The Internet

[The Observer]

A lot of the time people make fools of themselves over the Internet. Sometimes though it can turn into something much more such as what happened to "Jessi Slaughter". -Link removed. ~Romy

 

My question is, who is responsible for what happens on the Internet in your opinion? Is it the person themselves or is it the people who harass them and cause problems? (Remember, it can be unintentional by the victim as well, such as Star Wars kid.)

 

Personally, I believe that most of the time the person brings it upon themselves so they should face the consequences to realize what they did was wrong instead of protecting them and bringing them into the right.

[The_Gabe]

Humanity is responsible. If humanity was erased from the world, there would be no problems. No wars or anything. That's the solution I tell you.

 

I'm not being sarcastic. Humanity sucks.

[Althalus]

I agree that you are ultimately responsible for your experience online. The more you put yourself out and how you conduct yourself there the more likely you're going to meet some less than desirable people. I recently watched a news report on Craigslist where the reporter interviewed Craig regarding prostitution (some of it underage) and how his site was not doing all they could to report those postings. Craigslist should be responsible as they provide people the ability to make such posts.

[Giordano]

Humanity is responsible. If humanity was erased from the world, there would be no problems. No wars or anything. That's the solution I tell you.

 

I'm not being sarcastic. Humanity sucks.

Go kill yourself. Now.

 

I'm not being sarcastic. Thinking you're the only golden one sucks.

[Lenticular_J]

Empathy. There is none. The vast, vast majority of the population of our generation (could probably say most folks under 25, although it's commonplace in every age group) are apathetic at best. More often they're cynical, sarcastic and quite cruel. With anonymity, you feel distant from other people and their problems. Empathy is one of the most powerful tools of the human mind for social situations, right up there with passion and flow. But many go without said empathy, even though it is very much a therapeutic tool. For example: someone cuts you off while driving. Most people will assume the guy's a jackass, and he may be. But maybe he's a jackass whose wife just had a heart attack, and all the ambulances are busy? Positive emotions and memories are vastly, vastly more powerful than negative ones. They're what last into your old age, and why confused elders often might think you're their child or brother or sister.

 

So it's really everyone that's the problem. Attitude-wise. Let's fix it.

[Zierro]

The internet really brings out the sadist in people. It makes you realize how people actually act when their reputation isn't on the line.

 

I try to use the internet in a positive way. Exchanging information and ideas, helping people out if they have a random question, yelling at evil-doers and explaining to them why the path of righteousness is a more ideal choice. So really it's just whether you choose to have a good or an evil alignment. Chaotic good here ftw. :shades:

[Sam]

You dun goof, Killerred! :mrgreen:

[Pirate_Felix]

The person him/herself.

 

Cmon, crying on webcam, letting your father scream: "IVE BACKTRACED YOU ALL, I KNOW WHO YOU ARE, CONSEQUENCES WILL NEVER BE THE SAME"

and then posting THAT video on youtube?

 

Dee You Em Bee

[Abc1230]

Al Gore

[obfuscator]

Well, the Jessi Slaughter thing can be blamed on her parents, as no responsible parents should let their child have unsupervised internet access at that age.

 

I don't know if you've read the "Lord of the Flies" but I see the internet as a modern-day equivalent. It shows how the majority of us are only held to standards by society, and use the anonymity the internet provides as a way to do things society would never accept.

[Undo]

Me.

 

'nuff declared.

[Jernlov]

If you get trolled, it's your own fault.

 

Easy ways to avoid being trolled? Avoid posting personal stuff where everyone can see it; don't act like a moron; don't ask for it; don't be naive. The Internet demands a certain degree of cynicism and scepticism to survive outside of Facebook. If you're crying about how your parents wouldn't buy you a videogame on your blog and someone makes fun of you, then you've asked for it. It's that simple. I'm certain people would make fun of someone in real life for that too.

 

I like to keep moderately low-key and I confine a lot of personal stuff to very small, private forums and private IM chats. My post count here makes me feel uncomfortable until I remind myself it's all in MM&T. Heh.

[Denith]

Person themselves. Sometimes someone sees the lack of identity or the non-need for one as an excuse to be an idiot on the internet.

[Nadril]

Al Gore

 

Came here to post that :(.

 

I've really got nothing of value to say now.

 

Go kill yourself. Now.

 

I'm not being sarcastic. Thinking you're the only golden one sucks.

 

Agreed with you so hard. I hate the mentality of "[bleep] people, people suck!!" some kids seem to get in their head. Of course, they never are the problem and always know better than everyone else (while still being in high school :/). Yeah, some people suck. More people are awesome though.

[Omar]

I blame both the person who exposed themselves to trolling (trollee) and the trolls. It's not the same thing as someone running in the middle of a highway and getting hit by a car; cars driving fast on a highway is normal, acceptable behavior--that's what highways are for. In that case, the person running around is responsible for whatever happens to them. The internet, however, isn't a place made for trolling. Trolling is something that shouldn't be happening in the first place, and being trolled is a risk that shouldn't be involved with the web, as opposed to speedy dangerous vehicles in the case of a highway. The only analogy for this I could think of, is running around in a field where you know there are mosquitoes and ticks and that type of nasty bugs, and then being killed by a gigantic bee. That's not a very good metaphor but hopefully it gets my point across.

