The way you treat people online vs in real life.

[Caerule]

The internet suffers from being first-generation. The generation before us did not teach us how to behave in this anonymous environment. This is a new place, a new medium, with new rules, freedoms, restrictions, incentives and correctional methods.

Probably won't be until third generation that we've ironed out most of the wrinkles, but I expect things will start getting better in 10 years, when we get the next generation. Of course it'll still have its toxic places linger long, as our generation will stick around too, and will just get older and more cynical.

As for how I behave, I try to be consistent. People act like how they behave online, is separate from who they are in real life. But that's just not the case. It's easier to be a dick online. But being a dick online certainly does effect your personality and ways of thinking, and will affect who you are in real life. It's not the separate mask that people think it is.

So yeah, I try to toss my mask aside. Be open. Try to connect to people with where we can agree. I like a good discussion, of course. But you won't find me acting much different than in real life. I try to avoid doing so. Much easier that way anyway. And I can't say I see the people I interact with online, to be lesser in nature to strangers I might meet in real life. You're both real to me. Why should I be fine disadvantaging, insulting or demeaning someone online, that I wouldn't in the physical world?

To do so would mean that the time I spend online means less to me. Impacts me less. Is a lesser way to spend my time. If I believed that, why would I spend one minute of my time online, rather than out in the physical world? What we do here is relevant. It matters.

[Shadowsgrace]

Think before posting. Who you are online is who you are in person. Most of you seem to think otherwise.


We are all guilty of this. It's time to become better people.

"We" are not "all" guilty of this. I treat people in game, and on the internet as I treat people in real life, and in both instances I treat others as I would like them to treat me. Quite often I'm disappointed, but sometimes I'm not.

[Liftinmammals]

Care to provide an argument, instead of a baseless blank statement? Online is not real life, it's simply a fact. That is, unless you're famous or stupid enough to dox yourself. At the very least the dynamic of conversation is altered, depending on the medium.

Text in general makes for a entirely different style, much slower, with opportunity to properly think and express yourself. Not many take that option, but it's a different topic in itself. You also have some much less instinctive ways to determine hidden meaning/emotions. For example many people can't understand sarcasm well orally, and are completely dense to it in text. So you need to rely on written hints (from something as blunt as /s to simply paying attention to changes in punctuation and capitalization) or simply guess by the overall tone. This makes written communication online stiffer and shallower than any in-person conversation.

Forums, like this or reddit and such, are more akin to monologuing at someone for about 5 minutes and then waiting for a reply. It is more like an official debate or a rap battle, than a proper conversation IRL.

Chats like discord or text messages of different variety tend to be livelier, but still suffer from the overall limits of written communication. You do expect an answer much faster, but that usually comes at the (even greater) cost to expression. This is why emotacons are so widely used, since most other ways of written expression (except maybe punctuation at the end of sentences) goes out the window.

VoIP services are a bit different, as they are much closer to IRL conversation, but they still rob you of any visual queues, but that's not something most people can pick up on anyway. As a result people tend to be more reserved, yet open and/or truthful during them. And it tends to follow a more natural path, where initially you put up your usual front, and as you get to know people, you let down some of your walls. Yet there is still the big A...

Anonymity, the biggest difference between IRL and online interactions. And, as a secondary, yet important factor, safety. There is no threat of physical violence, and despite what concerned moms want you to believe, true online bullying is very rare. Most cases are results of involved parties knowing each other IRL, or the bullied person revealing personal information about themselves. The ever present ability to ignore and block unwanted messages or people is highly potent, as well as staff or the resource used, that will almost always assist the target. And in the worst case, it's simply a matter of creating a new account. Purely online bullying is very ineffective and easily dealt with.

So with no threat or any meaningful repercussions, the nature of interaction is different at a fundamental level. Even if you make conscious effort to treat them equally, you will still never be able to do so. There are tons of subconscious triggers, responses and limiters that we employ IRL, that simply do not fire during online interactions.

So, in conclusion, I think your statement is just hot air, as IRL and online interactions are different at their core, meaning it's impossible to treat them equally.

