recent years which allows bullying to flourish. It is far from being just a teenage phenomenon, and bullying pervades many adult workplaces.
It is ironic that at the same time as we have become more sensitive about behaviour once considered acceptable, such as shouting at or browbeating others, there appears to have been a rise in more insidious forms of bullying. Legislation has been put in place, but it is not enough.
It is extraordinarily difficult for people who are constantly being undermined to muster the strength to stand up for themselves, and the sad fact is that many people in positions of authority simply do not want to know.
The law may be there, but without a culture that condemns bullying in all its forms it remains an expensive and risky last resort, rather than a safety net.
Nor is it a coincidence that websites such as the hateboard make constant reference to social status, because as our wealth increases we have become more and more conscious of what others have, and increasingly "rate" others by their possessions.
Similarly the amount of crude sexual commentary should not surprise us. We are so terrified of appearing repressive, or of crushing our young people's self-esteem, that we shy away from promoting values such as self-restraint and self-discipline. As society has grown more individualistic, we have lost sight of the fact that every community needs core values in order to function.
We cannot expect teenagers to absorb values that we do not model ourselves. If adults are not willing to stand up for courtesy, kindness and courage, or are only outraged when their own children are the victims of bullying, why are we surprised when a minority of young people show us the consequences of sending such ambivalent messages?