Politeness on the Internet

[Brodogs]

I try to act pretty much the same way I do in real life. Around my close friends this can mean jokingly or polite, though when I'm with acquaintances I attempt to be polite as possible. This just comes naturally to me though and it's not really an me trying to put on an act. The only major difference I can think of is I'm more vocal (ie less shy) on the Internet but my views are the same. I see plenty of people being rude on the Internet - comes down to access to anonymous communication and insecurities in real life in my opinion.

 

[Rachel]

People can be very rude on the internet, and many times I have seen flame wars and vicious cursing going on (not on this forum, I'm speaking of the internet overall). Often times on the internet the speaker may not at all be intending to sound rude, but to certain people of certain personalities or backgrounds, they come across that way. It could simply be misinterpretation. So it may seem that people behave worse on the internet.

It's hard to directly compare etiquette on the internet versus real life. Certainly where they have more freedom to do so and less chance of consequences, people will behave worse than they might in front of their boss. However, I've met many sincere people on the internet, too.

 

[Dan]

People's true colours tend to come out far more on the Internet. I on the other hand have had just as many rude people in real life than I have on the Internet. It's pretty sad really some people are simply disgusting. :I

 

[ShadowDiety]

People are definitely a lot worse on the internet, because they can say pretty much anything and get away with it because they're safe behind their Monitor/TVs.

 

[nareky]

People can be just as nasty online as offline, thankfully the more nasty people i have met are online. I personally try to be like what i am offline and try to be nice dont get me wrong just like anyone if i am in a bad mood i can be snappy

What surprised me was that a lot of my rl friends who i play online games with can be rude at times (though when provoked lol )

 

[Azure Sage]

I find that "proper internet etiquette" seems to consist of poor grammar, poor spelling, and a lot of profanity. Especially on YouTube. I guess people just say those things because they know the other person can't really do anything other than type something back. I really doubt these people would say anything so rude to someone's face.

Personally, I prefer to be polite on the internet, and use proper spelling and grammar wherever I am on the web. In my opinion, not only does it show maturity, but it also looks better and is definitely a lot easier to understand. On top of that, I do not enjoy saying rude things to people. I find myself incapable of doing nearly anything to hurt someone's feelings. Even if they wouldn't be able to do anything back to me, I wouldn't take advantage of that. It's just plain wrong.

 

[Mcjoejoejoe]

On the internet, people feel like whether or not they know the person, they can be as rude as they want. Apparently if you can't see the person insults and jerk like behavior is acceptable. I try as best as I can not to do this, but i do become rash at times.

 

[Lord_Cathaseigh]

Personally, I see ZD as a very good role model. Most of the people who stay are very polite and there's always something interesting to discuss. I think by far Youtube is the worst offender. I really wish YT added filter options to combat this, maybe a reputation bar like on Ebay. Unfortunately, it seems as though all Youtube cares about is money.

I think rudeness is more prevalent in some areas than others (in real life). Sure, they may not say it to your face, but there are people who talk about people behind their back. I guess, in a way, the internet is a mirror. If people learn to get along, the internet would clear up. So I guess the best way to combat it is in real life.

 

[Ninten*]

I think people would be ruder on the internet. If one person says something to get another person really angry, then that second person usually can't do much about it. But most of it comes from trolls. My advice is to just ignore the trolls. Don't feed them.

 

[Hachi]

compared to real life, I agree people seem much more willing to bluntly state their thoughts on forums and comment sections. Which is the point, since most the things I comment on via internet articles, forum topics, etc are not exactly the same things I bring up (mostly) with people at school or my workplace. It's nice to be able to discuss openly about games or politics and the like around a community with similar interests. As for being rudder, that's harder to gauge since I don't know if their aggressiveness is a facade or if they are really a jerk IRL as well. I also think there is another side of the coin that takes things a tad too seriously. Ironically these are the very people who trolls love to target. Everyone's got to build up a thick skin to some degree if your going to share your thoughts on the internet.

As for your question about modding/banning.... Forums are pretty much a dictatorship in nature to begin with, nobody can just get away with whatever they want to unless the forum rules allow them too. The problem in that case is easy to solve: close that tab and find another forum that has a set of rules you agree with. :3 Of course no is completely free of jerks and mods can't keep an eye on everything going on all hours of the day, but it's better to deal with a troll every once in awhile than for too heavy censorship being placed on rule-abiding members.

 

[PathlessObject4]

People are definitely more rude on the internet. I don't understand why anyone would want to be rude though. It is easy to be rude online I guess since you don't really feel any repercussions. P: