lately, a lot of rude people online

[Nightwolf]

I don't know why it bothers me so much, but man, the negativity level on many of the forums I visit is just insane.

Why is it that people can no longer look at things from 2 perspectives? I mean, wow. It's just insane some of the things I see out here in Internet land. And it's not only on the forums. I see this thing rear it's ugly head in video games too. People just berating other gamers for things that are just petty and stupid. Almost like there are no longer 2 sides to everything. It's now become - "This is the way it is and if you don't agree with me I'll verbally bash your face in until you finally do agree with me"

I don't know if it's just the fact that I'm realizing more and more that people are just becoming mean and spiteful or what. But lately it's got me looking at the public with a whole new image and I don't like what I see. Makes me start to wonder if something is wrong with me.

What ever happened to constructive criticism? Instead of using ALL CAPS and tons of !!!!! to get opinions and points across?

Sniff Sniff....Can't we all just get along.....sniff sniff.

But seriously....is it me or are things just getting nastier and nastier in the world of the internet?

[CancelMyService]

I think three things encourage this:

1. The anonymity of the Internet means you can be a dick online and suffer very few repercussions for it.

2. The mindset of "You have to respect my point of view despite it being laughably wrong and easily proven to be so".

3. Because of #2, people have a stunning inability to support their opinions. Some of this is because they parrot their favorite TV/Radio host and have no real reason for having their opinion on a subject beyond that, and part of it is because it's somehow considered bad form to actually suggest someone is wrong about something.

[Nightwolf]

I agree with the anonymity part totally. Which is why I love the video and song from Brad Paisley "I'm so much cooler online" I believe you're right on with the fact that people can talk the talk all they want and nobody would be any wiser that they don't actually back up thier talk by walking it.

Still just really baffles me how people have become so rude to other posters or even original posters being rude when starting posts. Even sucky customers or just plain people in a store that just don't have manners. I love holding doors for people, getting things off shelves for total strangers, or whatever, hoping that someday, they'll pay it forward. I would really love to just see more of it instead of stepping on someone because....well, just because.

I will say this. I'm really happy that everyone on this board is able to have a mature discussion on extremely sensative issues and actually respect the other person's POV. This is one area, that i'm proud to post with the members of the community.

[Rubystars]

I'm very into science and I've been part of a debate room about religion and science for a while, which was cool and interesting to me. I had happened to share some things about myself, in order to try to make friends there, such as the fact that I had worked at Wal-Mart. I had tried to be part of the debate, enjoying it, etc.

I said some things in debate that some people took offense to, and they made it personal and started saying how everyone who works at Wal-Mart is a moron, etc.

I had mentioned how I eventually wanted a Biology-related job that requires a Master's degree, and they twisted that around to make it seem like I was claiming that I wanted to "Start at the top" without working my way up. I never claimed that, but they said I did and were making fun of me for it.

When I recently quit Wal-Mart and found another job, and happened to mention that, someone said "You didn't quit, you got fired didn't you!" then they extrapolated from that untruth onto "You were fired from Wal-Mart, you must be a real moron compared to the others up there." I wasn't even fired... I quit.

I decided I can't go to such an abusive chat room anymore, even though there were a few people I really liked to talk to there who I now have no way of contacting.

[Jadedcarguy]

Best strategy for dealing with chatroom dicks?

DON'T FEED THE TROLLS!

I myself am just as guilty of breaking this cardinal rule as many others, but I have seen it work! I swear! A lot of these little pricks just want the attention, if they don't get it, they go somewhere else.

[Jadedcarguy]

I see this thing rear it's ugly head in video games too.

I will never do online gaming for that very reason.

[theredbaron47]

I am also proud to say that I'm a member of the CS community, for the reason that by and large, the members all respect one another, one another's POV's, opinions, and we live and let live.

I've read the thread concerning the rising amount of thread closings lately, and all I have to say to that is that it's artificial natural selection, and commend the mods and Raps alike for their work.

If I may take this opportunity to present my physiological nerdness as an analogy to the situation:

Concerning the immune system, the lymphatic system is the physical system that governs it. The bone marrow produces T cells ( both helper T cells and cytotoxic T cells, both very important in their own respective manners ) in a very random fashion, not unlike a lottery system. These randomly-generated T cells each respond to one specific kind of antigen ( read: anything that could trigger an immune response ). The problem with these massive amounts of randomly-generated T cells is that some of them are autoimmune in nature, meaning they cause the immune system to think your body is antigenic, and attack it.

The thymus is a particularly important organ in the lymphatic system in that it filters these T cells, and destroys those that trigger an autoimmune response.

In this analogy, the random T cells being produced by the bone marrow are the random people the site gets signing up on a semi-constant basis, and the thymus consists of Raps and his many mods, filtering the bad from the good.

I do hope I've sufficiently proven my nerd-ness. Immunology fascinates me!

[horror]

Online, most people say all the things they're too afraid to say in person.

[DesignFox]

I tend to think that part of the increasing rudeness/stupidity is due to a couple of things. As was already stated, it is a fairly anonymous form of communication. Anyone can hide behind a screen name or image- no one really has to know who you are.

However, I think that more of it stems from the fact that any moron can purchase a computer and get internet service. We communicate much more rapidly than ever before. Words fly from our fingertips, and with the click of a button, can be posted for all the world to see.

This technology didn't exist 20 years ago. You didn't see the morons because they were too lazy to write letters, didn't make it to the paper, or weren't noteworthy enough to get on the news. They still mooed out their hatred and idiocy, but no one was around to hear it, or someone was around to filter the content.

Now, anyone can say whatever they want...and it's all there. Anyone can have a web page. Many existing sites encourage people to register and leave their opinions. There are forums of all sorts and sizes.... The sky is the limit when it comes to the web...and more of us than ever before can reach farther, faster than we ever could in the past.

I'll put it this way, back in the 80's, I never imagined I'd have ongoing conversations with people from the UK... If I wanted a penpal in another country, I had to first apply for one through a service, then write a letter on paper and wait a few weeks. For sure I wasn't going to pay money and wait weeks on end just to call someone names! (not that I'd dare be rude like that in the first place...but that's besides the point)

[Seshat]

As a mod: thank you, Red Baron, for recognising our work, and for the compliments. Yes, that's the primary job of the mod team.

Keeping things on topic is the other component of maintaining a high signal/noise ratio: it lets people easily figure out which threads they want to read.

DesignFox: you've hit the nail on the head. The primary job of editors is trimming out the noise and maintaining signal. Or trimming out unhelpful T cells, in Red Baron's analogy. Before the Internet, every form of mass media had some sort of editor.

Now everyone is their own editor - or people come to places like this one, with moderators doing some of the editing work, or people go to places which still have editors.

The rude, aggressive, or pointless rambling is what you get in media when you don't have editors. Sometimes you get Shakespearan quality work, but for the most part you've got a million monkeys.

Go to any site where editors moan about their jobs, and look for the phrase 'slush pile'. That pile consists of the ramblings of people who deem themselves good enough writers to write professionally, and are willing to spend the time, effort and money to mail in their work to editors. (It was even greater time and effort in the days of handwritten or typewritten submissions.)