I am the victim of online abuse. Were YOU one of the abusers?

Well that was a weird week.

On Sunday night the England ladies football team won the Euros at Wembley. But this article is not going to be about the football match itself.

I’m not going to mention the fact that Germany were the better team, and were the victims of several blatant refereeing errors. I’m also not going to say that if England had not had ‘home advantage’ (plus a lot of luck) then they probably wouldn't have even got to the Final, let alone won it.

What I’m going to talk about, is what happened to me personally afterwards.

The day after the match, I wrote a short post on LinkedIn that said (part jokingly) that 'serious' LinkedIn users should avoid the platform for a few days, because they would be inundated with posts about football. I think this is quite a reasonable (and light-hearted) comment to make. I have always had concerns that LinkedIn is becoming more like Facebook, and it contains too much material that is not directly related to business. It’s just my personal view, and it is a very reasonable view to hold. If you disagree with me, then that's fine.

Absolutely nothing that I put in my post could be construed in any way to be ‘sexist’. I even made the point in the post that I "felt sorry" for the England Ladies Hockey and Netball teams who were playing at the same time in the Commonwealth Games.

Anyone who had bothered to flick between TV channels during the Euros Final would have actually seen a ladies hockey match going on at the same time on a different channel. But that was completely ignored by the media who were obsessed with the football match going on at Wembley.

It is obvious to anyone with any knowledge of business, that football has been ‘fast-tracked’ over other women's sports, because there is greater opportunity to make money out of it. And I think this is unfair because the England ladies hockey and netball players have worked just as hard to represent their country, and win medals at the Commonwealth Games.

Absolutely NOTHING in my post was offensive or 'sexist', and everything I said is provable as true, based on independent research.

But just writing this short innocent post has changed my life forever.

Just a few hours after posting this innocent comment on LinkedIn, I became aware that several thousand people had already viewed the post.

And then BANG - it went viral.

Soon afterwards, the abuse, insults, and threats started heading my way in their hundreds.

Someone publicly said that I was "sexist", "misogynistic" and (bizarrely) "transphobic". (How on earth did they conclude this from my post?!?!)

All of these things are completely 100 per cent UNTRUE. It is just completely bizarre to say anything like this when it totally untrue. And absolutely nothing in my post could even be construed in this way. NOTHING!

UNLESS ... you had posted a comment on LinkedIn, without even bothering to read the original post.

And this is unfortunately very common these days. There are far too many people on LinkedIn who shout their heads off without reading the original post. They just join in with the ‘sheep’ who are shouting unpleasant comments, without bothering to read what the original post says, or THINKING about what it actually means.

But that didn't stop hundreds of people (who hadn't even bothered to read my original post) sending me threats and abuse.

One person said they were going to contact my employer and make sure I lost my job.

Some people said they were going to 'cancel' me.

Several other people said they were going to get me banned from LinkedIn. WHY? I’ve done nothing wrong!!!

And then there were several frightening ‘veiled’ threats.

By the time I went to bed that evening, there had already been over 300,000 people who had viewed the post, and several hundred comments about it - virtually all of them were negative and unpleasant.

I found it difficult to sleep that night, but I eventually drifted off to sleep, only to be woken up very early in the morning when my home phone started ringing in my bedroom.

It was an angry woman demanding to speak to Darren Bugg. She had woken me up, very early in the morning, on my personal home number.

I just put the phone down on her as she was ranting at me. But as I did so, she made several comments which made me realise this was something to do with the post on LinkedIn.

She had actually managed to find my home phone number, and had deliberately phoned me very early in the morning to abuse me!

I was frightened. I immediately disconnected my telephone and it has been disconnected all week, so I have been unable to receive any calls on my landline number. My landline phone is still disconnected now.

I've also had several CCTV cameras installed outside my house, and I have carried out other security measures at home.

At the time of writing, the unpleasant messages still continue. My original post has now been viewed by nearly half a million people and there have been nearly 1,000 comments. And the numbers are rising exponentially.

I absolutely refuse to remove this post from LinkedIn for the following reasons: (1) It contains absolutely nothing that is sexist in any way. In fact it is anti-sexist because I am defending other women’s sports that don't get the same publicity as football. (2) It has not breached any LinkedIn guidelines, and LinkedIn agree with me on this. (3) Based on solid academic principles, I could actually prove that what I said in the original post is TRUE. (4) I am not prepared to be ‘silenced’ by very ignorant people who shout loudly on social media, but have not even bothered to read the original post, or try to understand what I am saying.

I would urge everyone to read the original post again and THINK. Have I actually said anything that is incorrect? Really?

If you are one of these keyboard warriors, then I just ask one thing of you:

If you are going to get angry and start abusing someone on social media (which you should NOT be doing anyway) then at least have the courtesy to read the original post, and try to work out what the writer means before you start ranting.

It’s the duty of all of us to behave responsibly on social media. To be kind and caring to other people. To allow people the right to give their opinion, even if we don’t agree with it. And not attempt to destroy someone’s life (or 'cancel' them) just because we have taken a dislike to them online.