I'd like to take a few minutes here to just touch on something that is bothering me.


It has come to my attention that all over the internet, people have grown to a level now where they cannot stay respectful in any given conversation about any given topic when one user and another are in disagreement about said topic, and I'm talking about actual, productive sites, not just 4chan. This has happened to almost everyone, but it's been happening to me a lot over the past year or so on 20+ forums I visit around the internet, so I feel compelled to publish this.


When people find themselves in disagreement with another user, it usually goes hand in hand with opinions, something we all have lots of. The problem? People no longer see eye to eye with the other person, instead latching on to the hate we already built up for others that touch on the same topic or key things surrounding those topics, generally ones we have no way to refute with (TV personalities, presidents, governors, senate, congress, authors, filmmakers, celebrities, etc...).


With this being a huge percentage of the cause, whether consciously you are aware of it or not, (and sometimes we are in denial of it, such as one interpretation of the TDS main character in the song "March Of The Pigs" ) it is understandable that we as humans can become angry at another person who supports/disagrees with the subject at hand, especially when we can tell them off.


So where do we go from here? If we are to have meaningful, reasonable conversations over the internet, we need acknowledge and establish a few key things:


1. Do not abandon the logical choice to support one's opinion to the full extent (and no further than that) of the given information that person has supplied you with. This does not mean you have to agree with them, this means you say to yourself, "What if this were me? How would I feel about that? How can I reply, expand, challenge or request more information from the user without being disrespectful?

2. Discussion is NOT a game. If that's what you want to be, join a debate team. It's natural for humans to feel we have to "one-up" the other person, but all this leads to is frustration and never gets your anywhere. It can also cause confusion to others outside of your discussion with your opposite and halt the actual topic when it becomes purely "you vs. me".

3. We must understand that right is point of view. I was raised Christian as a child, and like most Christians, raised to believe my religion was correct. It wasn't until I got older that I realized the only reason Christians believed their religion so firmly was because they were raised with it being essentially fact, and that any other religion has the same credibility to it's followers, whether it has that credibility to you.

4. We must set middlegrounds and back-off of a conversation when we know that either side of the discussion can't handle it. I've seen many, many people over forums grow to hate each other over irrelevant things that would never determine their friendship in real life. This can be political, religious, cultural, or anything else. It doesn't matter. If we intend to keep ourselves civil and keep a good relationship with other users, we must not prevoke said users.

5. Do not UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, for ANY reason, try to pass your own beliefs off as fact or force them on another user. It is instead better to say "my opinions, my beliefs, etc..." and cut them down in content when you know the other user is beyond the point of seeing them eye to eye with you.

6. Set examples. When a conversations gets uncivilized, a good indicator is when the other user(s) is angry, not accepting of your views and has started using any of (NSFW) these words in a HOSTILE ONLY manner. It's not a good idea to feed their anger with your own, it never is. Sometimes they can be just like you, normal, maybe even good people who are just pissed off about something, or sometimes they can be trolls. Either way, violence isn't the answer.


Anyways, that's all I have to say. I hope some of you take these things into consideration the next time you are about burst out in a rant towards someone else.



Edited 8 time(s). Last edit at 07/15/2010 12:44AM by rodheh.

LobotomyBaby posted:

i'm sorry but you're just wrong about the internet in general.
fuck you, buddy

What is there to be "wrong" about? My belief that I think people can be friendlier and in turn cut stress from their experience by at least being respectful?


Not all of the internet is 4chan, you know. I'm just staying positive.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/14/2010 04:29AM by rodheh.

I keep conversations civil. Even when the dragons roar and the flowers have fled their pots due to the wars of the skeletal age, I've been able to keep a conversation civilized until the panty liners raided the snouts of elderpuss. I know now, god dammit, I know now when to just walk away from teh sands of Kay.

Besides. Yer wrong. According to prince, the internet is over. Nothing of what you said up there is even valid. All hell has broken loose and it's coming out of my pants.

This is America, buddy, and i'm aloud to shoot peop-Wait, what's this thread about again?

Is this the "Don't be an asshole, don't take the internet so seriously" one?