 

Empathy. There is none. The vast, vast majority of the population of our generation (could probably say most folks under 25, although it's commonplace in every age group) are apathetic at best. More often they're cynical, sarcastic and quite cruel. With anonymity, you feel distant from other people and their problems. Empathy is one of the most powerful tools of the human mind for social situations, right up there with passion and flow. But many go without said empathy, even though it is very much a therapeutic tool. For example: someone cuts you off while driving. Most people will assume the guy's a jackass, and he may be. But maybe he's a jackass whose wife just had a heart attack, and all the ambulances are busy? Positive emotions and memories are vastly, vastly more powerful than negative ones. They're what last into your old age, and why confused elders often might think you're their child or brother or sister.

 

So it's really everyone that's the problem. Attitude-wise. Let's fix it.

http://artofmanliness.com/2010/07/25/our-disembodied-selves-and-the-decline-of-empathy/

If I look up the first word of every post of yours on the Art of Manliness, will I always find a related article? :P

[The_Gabe]

Al Gore

 

Came here to post that :(.

 

I've really got nothing of value to say now.

 

Go kill yourself. Now.

 

I'm not being sarcastic. Thinking you're the only golden one sucks.

 

Yeah... Where did I say I was the only golden one?

 

Agreed with you so hard. I hate the mentality of "[bleep] people, people suck!!" some kids seem to get in their head. Of course, they never are the problem and always know better than everyone else (while still being in high school :/). Yeah, some people suck. More people are awesome though.

 

Yeah.. You haven't changed my mind. I stopped believing in humanity when I was like what 7? Humanity sucks, society is never going to get better. There is no meaning of life, and people never change.

[Alg]

So really it's just whether you choose to have a good or an evil alignment. Chaotic good here ftw. :shades:

Interesting idea there. Based on that I'd think that you could divide people into two groups, people for whom anonymity brings out their ideal personality and people who think "Holy [cabbage] if nobody knows it's me i can get away with anything!!!". Though that isn't necessarily divided between good and evil... You may have people whose ideal personality is Doomicon the Puppy-Kicking Evil Overlord (If I ever get a custom usergroup... :twisted: ). You may have people who are better on the internet because it isn't cool to be that nice in reality.

 

Though I still think people are responsible for themselves on the internet. If you get trolled, the troll isn't innocent because you were dumb enough to fall for it. S/He's still a [puncture]. And it's still on them if they ever slip up and people find out who they are in reality (online persona) or what they're like on the internet (real world identity).

 

And now I think an alignment-poll thread would be a cool addition to OT.

[Nadril]

Yeah.. You haven't changed my mind. I stopped believing in humanity when I was like what 7? Humanity sucks, society is never going to get better. There is no meaning of life, and people never change.

 

Sigh.

 

Maybe you'll understand when you're older. Right now you just sound like an angsty teenager.

[Romy]

I don't really think Gabe's point of view is that bad.

 

A world without mankind seems like a better world to me too.

I don't think all people are just so stupid/evil/selfish/whatever, I just think the world's inevitably better off without us.

[Nadril]

I don't really think Gabe's point of view is that bad.

 

A world without mankind seems like a better world to me too.

I don't think all people are just so stupid/evil/selfish/whatever, I just think the world's inevitably better off without us.

 

Why would it matter though? Sure, the "earth" would probably thrive more without us here. Several animal species would probably still be alive too . But why does it matter? Who cares what a non-sentient planet really is like if the only thing on it are some animals?

 

It just seems like a crappy point of view to me. If you can't believe in humanity than what the hell can you believe in?

[The_Gabe]

 

 

. If you can't believe in humanity than what the hell can you believe in?

 

I ask myself that same question every day .

[Alg]

 

 

. If you can't believe in humanity than what the hell can you believe in?

 

I ask myself that same question every day .

Nature is my answer. Once you get past the people there's a lot of cool stuff out there.

[champion]

I don't really understand the question this thread is posing. But, everyone is responsible in some way, I guess?

[Lenticular_J]

http://artofmanliness.com/2010/07/25/our-disembodied-selves-and-the-decline-of-empathy/

If I look up the first word of every post of yours on the Art of Manliness, will I always find a related article? :P

Depends on if the article took my fancy. And if I then spent the rest of the day researching one little thing. I know more about empathy now than I thought existed.

 

Or, when Brett and Kate realize I need to write all the articles. Except the guest ones. That would just be silly.

[Romy]

I don't really think Gabe's point of view is that bad.

 

A world without mankind seems like a better world to me too.

I don't think all people are just so stupid/evil/selfish/whatever, I just think the world's inevitably better off without us.

 

Why would it matter though? Sure, the "earth" would probably thrive more without us here. Several animal species would probably still be alive too . But why does it matter? Who cares what a non-sentient planet really is like if the only thing on it are some animals?

 

It just seems like a crappy point of view to me. If you can't believe in humanity than what the hell can you believe in?

 

I accept that the human species will not try to eliminate itself, I accept mankind is not bad in it's nature, and I yet believe that the world is better off without us.

 

 

Let's get on topic? o: