#0059 | anonymity

The question is which is the real charade - their real life persona or their online angry and judgmental persona? It’s a bit frightening to think about when you filter through the comments on most websites or worse, when you’re the one under attack for an article, a film or even just another comment of your own.

The headline says it ALL. The Internet is a double edged sword. It’s great because the mainstream media is just a corporate propaganda machine that promotes the dimmest forms of news and entertainment. So the Internet is the best source for news. It is also a great source for intelligent exchange. But then there’s the unintelligent exchange. It is too often a forum or vehicle for idiotic comments written by people who are immature, uninformed, mean-spirited, overly aggressive, racist, narrow-minded and rude. I have seen comments about filmmaking written by individuals who do not have a clue of how a film is written or made. I have seen comments by people who make lewd and immature sexual remarks about attractive girls without any provocation. I have read comments that fly in the face of research-based science, history, psychology and politics. It’s as if all the trolls and moles have stepped out of their damp cells, grabbed a computer and retreated once again, but now armed with a voice to the outside world coming from their anonymous personas.

I’m so glad someone mentioned this, because it’s high time someone called for more politeness on the interweb. Being online is fun because you can be anyone you want to, which means that you can be as rude or as nice as you want, and there are almost no repercussions. As long as you remember to not take anything personally on the net then you should be fine. Always keep a thick skin.

Although I hasten to add that as soon as I realised what assholes people became on the net, I made a conscious effort to be nice to people while online.

We did a sketch about this a few months back. I used it as my website link in case anyone want to see it. The sketch is called “Anonymous Ass” and it hits head on what you are talking about. It is a weird phenomenon.

i believe you are looking for John Gabriel’s Greater Internet F***wad Theory, from Penny Arcade.

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/03/19

GOOD SIR…YOUR BLOG SUCKS AND I WILL STAB YOU IN THE NECK, CHEST AND BALLS.

…oh god…what have I become…*quietly weeps*

goto ebaumsworld every one there that leaves comments are a bunch of @#$%^$#@#$@##@!!@!@@

I think anonymity makes people feel more free to be honest. I think we ought to appreciate it for what it is instead of getting all offended like women.

This topic has come up before, but for a different scenario. It would be cool to compare/contrast the two situations. The other scenario evaluates how people behave when driving, specifically road rage. Again, your watching the human species interact when they are exposed to the public mass. You’ll see an entirely different side in some people that get easily aggitated by other “dumb” drivers. You can sit there in the passanger seat and observe the human species acting in rage, the same person that is your friend and never gets mad at anyone on foot. Makes you wonder why people tend to let their patience drop and easily get enraged by something as simple as driving with others. Anytime you expose a person to the public mass, they will act differently, though some of us can control it and be normal. I guess that part of the brain that characterizes us is different. It’s only natural. Otherwise, we will get mad at everyone being so friendly to each other if we were all wired the same. It’s like defining the word entropy with the word life. Again, it’s only natural.

this is the most flaming piece of shit i’ve ever read.

I work in a call center and we get death threats for the pettiest things…literally, death threats….I don’t know how many times I’ve been called a cuntface before. It used to be that you can tell a lot about a person by how they treat their waitress or waiter. Now it’s all about how you treat other people from the comfort of your own home - whether you’re talking to the person on the phone who’s managing your bank account, or commenting on someone’s blog anonymously….that’s where you’ll show your true colors.

Its a form of release I think, you can be really sincere, but then some jerk goes and put you down with some stupid goddamn reason, so you go to the dark side and you play ball.

this arther is a gay

PWNED~!~!!!!

If you were immune to the law, how would you act?
Most people do not act this way because there are REPERCUSSIONS in real life. Most people are monsters and if were given the chance to rape and murder without any consequences, do you think they’ll still be um… nice? How about that crush you had, or that hot girl down the street? Or the jerk who gave you a hard time? Would you think twice? Very, very few people are truly truly good inside. We are doomed. See you in hell.

They do it for the lulz.

i think you made an intersting point here…ABOUT SUCKING BALLS!! I HAVE LIVING PROOF THAT YOU ARE A WOMAN WITH A PENIS. JESUS HIMSELF KNOWS THAT YOU LOVE COCK!

