Internet anonymity and douchebaggery.
 

In a bit of an offshoot to the adult conversation thread...

Has the ability to be totally anonymous online, given people the ability to be complete a-holes and just vile humans in general?
You see it on forums, YouTube comments, etc.... They know the chances of repercussion is 99.9% negative. Hence, where your anonymity is basically not allowed, you tend to see pretty positive and friendly interactions.
I see comments by people that, if you would say to someone in real life, you would get your face kicked in without a second thought. Typical pussy keyboard warrior stuff.

I have a friend of mine that is on the same boating related forum. He is probably one of the nicest people you can meet. Would do anything for anyone. When he gets on the forum he turns into Jekyl and Hyde. A total d-bag. Us who know who he is, are like WTF? When confronted, he says he just likes to get a rise out of some people, but who knows.

One of my online rules is, I wont say anything online that I would't say to you face to face.

But, then again depending on the platform, I don't hide who I am online. No need to be secretive about it, especially on Pelican. Iv'e met plenty of fellow Pelicans in real life. They know my name, where I live, ( a couple have been to my home..) Where I work, some have my phone number#. Ive been to their home, etc, etc... So I tend to be pretty cordial for the most part.

I just see it getting worse and worse.

This place is not exempt unfortunately....

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I like these threads because they tend to personalize, help, the forum in general. My take, anyway.

I have met at least ten folks from this place and have helped, been helped, many more on specific stuff. There are others I have not met or corresponded with outside the BBS I genuinely admire.

I try to keep that in mind.

Best, Vin.

The internet doesnt give you anonymity, it makes the target of your crappy behavior seem anonymous to you.

A one star rating..

I rest my case.. :D

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Agreed, Vinny. IMO, though, PP is generally much more civil and orders of magnitude more helpful than many/most other forums or platforms.

Only thing I'd add is that while many of us wouldn't post anything online that we wouldn't be willing to say face-to-face, I fear that way of thinking may be on its way to extinction. When I think of how so many people have grown up as digital natives --- most/all interactions mediated by screens of some kind, not what I'd view as truly interpersonal -- I see that behavior change. You, I, and many others here apply our standards of in-person courtesy to our online behavior. I increasingly see so many others, however, do the opposite -- they apply their (generally fairly low) standards of online behavior to in-person interactions; the recent explosion of 'Karens' comes to mind. Truly sad, and I don't see it getting any better.

aNd only when I haVe One StarrEd Every ThreaD iN GothaM will I Rule tHe World!!!!!! Muwhahahahaha!!!!!!!

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1650129397.jpg

lol.......

Just FYI for everyone for the ten millionth time

You don't have to be a member or be logged in to rate a thread. You don't even have to be a human.

thread ratings are worthless and have nothing to do with you or the even with the content of the threads.

SmileWavy

Completely agree!.

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I know. I Couldn't care less just, making a point! ;)

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Heck, I like being one starred. It sort of a badge for conservatives and libertarians, and makes it easier to spot threads I like.

This town needs an enema!

Right character, wrong actor. Not necessarily meaning PP or PPOT, just in some ways, society in general.

Society, the people that I run into when I'm out and about, seem fine. As stated, it's online. It's not surprising when it's kids. They're *******s in person too, so not much surprise that they are as bad or worse online. But adults do it too. I'm guessing it's unhappy people, or people that feel a lack in their real lives. Maybe they were picked on when they were younger and are now enjoying being able to do the same to others. Maybe they were twats when they were younger and never really grew out of it.

It is weird. And It's weird that sometimes you interact with folks online for long periods where they seem fine, and then they seem to snap.

It reminds me of something that I once read. A lot of folks will get angry and vent. The theory is that they are "letting it out" so it doesn't "build up." I get it, that makes some sort of sense. But I've read that from a psychological point of view, being angry like that gets to be a habit and becomes normalized and is more likely to become a part of their personality.

If I get a one-star on a thread...I give it a five-star. :)
If I don't get any stars...I don't give it any.

Yes as long as you realize that's an imaginary thing you've created there. Nothing wrong with it. :)

Anger certainly can get hardwired. I struggle with that.

When I see someone get angry at something I have 'conquered' not being mad at, I either laugh at myself at how far I've come, OR I actually get mad for them not being able to control their emotions like I have so superiorly learned.

At that point, I realize I haven't learned a damn thing. :D How that for some screwed up thinking!?! :D

definitely a lot of tensions boiling over lately- I see a lot of drivers yelling at traffic, and then 10 minutes later, I'm doing the same thing...

We have reached the stage of humanity where we have robots demanding that we prove we are human online, so don’t forget that.

