Internet "rudeness" is too prolific

[Rockman X]

Today at work i saw one of the headlines on the front page of the USA Today and it read "Rudeness, threats make the Web a cruel world"

I've looked up the article on their site and here's the link for those of you who want to read the ridiculous thing: http://www.usatoday.com/tech/webguide/internetlife/2007-07-30-cruel-web_N.htm

Basically, the gist of it is that as more and more social networking sites (such as Facebook, Youtube, Myspace, blogs, etc) emerge, the more we see people leaving rude, hateful, or threatening comments full of profanity and somehow that's a big issue.

Oh noes! People are being rude and trolling and saying ""Ur ugly u suk and u should die." Yeah, people being called names and getting "death threats" which have no possibility of being enacted is such a huge issue <.<

Well pardon me, but wtf do you expect when you're putting yourself out there for the whole world to see/read? People who dont like what you have to say or what you look like are going to be assholes simply because they can, there's no code of conduct for the internet. The internet is not an elementary school classroom, if you deal that badly with criticisms and insults, you shouldnt be on the internet.

Frankly, i think the real issue is that people are becoming pathetic wimps. They see the uglier side of people and they get scared. It's all linked to the way our society has been going with this self-esteem crap and political correctness over the years. Kids have been babied and fed crap like "you're special, believe in yourself, you can do anything you set your mind to" and passed on through classes they SHOULD fail so they dont feel bad. And whats the result? Insulting, offending, or hurting someone's feelings is now the worst possible sin you can commit. It truly is pathetic.

Now dont get me wrong, i think people should treat each other civilly, and there's certainly nothing right about trolling people. But i do think people are way too sensitive these days. Whatever happened to just ignoring something and not letting it bother you instead of stewing about it and letting it scare you or ruin your day?

Thoughts?

 

[Jack's Smirking Revenge]

Usually on stuff like MySpace and Facebook and all that, people put a lot more of themselves out than is necessary, and so it's only to be expected that they'll receive harsh criticism really.
If, IRL you started talking about the time when you first stole something, people would just give you a hard time for it. Same with the blogs. If you went about blabbing about every little detail that happened to you, then you'd get slapped with a big wet fish. But on the internet, you can't use a fish, so words have to suffice.
People who take stuff like that to heart need to seriously relook at their lives.

 

[Scarlet]

Ahahahhahah! *tear* I'm sorry but that was cute.

It reminds me of this:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=UxWgRY1I_SI

I'm sorry but if your going to post personal things you should except negative comments. Really, if you post a video of yourself saying or doing something your excepted to get flamed or troll. I don't see why people get upset about being flamed/trolled. Getting upset over troll lets them win. It's adding more fuel to the fire. People need to suck it up and move on. Also, trolls make death threats but they're not actually going to go to your house to kill you. Troll do this because they know the person is going to fear for their life.

XPrincessPunkx is a perfect example of this. She was smart enough to post a video on youtube of her talking about some 'emo movement'. She was raided and flamed. Her online reputation was ruined. Not only that, people got a hold of many pictures of her and edit them on photoshop. She's an internet joke now and she even has a profile on Encyclopedia Dramatica.

People are not careful with their personal information. Myspace and facebook provide personal information where you can easily obtain their information. You can easily type a person's email, name, screen name and gather information.

I've been using the internet for almost 10 years now. I try to be careful about posting pictures or personal information. Thus why my livejournal is locked and my close friends can only read it. I also been careful about saying my opinions on certain websites.

The internet is like your common streets. You have to have common sense about the internet.

 

[Rockman X]

lulz! Anonymous is going to get you!

People like Anonymous i would take a bit more seriously since they go to the trouble of calling you and making threats and whatnot (although it was hilarious when that guy left a message calling the woman's son an "emo bitch"), but regular flamers and trollers, no. Those people are harmless and are just posting stuff to either piss you off or incite a huge debate.

Simply put, people need to grow some balls and stop taking things so personally.

 

[Rasputin]

Most of the people who act like assholes online I could probably make cry if I met them in person.

 

[Kibbies]

The main danger with the internet though is how it can ruin someone's reputation. I'm sure that politicians and celebrity-like figures have to deal with it every day.

Someone could get on the web and post something up, it doesn't even have to be true, and then that can spread like fire throughout the world and would be very hard to stop. Afterall, people would rather talk about what someone important did wrong than talk about their rebuttal to whatever it is. Then whoever started it can simply go into the shadows and not be known.

I am really against government doing anything to limit people's rights, but there needs to be something to help prevent libel over the net, especially when it is just said without being true. And as we all know, if a statement begins with "Some say.." then it must be true.

 

[Elegy of Despond]

I whole-heartedly agree; people are becoming real bitches when it comes to people being mean to them on the internet. I personally couldn't give a damn what some dumb bastard halfway across the country or even the entire world thinks about me if he's going to be unreasonable and immature about it because I know what his intent was when he says what he might, and even if they hold a ring of truth they were still designed solely for one purpose; to intentionally "wound" me. That and nothing else.

