Let us troll

This month saw the Church of England release its own Digital charter, intended to improve the online community’s “common sense, kindness and sound judgement”.

Now, you can sit there and have a go at the pomposity of thinking a list of arbitrary rules is going to make notorious online trolls turn their lives around, but just know you’ll be doing so in contravention of the charter.

It might have taken over a decade of widespread social media chaos for the Church of England to produce these guidelines, but, in its defence, is that really such a long time when you consider the 200,000-odd years we had to wait before God put some ideas forward?

Credit where it’s due – you can’t argue with the sentiment of calling for a bit more kindness on the internet. But let’s not get too carried away. Liz Morgan, the Church of England’s digital champion (congratulations), wrote a piece in The Metro saying the guidelines are about “how we can all be better humans online”.

Honestly, we’re trying to remain respectful here, but it really can’t be right that we’re taking lessons on humanity from an organisation still struggling with the concept of equal marriage.