Politeness on the Internet

[Lord_Cathaseigh]

What's your opinion on how polite people are on the web? Do you find people ruder in real life or on the internet?

Also, if you find people ruder on the internet, how can we help that? Do comments and forums simply need more moderation or is the answer more complex?

Looking forward to your comments

 

[octorok74]

People are definitely ruder on the internet, cause they don't have to see the person they hurt. Although there are packets of people who are pretty polite. ZD carries some of those people.

 

[Ventus]

People are ruder on the Internet, it's a given. Because there is no real agency chasing offenders down, people of all kinds feel the need and ability to say this and that without regards to anything.

Now, there is no way to fix the current level politeness on the Internet. Banning people will just give rise to others, and the cycle will continue. Rather, I think we should simply ignore those who are incredibly rude. Y'all can start by ignoring me.

 

[A Link In Time]

The general gist of this thread is great and I actually wanted to post a similar one about how Internet personas compare to peoples' behavior in real life but you beat me to the chase. I personally believe that the majority of Internet users are more experimental online than in real life. Sometimes this leads to rudeness and other times it ferments increased social activity as the lack of face-to-face communication prompts the shy among us to crawl out of their shells.

I think forum moderation definitely should exist for there will always be braggers or opponents of humanity lurking around the corner but the web should never become a police state. While easily the most flexible entertainment medium with little to no censorship, I find forum rules to be more stringent than societal standards sometimes. The key isn't to warn or infract wrongdoers but rather converse with them in order to gain a more wholistic view into their lives. During my first few months here on ZD I believe I was a bit too aggressive in progressing my own views and shutting down those of others and by learning to cooperate and emphasize with those aorund me I've not only made new friends but crafted a more enjoyable environment for myself and others.

 

[Lord_Cathaseigh]

What about the use of "troll"? If we pointed out that they're being rude and actually communicate about it, would there be a difference? Seems better than just labeling them (IMO)

EDIT: Moderation and banning can work. Sure, there's no agency for hunting them down. And I don't think being rude is grounds for that. Website owners do, however, have the tools to moderate who posts what. If someone's being rude or even abusive, they can ban their IPv4 to stop them from commenting. Now, of course, people can make (or use) proxies to get around this. We DO need a better solution to that.

 

[octorok74]

Trolls look for attention. If you point them out the just react even worse. If you leave them alone, they rage. There is no way to win with a troll except with the good old contingency plan. Or with "The Hand", which I've talked to Kybyrian about.

 

[Ventus]

Labeling someone a troll will cause a violent reaction that could very well rip through time fabric. I've seen it myself. However, there is a very easy way to deal with a troll: just ignore it. Yes, they'll keep up with the spamming/hatecomments/what have you, but the less attention you give them is the faster they go away, on average. Or, you could simply report the troll whenever possible.

If you tell them that they're being rude, guess what? They'll laugh in your face; the whole entire point of them being rude is to troll and nothing more. So pointing out how this and that action is rude serves no point. It's a good idea, but in practice it heals nothing and sometimes causes more damage.

 

[Ronin]

It depends very much on the topic and the poster.

Let's just say that a topic, posted in General Discussion, is about something that asks people what they like (and let's say it's about puppies), then the discussion will more likely than not present a collective chorus of positive agreement. The very nature of this hypothetical subject will undoubtedly bring out the adoration that the majority of people have towards puppies [:dog:]. On the other hand, if we took this to, say, Mature Discussion, then we're prone to be on much more aggressive grounds. Members will then want to have their opinions heard, but some matters get to be pretty touchy. That should serve as a fine line for the puppy and a warzone. [jk]

In real life, the same could be easily applied to every person and every circumstance. If a person has had a bad day and wants to release some stress, they might come on the 'Net and try to do just that. And if they make snippy remarks, any reader would take that as them being rude, without comprehending that their day wasn't all that great. But this scarcely ever occurs, especially on these forums. The polite people seem to always be more prevalent than those who are plain and outright rude.

Lastly, forum moderation is only there if we need it. Otherwise, in the case that most of the members are rude, the requirement for some form of arbitration would be necessary so that the entire community didn't go down hill.

