Why we crave internet justice • Hacker News Board

Re: Why we crave internet justice

#11

Post by cjaybo » Sat, Jul 17, 2021, 5:28 PM UTC

__float wrote: post #6

amelius wrote: post #5

People are awful in cars too. So the rule seems to be that people are awful when there is a piece of glass between them.

Cars have a particular....lack of communication ability, compared to the internet. Though a cute joke, I think there is something lost by reducing it to "people can be awful anywhere".

People interact with other drivers while on the road, it's just a different type of communication. I think some element of feeling "removed" from the situation compared to a face-to-face encounter has an effect in our interactions.

Re: Why we crave internet justice

#12

Post by Causality1 » Sat, Jul 17, 2021, 5:34 PM UTC

People are awful online because there's no consequences, so they're completely honest. If someone had the power of invisibility they'd say the same things in person. I know there's plenty of times I've seen, for example, someone throw their trash on the ground and wanted to tell them just how worthless an excuse for a human being they are.

Re: Why we crave internet justice

#13

Post by ctoth » Sat, Jul 17, 2021, 5:34 PM UTC

exo-pla-net wrote: post #10

This article doesn't tell you why people are awful online. It hypothesizes that we respond to petty wrongdoers the same way we'd respond to war criminals, and that we further have been corrupted by exposure to too much bad news.

I think the basic idea she's trying to get across is that people feel helpless in our daily lives, and so the one little piece of power most people ever get is online and we take out our frustrations about our powerlessness here.

Which probably says more about the people who get a tiny bit of power than it does about the Internet, but there you go.

Re: Why we crave internet justice

#14

Post by mam3 » Sat, Jul 17, 2021, 5:34 PM UTC

"Why people takr stuff on the web seriously ?"

Re: Why we crave internet justice

#15

Post by theshrike79 » Sat, Jul 17, 2021, 5:35 PM UTC

I present to you the John Gabriel Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory (2004): https://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/03/19

Normal person + anonymity + audience = Total Fuckwad.

This has always been true and always will be.

Re: Why we crave internet justice

#16

Post by Lendal » Sat, Jul 17, 2021, 5:35 PM UTC

exo-pla-net wrote: post #10

This article doesn't tell you why people are awful online. It hypothesizes that we respond to petty wrongdoers the same way we'd respond to war criminals, and that we further have been corrupted by exposure to too much bad news.

This story belongs to a greater category of stories with headlines that start with the word "Why..." promising an answer but never delivering. They're very nice stories. Very descriptive and well-written. But the headline is a bait-and-switch. The honest headline here would be, "Why Are People So Awful Online?" but the honest headline wouldn't get as many clicks. I hate the Internet.

Re: Why we crave internet justice

#17

Post by humanistbot » Sat, Jul 17, 2021, 5:39 PM UTC

ggoo wrote: post #3

They can be awful offline too.

Working retail as a teenager made me lose faith in humanity -- and all the theories that blame anonymity for online toxicity. Sure, the darkest parts of the internet can be cesspools, but give the average person a tiny bit of entitlement and power, and they'll abuse others just for the pleasure of it. And this was over a decade ago. So glad I got out and into software. I can't imagine what it must be like working retail right now.

Re: Why we crave internet justice

#18

Post by davidw » Sat, Jul 17, 2021, 5:39 PM UTC

"The social dynamics of the net are a direct consequence of the fact that nobody has yet developed a Remote Strangulation Protocol."

-- Larry Wall

Re: Why we crave internet justice

#19

Post by watwut » Sat, Jul 17, 2021, 5:42 PM UTC

davidw wrote: post #18

"The social dynamics of the net are a direct consequence of the fact that nobody has yet developed a Remote Strangulation Protocol." -- Larry Wall

The social environment of people willing to use violence or aggression tend to be super toxic. You get combination of direct aggression from those who would do straggling and passive behind back aggression of those who would be targets.

And a lot of enabling of biggest psychopaths due to fear.

Re: Why we crave internet justice

#20

Post by Ostrogodsky » Sat, Jul 17, 2021, 5:44 PM UTC

Do you know that obnoxious friend/acquaintance/family/co-worker/boss/in-law who is a total PITA but you dont tell them anything because it is not a big deal after all? Well, in Internet you can, and the people "obnoxious" to you will be counted in the millions.