You have a lot to say brother. I getcha

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I'd say we all are guilty of having said things knowingly and unknowingly that hurt people

[Echeyakee]

Quantity is not quality and you don't need to know what in specific he is talking about, but he doesn't need to. Every thread in MMO has someone treating others like they are dumb and unconscious and unable to articulate words for the purest reason of thinking they are the ones with the reason.
All the OP is saying is to think before posting because you don't know those people and you don't know if certain words can cause them anything. Words are just words, but words can be strong. For example you encounter someone with autism, you don't know, but you're making that person feel worse than before.

That's a question of morality and understanding, not treatment. That is, in essence, the nature of online interactions. All of the limiting factors I've described contribute to a one-sided look on online conversations, allowing people to make snap judgement without understanding other person's point of view. It's easy do dismiss someone as dumb, autistic or simply a troll, as the way of communication (especially text) leaves nothing to discern, except what is consciously told. And since majority of people are not very eloquent, and often forgo proper grammar and punctuation, their written answer can be easily misunderstood, leading to aforementioned snap judgement.

With no information to work with, we are simply left to guess the intentions behind the text. Obviously different people are susceptible to this in varying degrees, and it takes different triggers to set off "asshole mode". Some will take any post at face value and will simply argue for argument's sake, or due to inability to even consider being wrong. For other it's a tit for tat response, where rudeness or dismissal from an opponent will set it off. This is what trolls exploit. For some a logical fallacy is a reason to dismiss someone, even though it's not a subject widely taught in most countries, so a simple explanation could resolve the misunderstanding. There is no overall easy answer like "some people are just assholes". There is always a reason why they are acting this way. And more often than not it's not intentional.

Both title and OP imply that there is no difference between online interactions vs IRL, which is simply not true. There will always be a disconnect that is impossible to overcome in written text, at least en masse.

[Zigrifid]

tbh i am all for equality in my eyes everyone is shit

[Shakana]

tbh i am all for equality in my eyes everyone is shit

Including you? You're everyone.

[Zigrifid]

Including you? You're everyone.

Specially me! someone who treats others as shit should be looked down upon!

[Shakana]

That's a question of morality and understanding, not treatment. That is, in essence, the nature of online interactions. All of the limiting factors I've described contribute to a one-sided look on online conversations, allowing people to make snap judgement without understanding other person's point of view. It's easy do dismiss someone as dumb, autistic or simply a troll, as the way of communication (especially text) leaves nothing to discern, except what is consciously told. And since majority of people are not very eloquent, and often forgo proper grammar and punctuation, their written answer can be easily misunderstood, leading to aforementioned snap judgement.

With no information to work with, we are simply left to guess the intentions behind the text. Obviously different people are susceptible to this in varying degrees, and it takes different triggers to set off "asshole mode". Some will take any post at face value and will simply argue for argument's sake, or due to inability to even consider being wrong. For other it's a tit for tat response, where rudeness or dismissal from an opponent will set it off. This is what trolls exploit. For some a logical fallacy is a reason to dismiss someone, even though it's not a subject widely taught in most countries, so a simple explanation could resolve the misunderstanding. There is no overall easy answer like "some people are just assholes". There is always a reason why they are acting this way. And more often than not it's not intentional.

Both title and OP imply that there is no difference between online interactions vs IRL, which is simply not true. There will always be a disconnect that is impossible to overcome in written text, at least en masse.

That's mostly the problem, understanding. People make little to no effort to understand others without already thinking in what to say next, they read thinking in what to answer without even taking the time or patience to try understand others or perspectives. Not everyone is the same, we are all special snowflakes in our way, there's no one completely like you in the world, would be weird thinking otherwise, people have their own thing going on and different thoughts, trying put themselves on other shoes sometimes takes effort and no one has patience for that on the internet. That's why i like a little humility sometimes, to make it easier to communicate. Literally sometimes is super hard understanding someone by words in a screen, you can't understand if they are joking or being serious sometimes. I know this even from dealing with people irl and then i talk on internet, and seems different, but because i know how they are, i know in what tone they are speaking.

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Specially me! someone who treats others as shit should be looked down upon!

LOL alright! You might be a slipknot fan, then "People = Shit" song. XD

[Samuraijake]

alot of ya'll pretending to be righteous but most of ya'll are fake as fuck.

