Is the Internet a hive of scum and villainy?

Bullgrit · Feb 27, 2014

My sons are starting to watch some YouTube videos. Mostly Minecraft and World of Warcraft stuff. So far as I know, they haven't yet scrolled down and read any of the comments. My wife and I are trying very hard to keep them out of any comments section.

My experience with YouTube video comments, and pretty much comments on any site, is that people on the Internet are generally horrible, terrible people. In just about any comments section, at least half the people are either painfully ignorant or just nasty mean or both. Places like ENWorld are very, very rare. (From what I've seen of ENW's sister site, CM, even people who post civilly here can be awful when given the option.)

It's the Gabriel Internet ****wad theory: A normal person + anonymity + an audience = total ****wad.

I'm fearful of the day one of my boys finds a comment section or discussion forum that doesn't have any moderation. The Internet can be a well of infinite information and knowledge, but damn, it can also be a bottomless pit of just evilness.

What do you think? We are well past the Internet's infancy and even juvenility, so will the general culture ever mature to a point of general civility being the norm instead of negativity being the most common expression?

Bullgrit

delericho · Feb 27, 2014

Bullgrit said:
What do you think?

Yep, at present it's pretty much a HoS&V.

so will the general culture ever mature to a point of general civility being the norm instead of negativity being the most common expression?

There appear to be moves towards ending internet anonymity. That will help. Plus, there's a growing (and actually rather worrying) trend towards having people suffering real-world consequences for things that are documented online, sometimes vastly out of proportion with any reasonable response.

So I think things will improve over time... but it's going to be awfully painful getting there.

Olgar Shiverstone · Feb 27, 2014

This is what you get when you combine anarchy and anonymity ... a wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be cautious.

See also: Niven's Cloak of Anarchy. Not the internet, but I think the lesson still applies.

Kramodlog · Feb 27, 2014

It is just a reflection of who humans are. We are the ones on it, not AIs.

athos · Feb 27, 2014

Bullgrit said:
What do you think? We are well past the Internet's infancy and even juvenility, so will the general culture ever mature to a point of general civility being the norm instead of negativity being the most common expression?

As long as there are no negative consequences for acting poorly, people will act to the lowest common denominator. In a game store, if someone said something highly inappropriate, you could ask them to step out into the parking lot, but on the internet, they are completely safe. This safety from a punch in the nose, allows those that are small and angry to lash out at anyone with no fear of reprisal. In fact, I think they save up all the anger they have from real life where they are too timid to do anything and then vent it out into the internet. That is why you see "nerd rage" over silly things. People that are secure with who they are act the same in real life and on the net, people who are afraid in real life, IMO, are the ones that get really stupid on the internet. So unless you can get therapy for all these angry anti-social people, they are going to continue to act tough where they are safe, the net.

Morrus · Feb 27, 2014

YouTube comments are renowned. There's a reason for that saying - "Don't read the comments!"

Michael Silverbane · Feb 27, 2014

Just like on the forums, those comments sections usually have a "report post" button that you can use to report rude, derogatory, or bullying behavior. Whenever I watch a video on Youtube, I typically spend a few minutes going through the comments and reporting inappropriate posts. On the channels that I frequent, I have seen an improvement in the quality of comments.

Altamont Ravenard · Feb 27, 2014

Are your boys too young to have the "people on the internet are worse than ingrown toenails" yet?

AR

Janx · Feb 27, 2014

delericho said:
Yep, at present it's pretty much a HoS&V.

There appear to be moves towards ending internet anonymity. That will help. Plus, there's a growing (and actually rather worrying) trend towards having people suffering real-world consequences for things that are documented online, sometimes vastly out of proportion with any reasonable response.

So I think things will improve over time... but it's going to be awfully painful getting there.

I think it'll take a couple trolls getting hunted down and shot to demonstrate to the rest of society that you can't act like a jerk on the internet anymore because the other guy CAN find you.

That is of course a terrible way to respond to internet trolling, but you can't keep telling people "be nice or there will be consequences" without somebody actually being the demonstrative example of those consequences. Sometimes YOU are somebody else's karma.

Overall though, yes, internet forums, discussions, comment are absolutely terrible for actual discussion due to the overwhelmingly poor signal to noise ratio.

I don't think it is a good idea to post on ANY comments section. Especially news sites.

I don't think it's valuable to discuss politics or religion with any other human being. The percentage probability that one party will handle it badly and NOT be moved to a new position is too low.

Hand of Evil · Feb 28, 2014

hopefully by that time, they will know that most people who post are just doing so to hear themselves talk and what is being said, is by people wanting attention.