Nice article.

eddie - you’re a f***ing idiot.

Bumfish.

Well, someone had to say it.

Aren’t you adopting the same personality type by posting this as an anonymous message?

now that’s a worthy article

Here’s the thing, everyone. The internet is stupid and goofy. It is also fun and useful, but it is primarily ridiculous. If you take the internet seriously, then you too are stupid. Trolling is the art of pissing people off on the internet because it’s funny. When people take utterly trivial things far too seriously, it is hilarious. For example, fanfiction writers, Star Wars geeks, Harry Potter nerds, and video game addicts. People actually get mad about other folks’ preference of COMPUTER OPERATING SYSTEM. And that’s stupid and funny, so you piss those people off with a quick “Windows/OSX/Linux sucks” and watch them froth at the mouth over something that does not matter in the slightest. Just laugh about it. If you find yourself starting to care about what someone on the internet says about your videos, comments, or whatever else, you need to go outside and reevaluate your life.

Hey, I’m a dick* in real life too, agnabbit!

*Outspoken and willing to argue to defend my beliefs

Its a soundstage on Mars!

it’s sad when people are proud of being a “dick”. really really sad.

From Matt G above: “getting all offended like women”….sigh

There should be some serious research done to address this problem. It seems to me that it’s akin to how people act while driving. I myself get irrationally pissed off at motorists I consider too slow, too fast, or just “in my way”. Ditto online. I can’t recall how many times I’ve watched a video on YouTube, gotten halfway through ripping it to shreds, and realized what I was doing. “This is the internet, for goodness’ sake! It’s supposed to be full of inanity. Don’t add to it.” I click the discard button, and go about my business, conscience clean. If only more people would be like me, I am such a paragon of awesomeness.

This blob was totally photoshopped.

meh, this keeps coming up, and everyone points to “anonymity” as the culprit. I think that’s a total misconception. The reality is that you’re seeing everyone’s true thoughts, that normally are filtered.

Think of it this way… we all have a “common-sense” filter that tells you when to shut-up, or say something in a nicer way. When you’re on the net, it’s just YOU, alone. So the filter is turned off.

So when a scrawny kids mouths off to a 250lb meat-head, it’s NO different than what would have been inside that kids head if they were sitting face-to-face. The only difference is he wouldn’t have vocalized it.

So what THAT means is that when that kid gets up and walks away from his PC, he’s no different than if he’d never used the computer. The only difference is now we know what’s inside that kids head.

And that’s the reason why we should be GLAD to have this exposure on the net. If you say something in the real world, everyone around you may be “polite”, filter their comments and not give you any real reaction. On the net, not only do they not filter their comments, you get the full stream of conscious.

Powerful stuff.

Megado had the best comment out of all of them. For convenience, I will quote it:
“If you were immune to the law, how would you act?
Most people do not act this way because there are REPERCUSSIONS in real life. Most people are monsters and if were given the chance to rape and murder without any consequences, do you think they’ll still be um… nice? How about that crush you had, or that hot girl down the street? Or the jerk who gave you a hard time? Would you think twice? Very, very few people are truly truly good inside. We are doomed. See you in hell.”

Megado is correct that most folks restrain themselves because of potential consequences. People are “monsters” because of a thing called “original sin” which does result in an existence in hell. I disagree that we are doomed because of this, however. There is a remedy. Jesus Christ lived a perfect life and paid the penalty for sin. Putting a SINCERE faith in Him will result in a gradual change of your heart and character. Note the word “sincere”.

what exactly do we stand to gain from the inane “full stream of consciousness”. constructive criticism is one thing. enthusiasm over learning to spell swear words is another.

my unfiltered opinion: adamssl is a genius

the internet has made me into this

i totally agree with adamssl

This Wikipedia page explains the root of the problem: “The Dunning-Kruger effect is the phenomenon wherein people who have little knowledge think that they know more than others who have much more knowledge.”

If you dismiss me without understanding me, I will be less receptive, and possibly hostile.

It snowballs from there…

Desu?

