Berlin  - Anyone observing a user being harassed in an online community should report the behaviour immediately to the network operator, say experts.

"The users are the ones that establish the atmosphere in a community," says Sabine Frank from the Voluntary Self-Monitoring of Multimedia Providers (FSM). If that atmosphere is poisoned by harassment, the best thing to do is to inform the operator so that they can get involved.

Youngsters should also be instructed to report incidents of others spreading pornography or Nazi propaganda in those communities. Many sites provide a link on every forum page to report illegal or offensive content. (dpa)