People's Behavior on the Internet

[Phill S]

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I am visiting equally German chat sites and American chat sites (or game sites with a chat). I lived in the States for three years, rest in Germany. My observation:

In real life, Americans treat each other with a lot more of respect, politeness and civility than in Germany. In discussions, if opinions differ, it is communicated much more indirectly and way less opinionated than in Germany.

Online, it is the other way round. It is not that Germans are polite online (they are not!) but their attitude stays more or less the same. On US sites, chat and discussions tend to escalate very quickly into name calling and/ or obnoxious/ childish behaviour.

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Ironically ive never met a German i didnt like.

Americans on the other hand...

Phill

I think people on the internet are nice.

[touchfaith]

I am nice to everyone on the internet.

Want to play chess?

[lucas9000]

i think it's a combination of two things:

1) the lack of accountability on the internet. as you point out, a lot of what people say to one another online would not be said face-to-face, because the interweb generally lacks the accountability that personal interaction facilitates.

2) the difficulty in translating sarcasm/teasing to written text. in person, somebody might say something that if taken literally would offend, but said in person would convey sarcasm or harmless teasing. the difficulty in conveying those things in text online leads to misinterpretations.

[Dave G.]

I can be pretty rude on the net sometimes if I'm ticked off. I'm not a rude guy in person, I'm very polite actually (though if someone is an [censored] to me I'll tell him where to shove it).

It's like a release of frustration / tension for me. It makes something crappy happening easier for me to deal with if I can ridicule / belittle the other person. Yeah, I wouldn't do it in real life, not because I'm a pussy, but because it's just not how I act in real life.

meh. It's something I'm trying to work on fixing. It sucks and I'm trying to correct the shitty attitude. I find that if someone talks to me with a bit of small talk or even just says 'hi', that that makes me be nice to them regardless of what happens. Maybe you can try saying 'hi' to everyone you play.

[gorie]

people are not nice.

[zoomOut]

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The reason is that, generally speaking, people are assholes.

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Generally speaking people are not assholes. It's just a weird phenomenon that people's egos grow out of control on the internet. Even the most shy, modest people can become mean and somehow justify it to themselves.

[Vish]

All this whining about rude people is rather self righteous and hypocritical. Insulting someone is simply a means of feeling one's power. Those of you who find it distasteful manifest the same desire for power in other ways. Note that even the very opposite of insulting someone--complimenting them--derives from the same motive for power. That's why people are always disappointed if they compliment you and you don't smile or show some gratitude.

All of us want this power, and all of us are a little malicious. The internet just allows us to be more open about it.

[oddjob]

as my friend always says

you can't get punched in the face through the internet.