Or maybe it’s the other way around. People are really like they are on the net, and “act” within society’s “norms” in real life.

People are just bored…. really really bored. Where jerks are concerned you often get their first reaction, however stupid it is. lastly, they are bitter… most likely because life rejected them.

I also think because of the scope and accessibility of the internet, you have access to a greater percentage of the assholes out there than you would otherwise come into contact with. And everybody gets worked up so quickly when someone disagrees with them (especially about politics/religion). Just read their comments, shake your head if you think they are an idiot, and move on. ‘Cause they are probably not the only person who feels that way, and you will not erradicate their line of thinking by leaving a comment that calls them an idiot, or threatens violence. *sigh*

See penny-arcade’s comic “John Gabriel’s Theory of Internet Anonyminity.”

You are seeing people’s true selves. It doesn’t just come from the lower dredges of society - this is human behavior from the highest echelon to the lowest. It spans all corners of the globe. It infects every woman, man, child… One can not and must not differentiate.

That’s why we have laws - because most people are really self-serving pieces of shit who will sell you out for a buck. You need to force them to behave - even the enforcers need to be forced to behave. Some people understand this, which is a good start. The rest never will.

At some point in the future there will be social networks where you will be REQUIRED to positively identify yourself (ie: biometric scan) and use your real name / likeness. If every single one of us had our REAL email address, photograph, and name attached to our posts we’d be a lot more civil. If you couldn’t hide behind an androgynous username and avatar you’d act very differently. That’s why people don’t call up and act this way to the pizza delivery guy. He knows where you live and wouldn’t hesitate to spit on your food if you treated him badly.

It’s not “seeing people’s true selves.” It’s a behavior which the person feels is appropriate. We don’t behave the same way in every circumstance. You don’t talk to your mother as you would to your 10 year old cousin as you would to your high school teacher. People learn how to behave this way from eachother.

To say that it’s ridiculous to become angry at a response on the internet is foolish because that implies that you should only feel apathy online. Which is arguably impossible because that implies that you should never care about anything.

Don’t stop at what seems to be an easy answer. Dig a little deeper. Think it through.

Here’s a new haiku for you:

“Serious business”
Can’t fill that empty soul, dude.
Go play outside. Care.

haha. blip - that was nice. =)

I admit it, im an ultra nice person in real life. But yeah I am pretty much a deuche bag on the internet. Youtube brings out my inner pissed off child that doesn’t like to share his toys.

I just had a thought…do you suppose that people’s tendencies to be jerks when they’re posting as anonymous is directly proportional to their tendencies to be jerks when they’re drunk?

AnonGuy: Not all people are self-serving shit.

I’ve come across a precious few who aren’t. They’re rare, but they’re out there. And usually they’re suicidally depressed.

lol @ Matt G
So right. Most ppl are assholes in real life but they suppress theirselves… i love sincere bastards on real life i hate phony successful idiots

I’m pretty nice on the day to day, but when my thoughts are put on the screen, it becomes a whole different thing. So, maybe I am an absolute douchebag or maybe I can just express my anger and cuntiness better in words, hummmm, you decide.

Heh.. Sometimes I can’t help but give free reign to my magenta creation Wanna joke?) What do cats like on a hot day? A mice cream cone.

So I read a lot of these replies and it really kinda sucks to admit but they’re probably right. People suck and it’s probably fake behavior both on the net and in real life. For example, me as myself, I act like a 5 year old and annoy the hell out of people, but I love my friends much more than they would ever know. Do you think I show this side of me much? Nope, it’s too easy to get hurt and I drive a lot of people away. And on the net, you’ve got the freedom to be yourself… If you’re a strong person, but most seem to just use it as a way to make themselves feel strong. They curse and treat people like dirt for the same reason the school bully does… They’re insecure and they want attention and that behavior get’s them that attention and often a few laughs too. Granted, they’ll never admit it. I mean, would you? But hey, no self discipline and selfish behavior is all our society teaches.

>>>>>But hey, no self discipline and selfish behavior is all our society teaches.

…and here I thought that parents were supposed to be the teachers…silly me…