Why do popular websites seem to bring out the worst in people?

News Type: Other — Wed Apr 19, 2006 8:58 AM EDT

This is a situation that has been bothering me for a long time.
It happens in a lot of sites, but I'll use digg as an example.

Someone posted a story about some school in Canada prohibiting the use of Wi-Fi because the director thought it could be dangerous to children's health.

Now, that's ok if you find it completely absurd. It probably is.

But what surprised me was the content of the 100+ comments about the story. More than half of them were, putting in 'nice words', about how Canadians are stupid, how something like that could only happen in a 'lame' country like that, and it goes downhill from there.

Same thing about when someone posts in a popular weblog like joystiq.com about some Playstation 3 news. Lots of comments are 'flames', like 'Playstation sux XBOX 360 ROXXORS' and the same goes for any other consoles, or Macintosh and Windows articles in so many other blogs / digg-like websites. That's no different in my country's (Brazil) websites, forums, et cetera.

I can say for myself that I have never wrote anything in the net that I would not say to a person's face (Ok, 11 years ago when I discovered the net and was 17 years old I did some flaming in chat rooms - remember when these were popular? - but after 1 month or so I saw it was not the kind of fun I liked).

All the hate in the Internet just astounds me.

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{"commentId":100933,"authorDomain":"cyron"}

Cyron

There are two real reasons for this behaviour, either one of which is bad enough on it's own, but combined, gestalts in to something worse than the sum of its parts

1) Anonymity. This is a multi layered issu, with two types of anonymity.

There are the truly anonymous "anonymous coward" types as seen on Slashdot, in which there is no physical or internet persona to attach to a given comment. This is also seen with people that use a throw away account they have no plans on using again

The second less offensive type of anonymity is one in which the online persona may be known, but the real world person behind it is still an unknown.

Both of these are issues, because they allow people to make consequence free action. There is no risk of harm to ones self or ones social standing when no one can idenify you, which leaves people able to say things that they may otherwise think, but keep to themselves.

2) Person to Person interaction. This is a seperate issue to anonymity, but it leads to similar consequences, for similar reasons. When you say something to someones face, if they don't like it, there are repercussions, whether they be a violent counter reaction, or merely an expression of emotion. Whatever the expected reaction, it has a controlling effect on the actions of the person performing the action. If you remove the issue of personal space and interaction, then even without anonymity, you can say or do things you would never do to someone in person, because there is no threat of repercussion in the same way you'd find in personal interactions

You yourself, like most people, have partaken in the behaviour, because it's a natural reaction to something that is so different to your standard daily interactions. Sometimes people change and move on from it, sometimes they don't. Either way, there are more and more people out there using the internet for the first time every day, so even if every single one of them eventuall out grows the behaviour, there are plenty more who have the same lessons to learn for themselves...

{"commentId":100933,"threadId":"16944","contentId":"170879","authorDomain":"cyron"}

1 vote

#1 - Wed Apr 19, 2006 7:54 PM EDT

{"commentId":101831,"authorDomain":"kioshi"}

kioshi

Yeah, I can't say I do not agree with you. But you know what kinda bugs me a big? It's that,being a long time user of the net, this 'hostility' seems to be gettig worse as time passes by. In a very general view, but thatzs how I feel it.

{"commentId":101831,"threadId":"16944","contentId":"170879","authorDomain":"kioshi"}

2 votes

#1.1 - Thu Apr 20, 2006 8:58 PM EDT

{"commentId":101833,"authorDomain":"cyron"}

Cyron

You're right, but that's almost certainly the result of an ever increasing internet population, rather than a shift in the attitudes of specific individuals

{"commentId":101833,"threadId":"16944","contentId":"170879","authorDomain":"cyron"}

1 vote

#1.2 - Thu Apr 20, 2006 9:02 PM EDT

{"commentId":118279,"authorDomain":"kioshi"}

kioshi

You say 'almost certainly' and I am inclined to agree. But do you, like me, have a (very) general impression that there are more and more 'negative' comments speaking relatively (percentages and stuff) as the 'net grows?

{"commentId":118279,"threadId":"16944","contentId":"170879","authorDomain":"kioshi"}

1 vote

#1.3 - Sat May 6, 2006 11:09 PM EDT

{"commentId":118407,"authorDomain":"cyron"}

Cyron

I honestly don't know. It feels like that, but I'm not sure if that a response to a real thing, or an imagined thing. I do know that as any given community grows, that it invariably feels like the idiot population is growing out of control...

{"commentId":118407,"threadId":"16944","contentId":"170879","authorDomain":"cyron"}

2 votes

#1.4 - Sun May 7, 2006 5:27 AM EDT

{"commentId":119790,"authorDomain":"kioshi"}

kioshi

Anyway, two links you may like ;)

http://carcino.gen.nz/images/index.php/00b9a680/463c5922

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/03/19

{"commentId":119790,"threadId":"16944","contentId":"170879","authorDomain":"kioshi"}

2 votes

#1.5 - Tue May 9, 2006 1:51 AM EDT

{"commentId":119867,"authorDomain":"cyron"}

Cyron

The second one sums it up perfectly :)

{"commentId":119867,"threadId":"16944","contentId":"170879","authorDomain":"cyron"}

#1.6 - Tue May 9, 2006 6:20 AM EDT

{"canLink":false,"threadId":"16944","isPrivate":false}

KIOSHI

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Why do popular websites seem to bring out the worst in people?

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