[LINK] Trolls online and communication behaviour

[Ivan Trundle]

Of possible interest to Linkers...

Sitting here in a break from a meeting, I reflected on the past week.

An interesting thing happened this week: a number of websites that talk technology have had a lot of work in dealing with user comments. It seems that a number of people feel seriously threatened by the launch of a certain piece of hardware from a computer company.

Some, like Whirlpool, had moderators working overtime to deal with the inanity (which it mostly was) and this in spite of regular pundits (like me) staying away because of the pointless 'me-too-isms' and 'you are wrong/I am right' or the usual bigoted zealotry that surfaces when someone suggests a new way of doing something.

Others, like Engadget, have closed their comment system entirely:

"Hey guys, we know you like to have your fun, voice your opinions, and argue over your favorite gear, but over the past few days the tone in comments has really gotten out of hand. What is normally a charged -- but fun -- environment for our users and editors has become mean, ugly, pointless, and frankly threatening in some situations... and that's just not acceptable. Some of you out there in the world of anonymous grandstanding have gotten the impression that you run the place, but that's simply not the case."

There's something about overworking the communication channels - too much communication and the quality of the communication dips, and the type of people who comment changes.

Another interesting side-effect is that there is a type of online commenter who relishes in this kind of engagement, and skims over ALL the comments and then adds their own interpretation (mostly a waste of time and space, since it is a re-iteration of what was said before) - these people are bordering on the troll behaviour so abhorred by online content managers and decent people alike.

What's more fascinating is that it seems to affect web behaviour more than e-list behaviour: on the web, the level of anonymity is perceived to be greater - people can lob in and make a comment and never return (existential trolling), whereas there is a greater sense of commitment to an e-list, where relationships between subscribers is better defined (so people are more civil/more supportive).

Something to think about in the brave new world of simplified online communication...

Warmly

iT

--
Ivan Trundle
http://itrundle.com ivan at itrundle.com
ph: +61 (0)418 244 259 fx: +61 (0)2 6286 8742 skype: callto://ivanovitchk