Plus you've got to figure it's a lot easier to grow some balls and start slinging shit when you're perfectly anonymous. And the people usually exhibiting this sort of behavior know that they can't get away with this in real life so they resort to being the sorts that slink around in their parents' basement their whole life while they hold on with white knuckles to the only type of superiority they can feel; lashing out at some random asshole online. That's all they have in life. My term for them is e-thugs. I remember at an older message board I used to visit that no longer exists, ffhorizons.com, we had some little troll come in and he threatened to fly all the way across the country from wherever he was from to personally come to my house and kick my ass. I responded to this threat by giving him my full name and address, minus the last number of my house. I told him I didn't want the little pussy mailing me stupid garbage (or if he was some freak like the unibomber). But I did supplement that post with a picture of my place, it wouldn't have been difficult at all for him if he was quite serious about coming all the way out to Fresno, CA to find this city and this street, match my house number down to the last of its digits i had left out and then figure out which one it was from the provided picture and I enabled him to do that just to prove how stupid he was for saying that he was seriously going to expend the kind of money and resources it would take to come all the way out here for something so trivial.

So yeah, people need to knock this kind of crap off and shut the hell up when it comes to the internet. I'll be the first to agree that it's a big problem. But just as big of a problem are the self-conscious and emotionally weak people that are actually lending these e-thugs credence by allowing themselves to be so affected by an e-thug's stupidity.

 

[Bufin]

I agree in many points with you...
Well the thing is that as many of you said,
people get over-sensitive when they recieve any kind of insult
like ''Omg ur such a n00bzor'' or things like that and start arguing and then
by the end of the day they feel like trash...

People should start acting in a mature way to this kind of stuff,
because it's just a normal thing these days, especially in forums and myspace and all that as mentioned...
I actually like to have a discussion, but as long as it is a civil or just normal and entertaining...

Either way, it's gonna' be a very normal thing to watch stuff like this
why? because the internet is a tool for many just to bug people off...

It's a very complicated matter, because there are many kind of people,
people that are very open and leave all kind of details about them and some other that won't do that, so criticism is variable...
Oh well it will depend on each person and not on attacking the internet for every little thing that happens....
But in one way or another it helps to be a reservated person and a careful one...

 

[Rockman X]

Plus you've got to figure it's a lot easier to grow some balls and start slinging shit when you're perfectly anonymous. And the people usually exhibiting this sort of behavior know that they can't get away with this in real life so they resort to being the sorts that slink around in their parents' basement their whole life while they hold on with white knuckles to the only type of superiority they can feel; lashing out at some random asshole online.

Exactly. In reality, these "e-thugs" as you call them are probably scrawny kids going through puberty. Actually if any of you have played Halo or WoW (or know people who do), then you'll know that about half the flamers and people who are the most vulgar on those games are 12 and 13 year olds who have just hit puberty and think they're all big and bad because they're a "teen" now. It's the same way in high school, actually. I remember in my junior year how there were these two seventh graders who almost every day would mouth off to me and try to start fights with me because they thought they were all tough.

So yeah, people need to knock this kind of crap off and shut the hell up when it comes to the internet. I'll be the first to agree that it's a big problem. But just as big of a problem are the self-conscious and emotionally weak people that are actually lending these e-thugs credence by allowing themselves to be so affected by an e-thug's stupidity.

Agreed. Half the reason these trolls and flamers are so prolific is because people pay them attention and react in the desired way. If people would just ignore the assholes, then the numbers would likely diminish very quickly. After all, it's no fun to aggravate someone when they simply cant be aggravated.

 

[L]

Agreed. Half the reason these trolls and flamers are so prolific is because people pay them attention and react in the desired way. If people would just ignore the assholes, then the numbers would likely diminish very quickly. After all, it's no fun to aggravate someone when they simply cant be aggravated.

But the way most of us have been brought up, condoning in such an activity means to tarnish one's pride, which is extremely stupid. If I'm flamed first, I don't mind mixing it up a bit... But I wouldn't spend hours upon hours doing it.

My sister does this stuff then she cries because some bitch that lives in Australia wants to kick her ass for having convos with her man. Then she goes and cries about it. It doesn't even have to be over a dude. Some random chick can be like, "I wanna kick your ass." Then she goes all emo and cries about it. So it is a bit of a threat. Maybe not so much as physically, but much more mentally.

I had a hard time on the internet the first time I used it, but I didn't cry because someone threatened to kill me that I actually knew in real life. It was just a bunch of trolls and such.

 

[Tetris Master]

I agree with what most of you are saying, and so I won't repeat what's already mentioned, but just to look at it in a fresh perspective, I believe it's not so easy to simply "get over it". In a world where people are exposed to so many diverse perspectives and opinions within minutes of exploring, it's hard to relate and take it all in with an open mind. People forget although many can speak in the universal language [English], their cultural habits often times are different from our own. What's acceptable to us, may be taboo to them. Some choose to tread carefully, while others throw caution to the wind.

The most common [and incidentally largest] group in the virtual world happen to be teenagers. They're largely recognised as nuisances in the Internet to the other age groups, and coincidentally, also in the real world. They grow exponentially, and come in packs, and like their real life counterparts, their maturity is lacking. Teenagers do stupid things all the time, in and out of the Internet. The difference is the whole world sees it on the net. Then there are the exceptional people who act like they haven't gotten past their teenage days, starting fights, creating flame wars, trolling, stalking, and basic harassing. Because the Internet gives anonymity, people feel less restricted and are less likely to conform, and there are no real "authority" to cause any "real" damage to their real life. Now there have been plenty of actions made to create a "safer" environment by numerous organisations, but not enough to affect the majority of the Internet world--partially caused by the simple fact there are thousands of sites, and communities made in minutes, seconds even, for it to be reasonably controlled.

With all of this in mind, it's not hard to make quick judgements, so I believe not every situation is easy to understand and to be casually brushed off. If only everyone could eat popsicles together.