.... all I need are some tasty waves, a cool buzz, and I’m fine.

For the record: I try to be kind. I also try to see the best in everyone. I know, very PollyAnna of me. But if how I word things sounds harsh, it's probably a post done in haste and not intentional.

That's the whole thing, if you are brave enough to talk all tough and insulting in real life, face to face, at least there are actual consequences. When you come online and do it, you know nothing will come about. I see posters on here and other online sites, talk smack about genres of people, that there is no chance in hell that they would ever do it in real life. If they do, they are suicidal. Again, hiding behind their keyboard.

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http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1650155838.jpg

At least on this website we have a lower percentage of nutters that just about anywhere else.

Still one or two, just less.

Very true Bill. Plenty of good dudes on here. :)

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Only reason I don't use my real name to post under is that I work in a highly competitive environment where security is taken extremely seriously not because I'm hiding who I am

Don't mind sharing past work/projects I've done as some of the stuff can be interesting but what I share is well out of date so not sensitive

Never experienced any douchebaggery directed at myself from anyone on any forum other than from a spineless, spiteful, sneaky little $h!t of an ex-boss

I'd casually mentioned my 964 build blog to him but not on which forum, he must have spent hours searching the whole internet and reading the full thread in an attempt dig up something he thought he could use against me..

He told me he'd found my blog which sucked all my fun out of it so I stopped posting updates. It was a while after I found out he'd failed in his attempt to have me thrown off the Singer DLS project because of a post he thought was technically wrong (it wasn't as Porsche themselves did it on their race cars)

All things worked out well in the end as the company eventually sacked him as he was too confrontational to work with so no one wanted to work with him. Think that was the 3rd company that came to the same conclusion

And Yadda, yadda, yadda.......

I think there is another side to the debate. In this thread all responses come from the perspective of people suffering hurty feelers from being exposed to true thoughts of others.

I have observed this in humans, most would rather be lied to and made to feel good than hear the naked truth of what others think of them. I find this naive.

In this day and age of cancel culture and PC........... really... how much more of that bullsheet pablum do you really want to hear? Wouldn't you much rather know the truth of what an man really thinks of you and your political spews?

Also, I see many here undervalue the ignore function............. It is a great alternative to your constant state of hurty feelers.

I think some of you are missing the whole point of my post.

It has zero to do with "hurty feelings".... Trust me I probably have some of the thickest skin on this board.

It has to do with people using the safety of the internet to say something that they would never have the balls to say to someone face to face.

That is all... don't read into it anymore than that... :rolleyes:

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I missed this informational tidbit the first 9,999,999 time is was shared.

At least on this subject, I am officially out from underneath my rock.

_

"Your Mama's so fat, the back of her neck looks like a package of hot dogs!"

LOL never heard that one! :D

Sometimes I actually feel bad for Trolls.

Think about the psychology of someone who will insult a stranger online so they feel better about their own life choices.

Mmm....love me some Nathan's!
Now I'm hungry.:)

98% of the time, if I notice a thread or threads (I usually don't pay attention to the stars) with 1 star, I usually give them 5. I don't know who it is that likes to run around giving one star for "Off Topic." I think I remember once or twice seeing a thread with one star and thinking "OK."

Wow working with or even worse, for someone like that is awful and soul-sucking.

Anonymity isn't the problem.
The best acts of kindness are when they can be done with anonymity.
What the internet does filter is time.

It isn't about insults.
Trolls feed on response itself.

I think it's a combination. I think insulting and denegrating folks does give them a boost, but I think (maybe the same folks or maybe two different sets of folks or maybe folks with varying degrees of both) that being able to stir up some sheiße also is a boost, probably even more so than the other.

I had a boss once that had a problem with a couple employees.
Instead of talking to them individually...he would address all the employees at once.....

Just led to more problems.

Sort of related to this topic.
Like many I use YouTube a lot to find out how to do stuff. Mostly for car restoration.
Before they changed the comments setup, I would read the first three or four to see if the vid was worth watching.
There’s lots of good stuff on there, but also heaps of dross. Now the comments are pretty much all candy floss, regardless of the usefulness of the video.

I worked indirectly for an idiot like that for years. There was always someone complaining about his behavior. His favorite thing was pitting one person against the other by BS'ing both of them.

He eventually ended up at Microsoft and failed in his new job. He was only there for a bout 9 months before they "let him go"... lol ;)

An instructor at PCNA tech training would say “an expert is anyone that’s more than 100 miles from home” (or anyone on the internet).

As a general rule (more recently) I never read YouTube comments.

Complete waste of time IMO.