First of all any racist, sexist, bullying, or harassing people must be reported. You can do this by clicking on the “flag” link at the bottom of their post on the group page. The message will appear that you have flagged this person and that you can also report them. Click on “report” and from the dropdown menu select “attacks individual or group”. This will notify Facebook that this person is acting outside of Facebook rules, which expressly state:

1. You will not bully, intimidate, or harass any user.
2. You will not post content that: is hateful, threatening, or pornographic; incites violence; or contains nudity or graphic or gratuitous violence.
3. You will not use Facebook to do anything unlawful, misleading, malicious, or discriminatory.

Facebook themselves suggest how best to deal with trolls

Simply put, Formspringing is a one-dimensional social network that allows anyone to ask anyone absolutely anything.  That’s all you do. You get asked a question, and you answer it. Or, you post a question, sit back, and watch the anonymous (and mostly crude) answers pile up.

This is a fantastic overview of Formspring (last year) from one of the best commentators around.

Bullying

A further incident of suicide apparently prompted by bullying on Formspring was the untimely death of 15-year old Natasha MacBryde, from Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, United Kingdom. The Coroner's enquiry heard that she received anonymous personal abuse via the website on 13 February 2011; this appears to have compounded bullying and teenage anxiety into a level where, having researched suicide methods, Natasha took her own life on the 14th February, 2011.^{[19][dubious – discuss]}

the Wikipedia entry calls it a "question-and-answer-based social website" but it has recently seen a reduction in users and could be considered as past it's prime.

Natasha MacBryde, who threw herself under a train, was the victim of internet ‘trolls’ who posted a picture of her on a tribute site under the banner: ‘I caught the train to heaven LOL.’

Tragedy: Natasha MacBryde killed herself on railway lines near Bromsgrove on Valentines day

A video called ‘Tasha The Tank Engine’ was also removed from YouTube.

The 15-year-old had received a threatening message through the social networking site Formspring days before she died.

It read: ‘You’re a f***ing slut hiding under all your make-up. You think you’re pretty and that all the guys like you.

‘Start acting nice to people or you will lose everyone.’

The teenager had used the internet to research suicide methods an hour before her death on February 12.

She was found on the line in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, the following day.

A pupil at the £10,000-a-year Royal Grammar School in Upper Tything, Worcester, she was bullied by a group of girls who called themselves ‘The Ten’.

‘She came home from school in floods of tears and said she wanted to leave,’ her mother Catherine MacBryde, 43, said.

Worcestershire Coroner Geraint Williams said one of the online bullies – a male – had been identified and dealt with.

‘I anticipate that none of you have heard of a thing called “trolling”,’ he told a jury. ‘It appears to be a fairly violent, disgusting habit.

‘They set up websites after the death of a person and post foul and disgusting comments.’

The jury to took 40 minutes to rule her death a suicide.

The anonymous postings on the Formspring site had been a ‘significant contributor’ in Natasha’s death, her family said afterwards.

‘We seek to understand the motivation of those who choose to send spiteful and vindictive messages to their peers,’ they added.

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Some background to the sad death of Natasha MacBryde and the roll that formspring played

Good article from CNN, shedding some light on the issue and proposing some ways of tackling the issues.

With news about teenagers going to jail from sexting or committing suicide from cyberbullying, trying to keep tweens and teens safe on social networks can be overwhelming for parents.

While the Internet isn’t to blame — kids have probably been torturing one another since time began — it is important for parents and kids to know how to appropriately use this new space, and most importantly, how to stay safe online.

(And as mom bloggers, we know it isn’t only kids that are targeted through social media. This online playground can be nasty for kids and adults alike.)

So this week, we are talking about Online Safety and issues such as cyberbullying, sexting, Facebook privacy, video sharing and more with my Type-A Mom Conference sponsor, SafetyWeb.

Fancy joing a twitter party? have a look at this idea from www.5minutesformom.com - I may just see you there.

With news about teenagers going to jail from sexting or committing suicide from cyberbullying, trying to keep tweens and teens safe on social networks can be overwhelming for parents.

While the Internet isn’t to blame — kids have probably been torturing one another since time began — it is important for parents and kids to know how to appropriately use this new space, and most importantly, how to stay safe online.

(And as mom bloggers, we know it isn’t only kids that are targeted through social media. This online playground can be nasty for kids and adults alike.)

So this week, we are talking about Online Safety and issues such as cyberbullying, sexting, Facebook privacy, video sharing and more with my Type-A Mom Conference sponsor, SafetyWeb.

Fancy joing a twitter party? have a look at this idea from www.5minutesformom.com - I may just see you there.

What do you do if your child is traumatized by online bullying? And what can be done to help bullies understand the impact of their actions?

Excellent in deeper look at cyberbullying