Both Nimmo and Sorley say they offended for the same reason: because they enjoyed the attention and endorphin-generating effects of becoming briefly famous, or notorious, on Twitter. Without any planning or forethought, they joined a bandwagon that was already rolling. It was a game and they enjoyed it.
“I guess it was just for a laugh really,” says Sorley. “I spent a lot of time wondering why I did it. One journalist said, ‘Was it just because you were getting a kick out of it, was it just for a laugh?’ and yeah, that’s pretty much it.
“I saw [Criado-Perez] was trending a few days earlier, I just sent out a tweet going, ‘Why is this woman trending?’ And I got in a conversation with these randomers and they were going, ‘Yeah she’s getting abuse,’ and then people were saying ‘why are you being a victim-blamer?’ and I said ‘I’m not, but if she’s getting abuse she’s bound to have done something.’”
Sorley says she got carried away, encouraged by the retweets and favourites she was getting. Then, three months later, seven police officers turned up at her parents’ house with a warrant for her arrest.
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