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PeonForHer -> RE: It seems common ground is as common as common sense (7/25/2011 7:14:58 AM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: kalikshama
I try to maintain the same level of civility here as I would around the dinner table.
The last forum I used, which closed after ten years on Saturday, was like that at first. People spoke to each other as though they were in the same, real life, room. Things were very civil. It broke down, though, and the nastiness came out, bit by bit, as it dawned on people that they could disguise their individualities and even create whole new ones. The forum was unmonitored. It became apparent that some of the worst people around - those people who had no friends in real time and who'd get beaten up if they were to proffer their views in a pub or at a party - were finding a comfy home there. It was like having too many wasps at a picnic. A few of us realised, way too late, that it was a serious mistake to give out private details or impart, even by private messaging, things that were too sensitive or personal. It was shocking to see how much people could, and also shocking to see how few limits they had in what they'd use in order to hurt those they hated.
You get both the best and the worst as a result of the physical distance and the anonymity, I think. The sharpest of ideas, thoughts and feelings - but also the nastiest. Forums can liberate both. People are like that in many cases because, for the first time, they can be like that.
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