hostility and internet chat

[Joshy]

In all honesty, a lot of people are 'hostile' in real life. However, these are the people you tend to stay away from and don't interact with.
When it comes to using the Internet, most people in More Economically Developed Countries have computers, or at least access to computers. These are almost all people you will have never met before, and so you don't know whether you'll end up falling into a crowd of people who are rude, or demeaning to others.
I personally find it difficult to react well to people who are acting 'hostile'. I only visit one other forum, but it's a place that I've been part of for over 4 years. When I see people being rude, I almost feel that it's my 'duty' to do something about it, without being rude in return, of course. The best solution, I find, is to but it across to them, quite generally, that what they are doing is wrong or at least, you are unhappy about the way they are acting.
I suppose sometimes you don't know whether these are 'full of themselves', sarcastic people genuinely trying to be nasty, or whether it's a child, not understanding what they're doing, or the consequences that their actions are having.

I tend to steer clear of chatrooms, unless it's mainly full of people I know, either in real life, or through the Internet already. Still, IM software, such as MSN and Steam Chat, are often the best way to go, rather than entering chatrooms full of people who might be waiting to take advantage of you.

[CarolA]

Originally Posted by Joshy

I suppose sometimes you don't know whether these are 'full of themselves', sarcastic people genuinely trying to be nasty, or whether it's a child, not understanding what they're doing, or the consequences that their actions are having.

I tend to steer clear of chatrooms, unless it's mainly full of people I know, either in real life, or through the Internet already. Still, IM software, such as MSN and Steam Chat, are often the best way to go, rather than entering chatrooms full of people who might be waiting to take advantage of you.

Sometimes I suspect the "nasties" are really rather young and still at the stage of schoolyard taunts. Either that or they don't get to interact with normal adults much, otherwise they would learn not to behave that way. Can you imagine how long you would last in a job acting like that?

[sarek]

Dutch fora are notorious for impolite and rude behaviour. That's why I don't like to be on them all that often.

I think a major reason is simply that you can't see the other persons face. You don't know if they are friendly or angry or hurt by what you say.
Smilies go only part of the way to solve that problem and misunderstandings are common.

You don't know peoples backgrounds either. Past experiences, good or bad, are a powerful formative influence. Not everyone has the inner strength to turn lemons into lemonade.
Knowing just a little bit more about where someone comes from can go a long way to foster better understanding.

[OctoberMist]

LOL!

Online communication has always been this way, since even before the Net existed. Back in the old BBS days, people were actually far, far nastier than they are today. Not even IRC can touch the kind of stuff we used to say back then...

I think this happens for several reasons:

A) Objectification through Anonymity - Since people are largely anonymous on the Net, it is easy to objectify them as merely a screen name / avatar / etc. People become desensitized to the inherent humanity of the person they are dealing with.

B) Good Old-Fashioned Dysfunctionaltity - There are simply a lot of emotionally dysfunctional people in the world. They have difficulty expressing and indentifying their own emotions. When they have an emotional reaction to something they do not understand, or become frustated, their first instinct is to lash out in a rage.

C) Lack of Patience - Let's face: we live in an instant-gratification society. The same applies to communication. On the Net, when people have a encounter that does not suit them in the moment, they often lack the patience to try to work through the problem. Instead, it is far easier to simply write the other person off as a "jerk" and treat them accordingly.

[Ennui]

Originally Posted by backworldman

it seems to me that people chatting on the internet are far more impolite than people in real life. i wonder why? is it simply because they can't be slapt in face? or are they playing out the bad side of a underdog personality they display in real life? what are yor thoughts?

For Internet justified reasons,amid one whereof is that people chatting is for a trivia purpose,when there is a reprieve from a formal symposium;negotiation,etc.People also uses colloquial vernacular now,which when they are acclimatized to it.

Reputedly,the accentuation of studies had been not accruing or not taken acutely which induces a drawback for speaking mediocre lauguage.

In the past,approximately Shakespeare,Miguel Cervantes' life,they are much more ingenious of thematic assimilation.In this century,people are hectic of making softwares,governing their bussiness rightly,and bestow the intellect a wide berth.