You can’t seem to go anywhere these days without (sometimes literally as happened to me the other day) walking into someone with their head down scanning their mobile phone for the latest tweet, or Facebook/Instagram update.

I was a fairly early adapter so know all about the almost pathological need to stay up to date with friends, family and the interweb. I have also recently become a bit of a convert to Facebook’s various targeted Marketplaces.

Which leads me to on-line abuse.

Though I don’t make a habit of scanning through the Comments section of the various site I follow I’m aware that some of it is – way – out of line. However, the work of your typical ‘troll’ really only impacted on me directly when I made a throwaway comment in a sales ‘pitch’ for the Nissan RB30 engine I wanted to sell.

The car it came out of was, indeed, a Nissan (one of four I have now bought and parted out to keep my R31 drifter going) but the guy who had recently given it a top end rebuild had topped it off with a ‘Holden’ valve cover from a VL Commodore which – for two or three years shared the bulletproof SOHC  3.0 litre version of Nissan’s in-line six cylinder RB20E engine with Aussie-built Skylines.

My ‘sin’ according to the troll was a throwaway line saying something like ‘don’t be offended Nissan lovers, I’ve got a spare Nissan-badged cover which will go with the engine when it sells.’

Well! Rather than asking an intelligent question about the mileage, age or otherwise condition of the engine I was offering for sale Mr High ‘n Mighty troll launched into a tirade about what a Muppet I was for saying what I did, and didn’t I know the RB30 was in fact a Holden engine which had powered the Commodore for years…..

Fact. The RB30 was an Aussie market-only engine built by Nissan in Japan and exported to its and Holden’s plants in Australia.

Fact. I put up  a For Sale post NOT a general discussion post.

Which is all very well. The reason I raise the issue is not to ‘get my own back’ at Mr RB30 know-it-all. Rather it is to raise the very real issue of cyber bullying.

My old Mum used to say that ‘if you can’t say something nice about someone, don’t say anything.’ Twee, true, but the sentiment is there.

This, for instance, is new Virgin Australia Supercars Championship points leader Shane Van Gisbergen’s take on it.

I’ve had the pleasure of knowing Shane since he was a kid and can tell you that there isn’t a straighter, more honorable guy in the Supercars paddock. It’s a tough, dog-eat-dog world out there when you ply your trade as a professional racing driver so you confuse his always smiling, happy ‘everyday face’ with his helmet on/thousand-yard-stare ‘race-face’ at your peril.

Which, sadly, is a fact many keyboard critics, or (let’s not beat around the bush here) cyber-bullies fail to grasp.

So vehement, in fact, was the reaction to one of Shane’s recent moves on track, it prompted him to post the following on social media, along with a video condemning the practice fronted by Aussie broadcaster Greg Rust.

Read it, and if you have ever burst a blood vessel and posted some rant (or made some spittle-flecked, comment) on your Twitter feed or your own, or a driver or series’ Facebook page, hide your head in shame.

“Cyber-bullying is a big issue and for whatever reason in our awesome sport it is more prevalent than ever.

“Unfortunately it's one of the main reasons I don't post a lot nowadays, or interact as much.

“Because as Greg Rust puts it best in this video, If you wouldn't say it to someone, don't say it at all. Personally I do read all the comments, and amazingly a couple of the people who have wrote aggressive stuff toward me I then see them lining up in the autograph line a week or two later.

“We are in a pretty special place as a sport right now, the competition is as tight as ever. And I personally am loving it.

“But if you don't support me, or the people I work with - that's cool too, but please don't abuse us over social media, that isn't cool. For us, and our supporters who have to read it too.

“99% of everyone is awesome but please don't be the 1% that brings everyone down.”

Shane Van Gisbergen

To read the full story in the October 2018 issue of NZ4WD go to Zinio.com (September 14) or purchase your own hard copy at the Adrenalin store.