We wouldn't know anything about that here, would we?
A new species has risen from the shallows of the Internet: the angry commenter. Sure, there is a long tradition of inspired cranks and interested retirees who have always written letters to the editor, but something in the anonymity and speed and stamplessness of the Internet has unleashed a more powerful and uncontrolled vitriol. I am not here talking about the thoughtful, intelligent comments, which also abound, but rather the bile unloosed, flashes of fury and unexamined rage that pass as “comment.”
[. . .]
One of the offshoot pleasures of angry commenting seems to be getting angry at the other angry commenters. There is an element of what one might call socializing, a sort of happy hour of nastiness and sniping. Is this joyful little flash of human friction and fraternizing the best they can hope for? As one non-angry commenter writes to some other angry commenters: “I'm sorry your life is so empty that you find it necessary to try and pick fights with random strangers on the Internet.”
Ah, yes, the good old days. I am sometimes nostalgic for the time when all I had to deal with were the inspired cranks and interested retirees taking their grubby ballpoints in hand to send scribbled rants to the newspaper. I could hold on to them for weeks and weeks before finally putting them in the paper, with everything I didn't like taken out so that what was left sounded like gibberish. Then I'd sit around at laugh at the poor dunces all day long.
At least that's what they thought. And now they're online. Ticks me off.
Comments
Ha, posts Leo Morris as if he were somehow helpless in the entire matter, and nothing's his responsibility. Though given Leo probably lacks the technical ability as well as the inclination to acquire it, he may well be helpless.
This stuff came up during the early startup of Google+ and the nymwars/trolls debates. I give you excerpts from a handy article referenced during that time:
If Your Website's Full of Assholes, It's Your Fault
As it turns out, we have a way to prevent gangs of humans from acting like savage packs of animals. In fact, we've developed entire disciplines based around this goal over thousands of years. We just ignore most of the lessons that have been learned when we create our communities online. But, by simply learning from disciplines like urban planning, zoning regulations, crowd control, effective and humane policing, and the simple practices it takes to stage an effective public event, we can come up with a set of principles to prevent the overwhelming majority of the worst behaviors on the Internet.
If you run a website, you need to follow these steps. if you don't, you're making the web, and the world, a worse place. And it's your fault. Put another way, take some goddamn responsibility for what you unleash on the world.
How many times have you seen a website say "We're not responsible for the content of our comments."? I know that when you webmasters put that up on your sites, you're trying to address your legal obligation. Well, let me tell you about your moral obligation: Hell yes, you are responsible. You absolutely are. When people are saying ruinously cruel things about each other, and you're the person who made it possible, it's 100% your fault. If you aren't willing to be a grown-up about that, then that's okay, but you're not ready to have a web business. Businesses that run cruise ships have to buy life preservers. Companies that sell alcohol have to keep it away from kids. And people who make communities on the web have to moderate them.
(and at the end)
Because if your website is full of assholes, it's your fault. And if you have the power to fix it and don't do something about it, you're one of them.
You realize of course, if Leo were to take you up on your suggestion, you'd be the first one to be banned, right?
Of course, Tim. Leo has to protect you, you're his favorite pet.
You're only crying because this is the first time someone's hit you back Tim Zank, and now you've got a bloody nose.
It seems to me that many, if not most, comments on unmediated Web sites go beyond anger and into vicious and juvenile meanness. Not to mention racist, homophobic, etc., depending on the story. They can be entertaining to read for a while if you're bored, but soon you realize how predictable and repetitive they are. I think they're a waste of time and bandwidth.