I didn't watch to hijack Hans' EVH prototype thread any further, but I did want to comment on this....
I'm totally in agreement with your wife, Steve. I was shocked and appalled at the level of discourse that pervades the internet when I first started visiting forums long ago (in the CompUServe age). I quickly realized that because people are relatively anonymous on the 'net, they realized that they could be crass and ugly and there was almost certain immunity from consequence since it was likely they would never meet the object of their spew face to face.
It is a sad comment on society that people feel free to indulge themselves in behavior they would never even contemplate person to person.
I don't have any suggestions on how to eliminate this behavior other than what we all try to do here. We walk the line between calling out bad behavior and ignoring true trolls. We are fortunate that we have moderators with both brains and sentiment and that our forum is constructed to head off most nastiness from the outset with its rules against political or religious threads.
But it still boils down to your wife's observation. One should never post anything they would not be willing to say to another person if they were standing nose to nose with you..
I'm not so sure that the world isn't full of haters frankly. I try to stay positive when people post their things on the forums. If I don't like it, I just go on to the next thread. Why are so many so negative? What happened to "the golden rule?"
My wife made an interesting point at dinner last evening. She said the internet has empowered people to make statements that they wouldn't make in a face to face conversation. It allows for comments and assertions to be made that don't have to be valid, verified, or for which one can be held accountable. And, it's turning us into a less personalized and civilized society.
I'm totally in agreement with your wife, Steve. I was shocked and appalled at the level of discourse that pervades the internet when I first started visiting forums long ago (in the CompUServe age). I quickly realized that because people are relatively anonymous on the 'net, they realized that they could be crass and ugly and there was almost certain immunity from consequence since it was likely they would never meet the object of their spew face to face.
It is a sad comment on society that people feel free to indulge themselves in behavior they would never even contemplate person to person.
I don't have any suggestions on how to eliminate this behavior other than what we all try to do here. We walk the line between calling out bad behavior and ignoring true trolls. We are fortunate that we have moderators with both brains and sentiment and that our forum is constructed to head off most nastiness from the outset with its rules against political or religious threads.
But it still boils down to your wife's observation. One should never post anything they would not be willing to say to another person if they were standing nose to nose with you..
Last edited: