I like your facebook idea. In my opinion anonymity is one of the big players in this mess, it creates a sense of normality that can be easily just a deception; even if people could hear the "plea for help" all it takes is the majority of posts making fun of it for reducing it's effectiveness, yet this majority of posts could have been wrote by the same person using many nicknames taking advantage of his anonymity... Since, in this scenario, most people seem to agree, the casual surfer would feel, even if he doesn't like the comments, that at some point making fun of someone crying for help is normal and socially accepted.
I like your facebook idea. In my opinion anonymity is one of the big players in this mess, it creates a sense of normality that can be easily just a deception; even if people could hear the "plea for help" all it takes is the majority of posts making fun of it for reducing it's effectiveness, yet this majority of posts could have been wrote by the same person using many nicknames taking advantage of his anonymity... Since, in this scenario, most people seem to agree, the casual surfer would feel, even if he doesn't like the comments, that at some point making fun of someone crying for help is normal and socially accepted.