Bullgrit
Adventurer
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
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