Whatever happened to manners?
- Thread starter cuddly_tomato
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Our manners go out the door around the time the person either hasn't RTFM or hasn't even taken the time to look at the page their thread will be inahbiting before making one exactly like the others (I'm lookiing at you User Reviews. We already have enough ODST reviews as it is).
The term "dozy *****-queen" should be a title for people who are put on probation.
Anyway sometimes people get tired of seeing a thread. However I think if it's a few years old you should be able to bring up the topic again.
Anyway sometimes people get tired of seeing a thread. However I think if it's a few years old you should be able to bring up the topic again.
I don't think that there were any sort of manners as you've imagined them to be. I think that you're conceptualizing an ideal form of the past that never existed and lamenting it. The simple fact of the matter is that people are better behaved than they ever have been in our history. Civil discourse is actually at a greater level than it ever has been. And yes, there are actual historians on manners who can point this out to you. I'd be glad to tell you whom if you're really interested. If you're lamenting the state of discourse, that's a different story. But don't fool yourself into thinking that things are worse.
Or, alternatively, if you're a prick to the wrong somebody in real you might end up leaving the scene with a bloodied nose.Machines Are Us said:
I usually make a conscious effort to lighten the tone of whatever I type so it doesn't come off as standoff-ish. Sometimes I think I'm a bit more sensitive about what I write than others though because there have been times that I knew the way I wrote something was going to cause problems, but never did.
Is there a way t improve manners on the internet in forums like these? No, the main reason being anonymity like Machines Are Us mentioned. Maybe some of these people are bullied in real life and they use the interent to try and take their frustrations out. The simple fact is there are two many users for any type of policing to be effective.
Yes, but what orders did they carry out? Torturing someone else. Why? because under orders they can get away with it.Sebass said:
The blame goes elsewhere, in a similar way to being on the internet where there are no consequences. The point I was making is that when it comes down to it, people are not nice and if they can get away with it they will show it.
If people make another thread, I generally just leave them alone.
But if someone asked me the way to a biology class I'd tell them that they're a dumbarse.
Seriously, search Sutton Grammar School into Google maps; the whole school is smaller than a corner shop. I mean, we have less than 800 students in the school.
But if someone asked me the way to a biology class I'd tell them that they're a dumbarse.
Seriously, search Sutton Grammar School into Google maps; the whole school is smaller than a corner shop. I mean, we have less than 800 students in the school.
I'm thinking of replying to everyone that uses the "SERCH BAR!" thing with "Don't read it then, you post-padding arse."
I wanna see if that does any dent. Doubt it, and they'll probably get more posts telling me that they have every right to spam when a topic has been done repeatedly, but it'll make me feel better.
I wanna see if that does any dent. Doubt it, and they'll probably get more posts telling me that they have every right to spam when a topic has been done repeatedly, but it'll make me feel better.
Lots of people are obnoxious in the "real world." Not only does it get them what they want but other people admire them for it.
i am rude to people in real life and not that much on the internet because of the Anonymity to it....i want to see the crushed look on their face, or the anger boiling up, or the simple indifference to my douchebaggery if i don't get that satisfaction what's the point?...manners are relative, no 2 people have the same exact view on them, polite people tend to piss me off because they SEEM fake and they typically can't just say what they mean or give direct instructions/directions etc. rude people are quick and typically help far more(in my experience and opinion).
Take this stance: My energy and time is more important than your feeling bad.arsonistarchitect said:
What also bothers me is those threads where someone's saying that they're worried they might kill themselves.
People keep going, "Oh, this is probably just some drama queen." or, "They're just doing this for the attention." Sure, that's a possibility, but isn't it also just as likely that someone is actually making a muted effort to cry for help?
What's more important: Looking a little gullible, or having been the tipping point that causes someone to slit their own throat?
Conversely, you could also wind up being the tipping point that makes the timid co-worker go on a rampage with a machine gun.
Do you want bullets in your face? I don't know about you, but when I see someone being a jerk on the internet, I wish I had the power of the banhammer.
I could see someone with less mental stability banhammering someone in real life for the same reason.
Whether they have been and gone or never existed, I don't really think that is any justification for certain people to behave in the way that they do. I would also say that, on the whole, behaviour on the internet is worse than it is in real life.hyrulegaybar said:
http://www.dailytech.com/Users+Flood+the+Internet+With+Web+Rage/article13358.htm
And look at this kind of crap...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/shropshire/7099569.stm
I believe that the anonymity offered on the internet can also be an opportunity to vent for some. It's easier because the person you are insulting can't do anything to you (other than answer to the insult, in which case you claim to have trolled him/her), and nobody really gets very hurt. If you cry yourself to sleep at night because of what some fuckwad said on the internet, then you should probably see a shrink about self-esteem issues.
Because people are anonymous. So they have greater freedom to be dicks without any of the consequences.
Well no not really. There were alot of experiments, and under several (granted, where the parameters were altered) more people refused to give shocks and also earlier on (read the part 'Milgram's variations' in the link you provided)Machines Are Us said:
There's a video of one of the participants, where you see a man giving shocks, obviously against his will, only because the instructor tells him he has to continue. It's obvious that person giving shocks clearly does not like what he does. Many people also started laughing hysterically from stress when they reached a certain voltage.
Also from the wikipedia article
Trust me, I had a social psychology class last year and they covered the experiments thoroughly: it's about obeying orders and not about 'wanting to hurt others'
I think half the problem is this - this almost sounds like you are blaming the victim of a troll for being too sensitive, rather than blaming the troll for being part of the slime of humanity. Internet culture seems to be adapting towards accepting that people should behave like dicks towards each other, and that anyone who doesn't like it shouldn't be "playing". I think this is a completely wrong mindset to take.Nightzirk said:
Yeah, I'm sorry, but death threats on the internet should be taken seriously. It's just another form of communication. In the early days, we took it to be this perfectly anonymous forum where we could vent our innermost darkness if we wanted, but it's become increasingly harder to do so. The internet has shifted to becoming a public forum, and you have to watch your ass, lest it cost you a spouse, a job, or your life. You have to at least use a bit of logic with it.cuddly_tomato said:
At the same time though, I don't agree with the articles that you posted. The first was just a USA Today-style fluff piece about internet rage--spare me. It's a bullshit attempt at yellow journalism. The second was a bit more disconcerting, I admit. But the thing is this: people have always had these thoughts and urges. They just have a vent for them now. The overwhelming majority of negativity I have seen on the internet has been promulgated by younger people expressing themselves in an exceptionally negative way. They have a vent for that now. I would be surprised to find that the poor girl who was the target of death threats was in legitimate danger. It sounds more like some shitheaded 13-year-olds showing no mercy.
And that's pretty much how things have always been. People have been vicious to each other for a long time. It's just that we're seeing it in written form for the first time. This is no different from being cursed out randomly on the street or at a party or any other sort of public venue. We can just track it now. Little girls have been getting leukemia for a long time and there have been people who have shown no mercy, even with the threat of social reprisal.
I recall in my youth that there was a girl who was diagnosed with type-1 diabetes. The next day, we had a huge ice cream party and this little ***** of a girl came up to her and said, "Ha ha, you can't have any!"
Of course, now she'd just use MySpace. But it wouldn't alter the behavior.
I think you're more horrified that people act this way. The internet's just a tool. Don't blame the hammer though. Blame the craftsman.