41–50 of 264 posts
Online it seems you can get away with more honest talk without consequences. Or at least it used to. Now it's getting more like offline.
HN is a strongly self-selected group of people, with rules against bad-faith arguments. But you can find groups like that in real life too. The special thing about online is that when an obscure topic comes up, someone from the 0.0001% of people with deep knowledge of that subject can chime in. That dynamic basically never happens IRL, because you need a million eyeballs. Like, outside of NASA, where would you encoun…
> HN is a strongly self-selected group of people, with rules against bad-faith arguments I'd love to see those rules enforced someday. There are plenty of examples of such arguments to be found here.
Online conversation topics frequently lead to heated opinions.
In the civilized world, men will not be so quick to argue fiercely with other men as the probability of a violent outcome is higher. Contrast with women, who will often verbally assault without limit, simply because they enjoy the benefits of the fact that it is not as socially acceptable for a man to pound their face in, and because other women are not as likely to resort to violence.
It is ironic that the threat of violence is necessary to keep society peaceful and civilized in a scalable way.
People communicating in person to tend to be more likely to avoid conflict and insults. (I think this is because it's easier to walk away from an online conversation, while you're stuck with someone in physical space). But in my experience, a jerk is a jerk. Online or offline.
#1 skin in the game. In person interactions can have greater immediate consequences than online actions. If someone is in your social group, you might see them again and have to deal with the consequences of actions/behavior. Positive impressions can reward you in the future. #2 Reputation and anonymity You can't easily reboot your IRL identity and reputation, but usually can on forums like HN
Literally. If people acted IRL the way they do online, there'd be a major uptick in face punches.
I don't understand why comments so far are talking about people online being inconsiderate. I'm talking about the opposite. Was my post unclear?