<$BlogRSDURL$> < link rel="DCTERMS.replaces" href="http://agirlfromhome.blogspot.com" /> < meta name="DC.Identifier" content="http://agfh.blogspot.com">

The life of a porn addicted housewife.

Monday, May 23, 2005

Manners - Does Your Mother Know You Talk Like That? 

What is it about the internet that turns normal people into complete asses?

I frequent several forums, and in each one of them I have run across some of the nastiest, most vile people you could imagine.
It seems that some of these people will leave rude, crude, and generally nasty comments to any post or poster around for no apparent reason. If you say the sky is blue, they will immediately call you names and say the sky is green and you must be an idiot for not knowing that.
If you say a book is good, they say it is the worst book written. If you say that someone is pretty, they say that person is ugly. And heaven forbid you should say anything even remotely political. These people will rip you to shreds.

What makes a person do this? Do they do this in “real life” too? Somehow I doubt it.
What joy is there in cutting people down? What makes a person happy when they are belittling other posters? Does it make them feel important? Does it make them feel special? Are their lives so sad that they feel the need to hurt someone else in order to make themselves feel better?

It’s not just forums I see this on. I have seen many replies like this on people’s blogs too. Just the other day someone left a comment to one of MG’s blog posts that was very hurtful. It also made no sense. It would be bad enough if these types of replies were written intelligently, but for the most part they are very badly written. Poor grammar and atrocious spelling seems to be the norm with these people.

What I find funny is that this almost never happens on porn-related forums. On the porn forum I administer there has only been one offender, and he only acted that way when he was drunk. In the end we had to ban him for his actions. Where I do see it is on mainstream forums dealing with celebrities, movies, books, politics, etc. It also seems that women are some of the worst offenders. Of course there are plenty of men who do it too, but the women I see acting this way are a different breed all together. Women are the worst because they seem to flip attitudes between posts. On one post they may be sweet as pie, but on the next one they are pure vinegar. While men tend to act one way, women have many faces. I prefer knowing what I am walking into when reading a reply rather than being surprised.

The internet as a whole would be a much nicer place if people treated other people with respect. Would you walk into someone’s house and treat them like dirt? If not, then why would you do it on a forum or on a blog? In the end it really is the same thing. You are not belittling random words on a screen. You are belittling a living breathing person who has never done anything to hurt you.

Before anyone says anything, I am not advocating the whole “one thought” rule. What I am saying is that if you disagree with what someone has said then present your side respectfully. Instead of swearing at someone, take a breath and write out your thoughts in an intelligent manner.

It’s simple. As in real life, speak to others as you wish to be spoken to. It’s one of the first rules your parents taught you.
|
<< Home