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| Why are there so many mean, obnoxious commenters online?; "ANONYMOUS MADE ME DO IT" | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Mar 8 2014, 01:24 AM (990 Views) | |
| Pat | Mar 8 2014, 01:24 AM Post #1 |
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Fire & Ice Senior Diplomat
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Like a light going off in my brain, now I understand the crux of the problem. http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2014/03/06/good-question-why-are-there-so-many-mean-anonymous-comments-online/ Good Question: Why Are There So Many Mean, Anonymous Commenters Online? March 6, 2014 10:49 PM MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — Novelist Anne Rice, best known for her books about vampires, has signed onto a petition asking Amazon.com to stop allowing people to post anonymous reviews. In an interview with the Guardian, Rice says the “anti-author gangsters” make her a victim of bullying. It doesn’t take long to find a cruel, anonymous comment on everything from newspaper websites to Yelp and Amazon. “That’s the stupidest book I’ve ever read,” wrote one person while reviewing a novel on Amazon. Well-known vlogger, ZE Frank, recently taped a YouTube video responding to online critics. In it, he says: “For example, some young gentleman said he wanted to punch me in the face because my voice was so annoying.” A Pew Research study found 25 percent of people admit to posting anonymous comments online. A communications professor at the University of Houston studying the issue found anonymity contributes to less civil discourse. He looked at online comments in newspapers for more than a year and half and found 53 percent of comments were uncivil in papers that allowed anonymity. That percentage dropped to 29 percent when newspapers required names or links to Facebook accounts. “I think people are also much more inclined to comment about something if they have a complaint. Sometimes it’s the only way you feel that you can be heard, so it winds up feeling like online comment sections are filled with negativity,” said Shayla Thiel-Stern, a professor of new media and culture at the University of Minnesota. Though she says it’s hard to study, Thiel-Stern believes anonymous online posters are generally a small group with a loud voice. “We just don’t know,” she said. That research difficulty was acknowledged in a 2013 study that found writing and reading online rants was unhealthy and the people that do it are generally angrier. “It’s just people trying to get a rise out of folks, trying to get other trolls to come out and hijack a conversation,” said Sam McConnell of Minneapolis. Thiel-Stern says anonymity makes it easier for some people to post things they normally might not. “I don’t think we’re getting meaner as a society,” she said. “I think social media emphasizes some of that meanness.” Websites are able to allow as many or as few comments as they like, the posters are still held to same defamation standards.“A lot of people think the internet is anything goes. That’s just not true,” said University of Minnesota journalism professor Amy Kristin Sanders. “Any actionable speech printed in a newspaper would be actionable online as well.” She does acknowledge, though, legally finding out the identity of an anonymous poster can be difficult, because there is no national legal standard for what is necessary in the courts to unmask an identity. |
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| tomdrobin | Mar 8 2014, 02:32 AM Post #2 |
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Fire & Ice Senior Diplomat
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People haven't changed, just the anonymity lets them be more honest about how they really feel. Of course their are a few that are just up to no good. I listened to a Tea Party speaker that said he goes to Amazon and disses with low rating any book written from a liberal perspective. Even if he hasn't read them. That's kind of the typical MO of the right. It's ok to be dishonest if your promoting what you consider to be a higher cause. That's probably the excuse Stalin made, that his communism was more important than peoples lives. |
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| Neutral | Mar 8 2014, 02:35 AM Post #3 |
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Fire & Ice Senior Diplomat
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Let's see the proof of that Tea Party person, I think you are spreading another load. |
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| tomdrobin | Mar 8 2014, 02:43 AM Post #4 |
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Fire & Ice Senior Diplomat
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I believe it was in one of many documentaries on the Tea Party I have watched. It wasn't a quote, the guy got up front and told members to do it as a tactic. Of course he didn't know the infiltrator had a hidden camera. Accuse me of prevarication but believe what the Fox tells you............that is a one way ticket to stuppidville.
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| Pat | Mar 8 2014, 02:45 AM Post #5 |
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Fire & Ice Senior Diplomat
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OK Tom, and you might also need to know that liberal Academy Award voters voted awards to cast members and the movie 12 Years A Slave, without ever watching the film. Agenda driven. Back to the anonymity issue, I've read members here tell other members that were they face to face and not hiding behind a alias, an ass kicking would a occur over what was said. And i tend to agree, I've seen broken noses over far less. I couldn't figure out why so many here were incapable of civil discourse and now I know, the format allows assholes to thrive. |
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| Neutral | Mar 8 2014, 02:46 AM Post #6 |
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Fire & Ice Senior Diplomat
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Okay, I don't believe you. |
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| tomdrobin | Mar 8 2014, 02:50 AM Post #7 |
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Fire & Ice Senior Diplomat
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Most everyone here I would talk to in person around a campfire with no problem. Only one individual that I dislike, he would be asked to leave, and if he didn't I would have to sick the dog on him. I'm to old for kicking ass.
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| Pat | Mar 8 2014, 03:00 AM Post #8 |
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Fire & Ice Senior Diplomat
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The mutt sitting in my chair across the room would not bother to raise an eyebrow, as my butt was whipped. |
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| tomdrobin | Mar 8 2014, 03:16 AM Post #9 |
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Fire & Ice Senior Diplomat
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My 130 lb bloodhound/lab mix has an intimidating bark, but is really a wuss. He doesn't like it when family members horseplay and gets real annoyed, not sure why. Not sure if he would jump in to protect me, he might just whine. |
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| Mountainrivers | Mar 8 2014, 03:36 AM Post #10 |
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Fire & Ice Senior Diplomat
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I said I would ban this forum from my computer, but, I didn’t. I’ve had a lot of fun and interesting debates here and I’ve checked in on occasion to see what was being said. I was banned for using profanity according to Pat. The words I used were mostly damn, hell, schit, bastard and asshole. Since I’ve been gone, I’ve seen every one of those words, and that’s all they are is words, used in various threads. They might not have been said explicitly, but what’s the difference between saying POS and saying the actual words? We all know what POS means. We also know what schit means. Does anybody think a-hole isn’t the same thing as asshole? Pat used that very word in this thread. Nobody else that I’m aware of has been banned for using those words. The real reason I haven’t returned is not that, though. It’s the constant negativism of the right wingers and the tolerance of their disruptive behavior that has driven me to a more tolerant and educational site. I’m perplexed that the two who cause all the trouble are allowed to remain here, while Brewster and I and several others have decided to leave. The forum doesn’t appear any less confrontational since those departures and the same disrupters are still at it. As long as that condition remains, I think this forum is doomed. Neal |
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