Passionate hobby: Campers share photos of their latest gear so that others can ‘review’ the equipment’s performance.
GEORGE TOWN: Some people can’t seem to tolerate those who share their happiness on social media.
Perhaps out of envy, they make cynical comments designed to hurt and belittle others and even accuse them of being show-offs.
But here is one case when someone’s negative comments backfired with a whole community ganging up to resist cyberbullying.
“Early this month, a camper shared in an online community about camping and photos of some of his expensive camping gear. One unhappy person started making negative comments, criticising the expensive choices and calling the camper a show-off,” recalled fellow camper Mohd Shahril Md Said, 40.
Other campers in the online All About Camping Malaysia (AACM) community rallied and chided the commenter for his remarks, leading him to lash out with even more negative comments.
After the barrage of comments about campers with expensive gear being show-offs, thus was born the hashtag #showoff early this month.
“None of us were really showing off. We share our latest gear, how much they cost and our experience in using them so that we can all learn together.
“But since that person was so obsessed with calling us show-offs, we stopped arguing with him and put #showoff in all our posts.
“You can’t criticise us for being show-offs because we already added #showoff. We changed the definition of ‘show-off’,” said Mohd Shahril.
A check on social media channels, including Facebook showed that since early this month, hundreds of postings showing pictures of camping trips now bear the hashtag #showoff.
He explained that after a few rounds of camping, some campers upgraded their gear for comfort and efficiency.
“We get tents that are easier to pitch and with more high-tech coating to block out the heat. We buy camping chairs, tables and shelves that can be folded into compact sizes to save space in the car when travelling.
“These things do cost thousands of ringgit and some of us are passionate enough to save money for months to buy them.
“Instead of showing off, we just take pride in the effort we put into our camping adventures, and share feedback with our online friends,” said Mohd Shahril.
He is also part of a sub-community of campers who love using all-black camping gear, which can be costly.
Mohd Shahril said he had encountered two kinds of cyberbullies in online camping communities.
“One type doesn’t have premium gear so maybe they get jealous and ridicule others. Another type has even better gear so they belittle those who share camping pictures using gear they consider as inferior,” said Mohd Shahril.
He advised Malaysians in any online community not to absorb toxic, negative comments directed at them on social media.
“Let’s all be happy about sharing what we love and just ignore negative people,” he added.
AACM founding member Carmen Coudray said she was touched by how everyone in the group, which has almost 200,000 members, rallied against those ridiculing camping pictures shared by others.
“We use #showoff to mean that we don’t care about what negative people say.
“It is only their perception that we are showing off, while we are just sharing our happiness,” she said.