 

[Lord_Cathaseigh]

If someone is obviously trolling, I.E. "Nintendo sucks microsoft is the best!11!!1" then I agree that the best option is to ignore it and move on. The mods have the responsibility of locking or otherwise dealing with said person. People aren't always rude cause they want to "troll" though. Let's face it, on any big forum (ZD, GoNintendo, ect.) people are gonna be rude. Generally someone else is gonna say something, and sometimes (usually) it's not the best way of handling it ("Trolls be trollin...") In that case I'd rather step in and point out politely why what they said was wrong (before someone starts a flame war). A good example would be yourself, ALIT, Fig, SoZ, and a lot of the article writers. You guys usually handle those situations very well.

 

[Fig]

I find to see the Internet very polite and rude throughout. It all depends on the website and how one acts in the website. For example, this website is clearly the nicest there is. My personal is actually how I act in real life. I'm shy, nice, and I love the positive side of life. It all depends on how one decides to act on the Internet. That's what I think how it is.

 

[Cel-Shaded Deku]

I don't think the collective rudeness of people on the internet is much more rude than the collective rudeness of people in real life. There are trolls on the internet, but there are mischievous and angry people you will meet in person. You will talk to people who are in bad moods, but if you talk to someone who's in a bad mood over the internet he won't feel like he has to censor his emotions as much. When someone is rude on the internet then what he may be doing is not suppressing his emotions, which is healthy. Perhaps unlikable behavior happens just as often on the internet but more intense so our minds trick us into thinking there's more of it.

 

[Jimmu]

People tend to be ruder on average than in real life (judging by my experiences anyway). There isn't any real punishment and the people are most likely never going to meet you if you are rude on the Internet.

People can come off as rude sometimes even if they are not trying to be at all, I'm sure that almost all of us have been misinterpreted at at least one point in time. You don't know how the person is feeling, their mood, the tone of their voice (in most cases though the tone of their writting) and other outside circumstances. There are also typos that can change meaning and Auto-Correct aswell.

If you can surround yourself with a great community (that's where sites like Zelda Dungeon come in) then you can have a very pleasant time on the internet.

 

[misskitten]

On the internet we hide behind the safety of anonymity, which allows us to speak our minds more easily, but because we primarily relate to screennames, we don't always remember that we are dealing with real life people at the other end, which allows us to be ruder online than we ever would in real life. In my opinion it can both be a blessing as well as a curse. I am one of those people who value honesty, even negative honesty, who believe politeness, white lies etc creates an uncertainty whether or not people actually mean the things they say or if they hide their true opinions behind the curtain of politeness.

Of course this can be taken very far on the internet and can easily turn into trolling and cyberbullying or at the very least draw a lot of negative attention to yourself. I have a friend who takes the anonymity of the internet too far and can become rather crass in the things he say, while in real life he knows to filter. What happens is that he often ends up insulting people online, and not just random screennames on some forum, but people he talk to regularly online. He forgets that he's dealing with real people with real feelings when he's not directly face to face with them, which has resulted in him alienating people from himself.

I think it's important for us to remind ourselves that even when we sit in front of a screen, we are talking to real life people. The existance of moderators is a necessity on forums, as long as they are appointed for the right reasons. Unfortunately I've come across some places where people view being moderator appointments as a popularity contest rather than a job, and that can in some cases end up making problems worse (I actually had to deal with huge drama on my own forum when I decided not to appoint two of my members as moderators due to the way they escalated an ongoing conflict rather than calming it down).

 

[Raindrop14]

What's your opinion on how polite people are on the web? Do you find people ruder in real life or on the internet?

I think people are more rude on the internet simply because a person in real life would have a "better" reaction and faster. Say you are insulting some one in real, well that someone can punch you in the face. On the internet, they can't punch you. They can report you yes, but what would you care? If I were a bully, I'd rather get banned than punched.

Also, if you find people ruder on the internet, how can we help that? Do comments and forums simply need more moderation or is the answer more complex?

Well banning people can help, but they'll come back eventually. But I think we need to just ignore them. They tend to get bored if it takes no effect.

 

[Mariley]

People are generally far more rude and behave horribly on the internet thanks to being anonymous. How you act on the internet is a good judge of that persons true character in my opinion. The type of people that say horrible things to others aren't ''really'' good people at all, they just have to act civilized in real life because society wouldn't tolerate that kind of behavior. They can let their true colors shine while hiding behind anonymity on the internet however.