[Starfals]

Idk, ive seen more horrible people in real life than online lol. I wish it was the other way around, its easier to ignore and forget.

[Shakana]

Idk, ive seen more horrible people in real life than online lol. I wish it was the other way around, its easier to ignore and forget.

Well, that's quite true, online you just can ignore and move on, in real life, can be at work or family or someone you know that lives close to you that you can't deal with. I encountered people that at work, just tries makes other's lifes a living hell for no reason at all, not sure if because they don't like how they are or not, but i have seen pretty bad things. People even got fired.

[Echeyakee]

That's mostly the problem, understanding. People make little to no effort to understand others without already thinking in what to say next, they read thinking in what to answer without even taking the time or patience to try understand others or perspectives. Not everyone is the same, we are all special snowflakes in our way, there's no one completely like you in the world, would be weird thinking otherwise, people have their own thing going on and different thoughts, trying put themselves on other shoes sometimes takes effort and no one has patience for that on the internet. That's why i like a little humility sometimes, to make it easier to communicate. Literally sometimes is super hard understanding someone by words in a screen, you can't understand if they are joking or being serious sometimes. I know this even from dealing with people irl and then i talk on internet, and seems different, but because i know how they are, i know in what tone they are speaking.

Well, it's really just a matter of information void. That's how our brain works, if we lack parts of the picture, we fill in the gaps, and we tend to do it in the most straight forward way. Like the saying goes "When you hear hoofbeats, think of horses not zebras", but unfortunately in this case it's better not to assume horses, or zebras for that matter. It might be a deer or a cow. Or someone clapping coconuts together. But it's much less effort to just think about horses.

[Shakana]

Well, it's really just a matter of information void. That's how our brain works, if we lack parts of the picture, we fill in the gaps, and we tend to do it in the most straight forward way. Like the saying goes "When you hear hoofbeats, think of horses not zebras", but unfortunately in this case it's better not to assume horses, or zebras for that matter. It might be a deer or a cow. Or someone clapping coconuts together. But it's much less effort to just think about horses.

I actually chuckled a little with the coconut part xD but ye, you're right.

[mmocfd1b0ab5a3]

I kill people online but not in real life.

[StillMcfuu]

I treat people worse in real life. Generally speaking in the real world if someone is being an asshole or difficult to deal with, I return the favor and then some. On the internet, I can just ignore a person acting in that manner, you aren't extended that chance in the real world.

[Topornic]

Most of the time the same. Generally neutral or little friendly but sometimes I'm just a dick and douchebag. I might troll people a bit more in the Internet.

[Magicon]

Think before posting. Who you are online is who you are in person. Most of you seem to think otherwise.


We are all guilty of this. It's time to become better people.

Sadly... I am just treating people the same online as irl. I don't have the capability to act bad.. cuz it makes me feel bad. hmm, yeah.

[Piamonte]

Think before posting. Who you are online is who you are in person. Most of you seem to think otherwise.


We are all guilty of this. It's time to become better people.

most of the time im polite, but sometimes is just pointless.

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Ignoring people in real life is not good. We are all called to serve our community, make each other better, and be patient with one another as we grow in life. Ignoring others does you and others a disservice in your growth and theirs.

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No sir. I think the community sometimes just needs reminders on real values. We can always talk about video games, but as far as building character and being better people no one wants to talk about that because it reveals flaws. We are all weak in areas and it takes people willing to speak about it to spark change for the better. You never know who needs to hear something. Words are strong.

pls stop trying to force your values on others. thanks.

[Soon-TM]

Think before posting. Who you are online is who you are in person. Most of you seem to think otherwise.


We are all guilty of this. It's time to become better people.

Not really. People tend to be jerks online because anyone can pretend to be a big macho when he/she's behind a keyboard. If many forumgoers' RL attitude was the same they have here, they would have been beaten into a pulp long ago.

[ErrandRunner]

OP is right only because karma is a real thing

Be nice to people, and get high rolls
Ninja some shit lowkey, it will bite you in the ass later

Karma is just as much BS as is belief in deities. All used as a means to control how people think and act.